The Missionary Review of the World — April 1912
THE MISSIONARIES SEE IN INDIA, BURMA AND
1. A native primary school in India. 9. A Burmese Christian and ·her discarded idol. 2. The "gold dust" twins in India. 10. Burmese girls in a Buddhist temple. 11. A Beluchistan hut and family. 3. Indian women in their cart. 12. A Y. M. C. A. preaching band on tOllr. 4. Carving on a pagoda in Rangoon, Burma. 13. A missionary ready for a tour. 5. Some lepers in India. 6. A Hindu temple and sacred tank. 14. Indian women grinding at the mill. 7. Mohammedans at prayer. Delhi festival. 15. A Moslem minaret in Delhi. 8. A somasi in India. 16. Naga women from Patkoi RiIls, Assam.
Missionary
® of the World ~ VOL. XXXV. No.4. APRIL, 1912 VOL. XXV. No. "I. Old Series N,w S"ies Signs of the· Times THE MARCH OF EVENTS IN CHINA been tortured and one British mis- VENTS follow each sionary, Rev. F. Day, of the S. P. G., stationed at Yungching Hsien, was IDE other thick and fast in killed by the rioters. As a rule, how- the new Republic of ever, missionaries, schools, chapels China, so that one can and foreign property generally have scarcely realize that thus far been protected. There is cablegrams in the daily still danger of the unrest and dispress refer to this conservative empire. order that usually follow in the wake which a few months ago seemed still of great popular uprisings against esin the sleep of the middle ages. Fol- tablished authorities. The taste of lowing the general revolution and the power often unbalances judgment and proclamation of the Republic, with lets loose the reins of passion. the election of Dr. Sun Yat Sen as Provisional President, came the con- THE FUTURE LEADERS OF CHINA ferences with Yuan Shi Kai, the ab- HUMANLY speaking, the hopeful dication of the Emperor, with the sign of the times in China is pensioning of the Manchu dynasty. seen in the character of the leaders Then followed the acceptance of the who are working to reorganize the presidency by Yuan, thus uniting the nation. Under God, in their ideals divided Chinese patriots. The Man- and integrity rest the hopes for chu troops, seeing their service at an bringing order out of chaos and for end, mutinied and began to plunder the establishment in China of the and murder. They looted Peking greatest nation on the face of the and destroyed property worth $rs,- earth-a people, one-fourth of the 000,000, so that it has been neces- earth's population, with an ancient sary to call in foreign troops. civilization, conservative yet now Disorders have also been rife in aggressive, strong and stable, but now Tientsin, Tungchow, Paotingfu and active in adopting the best ideals that other cities. Some Christians have the world can furnish .
• The editors seek to preserve accuracy and to manifest the spirit of Christ in the pages of this REVIEW. but do not acknowledge responsibility for opinions exprest, or positions taken by contributors to signed articles in these pages.-EDITORS. Some of these leaders have already elined to talk until he mentioned the been mentioned. Dr. Sun Yat Sen, annual sacrifice at the Temple of when provisional president, voted Heaven, and asked how that would against the indiscriminate killing of be carried on." Then his eyes shone Manchus, on the ground that while and he spoke slowly: "All sacrifices it was according to Chinese custom, will probably be stopt. The religion it was against Christian morality, and of the people will be Confucianism. said he: "I am a Christian." When But Jesus is better than Confucius, he asked how many Christians were and I am strongly in favor of more in the room (says Bishop Brent), missionaries coming to China to teach three-fourths of the men declared Christianity. We shall do all we can themselves to be followers of Christ. to assist missionaries, and the more Such are the men who have their we get to come to China the greater hands on the wheel of the Chinese will the Republican Government be ship of state. Dr. Sun is said to have pleased." remarked, "Our great hope for China is in the Bible and education." When Wang Chung Wei, the Attorneyhe was attacked in London by Chi- General of the Chinese Republic, is nese officials, he was on his way to said to be a Christian. He is a gradua service in St. Martin's Church. ate of the law department of Tientsin University. He took the degree of Yuan Shi Kai, while not a profest LL.B. at the University of California, Christian, has always been friendly to and doctor of civil laws from Yale the missionaries and their work. He in 1905. He lived and studied in is regarded as the ablest man in America and Germany for fifteen China. He organized the first mod- years. ern Chinese army, and was the only viceroy able to protect the foreigners Chen Ching Tao was graduated in his province at the time of the with the degree of Ph.D. from Yale Boxer rebellion. He was also the in 1905. He is an authority on pofirst to substitute modern text-books litical economy, and was at the head for Confucian classics in the schools, of a commission sent to Europe to and inaugurated the custom of send- investigate the currency system. He ing Chinese young men abroad to is liberal-minded, but not a Christian study. Yuan's own children were so far as is known. educated by Mrs. Evans, an English missionary, and four of his sons are Chinese students in America bepupils in the mission college at Tient- lieve that in the Republic Church and sin. One wing of the college Yuan State will be separated, and full built at his own expense. liberty of belief and worship will be granted to all. We have already mentioned the Christian character of the Provisional A CONFERENCE ON MISSIONS IN Vice-President and Military Com- CHINA mander, General Li. A correspondent of the China Press, Shanghai, writes REPRESENTATIVES of foreign of an interview with General Li, dur- mission boards in the United ing which "General Li seemed disin- States and Canada met in New York (February 29th), to discuss the situation in that land now in the throes of a new birth. It was inti-
OF THE TIMES
mated by missionaries that if the for the whole nation should be made home boards would take hands off, up of the leaders of all denominathe workers in the field would con- tions, foreign and native. In this solidate Protestant Christianity into central board on the field should be one united force in the new Oriental vested the final power to determine republic. One just returned from the scope and sphere of each denomi- Fuchau was emphatic in saying that nation's activity. the missionaries had repeatedly been obliged to forego plans for union be- THE OPPORTUNITY OF THE cause of missionary secretaries in CHURCH IN CHINA America. T HE sudden changes in China The recent conference, in which were represented thirty foreign mis- thrust mighty responsibilities essionary boards and societies, was as pecially upon American Christians. hearty in commending union for To-day no country is held in so high Christian work, but opinions were esteem in China as the United States, recognized as personal, not binding and especial attention is being paid to on the boards for whom they serve as Americans and American missionexecutives. The resolutions adopted aries. But the New China is eviwere turned over to the Committee of dently friendly to all Christians and Reference and Counsel to be trans- to Christianity itself. Idolatry seems mitted, with copies of the papers read, absolutely doomed, and in many to the boards maintaining the estab- places Christian officials have been lished Foreign Missions Conference appointed. In Canton the son of one of North America. of the old Presbyterian preachers, a graduate of Columbia Law School Dr. James L. Barton, secretary of is in hibh authority. Another Christhe American Board, analyzed the tian, a teacher in Fati School, is in Christian union which will be capable permanent position over the revenues of making a real impression on China. and has taken as his helper another One common name adopted for all native Christian. Protestant Chinese congregations, so that denominational differences should The missionaries generally expect be submerged out of the sight. Sepa- that with the disappearance of the rate denominational institutions of old system of persecution for those education should be merged-inclu- who abandoned ~ncestral worship ding even theological seminaries, and large numbers of inquirers will apshould be operated on a union basis. pear, and they are troubled how to Christian literature issued in the Chi- take care of them. nese language should be prepared and published by a joint board represent- China is wide open. Let the Church ing all the missions. Finally, arrange- enter and possess the land for Christ! ments ought to be made for executive control on the field which would IS A BETTER DAY DAWNING FOR govern all Protestant mission work INDIA? harmoniously. District councils for the various provinces and one board THE Durbar at Delhi, connected with the visit of King George V. of England as Emperor of India, was made the occasion for changing the capital from Calcutta to Delhi.
The festivities were luxurious and of Hinduism, the Vedas and the stretched over many days, costing an Upanishads, be made the foundation immense amount of money, but the in- of Indian laws. In those books noth- fluence on the spirit of the people ing is found pertaining to caste and seems to have been good. child-marriage, to the burning of wid- King George was accompanied by ows, and to many other evils that sap the strength of India and hinder the Queen Mary, and none can say what preaching and acceptance of the Gosit meant to the women of India, es- pel. The use of the Vedas as the pecially the Mohammedans, to see her foundation of Indian law may be of stand by the side of the Irmperor much advantage to the Christian misduring the coronation festivities. To sionaries in the great empire. the down-trodden and much-neglected women of India she must have been FEDERATION IN INDIA a living illustration of what Christianity does for man and woman. The A FURTHER step toward the acpublic appearance of the Empress of complishment of the Federation India should prove a help to the work of the Churches of India was taken at of Christian missionaries among the a conference held at Jubbulpore last women and girls of India. summer. At the same place two The changes announced in the ad- years ago a basis for such a federa- ministration of India may also have tion was adopted. The six resolutions some influence for good upon the have been widely accepted by churches progress of Christianity. If it should and missions, which exprest wilIing- prove true that a member of the royal ness to enter such a federation, and family will occupy the place of Vice- sent delegates to the second confer- roy of India in future, Delhi may have ence of last August. The churches a real royal court again, and the represented were the Presbyterian quieting of revolutionary influences Church in India, the South India may result so that the missionaries United Church, the M. E. Church, the will find the doors more widely open. Friends, the Indian Mission of the The most important change ordered Disciples of Christ, the American Ma- by the newly crowned Emperor seems rathi Mission, the English Baptists, to be that which refers to Indian law and the Wesleyans. The U. P.
and administration. Hitherto, Great Church of North America was unoffi- Britain has followed the policy to rec- cially represented, while the Victorian ognize and follow the laws which it Baptists, the Scandinavian Alliance found in existence. They sanction Mission, and the Kurku and Central the pernicious caste system and the India Hill Mission approved of the child marriage and .allow the burning Federation, but sent no representa- of widows (which was forbidden by tives.
a special law, but is said to be carried The following resolution was on in secret), and other inhuman in- adopted: stitutions which degrade the people "The Federation shall not interfere morally and socially. Now the Em- with the existing creed of any church peror has ordered that the old relig- or society entering into its fellowship, ious books of India, the very sources or with its internal order or external
relations. But in accepting the prin- Shah has added to the distress, and ciple that the Church of God is one, some thirty towns near Hamadan are and that believers are the body of reported sacked. The famine has be- Christ and severally members thereof, come so acute that cannibalism is the federating churches agree to rec- said to be resorted to in some dis- ognize each other's discipline, and to tricts to satisfy hunger.
welcome members of other federating Russia is largely responsible for churches to Christian fellowship and these conditions, and the hearts of communion, while leaving each church the missionaries grow sick as they free to adopt such forms regarding see Persia's unhappy state and dark orders, ministry, and admission to outlook. The only hope is in God.
membership as it believes to be in ac- He can change the evil turn in the cordance with the teaching of Scrip- tide, and doubtless will in His own ture and the mind of Christ." I!ood time.
A Another resolution was adopted in- THE MEN OF THE SOUTHLAND viting churches which can not see WONDERFULLY inspiring con- their way to enter the Federation, to vention was that of the Lay- unite with the federating churches in men's Missionary Movement of the conferences for mutual help in the Southern Presbyterian Church in work. A committee was appointed to Chattanooga on February 6th, 7th carryon negotiations looking toward and 8th. As a result of the first such conferences with the non-federa- convention in Birmingham three years ting churches. ago, there have been many new mis- TROUBLES IN PERSIA sionaries and a large increase in the offerings of the Church. The Chat- PERSIA'S unhappy condition comes tanooga convention brought together both from internal weakness and over I,5oo representative men, nearly from external irritation by Russia 300 of whom were pastors. Two theo- and Great Britain. Mr. Shuster com- logical seminaries sent their whole plains that the jealousy of these two body of students.
powers hampered him and put an end In the addresses the delegates heard to his successful work of reorganizing of what others are doing, and were the Persian national financiers and encouraged by words of commenda- refilling- the national treasury so that tion. The history of the missionary the Government could institute and work of the Church was eloquently carry out reforms and improvements. reviewed by Dr. James 1. Vance, and He affirms that Great Britain and the various mission fields of to-day Russia prepared to keep Persia weak were reviewed as to their conditions and in debt for their own purpDses. and their needs.
Now famine has added its quota of Much emphasis was laid on train- ills to poverty; misrule and bloodshed. ing the future leadership of the The Kurds are ravaging the border- Church, but that which will live long- land, and ruining the crops, so that est in the memory of those present Turkey is joining in the work of is the elimax on the last night. Ever rendering Persia helpless. The re- since the Eirmingham Convention, the bellion under the brother of the ex- Church, largely through the Laymen's
Movement, has been laboring to fur- naries and colleges. Then the aunish an object-lesson by completely dience demanded its turn; in a few equipping its Korean field, both with moments pledges were made to send missionaries and with institutions. at least ten to the field as soon as With the exception of two physicians they could go. It was a thrilling and three teachers, this force has been scene, impossible to describe, but one provided and its support insured. which will never be forgotten by those The last fourteen missionaries met at who witnessed it.-JAS. LEWIS HOWE. Chattanooga, and after a portrayal of conditions in Korea, the departing A MILLION DOLLARS FOR MISSIONS missionaries came to the platform and were introduced to the audience. It THE United Presbyterian Church was a scene of great enthusiasm, ranks among the smaller ecclesimingled with emotion, as the Union Seminary quartet softly sang "Speed astical bodies, but stands near the Away, Speed Away, on Your Er- front for missionary zeal. As evirand of Light." dence, we note the following propo- sition which has been published: After the Korean band had been seated on one side of the platform, The Million-dollar Campaign pro- Rev. Motte Martin, of the Kongo poses a simultaneous every-member Mission, told the story of its needs; canvass in every congregation during the force depleted, the natives from the month of March, 1912, for a 300 miles away, begging in vain for weekly pledge for missions to be Bible teachers, and the native Church paid during the year beginning April praying for So more missionaries to I, 1912. The following schedule rebe sent. At the close of this ap- veals the possibilities for the campeal, Mr. Campbell White, knowing paIgn: that there were those present who had already volunteered for the Kongo, Per Week 26,000 asked those who would respond to 50 members at $10.00 …………. $ 78,000 this call to come to the platform. 300 members at 5.00 ………… . 208,000 Twenty-five men and four young 2,000 members at 2.00 ………… . 260,000 women came and stood there, eager 5,000 members at 1.00 ………… . 130,000 to go forth and win Central Africa 156,000 for Christ. Among these were some 5,000 members at .50 ………… . 156,000 of the choicest men from the semi- 12,000 members at .25 ………… . 78,000 30,000 members at .10 ………… . 41,600 30,000 members at .OS ………… . 40,000 members at .02 . ……….. .
124,350 $1,133,600 Leaving from 12,000 to 14,000 members not included in the above schedule.
HEIGHTS AND DEPTHS OF
BY .T. N. FARQUHAR, CALCUTTA, INDIA General Student Secretary, National Y. M. C. A., India ~. T HERE are two sides to pose so as to suit men at every most questions, but not stage of religious advancement. That there has been corruption during the often do we find such centuries is acknowledged, but these excrescences, it is alleged, can easily . a hopeless divergence be removed; and the faultless original , ~ of opinion as there exists at the present moment on the subject of the charac- faith will then remain.
ter and value of Hinduism. On the Since Hinduism is thus so great, its one side stand modern educated Hin- defenders declare that it is the best dus and the Theosophical Society, gathering center for all the religions who speak of Hinduism as one of of the world. Here all other faiths the greatest, probably the very great- can be harmonized and reconciled.
est, of all the religians. They say Certain considerable elements of this that it is spiritual through and most favorable judgment would be through; that it contains a most noble accepted by impartial European scholmoral system; and that in intellectual ars. The Hindu has many fine quo- subtlety and truth, and in spiritual tations at his finger ends from Miil- power, its philosophy stands supreme. ler, Deussen, Garbe, and others which They point to the myriads of monks he sets out to the best advantage to and hermits who have lived in India show that his estimate of the reas evidence that here more than in ligion is reasonable.
any other land the true spirit of as- On the other side there stand a ceticism has been manifested. They large number of Christian mISSIOnregard the forms of Hindu life as aries and a few scholarly writers almost perfect, since they hallow who, in varied terms and with vary- every element of the family, of so- ing emphasis, declare that, tho Hin- ciety, and of public life. They are duism contains a number of good bold enough even to deny that the things, it is yet one of the grossest worship of the common people in the of all religions. They characterize temples of the land is idolatrous, and the common religion of the people pronounce it lofty and spiritual. as idolatrous, ritualistic, superstitious, Images are only a means for helping often barbarous, and here and there the uneducated toward the real spiri- grossly filthy and immoraL They tual worship which they practise. The point out that the stories of the gods, whole system, whether the practise of and especially the histories of the the home, the worship of the priests incarnations of Vishnu, which hold or the ritual of the temple, is said to such a large place in the religion of be filled with rich meaning down to the people, are utterly unhistorical, the lowest details. The various as- sheer fabrications. The forms of pects of the faith, from the loftiest family and of social life in vogue philosophy down to the simplest among the Hindus are to these think- image worship, are explained as ers cruel in the extreme, inhuman, merely different expressions of the utterly condemnable, and the Brah- one inner spirit, varied of set pur- mans are the worst enemies of India.
While these writers recognize that view. Here we have one cause of the various forms of Hindu philoso- the difficulty of increasing missionary phy are exceedingly subtle and con- revenue. Now and then one sees an tain many striking suggestions, they article in which missionaries on furpoint out that, regarded as religion, lough are denounced as the greatest the philosophy is simply false, that liars on earth. It is thus time that it has rather hindered than helped an attempt were made to show clearly the progress of reform within Hin- where the truth lies. duism, and that it has been for many centuries one of the greatest bulwarks We begin with certain aspects of of the gross idolatry of the Hindu the religion which seem to favor the temple. Modern ascetics are con- Hindu claims. demned as dirty, ignorant, idle, often immoral, living on the charity of the The Beauties of Hinduism people and doing nothing for India. While the literature of Hinduism has (a) Hinduism as a system is based many high qualities, as literature, its on a belief in revelation. The Hindu general effect upon the mind of the lives under laws which he says were people is said to be exceedingly bad, directly revealed for the guidance of since it stands in the way of all re- his race. His religion is in no sense form, upholding the grossest abuses a rationalism. The people, like the of the family, society and the temple, Israelites, have always believed themand since large sections of it are selves to be holy, because born in a hideously immoral. holy race and purified by divinely appointed sacraments. Holiness and The chasm between these two purity, however formal the concepparties threatens to widen rather than tions may be, are regarded as the to narrow; for while there is a grow- very core of the religious life. ing movement among missionaries toward a sympathetic attitude toward . Every part of the Hindu system is the religions of India, the Hindu mediated by priests, who come of a party, on the other hand, have been race believed to have been created by steadily increasing their claims as to Heaven for the priestly office. Man the value of their religion. It is is acknowledged to be separated from clearly a matter of considerable mo- God and to need a God-appointed ment that the truth should become mediator. recognized; for, if the Hindus are wrong, the present flood of panegyric To the Hindu the family is a sais exceedingly unhealthy for the Hin- cred, a mystic community, to which du people; while, if the missionaries belong equally the dead, the living, are mistaken, their work will suffer and the unborn. The well-being of seriously from their wrong attitude all depends upon the reverent worto the religion they have to meet. ship of the dead, and the faithful We ought also to notice that the fulfilment of all duties, by the living feeling of the uninformed public of members. The father is head of the Europe and America tends to favor family, controlling its religion and its the Hindu rather than the missionary property, ruling his wife and all his male descendants and their families, and seeing to their welfare. The wife and the son, altho subject to the father, have each an honored place.
I9 I2 THE HEIGHTS AND DEPTHS OF
The widow is the nun of the family. (c) The ideas that inspire Hindu Even the domestic cow is revered. asceticism are bold, far-reaching, not to say extravagant. No other land Society, no less than the family, is has gone so far as India in its condivine to the Hindu. The most promi- tempt for everything that appeals to nent characteristic of caste is its the senses. But the most amazing divinity: it is ordained of God in thing about it is its tremendous realevery detail. The purposes also ity, the fact that so many thousands which underlie the caste system are of men in all the centuries have flung of great importance and moral worth, themselves into the ascetic life and altho the means employed, to our have endured such self-denial and modern experience, are very far from such suffering as ordinary human nasatisfactory. The guarding of purity ture shrinks from. In modern times was probably the main aim in view in the movement has withered. There the formation of the system, purity is comparatively little seriousness in of food, of race, of custom and mo- it, and there is more show than sufrality. In the early days, when the fering. Yet even now it is with a caste system took form, no other sudden shock of surprize that one means was open to the people of the realizes how many thousands of men world than social exclusiveness. That and women live in nakedness, rags, was the method universally used in poverty, and dirt. The force of the the ancient world. In thinking of the belief behind it, that the ascetic is strength of caste feeling among mod- the only saint, is very great indeed. ern Hindus, all these facts must be kept in view, as well as the pride (d) The philosophy of India stands which plays so large a part to-day. apart from all other speculation. No- where else has intellectual thought eb) Despite its grossness and un- been so directly and for so long a time at the service of religion. The cleanness, the popular worship of the best Hindu philosophy is from first temples of India has for two millen- to last spiritual in aim, and in much niums given the ignorant masses of of its outworking it is spiritual also. the people a way to worship the In- Hence, while the Upanishads in cerfinite, an outlet for religious feeling, tain respects fall far behind Western and a place of hope in time of dire thought in devotional earnestness and trouble. They have felt their gods power, there is probably no other were with them. The blood-stained philosophic literature to match them. sacrifice, the noisy celebration of a With the rise of the Gita, Indian phigod's birthday, or the quiet offering losophy bec:ame connected with the of a few leaves and water, has been popular worships. In consequence, of real service in the piteous blind- multitudes of men, who otherwise ness of their quivering hearts. Tho would have had no touch with the they worship Gam~sa with the ele- best thought, have been introduced to phant head, or Kali, the Black, with philosophy. the projecting tongue, or some even more gruesome idol, •their priests (e) Not the least noticeable among have told them that their worship .is the religious groups of Hinduism are really received by the one God behind the many sects that teach incarnaall their images and ceremonies.
tion and bhakti,' and in many ways civilization, gave the people a certain they are the most healthy of all the standard of moral life and character· groups within the religion. The and the consciousness of belonging theology of these systems is usually to a great system and a great people.
very crude; yet we should acknowledge It is also certain that, apart from the that each one aims at theism, at spiritu- tenacity and strength of the caste and ality and an improved morality. It family system of Hinduism, the Hin- is clear from the literature that mul- du people in later ages would have titudes of men from every class have been cut to pieces and ground to been greatly helped in their religious powder by the successive invasions life by the doctrine of bhakti, a pas- from Central Asia. Instead of losing sion of devotion toward the Lord of their identity and their culture, they the sect. This doctrine was usually finally absorbed every group of for- associated with some rudimentary eigners except monotheists.
idea of salvation by faith. Thirdly, surely no Christian can There are three general considera- study Hinduism without being stirred tions which ought not to be over- to his very depths a thousand times looked in seeking to estimate the with the consciousness that most of value of Hinduism. the forms of this extraordinary r~ The first is this, that the ascetic, ligion are essentially, eternally right, philosophic and bhakti movements in spite of all the degradation with were clearly inspired by spiritual which they are filled. The cult of motives and aspirations. They were the Persian Mithra, which won such founded by men who were not satis- remarkable success in the Roman fied with the ordinary Hinduism of army, had so many points of resem- the family, the priest and the temple, blance to Christianity tbat the early men who had a passionate desire for Christians declared that it must have release from the bondage of the been invented by the devil for the world, for knowledge of God, for purpose of entrapping souls. The re- some sort of living fellowship with semblance between Hinduism and the Divine. The literature of these . Christianity is in many ways far movements and the institutions they deeper and more real. In form, at have created are clear proof of the least, one can find as many parallels lofty aims and the self-sacrificing in Hinduism to Christianity as in purpose of the great leaders. ancient Judaism. How powerful, then, The Success of Hinduism must be the influence of these forms The second point to be noted is the upon the minds of Hindus.
tremendous success which the Hindu The Errors of Hinduism scheme as a whole has won in India.
The Aryan immigrants were but as 'vYe now reverse the shield and a small quantity of leaven amid the begin to look at numerous details in thronging tribes of the Indian penin- Hindu life and worship which have sula. Yet the Brahmans, with their not yet come within our survey.
social and theological system, organ- ( a) We begin with this, that altho ized practically the whole popula- the forms of the Hindu system are tion, covered the peninsula with their admirable in many ways, the content!
HEIGHTS AND DEPTHS OF
are simply pagan. The ceremonial of men that this symbol suggests no evil the daily prayers, of the domestic passion or unclean idea to the wor- sacraments, of the temple worship shipers, and that statement must be and of the great festivals is purely accepted as far as possible; yet the external, the value of the whole de- fact remains that India is the last pending on the ritual correctness of remaining civilized country that worword and deed. ships a phallic symbol to-day. These objects of worship were once almost The worship of the people is idola- universal throughout the world, but trous from beginning to end. This with the spread of civilization they is true, even of the followers of the have disappeared. There were abunphilosophies, of modern ascetics, and dance of such things in Japan sixty of the Bhakti sects as well. Worship years ago; but when the awakening is not offered to the incomprehensible came they were swept out of exist- Atman, the impersonal God of Hindu ence. It is scarcely comprehen ,ibl:, philosophy. It is Kali, Siva, Rama, how the modern Hindu can have his Krishna, Ganesa, Hanuman, or some little daughter go to the temple and other member of the innumerable be taught the meaning of what she pantheon that is adored. The di- sees in the shrines of Siva. No vinity is believed to be present in the amount of philosophic mystification image; to the god present in the can whitewash this horrible practise. image the Hindu offers his worship and his oblation; to him he makes There is much actual licentiousness his petition. This cult is identical wrapt up in the literature and reboth in spirit and in method with the ligion of India. Large parts of the use of images among the ancient Sanskrit M ahabharata are foul in the Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and extreme, and certain of the vernacu- Romans. To say that it is not idol- lar versions of both epics are exceedatry is simply a gross misuse of lan- ingly immoral. A great deal of the guage. literature of Krishnaism is erotic and very unclean. Many of the Tantras Those who have not wandered are unfit for publication. We do not about India and watched the people refer to casual references to sexual at their devotions can have little idea matters such as are found in the how monstrous and degrading the greatest literature of all nations, but objects of worship are. While all the to narratives filled with sensualism great gods are represented as anthro- and evil suggestion. It is no wonder, pomorphic, there is scarcely one of therefore, that one group of the Sakthem that has not some monstrous tas who use the Tantras and certain feature; and the vast majority of the Krishnaite sects make sexual immoobjects of Hindu worship are not rality a part of their worship. These even human: they are animals, de- facts about the literature make one mons, devils, evil spirits, stones, trees external fact less amazing than it and sllch like. There is one other would otherwise be, namely this, that fact that must be frankly stated here. there are attached to most of the The commonest of all objects of wor- great temples of southern India bands ship throughout India is the lingam of prostitutes who are known as of Siva. We are told by competent
servants of the god, and who do now Vishnu and Siva actually appeared in and then take part in the worship human life. Yet even the tales of with song and dance, but whose real Krishna and Rama as avatars of occupation is very different. Scouts Vishnu, by far the noblest parts of are sent out throughout the country Vishnuism, are mythological from be- to seek out and buy, for this horrible ginning to end. Every scholar ac- life, girl babies who are not wanted knowledges the fact. The question where they have been born. is never even discust.
There are a number of customs Again, these systems are hopelessly prescribed in the inspired legal litera- vicious in this way, that no one of ture of Hinduism and still practised them is a true monotheism. Siva or in every Hindu household, which are Vishnu, Rama or Krishna, whichever simply savage survivals. For example, it may be, is simply one of the mul- a dead body, a new-born child and titude of Hindu gods, selected by a its mother, must not be touched, as certain sect, and by them raised to they are unclean and will pollute any the dignity of the Supreme. But person who touches them. For this while one sect acclaims Krishna, an- reason, when a pregnant woman's other shouts in favor of Rama, and time comes, she is placed in some a third crowns Siva; and whichever shed or barn never used for human is raised to the proud position, his habitation, or in a hut specially wife and children share his glory, and erected for the purpose, and is not all the other gods of the Hindu pan- allowed to enter any room of the theon retain their old positions around house until a certain number of days him, and are recognized as his friends have elapsed. In the funeral service and relatives. Honored modern schol- a ball of rice and hopey is offered, ars have deliberately used the word which the spirit of the dead man is monotheism of one or other of these believed to eat, and from which he systems. We would respectfully sub- is believed to develop the material mit that, from the point of view of body which he requires in the other honest thinking, that is a very grave world. In the memorial services for misuse of language. The fact that the dead, a similar ball is offered to idolatry is found in every Bhakti sect the spirit of each departed ancestor. is further proof, if proof were needed, All this is pure savage superstition. that we have here no true monothe- The contents of the traditional Hindu ism, but merely a rearrangement of system are pagan. the divinities of Hindu polytheism.
(b) While the Bhakti sects of (c) Similarly the great aims which modern time are probably the noblest gave birth to Hindu asceticism and products of the Hindu spirit, yet their philosophy do not save these systems system is altogether impossible to from fatal defects which make them modern minds. The power which the totally unfit for acceptance to-day. If incarnations of Vishnu or the theo- the ideas which underlie the Ve- phanies of Siva exercise over the danta and the life of ancient Hindu hearts of modern Hindus arises alto- monks were really, actually, true, we gether from the belief that they are should be driven, by the sheer neces- historical, from the conviction that sity of honest logic, to demand that
THE HEIGHTS AND DEPTHS OF HINDUISM
all marriage should cease, that all poison which has worked through all men, women and children should give the centuries in the Hindu family, up family and social life, should re- producing in turn polygamy, infanti- tire to the deserts and forests, and cide, the refusal of education to girls, live in complete renunciation of so- child marriage, the prohibition of ciety, civilization, business, art, and widow marriage, the burning of worship, until the human race had widows, and the zenana system.
vanished from the face of our planet. (e) The frightful wrongs of caste, Either the implications of the Ve- which are now so widely recognized danta and the ideals of Hindu asceti- as immoral and inimical to national cism are true, and therefore healthy life by Hindus, similarly spring from for every human being, or else they the very center of the Hindu system.
are false. It is in the doctrine of transmigration There is one fact which is quite that the conception of caste finds its sufficient to destroy absolutely the ground. According to that doctrine, claim of the Vedanta to be worthy of men, when they return to the world, comparison with Christianity. The are at many various stages of spiri- God of the Vedanta is outside and tual progress, and the caste into which above morality. To the ancient mind each is born is precisely the social this seemed to be an essential element stage for which his spiritual condi- in the conception of the Absolute. To tion fits him. Thus, you can not root speak of the eternal God as moral out the caste system, with all its would have seemed to the early lIin- inhuman abuses, until you have rooted du to be a degradation of the Su- out transmigration.
preme to the level of a man. But Final Conclusions Judaism and Christianity have given the world from revelation that which We are thus brought to two final the philosophers were never able to conclusions with regard to this really give from speculation, the concept of great and fascinating religion. The the Supreme as essential!y moral and first is that the Hindu system, as a the source of the moral law. To ac- system, is hopelessly pagan through cept to-day a theology which does and through, fast bound to ritualistic not contain that priceless element polytheism, idolatry and savage su- would be as absurd as to accept a perstition, and yet that this hopeless science which does not insist upon system is shot through and through the constant consultation of nature. with innumerable lines of light, which (d) It is of the greatest importance have helped to guide myriads of to realize that the grievous wrongs souls throughout the centuries, and which the Hindu family system im- which as honest men we must ac- poses on women are not external knowledge and give their legitimate abuses which can be readily removed place to.
by a slight reform. The Hindu family The second conclusion is that as- is founded on ancestor worship, which <;eticism, philosophy, and the modern in every land has made the father the Bhakti sects have each and all arisen lord of the family and has depre- in response to a passionate desire for ciated woman. This is the ancient a truly spiritual religion, and have
each displayed an amollnt of spiritual the gross after a pattern. Further, wealth, but that all are to-day com- the real truth that is in Hinduism plete failures, because they have not ought to be preserved; and the pow- risen above the primeval conception erful inspiration of the saints and of God as nonl1loral, and Lave not heroes of former times must be saved shaken themselves free frOl1l the an- for the people of India. cient Brahmanical system with its poisonous doctrines of transmigration Strangely enough, as soon as we and ancestor-worship and its myriad begin to think of Christianity alongpagan elements. side of Hinduism, a most remarkable correspondence begins to make itself Hinduism every clear-eyed scholar felt. Nearly all the forms of ancient acknowledges to be a very great re- Hindu life reappear, transfigured, in ligion; yet it is hopelessly unfit for Christianity. There is not a spiritual the modern world or for man's high- aspiration exprest in the Upanishads, est needs. Nothing can save it from in the philosophies, in asceticism, or destruction. But while we unhesita- in the Bhakti theologies, that does not tingly condemn it as unfit for modern find perfect spiritual satisfaction in men, we ought as frankly to acknowl- Jesus Christ. While His Spirit will edge that the ancient system could tolerate nothing that is unworthy of scarcely have been other than it was. His Heavenly Father and the high The Brahmans built amazing well destiny of His human brothers, He with the materials they had: it was can take the nobiest elements of Hinscarcely their fault that better mate- du thought and fill them with a spiririals were not available. tual content which will satisfy the thirst of India, unquenched. so long. While Hinduism is destined to pass away, it will not disappear com- The correspondence between the pletely. Modern investigation has two faiths is very remarkable. There taught us that a change of religion are points of contact, it is true, benever makes a c0mplete break. There tween Mohammedanism and Hinduis always continuity of religious life ism, but they are trivial compared in some degree. It is impossible to with the relationships between the destroy men's minds and to recreate Gospel of Christ and the higher ideals them in a new shape. However po- of India. The human mind and hutent the new faith may be, it has to man needs are everywhere one. The work with the men who were created Hindu people, who possess remarkby the old system. Especially in the able religious gifts, have worked out case of a really mighty and pervasive into society and theology far more religion, such as Hinduism is, it fully than any other people the eswould be folly to expect that it will sential religious aspirations of the not color the future faith of the coun- human mind. Christianity is the one try. Nor ought we to desire such a faith which can give final spiritual thing. God does not desire to iron satisfaction to those needs of man the human race fiat, to smooth alit all which have received such vivid exnational differences, to make men by pression in Hinduism.
BRITISH MILITARY CAMP NEAR EANNU) ON THE BORDER OF AF"GHANISTAN
MEDICAL EXPERIENCES ON THE AFGHAN FRONTIER BY DR. T. L. PENNELL, BANNU, U. W. F. P., INDIA Author of "Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier"
WO British officers~ considerable freedom in the matter of managing their own affairs acmT were on the march in cording to tradition while restrain- the Tochi Valley, in ing them from tribal warfare, and from the grosser crimes of murder July, 1911. This val- and highway robbery. ley is one of those ~ highroads of commerce One of the two officers mentioned was the engineer in charge of the which connect Central Asia and road, and with him was a Hindu sub- overseer. Along the road were gangs Afghanistan with British India. The of coolies at work repairing the damage done by the rains and the tribes on the neighboring mountains mountain streams. These coolies were drawn from the tribes of the are independent and have never ac- valley itself, and from neighboring tribes of fanatical Afghans, whose knowledged allegiance to any ruler. mullahs were constantly filling their minds with religious hatred and were The British have, however, built a teaching them that the murder of a Christian officer would be a most good metalled cart-road along the meritorious act, and that if they themselves should lose their lives in vaney, and have established military posts from the point where the val- ley first leaves the plains of India up to the head of the pass, eighty miles farther on, and 5,000 feet higher up. Here they administer the valley area, not exactly according to the penal code of India, but by the compromise of allowing the tribes
consequence, an immediate entrance Hindu widow was left to weep in into the joys of Paradise was await- Dannu. ing them. In this episode we have an example As the officers made their tour of of the old fanaticism still burning in inspection a coolie would often run the hearts of the Afghans in COI11up to the engineer in charge of the parison with the new ideals growing road with a petition for the removal up in the minds of those who have of some real or imagined grievance, learned "the larger hope, the kindor for some pay kept back by an un- lier hand," and who in the comradescrupulous contractor, or for an in- ship of East and West have been crease of pay. ready to risk and lose their own lives for the Christians, whom at one time The two officers were in a cart, the they misunderstood and hated. engineer and his overseer seated behind, and when they saw one of the How are our frontier missions workers on the road running after striving to bring about this change? them they thought one of these motives had actuated some petitioner. Ring out the slowly dying cause The engineer, therefore, ordered the And ancient forms of party strife; coachman to stop the cart. It was Ring in the nobler modes of life only when the man had overtaken With sweeter manners, purer laws. them that the engineer saw a long Afghan knife flash out from under The old trinity of "teaching, preachthe man's cloak as he made a lunge ing, and healing" are now, as ever, at him. There was no time to draw the marching orders of the Christian the revolver which was lying by his missionary, but the outward forms in side on the seat of the cart, but a which these are carried out vary with kick out into the man's face parried place and time. The teaching is fothe blow. In another moment the cused in our schools, the healing in Hindu overseer (who had been a our hospitals and medical work, and student in the Bannu School) had preaching pervades both, besides beleapt out of his seat on top of the ing used in the bazaars of the cities, man, and they fell together into the or in itinerating among the villages of roadway, the Afghan underneath. the plain and in the scattered hamlets There they lay for a moment grap- of the hills. pling with each other. The two English officers jumped down, seized and But underlying all is one great pinioned the man, but the Hindu lay principle, that of contact. The mere motionless; they raised him and mechanical contact of master with found to their dismay a gaping pupil, of doctor with patient, leads to wound on the right side, where the nothing and bears no fruit in the assassin's knife had pierced the over- spiritual sphere, but there is the seer's liver and inflicted a mortal closer, more vital, contact of heart wound. They lifted him tenderly to heart, of one living, throbbing, into the cart, but before they could sympathizing spirit touched with the reach the post and obtain medical love of Christ, fired with the Spirit assistance life had fled and another of God, with a longing, hoping, hun- gry soul, for whom Christ yearns and for whom He died. School work, hospital ward work, itineration. dis-
EXPERIENCES ON THE AFGHAN
rATIENTS WA fTING OUTSIDe THE oPERATING ROOM AT n ANN U pensing and preaching are all valuable schools and colleges, however sucbecause fraught with opportunities cessful our medical work! of this kind. In the school-room and the wards the barrier that parts soul The Afghans have a tradition that from soul disappears like a wall of ice one of their ancestors having sinned, in the dog days, and the heart makes God saw fit to punish him with a known its needs and aspirations. ban that should descend to all his How constantly we missionaries are generations. "From this time forth reminded that the outward mechan- there will always be discord in your isms of our work are useless, or mere family." "How, then," ask the Afencumbrances unless the Spirit of ghans, "can you expect us to forego God is thus working from heart to the blood feuds and tribal quarrels heart and thus drawing all to Him- which decimate our young men and self! How humiliating this thought weaken our nation before its eneis to our human pride when we feel mies? It is all ordained by fate." that unless our own hearts are in tune with the great God of Love, and A certain tribe on the Bannu borunless our lives are fashioned after der lost a camel last spring. They Him who took upon Himself the traced the footprints along the riverform of a servant, that He might beds, through the jungles, over the bear our shame, then we are hin- mountain sides, till they came to the drances to the progress of His King- lands of the next tribe. Here they dom, however crowded our high lost it. In such a case it becomes the duty of that tribe either to follow lip the trace into the lands of some
other tribe, or to deliver up the cdmcl der died they were willing to C0111or its value in cash. In this case pound for the wounded by a money the tribe denied all responsibilIty, and payment. If not-then blood for refused compensation. The trackers blood. left, vowing retaliation. On the way back they passed a yoman of the re- It is one of the articles in -the calcitrant tribe gathering firewood. tribal code of honor that the mission They seized her and carried her off. hospital is neutral ground, on which The news soon spread and the warriors there must be no retaliation. Still of her tribe seized their rifles, buckled l'athans are quick-tempered, and on their cartridge belts, and started when they come to words swords in pursuit. They reached a ridge are soon drawn, so we thought better overlooking a ravine on the other to put the other wounded in a reside of which were the trackers ma- mote part of the hospital, where they king off with the woman. Both sides would not see much of the first party. took cover and opened fire. One of The last two arrivals soon recovered the trackers fell dead, shot through and were discharged, but it was not the head; his brother, standing by until after months of suffering and him, took ailTl at the man who had fever that the broken shoulder shot him, and shattered his shoulder. mended and we were able to dis- Two more of the trackers were shot, charge the man with a fairly useful one through the side and one through arm. the leg. They then left the woman and carried off their dead and As each of the wounded had sevwounded. eral stalwarts to attend and nurse him, we had many opportunities of The next morning a blood-stained preaching the Gospel to the men of litter was brought into the mission those two tribes, men who would hospital by a party of travel-worn have scorned to listen to it but for tribesmen; on it was the man with a the mission hospital. Here their shattered shoulder. He had a terrible hearts were softened, and they promwound, but we hoped to save the ised to lay aside their animosities at arm, and soon the wounded man and least for a season, and before the his attendants were comfortably last man left the hospital we had the housed in one of our "family wards." oatisfaction of knowing that the two The wound was cleaned and drest tribes were once more, at least outand some medicine was administered wardly, on a friendly footing. to relieve the excessive pain,- made so much worse by a night-long journey On another occasion of tribal warover rough mountain roads. fare, one side brought their wounded down to Bannu, where they were ad- The next morning another party mitted to our wards, but the other arrived with two litters, containing side, on hearing this, were unwilling the two wounded men of the other to run the risk of being treated in tribe. Their wounds were not so such close proximity to their foes. serious as that of the first man, but They wished, however, to be under one of their number had been killed. our care, so they took their wounded If the man with the shattered shoul- to our outstation at ThaI, where they were admitted into the Lord Roberts
I9121 MEDICAL EXPERIENCES ON THE AFGHAN FRONTIER
Hospital. On the occasions of our story, which is related ill 111y book,* visits there they would slyly ask after is repeated here because the poor the progress of the wounded foes, man has just returned to see me, and inwardly hoping that mortification or lockjaw or some such thing might DR . P 2 NNELL AND T HE AFGH AN WHO WAS BL[NDED have supervened, and asking with BY HIS ENEMIES feeling, "Have you not had to ampu- tate so-and-50's leg?" another chim- I had his photograph taken on the ing in with " It was I who shot him.'· hospital veranda. He is resigned, bllt still lamen ts that he has no SOI1 In the autumn of 1907 a fine, stal- to revenge his loss. wart W azir was brought to the Bannu Mission Hospital in a pitiable A few month s back a Wazir state; both of his eyes had been mountaineer was carried down to our slashed out and utterly blinded with hospital on a bed, with severe frac- a knife. His story was that his tures of the rig ht arm and right enemies came on him unexpectedly in thigh. Some Mahud robbers had his cottage one day, beat his wife fallen on the village flocks and driven into insensibility, tied him to a bed, some of them away. Alarm was and then deliberately destroyed his given in the village, and a party set eyes with a knife. His wife came to off in pursuit. This man was one the hospital with him, suffering from of the pursuers, and in his haste he severe contusions and some broken had left his rifle and had taken only ribs, and we put them both into one of our small "family wards"-so • "Among the Wil<l Tribes of the Afghan F ran· called becau se father, mother, and tier," Chapter V. children, if there be any, can alI stop together fo r treatment. It was pain- ful to have to tell him that he would never see again, and still more pain- ful to hear him as he piteously said, "0, sahib, if you can give me some sight only j ust long enough to go and shoot my enemy, then I shall be satisfied to be blind all the rest of my life." It could not be. His lot would probably become that of the numerous blind beggars that throng Eastern bazaars, for who would plow his land now, or speak for him in the village council? From pure pity . we kept him a few weeks that he might hear the story of the Gospel, of good will and forgiveness, but he would shake hi s head and sig h, "No, that teaching is not for us. . What I want is revenge-revenge!" This
a sword. They came up with the mind inconsistent with the attitude marauders, who promptly took cover of l'Iohammedans toward Christ and behind some rocks, and opened a fu- the Gospel. Before making his dif- sillade. He was shot in the arm, and ficulties known to us he came several the sword fell to the ground. He times to listen to the preaching in the picked it up with the left arm, and out-patient department of the hos- dashed on to the rocks, where the pital. Then he asked for a Gospel, enemy was in hiding, but before he and came for instruction. He was so could reach them another shot shat- quickly entranced by the life of tered his thigh, and he fel! helplessly Christ, and so rapidly threw off the to the ground. As soon as his fellow prejudices of Islam, that we were villagers found leisure from the pur- very soon able to admit him as a suit, they brought him in to us, hoping catechumen. He seemed to make up he would still be fit to fight another his mind almost at once that he had day. solved the difficulties so long troub- The Bannu Mission has not been ling him, and had found peace and without some remarkable converts. happiness in the transcendence of Some are working with us, some are Christ. He wrote to the people in holding government appointments, whose mosque he had been officiating, one was martyred for his faith, all telling them that he had given up have suffered to a greater or less de- Islam for Christ, and that they should gree for it. Some have gone out to arrange for another priest to read foreign lands to preach the Gospel prayers for them. He would spend which once they despised. Others, a great part of the day studying the sad to relate, have stood for a whiie, New Testament, with all the zeal and but when persecution came, have interest of one who has just dis- fallen away and apostatized. covered a new treasure. He would One recent convert, we hope, may have copies in Hindustani, Persian some day become an apostle to his and Pushtu, comparing one with an- own people. M. A. K. was a mullah, other, and using one to elucidate dif- and the Imam (priest) of a town not ficult passages in another, and when far from Bannu. Unlike a majority he came to a passage he could not of the mul1ahs, he studied the mean- understand, or a difficulty he could ing of the text of the Gwia'n, and not solve, resorting straightway to spent some thought on the signifi- me or the catechist for help. Even cance of its teaching. He found that when busy in the hospital, or with considerably more was said in that visitors, one could not help putting book in extolling Christ than in the aside one's work for a few minutes praise of any other prophet, Moham- when one saw him coming up with med included. He found the epithet beaming face and open book in hand; of "Spirit of God" given to Christ, and his genuine delight when the while Mohammed received the epi- passage had been satisfactorily ex- thet of merely "Prophet of God," and plained and his sincere and simple the other great prophets similarly faith were abundant reward.
came far below Christ in their ap- After a few month's instruction we pellations. All this seemed to his were able to accede to his earnest
MEDICAL EXPERIENCES ON THE AFGHAN FRONTIER
desire for baptism, and he dropt the as well as three or four outstations name of Muhammad for that of in connection with each of these. Paulus, as we hoped that one day The Central Asian Mission has be- he might follow in the steps of that gun work at Mardin, in the Peshagreat apostle, and go forth to preach wur district. At each of these places to his fellow countrymen. there is a native church, composed He is now being prepared, not GUL KANINA AND HIS GRANDMOTHE& only by study, but in the school of persecution' and hardship. partly of Afghan converts and partly of Indians who have come up to The life histories of many re- these parts in either mission or govmarkable converts have been recorded ernment service. in various mIssIonary periodicals. There was Dilawer Khan, first a Peshawur being the capital of the robber chieftain, then a native of- province, is the most fully equipped. ficer in the Regiment of Guides, and It has a mission college, teaching up finally martyred in the snows of Chi- to the B.A. degree of the Punjab tral; there was Abdul Karim, a con- University, and there are four Engvert of Kandahar, who attempted to lish graduates on its staff. There preach the Gospel in Afghanistan, are mission high schools in Peshabut was imprisoned and tortured in wur, Bannu, and Dera Ismail Khan. Kandahar, and at last murdered near In these boys are prepared for the Kabul; there was Syed Badshah, a matriculation examination of the unimullah of Brannu, who, after a short versity. The largest school is at but faithful service, was murdered Bannl1, in which more than 650 boys in his bed one night at Eannu; there study. All these institutions have was Nazirullah, a convert of Quetta, enticed across the frontier by his own relations, and then done to death; these and many others have suffered for their faith and not been ashamed, and have passed to their reward and the Master's "Well done!" There are many more now witnessing for their Lord, not only in the frontier mission stations on the borders of Afghanistan, but some, too, who have gone forth to other lands as Afghan missionaries of the Cross, to Burma, to Bengal, to the Persian Gulf, to Arabia, and even to East Africa.
There are two societies at present working on the Afghan frontier, the principal being the Church Missionary Society, which has large and fully equipped missions at Peshawur, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Quetta,
hostels in connection with them, for When work was first started on students who come from the more this frontier it was difficult if not distant parts of the district. They perilous for the missionary to itineare under the direct supervision of rate in the villages. Now matters European missionaries, and no greater have so far changed that a medical opportunities could be afforded for missionary at least gets a cordial welinfluencing and educating the best come wherever he goes. Almost any spirits of the rising generation than village that we enter is the home of the close contact of missionary and some of our old patients, and one student in class-room, in playground, or other of these comes running out and in hostel. to meet us, and becomes our guard and our guide, and even our host, as There are mission hospitals at long as we care to stop there. More- Peshawur, Hannt1, Dera Ismail Khan over, he will gain a hearing from and Quetta, and subsidiary dispens- the other people for our message, aries at most of the outstations. At introducing us as old friends. Our these hospitals during the year 1910 hospital in Bannu was begun in the no less than 236,167 visits were paid autumn of 1893 with a small ward by outpatients; 5,008 were treated for twelve patients. Work rapidly as in-patients in the hospital wards, increased, and patients flocked in and 10,182 operations were per- from every quarter, and we graduformed. At all the hospitals at least ally added to our accommodations as one but generally several Gospel ad- funds permitted, till, at the present dresses are given daily to the out- time, we have beds for seventy papatients, while those in the ward tients. So far, however, is this from have the benefit of regular services adequately meeting our wants, that and systematic teaching, not to speak during a good part of last winter we of the atmosphere of Christian sym- had as many as 150 patients in the pathy and service by which they are hospital at one time, and this altho surrounded. Quite a large propor- we refused cases that were not really tion of both in- and out-patients are urgent, admitting only those that remen and women who have come from quired operation, or had come from over the border, and from Afghani- great distances. Besides this, some stan itself, for medical and surgical of our old wards were cheaply built treatment. 'When these return to of mud-brick for temporary necessity, their far distant homes, they retail and urgently require rebuilding, We to their friends in town and village have prepared plans and estimates stories not only of the kind treatment for new wards to cost 12,000 ($10,- they have received, but of the teach- 000). The Church Missionary Soing they have heard. Others take ciety is totally unable to give any asback with them portions of Scrip- sistance toward these buildings, as, ture in Pushtu or Persian, and these owing to its present financial diffiare read and studied privately in culties, it is even curtailing its grants many a mosque and home. To do so to existing work. Weare, therefore, publicly would mean persecution and compelled to appeal for this sum to loss, as the reader would come under those interested in our mission. suspicion of being a possible convert.
I2 ] MEDICAL EXPERIENCES ON THE AFGHAN
When this building is ready, our door is opened to Afghanistan itself women patients will be able to be and to other countries also. housed in an entirely separate building, and this of itself will bring us In some places, where people are many women who can not now come l·icher and more civilized than in to a hospital where complete "pur- Bannu, medical missionaries are able dah" arrangements are not carried largely to support their work through out. I t is often heartrending to be their fees. In Bannu we encourage those who are able, to pay for their A :-OOTBALL TEAM IN THE CHURCH lrUSSION lilGH SCHOOL, BANNU compelled to turn away patients medical attendance or treatment; but through want of space, and when our even so, the amount that we are able wards are completed we hope that to raise is quite inadequate. The the influence of our hospital on both people, on the whole, are poor, and sides of the border will be much the hill tribes have never been in the increased. Moreover, our base hos- habit of paying for their requirepitals are training grounds for con- ments, tho sometimes grateful paverts and other agents whom we are tients bring gifts in kind, as wheat, preparing to become missionaries to flour, eggs, fruit, and milk, which are their own people, and, as soon as the used in the hospital commissariat.
PRAYER HUNG UP IN OPERATING-ROOM OF A CHINESE MISSION HOSPITAL "All powerful Lord of Heaven! This Thy child who is before Thee is sick. VVe, Thy servants, ask Thee for skilful hands and for wisdom to relieve his pain and cure his body, in order th at some day he may understand the love and mercy of his Heavenly Father and return thanks to Thee and come to serve Thee. We ask it all in the name of Tesus Christ the Savior. Amen !"- L .M. S .
AND GOVERNMENT IN
BY B. C. BARBER General Secretary of the Y. M. C. A.. Calcutta NE may wonder that a Queen in her Proclamation of 1858, LOl man like Lord Curzon which says: "Firmly relying our- should say that the selves on the truth of Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude . East was unlikely to the solace of religion, we discla:im alike the right and the desire to im- ~ accept Christianity be- pose our convictions on any of our cause the religions of Asia gave an intelligible theory of the revelations of God to man which subjects. We declare it to be our satisfied the Oriental, and that there royal will and pleasure that none be was something in Christianity hostile in anywise favored, none molested to the self-consciousness of the East. or disquieted by reason of their re- Weare very glad, however, that he ligious faith or observances, but that did not say this as an Indian official. all shall alike enjoy the equal and Other words of this same ruler while impartial protection of the law, and in India came perilously near violating we do strictly charge and enjoin all the principle of religious neutral- those who may be in authority under ity, but it is not often that officials us that they abstain from all intercan be so accused. On the other hand, ference with the religious belief or men in high position have recognized worship of any of our subjects, on the great value of the work of the pain of our highest displeasure."
ITIlSSlOnary. So great an authority as Thus, government officers are fora Secretary of State once wrote in bidden to use their official position his report: "Missionaries have fre- in aid of any religious propaganda, quently addrest the Indian Govern- and most missionaries approve of ment on important social questions this principle. Sir Andrew Fraser, involving the welfare of the native in his new book, "India's Rajahs and community, and have suggested valu- Ryots," refers to it thus: "I have able improvements in existing laws." never consciously favored Christian Sir Andrew Fraser says, "To me it or Hindu or Mohammedan for his has always appeared intensely un- creed, and I have never used my satisfactory to find a government of- official influence in any way to under- ficer and a missionary standing aloof mine or change the faith of any man. from one another and regarding one But I have never regarded the prin- another with suspicion and dislike." ciple of neutrality as involving in- But this attitude is the exception, and difference or opposition to religion." on the whole most cordial relations prevail. The opinion of such an eminent of- ficial as Sir John Lawrence will be But that ideal relations or condi- worth listening to: "It is not postions do not exist is clear. sible to introduce Western learning Religious Neutrality and science into India without lead- The Edinburgh commission suggests ing its people to throw off their faith.
a "searching inquiry" into this point. If this position be correct surely we Does it or do we wish to recede from are bound to give them facilities for the position taken up by the late acquiring a knowledge of the true faith." "Vie believe that the for administering justice. In· many Bible is true, that it is the only means ways they were distinctly not neutral of salvation. Surely we should lend but favored the heathen religions and our influence in making it known to discriminated against Christianity.
our subjects. In respect to One would like to say this attitude teaching the Bible in government has long since passed away, but it is schools and colleges, such teaching not beyond the memory of many of ought to be offered to all those who us here to-night when a high official may be willing to receive it. But in India on more than one occasion we ought not to render attendance urged the adherents of nonchristian on such Bible classes compulsory or religions to stick to their old religi- obligatory." ous beliefs. Of such neutrality, it Such an idea as this is not an anti- has been said that it stands up so quated one, for Sir Mackworth straight that it leans over backward.
Young, in a lenten address on for- "The reiteration and enforcement of eign missions, in Cornhill, in 1902, neutrality has been good if only to speaking of the reason why in God's do away with favoritism to nonchris- providence such power had been tian religions." For my own part 1 given to the British in the East, said: have often tried to imagine where "No true believer in Jesus Christ will India would be to-day if there had fail to give the reply-that Christ been no neutral position, and if may be made known through the Christian rulers had governed as if length and breadth of the land. India they recognized the great benefits has been subordinated to us in order which had accrued to the British that we may communicate to her the Empire or other Christian countries secret of our own preeminence." from accepting Christianity. I be- These few words are sufficiently lieve India herself would have wel- weighty to show that all were not comed a less neutral attitude than and are not of one mind with regard that which she has experienced at to neutrality, and that a fairly liberal our hands.
interpretation might with justice be The Educational Situation placed upon the law. The policy of The Government has been unable to religious neutrality was inherited do all it desired for the education of from the Old John Company of pre- the people, owing to lack of funds. vious days. This was, however, more Many missions, as well as private in theory than practise, for the gov- individuals, have been willing to co- ernment of India as late as 1840 was operate with government in this re- contributing Rs. 53,000 annually to gard, and to expend large sums of the Puri Temple, and helped by money in permanent equipment and grants in many other cases. From a recurring expenses for the privilege Christian memorial presented to Par- of making education an end in itself nament in 1857 we find that idolatry as well as a means to the end of was subsidized, some of its immodest imparting religious instruction and rites attended by government of- of building up character in the youth ficials as the nautch is even to-day, of India. The government has hitherand caste arrangements recognized to welcomed this help and has made
grants-in-aid to such institutions, en- model high schools. This, they afabling them in many cases to do a firm, is to bl;! the beginning of a very efficient work. All such institu- scheme which will be applied to every tions have been under government district of the PreSidency. Such a inspection, but have been left entirely plan will mean (I) the prevention of free with regard to religious instruc- cooperation and the discouragement tion. of private effort by drawing away pupils to these model high schools. Thirty years after the Despatch of Thus, government becomes a competi- 1854, when the Commission of 1882 tor and not a helper; (2) it will remade its report, the Government was quire a very large increase in exmore in favor of private Indian effort penditure and will benefit a comparaas opposed to missionary agency. A tively small proportion. Missionary strong reason set forth for withdraw- education is only half as expensive ing was that private effort could as that given in government instiintroduce religious instruction which tutions; (3) it will prevent the imwas strongly desired. But it seems parting of religious instruction since to me that to say "that withdrawal government must remain neutral. Sir of departmental agency should not ~rthur Lawley, Governor of Madras, take place in favor of missionary said in December last, at the openbodies" is an unjust discrimination ing of the new C. L. S. building in against the Christian religion and a Madras, "I may say that we look violation of the principle of neutral- l1pon missionaries in this country as ity. Lord Curzon's Reform Policy our stalwart and valuable allies in of 1904 reaffirms the policy of with- that great branch of administration drawal, but adds: "The Government which is exciting so much interest of India at the same time recognize just now, viz., Education." Other the extreme importance of the prin- officials have affirmed their warm ciple that in each branch of educa- feeling for missionary educatior; and tion, government should maintain a missionary work, but notwithstanding limited number of institutions, both all this we need to be watchful that as models for private enterprise to our birthright is not divided or follow and in order to uphold a high snatched away altogether. Governstandard of education." Many have ment control is growing, and, from grave fears that this is contrary in all indications, will continue to do its actual operation to the policy of so. As Indians are given greater withdrawal, and that it may prove a power in legislative concerns the great menace to missionary educa- rights and privileges of missions may tion. As a matter of fact, govern- be curtailed. As educational reforms ment seems to be changing front in are making for greater efficiency the many points which will make it dis- enlarged expenditure is being thrust tinctly harder for missionary effort. in too great a proportion upon the In the Madras Presidency, the gov- mission school. ernment declared their purpose to take over from district and municipal One word with regard to teaching boards the management of nineteen religious and ethical ideals in schools secondary schools and to make them and colleges. Neither government,
nor Hindus, nor Mohammedans are Here little can be done and the Chris- satisfied with neutrality. Students tian must suffer, and show by his are given to insubordination, to ta- calm fortitude the superiority of his king part in .politics, and, in many adopted religion, at the same time instances, to immorality, and it is by his suffering, gaining in strength felt by many that the absence of and character. religious instruction is in large part responsible for this. Government may But there is a disability graver still overcome it from the ethical side by which he must suffer, even tho he care in the selection of trained teach- dwells under a government strictly ers, a high standard of discipline, by Christian in character. British India well-managed hostels, by carefully has its own laws and legislative selected text-books, and by closer as- bodies, but in many departments of sociation of teachers and pupils in law, such as inheritance and succestheir every-day life. Private agencies sion of property, adoption, marriage are not to be interfered with in re- and divorce, the great mass of the ligious instruction, and for this rea- population, both Hindu and Mohamson they should be encouraged and medan, are governed by the laws of aided in every possible way. Up to their own. For this reason the Inthe present time only Christian insti- dian Christian finds it difficult to obtutions have introduced such instruc- tain redress. Tho government has tion to any extent, but a perusal of passed some laws relating to these the report of the Allahabad Educa- questions with the Christian's rights tional Conference, held in February in view, others from the nonchristian of this year, shows considerable con- standpoint have been recognized by cern from our coreligionists in India, the government and legislative counand this agitation ought to produce cils. Missionaries should make such a healthful atmosphere. representations as will secure to Christians all the protection, rights Diaabilities of Indian Christians and privileges of law-abiding citi- zens. A recent case in Moradabad When a man in India gives up his of the right of Christians to draw ancestral religion, he usually becomes water from a public well serves as the subject of intense and bitter per- an illustration. Before baptism they secution. It is most difficult to get had had the use of the well. Two at or prevent this persecution, for years afterward they were denied the method, which rarely exceeds the the right to use water, and when bounds of the law, is petty and un- they attempted it, force was used. derhanded, but effectual, nevertheless. The case was taken to the courts, A man in an office whose superior and after a good deal of trouble and is a Hindu is almost sure to lose expense the magistrate decided in his post; if in business he is boy- favor of the Christians. Missionaries cotted; if in a hospital he sometimes should familiarize themselves with suffers indignities; his servants desert the law, and protect those whom they him; he is looked upon with scorn, receive into the Church in rights shunned and slighted for having which are without question theirs; broken faith with his old religion. if privileges are curtailed they should
take steps to secure larger freedom. under extraordinary circumstances, It is well to allow the Church to gain such as the possibility of bloodshed, strength by suffering, but it is better .Missionaries ought at least to have to provide just, equal and righteous the same rights as merchants and laws under which to live. traders, and they do not ask for A Mission's Consul special favors. The time has certainly come when A mission's consul would be very useful to represent grievances or any a careful investigation should be other matters to government on the made into all cases where impartial part of missionaries and mission treatment has been denied, and a boards. strong representation made upon the subject in the form of a memorial Feudatory States asking for a declaration' of policy.
There are six hundred feudatory This is all the more needed now states in India, which range from when such great changes are coming ancient kingdoms down to petty es- over the character of the Indian Gov- tates. In some cases the rulers are ernment, both in regard to territory kindly disposed to missionaries and under the direct control Elf the British their work, and the fullest toleration Government and also in the native is permitted. In others, they are States. The case of Nepal and Bhu- persecnted and harassed, converts tan is different. They are not vassal suffer, and it is difficult or impos- states tho they may be influenced by sible to secure rights of purcllasing the British Government. Here where property and building necessary entrance is forbidden, miss:onaries structures to carryon their work. should be careful since they are likely This attitude is probably due to fear to disturb the peace of people on that their authority may be under- both sides of the line. But the Gov- mined, but they soon learn that mis- ernment should not unduly prohibit sionaries are not there for political the entrance of such civilizing forces, purposes and that they teach observ- and missionaries should be on the ance of rule and order. These states lookout to make friends with, and tu are indirectly under the British Gov- help, these people when opportunity ernment, but the authorities will not arises.
interfere except when gross injustice .Many other questions might be demands it. Missionaries, too, are touched upon, but the time is gone.
loath to call upon an o'ltsi<le power Missionaries in India have very much for redress or help, for this irritates to be thankful for, and we may con- the ruling prince and interferes with gratulate ourselves that the relations the dignity of his position. So mis- between misisons and government, sionaries would rather patiently wait and between missionaries and indivi- until their work takes hold of such dual government officials, are as cor- officials and secures for them quietly dial as they are. I f more can be the rights they seek. Sometimes the done as between the two for a higher British Government has forbidden efficiency in mission work and a missionaries to enter native states, speedier bringing of Christ to the which action can only be justified people of India, it is our duty to do it.
EASY METHOD FOR INDIAN
BY J. KNOWLES m·1 N the Indian Empire the world, and for international in- there are 200 languages. tercourse. There are 50 alphabets -or, rather, syllaba- Out of all the methods of past ries. To print these times for handing down the knowl- in the native scripts edge of the past, the art of printing takes 20,000 different types. The books has survived. Mexican cords, types are most elaborate and compli- clay tablets, Egyptian papyrus, Indian cated. Could Babel be worse? Could palm leaves, have all yielded to manuthe adversary be supposed to raise a factured paper. Now is the Church's greater hindrance to missionary work? opportunity. In a booklet entitled Learning to read is a task of years, "Our Duty to India and Indian Illearning to write is the labor of a literates," a complete scheme for malifetime, printing becomes almost an king, reading, writing, and printing impossibility.. What does it all mean easier in India than anywhere in the from a missionary point of view? world is set forth in detail. Briefly, the scheme is as follows: There are only about fifty-three sounds in all the Indian languages As the ordinary Roman letters are put together, which require separate not sufficient to express all the reletters to distinguish them. In the quired Indian sounds, the phonotypic main the majority of the sounds are letters of Isaac Pitman and A. ]. common to all the languages of India, Ellis are added to them, with some and also, as might be supposed, from romanic letters for special Indian the fact that Sanskrit, Greek and soumIs. The result is a romanic code Latin are akin, common to Europe of fifty-three letters, which suffice to and America, Asia and Africa. In furnish an accurate transliteration, or short, the main sounds are common a practical phonetization, of all the to all languages. Then out of all languages, and all the dialects of the the different methods of expressing Indian Empire. An average of only sounds in writing the Roman letters 37 letters is required for anyone have proved themselves the most ef- vernacular. Of these, half the roficient. To-day the Roman letters are manic letters are so similar to the known all over the world. These two other romanic letters with similar facts give us a majority of common sounds that the task of learning to sounds and world-wide simple letters. read becomes a lightsome labor of Through the Babel of languages phi- mastering about twenty simple forms. lology and phonology have been pro- No capitals being used, and the Invided with a sphere of work for the dian languages being spelled phonetiworld. So far has the study pro- cally, the result is the minimum of grest that to-day thousands of Chris- time to pupil and teacher. Ten tians are being captivated by the idea simple half-hour lessons introduce of a world-wide language of the the illiterate to the reading of the simplest character, suitable for the Gospel. The letters are taken three embodiment of all the learning of all or four at a time, and with the first four letters the illiterate is shown
how letters combine into syllables and ficuIt to move? Why not make make words, and in five minutes he learning to read easier? Here we begins reading very familiar words. are at the twentieth century, and In seven lessons he is introduced to every mission using Roman letters parables, and ten lessons complete as they should be used phonetically the course. After that the reading has not the least difficulty in teachof the Gospel begins. ing the Christians to read. We have India, with 2,660,000 Indian Chris- Anyone who can speak an Indian tians, of whom 2,300,000 can not language and knows the ordinary read a verse of the Bible in their own Roman letters is able to read that mother tongues. Do our leading' Indian language in romanic letters wealthy Christians know, or are they after five minutes' study. As there indifferent? are over 1,125,000 in India "literate in English," there are plenty to teach Why does not the Christian Church the illiterate his letters. Further, demand that at least the option of anyone who has learned to read the Bible be given in such letters? English in phonetic print, following vVhen I was in India one of the Pitman's phonetic alphabet, with Latin questions discust was whether before pronunciation of the vowels, will, baptism a convert should be required after one lesson, be able to read any to be able to read. It could not be Indian vernacular so that tho he may insisted upon. But if the Bible were not know a word of the vernacular, printed in twenty simple letters it a hearer who does will understand would be a fair test of a convert's what is being read. desire to be a Christian.
As the same romanic letters with The Bible is being printed in Esthe same sounds will be used for all peranto. Why does not some one the languages, a native wiII not only offer a prize for the simplest method be able to teach an illiterate in his of teaching an illiterate to read his own vernacular. but he will be able to own mother tongue? Magazines go teach reading in the other vernacu- into ecstasies at the discovery of an lars he may not be able to speak.* old Greek inscription of 1600 B.C. in a syllabary made out of picture- The Baptist Missionary Society of writing. Is there one which will tell England have taken the types and llS the best method of teaching 278,- are going to begin in Oriya.The 000,000 illiterates to read in 200 lan- Scripture Gift Mission are also to guages? Let us have the very best issue Scripture texts. Why are the method which can be obtained for missionary and Bible societies so dif- using Roman letters for India and for China, and let us give these mil- * The whole scheme can be printed on a post- lions of illiterate Christians, and many more millions of illiterate noncard, and is printed, and :IvIr. J. Knowles will be christians, the Scriptures which we so greatly value. glad to send one on receipt of stamped address. For complete details please read "Our Duty to India and Indian Illiterates," from Christian Literature Society for India, 35 John Street, Bedford Row. London. W. C. (Postage fee, 7d.)
G. APPENZELLER, OF
BY REV. WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, D.D., LL.D., ITHACA, N. Y. Author of HKorea J " HThc Her-mit Nation," etc.
HE figure of the soldier sowing, the toil, peril, pain, and tear- ful prayers of the pioneers of 1885. mT dominates all literature. The knight, of outward Henry Gerhard Appenzeller's spiri- panoply and inward tual cradle was in the (German) vows-the flower of Reformed Church of the United medieval Christendom States. Of Pennsylvania "Dutch"
,-still sways the imagination. VVar may be improved off the face of the earth, as we all pray, but the warrior spirit will remain. The lure of danger will ever attract the brave. The march- ing orders of the Almighty Father- "replenish and subdue"-still urges man on to vaster issues. Short but imperative is the command of the great Captain-"Go."
Nobler than sword or lance are the weapons of love. More entrancing to the lover of his kind is the figure of the knightly soldier who dares a~l for Christ. To face difficulties, in order to save his fellow men, seems more to make the measure of a man than winning the laurels on bloody fields of battle. When to the elan of the charge is added the patient HENRY GERHART APPENZEL LER toil of the builder, and the trowel is handled as skilfully as the sword, we ,.tock, which includes the Swiss and have indeed the ideal missionary. other strains from the great Teutonic Such seems the life of Henry Ger- Fatherland, he was descended frOIll hard Appenzeller, when seen in the the men of that Appenzell, in north- perspective of that quarter of a cen- eastern Switzerland and of Alpine tury which has made Korea, once in height, who by the labors of the hermit obscurity, the most hopeful of early medieval Irish missionaries of all of our mission fields. To-day, St. Gall were led out of heathenism when the prayers of a quarter of a into Christian light. Of good omen million of native Christians have is the name Appenzell, meaning the made a new Land of Morning Splen- "abbot's cell." Yet by God's ap- dor, we join gladly in the shout of pointment, the American Appenzell- "Grace, grace unto it." It would be er's religion was to be of another hard, indeed, to understand the Ko- type. He was to go out of the cell, rean harvest of souls to-day, without home, and seminary, into the world's the plow and harrow work, the seed- broad harvest-field, even into a coun-
try then nearly unknown, "which he he enlisted. Would that all young was afterward to receive as· an in- mIssIonaries were equally modest, heritance. But he obeyed, winsome and wise!
not knowing whither he went." To Behold how, in the sparrow-watch- him the problems of the Gospel were ing of a Providence that creates a not geographical, but human. "We universe, a pebble of circumstance have the same Gospel to preach, turns the course of a human life!
wherever God calls," he wrote in Young Appenzeller had at first no 1887 from Korea. special inward motive or outward He was born at Soudertown, lure to the foreign field. His idea Montgomery County, Pa., February was to labor at home. His room- 5, 1858, and was converted in 1877, mate at Drew, now the Rev. Julian under the evangelistic labors of Wadsworth, of Providence, R. 1., Mr. Fulton, at Westchester. He had, however, read a certain book, entered at twenty Franklin and Mar- "Korea, the Hermit Nation." Be- shall College, in Lancaster, from coming interested in the long forbid- which he was graduated in 1882. ding and forbidden land, he offered During his college course he became himself for work there, when the a Methodist, and under God his char- century-barred gates, by the Shufeldt . acter received spiritual reenforcement, treaty of 1882, had been set slightly and new conduits and channels for a ajar. Reading and talking about the joyous spirit were opened and ever strange peninsula had a curious ef- required outward expression of 111- fect upon his fellow students. In the ward joy. case of some, it made chairs sag be- Appenzeller heard the call to the cause of long hours and the keen ministry of grace, and believing that interest of chummy chat. Upon the best way to learn how to preach others the very name Korea seemed was to preach, he served in a small to furnish an escalator toward the mission in Lancaster. When the door and floors above.
leaves were falling in 1882, he entered Appenzeller attended the student Drew Seminary. At Bolton and convention of the Inter-Seminary Al- Green Village, N. L he gave his liance, at Hartford, Conn. There Saturdays to pastoral work, and his the missionary fire entered his bones.
Sundays to preaching. His Aquila For overpowering domestic reasons, and Priscilla were found in a dear Wadsworth could not go abroad. Ap- old couple, of whom the latter was penzeller sprang in the breach and an elderly woman of God, whose seized the opportunity, proudly call- hints to a young pastor and pulpiteer ing himself a "substitute." With his were worth more than minted eagles. bride, Ella J. Dodge, he was soon Appenzeller, young or mature, was in San Francisco, and on the eve a Puritan in ethical and spiritual life, of sailing was ordained by Bishop while ever a winsome bon homme to Fowler-even while, unknown to young and old. No wonder that in either, that bloody riot of December, Korea he won, not only the "heathen" 1884, had taken place in Seoul. This -but more wonderful, the mercantile unchaining of popular passions left Christians whose aid and sympathy the legation of Japan in ashes, and
G. APPENZELLER, OF KOREA
the corpses of her murdered people Already, but newly, the medical doc~ unburied and eaten by dogs in the tors, H. N. Allen and M. B. Scranstreets, strewed the palace grounds ton, were on the ground. American with the dead of victims in the battle medica;! skill and surgery, so strikingly between the Nippon Islanders and demonstrated in sword and bullet the 01inese, led by China's man of wounds, had imprest the King. A destiny, Yuan Shi Kai. Arriving in royal hospital was established for Japan, and thence sailing farther Dr. Allen, while Dr. Scranton had west, it was their lot to arrive at already begun medical work in his 01emulpo, a seaport of the capital, ow n house. Rev. H. G. Underwood on Easter Sunday, I885. had arrived in April. Korean appli- A GROU P OF KOREANS. THE LITERARY SC H OLAR WEARS GLASS ES Nor yet was the height to be cants to study medicine were told gained, whence pinions might be un- they must know English. They apfolded for a swoop upon heathenism. plied to Mr. Appenzeller, and he be- Amid the political commotion, armed gan teaching. He opened a school camps, and impending hostilities of which in r886 had so imprest the rival forces, native and alien, it King that he honored it with a name seemed best to return to Japan for meaning Hall for the Training of a season. Useful Men, which has enjoyed a long career of blessing and benefit. Have we seen a bird breasting a Thus was Appenzeller the pioneer storm, giving way here, lowering of education in the Land of Morning flight there, rising and falling, yet Calm. From the first he took broad finally, despite opposing winds, vIews of mental discipline and culreaching the nest? So it was in I885. ture. Knowing well how science At last rest was found in the capital.
A KOREAN HOUSE CONVERTED INTO A MISSWNARY"S HOME helps to put the devils on the run, with an invisible weight of chains. he was eager to convert the terror- The bondage of official oppression breeding, imaginary population of the and a systematic cruelty that caricaair into harmless fairies. "Appie" tured government, obsessed the men. cared little for mere erudition un- Terrors in the air, overpopulated with hallowed by the spirit of Christ, or imaginary and malignant personalities for empty logomachy. "Foster," said and bestialities, mentally paralyzed his work-fellow, the novelist, "did the women. Horrible and disgustnot care a rap for theological hair- ing customs, caked and crusted upon splitting. What he wanted was the millions, were revealed to the bold old Gospel, in which he believed were explorer. The nastiness of old Kohidden all the treasures of wisdom rean materia medica seems incredible. and knowledge." We have called this "triumphant Quickly the full vistas of the great Pennsylvanian" an explorer. This uninvaded realms of disease, want, he was. He spied out the land Oll superstition, degradation, sin, vice horseback, through thousands of miles and misery unrolled before the new- of country. To the eye of observacomer, yet not to daunt, but to lure tion he added the insight of reflecto action. "Be of g08d cheer. I tion. He searched into the annals of have overcome of the world," were a land which, lying between two the words that rang in his ears and rival and often hostile countries, had fired his heart. Worlds upon worlds been devastated again and again by of contagion, infection, vileness and Chinese hordes and Japanese dr:nies. fear were crushing millions of souls In times past, Korea has been 51)
G. APPENZELLER, OF KOREA
THE MAIN STREET IN SEOUL.. THE CAPITAL OF KOREA (CHOSEN) scraped and scooped of its works of have long ago hidden the ruins of art and invention as to seem to the cloisters, fanes, towns and cities. In traveler of to-day to contradict, by 1392, after one of the political revoits nakedness, the abundant witness lutions which placed in power the of written history as to the splendor recent dynasty-now happily wiped of its former garments of prosperity out forever-the popular religion was during its age of art and adornment, banned and curst. Then Confucianin the thousand glorious years of ism-the monopolistic cult of office- Buddhism. holders-tightened its anaconda grip, even to the throttling of popular "Glorious?" Yes. In epitome, the rights. The masses were left withhistory of the "Little Outpost State," out shepherds or teachers, to sink as the natives called their country to the nadir of fetishism and demon when a tributary vassal to China worship, with all their degradations. and prostrate under the shadow of the Middle Kingdom, is this. Out An army of nobles and office-holdof primitive savagery, three warring ers, who hated work as they feared kingdoms arose about the Christian tigers, lived on the public crib. Like era. Into the peninsula Buddhism vampires, they sucked the blood of came as a civilizing power. It up- the common people, making it imlifted the people above beast worship possible for the toilers to save money and covered the landscape with mon- or accumulate wealth. Added to civic asteries, temples and colossal stone oppression was the further incubus images (miryek). These still rise of one hundred thousand sorcerers, above the tall trees of forests that fortune-tellers, and geomancers of
both sexes. Like a glacier, they open ground under trees and on the ground and crusht humanity. No grassy inner slope of the city wa!lshouse could be built, or seed sown, came in A.D. r885 the knights of or grave-site chosen without a heavy Jesus. Into the streets of Seoul, the mulct upon the people. Na sick or capital which were cesspools, full of dying person but must be tortured humps and holes and open sewers, or tormented by the noisy and costly or heaped up with slops and refuse, exorCIsms. As for the number of Christ-filled men and women came house fetishes, spirit posts and devil with cleansing for body and soul. sluines, village idols of carved logs, Open house and a Christian home AN EARLY AMERICAN MISSION SCHOOL, SEOUL they were uncounted. If once loaded made a magnetic center of light and on freight trains, they could not be joy. In a chairless and bedsteadless hauled, even by an "Atlantic" type land, with logs of wood for pillows, of locomotive. Korea needed a spiri- or occasionally a stone, a Christian tual dynamite. home was an oasis. What if the welcomed women visitors, in their Into such a world- the men domi- delight at being raised up so high, nated by feng-shuey and by ancestor- perched on the backs instead of ocworship, which, with all its merits, is cupying the seats of the chairs? What yet the fruitful patent of debaucheries if pet dogs disappeared in the native and immoralities as yet uncounted by soup kettles? Some Americans, in any census; the women imprisoned their zeal, determined "to live like as in a demon-haunted dungeon of the natives." Yet even green misfear; the slaves, mostly female, sionaries soon learn veteran's wistreated when ill little better than pa- dom. These lovers of native fare riah dogs; the sick of contagious changed their rations when they saw, disease, exposed by thousands in the
G. APPENZELLER, OF KOREA
cation of native work, in new ideas and in habits of promptness and new theories of light and ventilation. How the average Korean lives in such scantiness of sleeping area, on so slight a ration of oxygen, and amid such microscopic armies, ever on the jump, the crawl, or the fiy, with chronic eagerness to feast on alien blood, so that the exclusive use of one's own cuticle is an impossibility, passes the power of an American, used to linen sheets, to conceive. One felt a sympathy for sardines, to see the natives packed in the steam and foul air of little cubicles in the inns.
Nevertheless, as "the white lotus springs out of the black mire," so eho-sen is the land of glistening starch and of gentle manners. Daily, ont of hovels, gentlemen in 5now- GOIN G HOME FROM CHURCH The Basket Hat of Young ,Vornen in Korea- a Preventive Against Flirting stretched on the thatch to dry, the A KOREAN ATONEMENT OFFERING bides of the faithful Fidos, which. transmuted into soup, had "entered This image of straw is stuffed with a few coins the ministry." and cast out on New Year's Eve as an offering to evil spirits. What if codes, of ethics, of manners, and of diet, oceanically apart in· their evolution, clashed? "Appie" was imperturbable in his sunny, allconquering good nature. The love of Christ in him overcame his disgusts. It did rouse his ire to see women so abused and despised, even by the lofty native Pharisees. For lack of bridges, female travelers were often compelled to cross rivers in a way to make men point and guffaw.
Soon, as superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Mission, he had a brick building for the school. By no means contemptible was the edu-
white garments emerge. However, assurance of faith, kept the elements as for the alleged relation of the tint in him well mixed; yet very rich in of average clothes of the common him was God's gift of a sense of folks to that of snowflakes, the state- humor. The lazy missionary, of either ment must be made mainly in the sex, "too fond of rocking-chairs"- aorist tense or historical present. there were such-the female crank They were white once. of uncertain age, too free in her public use of safety-pins to reform On itinerant journeys, or at home A SELF-SUPPORTING COUNTRY CHURCH FORTY MILES FROM PY ENG YANG in the daily routine of the study, woman 's costume and to humble those school, parish or pulpit, in mastering who were proud of their freely exthe lang uage, in visiting the sick, posed badges of motherhood, the comforting prisoners, helping the dy- flaming fanatic who was abusive of ing, inspiring the living, or preaching mission boards and all organizations the Word, Appenzeller was ever a -there were such-the proud heafilled motor. He was a son of con- then, the vile glutton, the sensual solation. Early in his laborious ca- brutes, the wife-beater and mutilator, reer we read in his letters abundant the conceived idolater, were all foiled signs of promise and continual words by "Appie's" wit, energy, example, of cheer. and imperturbable good humor.
Incessant industry, system, prayer, Nevertheless, it was not wholly and a good wife, a happy home, sym- safe to trifle with the Pennsylvanian, pathetic brethren, and, not least, the whose "Dutch" rose to the occasion.
G. APPENZELLER, OF KOREA
WHO WILL ASIC ARE KOREANS WORTH SAVING? Episcopal Mission he showed him- self a first-rate business man, giving When lazy or impudent coolies passed Korea invaluable lessons. the limit of patience, or brutal bullies thought to overawe, or even alleged On Easter Sunday, 1887, as he royal messengers or presuming diplo- wrote, "I baptized a young Japanese, mats attempted to ride roughshod the first [Protestant] baptism in Koover th e rights of an American citi- rea. It was a joyous event. We zen, it was found, when it seemed hope to report soon the baptism of best to maintain these rights, that Koreans. "lvVe are carefully sowing Appenzeller could "do more than and the harvest will corne." In midpreach." summer, July 24th, the same year, he baptized his first Korean convert, In times of plague, pestilence and and on October 2d, another. Then battle, shut up in the insalubrious the Lord's Supper was enjoyed. Be- Seoul of old day s, or abroad, or on sides thus founding the first church horseback, as evangelist, preacher, (of the Methodist order), he began starter of printing-plant or book- the rearing of an edifice to hOL1se the store, or as Bible translator, Appen- growing congregation-the first Protzeller was a man of prayer and hope. estant foreign church building in Ko- Richly emotional, he was level-headed rea, which was, and is, an ornament and a man of supreme self-control. In to the city of Seoul. "The Vanguard"-a splendidly successful story of mi ssiona ry life, our To this "beginner of a better time," subject is depicted under the name possibly more than to any other one of "Foster." Other literary penmen man, belongs the credit of starting have depicted him in their sketches. The very poverty of Korea made CH lLD:REN ARJ:: CHILDREN 1'N XOREA ALSO him strenuous, from the fir st, in t raining the natives in self-support. As superintendent of the Methodist
most of the organizations for the Korean Asiatic Society was founded benefit of the foreign residents in the and Appenzeller acted as librarian. capital. None understood better than It was like breaching the walJs of a he the laws of the human mission- fortress with artillery to get a cemeary's economy and the conservation tery in which to lay the first and of his force. To continue in the quickly multiplying foreign victims of highest state of efficiency, the stran- local typhus, but finally a place for ger in a strange land, civilization and the dead was secured-"Our Macclimate, must have recreation in the phelah by the river," he called it. Ap- A KOREAN IRON FOUNDRY. LABOR MADE HONORA BLE BY MISSIONARY EFFORT ways of home to prevent nostalgia. penzelJer led in this strenuous effort Appenzeller led in establishlllg the and served for years as treasurer of Union Church, acted as its pastor, the corporation. The last lingering and opened his school for its services. terrors of the natives fled when the rifles of the Russian marines, that To secure physical stamina, con- fired a salute over the corpse of a stant efficiency, and mental stimulus, comrade, "shot away the demons." he and others formed the Seoul Union, where reading, conversation, He acted as custodian of the tennis, and outdoor games could be Methodist Episcopal Sunday-school enjoyed. He was a leading spirit in Union and Tract Society, himself organizing picnics amid the grand writing, translating and publishing forests and inspiring scenery of the many of these brief Gospel messages mountains. To investigate the his- to the people-serving for years as tory, customs and life of the Korean president. He started and for four people, in order best to understand, years edited the weekly (Methodist approach, teach and win them, the Episcopal) Korean Christian Advo-
G. APPENZELLER, OF KOREA
cate. The Methodist Publishing How that light-giving Word starts House, destined to wide usefulness, the devils on the run, makes homes was founded in r888. It became an that were once habitations of cruelty industrial school for boys, while Ko- and fear the abodes of peace and joy, rea's great need-the honorableness creates a highway of holiness and of work-was taught by precept and furnishes an infallible tonic for the example. A bindery and book de- hearts and intellects for millions! Ficpository were soon added. If any- tion in statement, substance in fact A – CHRISTIAN FAMILY IN KOREA Four Generations-Mr. Hong ]fosksa, His -:v1other, '''life, Sons, Daughters-in-Law and Grandchildren thing, next to the Gospel, is needed is this snap-shot sentence from "The among the upper class natives to re- Vanguard": "Foster's hair grew construct Korea, it is the idea that gray, however, for however much the even manual work is noble. ringing laugh sounded out from the translating room, no one gave more Greatest of the monuments of Ap- heart and soul to this all important penzeller's labor is his work in trans- work." lating the New Testament. Vivid is the picture in ."The Vanguard," of For seventeen years God permitted the scholarly personalities, native and His joyous servant to excel not only alien, the texts consulted and the la- in the impartation of light and inbors of the makers of the Korean spiration to his fellows, but also in Version of the Word of God, now the gifts of manipulation and adstudied by over 200,000 eager Chris- justment. Appenzeller was "thoroughtians. ly furnished unto every good word
and work." In his iJume the first tence-"He saved others." In the white American child born in Korea little Japanese steamer, Kumagawa blest his life. "A little child shall M aru, he embarked to fulfil the calI lead them." None can tell how much of duty. At sea, on the foggy night good the Heavenly Father permitted of June II, about 85 miles from that baby unconsciously to do. Two Chemulpo and 10 miles from the other daughters and a son who, from shore, in a collision between two Princeton and Drew, following his steamers of the same line, it would father in this curriculum as in his have been easily possible to have chosen work-will, God willing, serve saved his own life. But, thinking his Master in the Korean field. also of others, he went first to arouse THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL MISSION COMPOUND AT KONG JU To orthodoxy of faith, Appenzeller his Korean teacher and a little native joined the orthopraxis of life. In girl under his care. The ship sunk the rush of activities, in the shock suddenly. His body found "a vast of battle with superstition and vice, and wandering grave." Yet, "to live his faith in God was ever serene and in hearts we leave behind is not to at times gently hilarious. He lived die." Korea keeps his name. The to see hospitals, trained nurses, words of T. De'Vitt Talmage's fachurches, crowds of inquirers, and vorite hymn pictures the saints' glothousands at the Lord's Table, with rioLls hereafter! promise of tens of thousands to come. "From the roaring surge they come. When at last the summons from Sinking in the ocean brine. his Captain came, the story of his manner and way of meeting Him face Jesus caught them from the flood. to face may be epitomized in a sen- Lo! How bright their garments shine Blanched in the Redeemer's blood."
TALBOT
A MISSIONARY WITH AN INTERNATIONAL MISSION BY DELAVAN LEONARD PIERSON ~I T was an impressive known save by Him whose Spirit has scene ~hen, fift~ years been bruised in the same contest, after careful consideration, and after . ago, 111 the CIty of seeking the Spirit of God as wisely as I could, I felt it was impossible Philadelphia, a young man came before the Methodist Episcopal for me to refuse. The only point Conference in the Union Church and at which I found any obstacle was in announced his readiness to go as a my aged and almost infirm parents.
missionary to India. In those days I asked' my father, and with that this was an unusual event. India stern, old, puritanical spirit, he said, seemed far removed from civiliza- 'My boy, go and do your duty, even tion' and work in that fever-laden tho you die in it.' Then my mother, climate, among men bitterly hostile with all a mother's tenderness, said, to Christ and his messengers, was a 'Oh, my boy, I had rather die with- heroic and difficult task. To-day, in out a crust than that you should neg- the twentieth century, when hundreds lect your duty.' Then I told Bishop are going on business and pleasure in Janes that I would go."
a comparatively short and comfort- Nearly fifty years later a white- able way, it is a very different mat- haired man of eighty, feeble in body ter. Bishop Janes, the presiding of- but still young in heart and active in ficer of the Conference, introduced mind, entered the church where an- the young Christian volunteer as John other Methodist Conference was in T. Gracey. In response the young session. It was at Rochester, New man, then thirty years of age, said York, in October, 1908, and Dr.
in a voice full of emotion: V{illiam V. Kelley was speaking.
"I am not certain, Bishop Janes, Suddenly, with a simultaneous im- that I can so get the mastery of my pulse, the whole Conference rose to feelings as to speak to the Confer- their feet to honor the aged servant ence. Ten years of sober deliberation of God who came down the aisle and judgment forced me to the con- leaning on the arm of his son. He clusion that I ought not, and that who was thus honored was the same I could not, without neglecting a who in his youth enlisted for India.
duty, refuse the call of the Church to Between these two impressive scenes serve them anywhere, even tho it many events had transpired to be the farthest spot on this earth. strengthen and deepen and broaden Without my seeking, and I believe the life of the man. His influence without any intimation, of anything had reached out into all the earth, in that direction at this time, Bishop and many were ready to rise up and Simpson called upon me a few days call him blessed. Few years were since and asked that I would consent granted him in India, but his call to go to India. After a struggle of back to the homeland was a sum- forty-eight hours, such as is not mons to still wider fields of service. AT THE AGE OF SEVENTY Preparation replete with living forms, busy and John Talbot Gracey came of old beautiful, but to none of them ex- Colonial Quaker ancestry, some of cept man is given the dignity of part- whom were associated with William nership with the Eternal in His stu- Penn in early Colonial days. His pendous schemes. Come what wiIl, mother's forefathers also included the question of my obligation to go early pioneers, who came to America in 1744 in search for liberty of con- science. They had bravely fought for national independence in the Colonial and Revolutionary wars. John was born in Philadelphia, September 16, ]83 I, and after a regular academic education became a student in medi- cine. He feIt, however, that there were more men able and willing to minister to the body than to the soul, and came to see that the spiritual ministries are eternal while the phys- ical are at best but temporal. He, therefore, left the study of physiology and anatomy for the study of the- ology and true psychology. His min- istry began in the Virginia Confer- ence of the Methodist Church (South) in 1850. Later he moved to the North and joined the Pennsylvania Conference, in which he labored for ANNiE RYDER GRACEY ten years.
In I8S7 he married Miss Annie at the command of the Church can Ryder, of Delaware, the daughter of never be questioned. I pray that I Rev. Wm. Ryder. She had become a may be able to make of my life one Christian in early life, and after com- perpetual missionary speech in India."
pleting her college education with Life and Work in India high honors, and teaching for four years in the college where she was With his young and noble wife the graduated, she cast her lot with that virile missionary set sail in June, of the young Methodist minister. 1861, on a sailing vessel with only Then came the call to India, to which fifteen sailors, laden with ice, and they so nobly responded. bound for Calcutta. From the In- In his farewell ·address in the dian Ocean, three months later, he Green Street Church, which assumed wrote : "We have had considerable his support, Mr. Gracey said: experience and considerable monotony "Heaven has come nearer already. in our voyage, which has been over In going to India we will be co- three months. It is a long time to workers with God. The world is be deprived of the privilege of hear-
ing fr0111 friends. In look- yond description. Our health is un- exceptionable, our spirits fine, and ing back I am surprized that we altogether we are as happy as the day is long. We have never for one should spend nearly four months in moment regretted our step; indeed, we are more and more convinced the trackless waste without accident, each day that it was the right course for us to pursue." altho we have passed through many They first settled in 5itapur, being terrible storms. Plato was once at the first white people to pass through the territory after the terrible Indian sea, and on returning, was asked by mutiny a few years previous.
some one to tell them the greatest Five months from the day he set foot in Calcutta, Mr. Gracey preached wonder of the deep he had seen; his a sermon in Hindustani in the Ba- zaar. Most of the missionaries do reply was, 'The greatest wonder is, not attempt to do this until after having been in the country for over that from the sea to the shore I ar- a year.
rived safely.' Rev. William VV. Hicks, one of his early colaborers and companion on "Our route took us very near the many a jungle tour and bazaar preaching experience, writes: coast of Brazil. After leaving the "When Dr. Gracey arrived in India southeast trade-winds we made he found the harvest was great and ripe, but the laborers were few. There straight for the Cape of Good Hope. was William Butler, our leader, the brave, impulsive, enthusiastic-an em- During one storm the captain deemed bodied hope. There was James M. Thoburn, who had just arrived, small it expedient to 'heave the ship to,' in stature but big in every other way, full of the foretaste of triumph. or, in the language of 5t. Paul, 'when There was Humphrey and his deli- cate helpmeet-the sweet poet of our we could not bear up into the wind, little band. There was Parker, the fearless torch-bearer into the dismal we let her drive.' All sail was habitations of ignorance and cruelty. There was Waugh, the plodding stutaken in, the wheel lasht, as the men dent, modest, grave and ever under- valuing himself and his labors. could not guide it any longer. We Last of all, there was the beloved John T. Gracey, with whom I travdrifted about wherever winds and eled, prayed, studied, wept, hoped, suffered and wrought. waves carried us. Everything was In making the Gospel Message done that man could do, and we were known in school and bazaar, Gracey at the mercy of Providence for more than two days. Vve have read his- tory, biography, poetry, etc. We have had times of joy and times of home- sickness and weeping; this we can't help, for our hearts will long for those who are thousands of miles away."
Later, in December, 1861, he writes from India: "It seemed like begin- ning a new existence when we left the old ship and stept upon the shore in Calcutta. What a new creation burst upon us! As we traveled up country we went 600 miles in only eight days by horse dak, day and night. We stopt during the heat of the day and changed horses every four miles. The country through which we traveled was beautiful be-
was very active and very successful. food to the hungry, or medicine to Ve used to go out early in the morn- the sick. We found that in the hour ing to a near-by village, and under of death kind, Christly words were as friendly trees or in a small bazaar welcome to Hindu as to Christian large crowds would gather, sit on ears. the soft, warm earth, and listen to the story we loved to tell. Often we "Hardships there were, which do would be interrupted by the inquiry not now beset the missionary's way. of an aged man or a little boy. Once, 11any stones have been removed when we visited one of these villages, which we could not even budge in Gracey told the story of the Prodigal those days, altho we lacked not faith Son, and awakened great interest for or courage. We were but humble some of the listeners knew the Hindu pioneers, and we wrought with what story of a prodigal son who was wisdom and strength we had, looking found in rags and inherited his forward and upward to the glory that father's great wealth. We could see was to come." the faces brighten as the speaker told of the loving yearning of the Heav- Mr. and Mrs. Gracey subsequently enly Father for his prodigal sons and settled in Bareilly, and then in N aini daughters. Tal. In May, 1867, he made a jour- ney on foot with two or three of the "'Why does not our Father Him- other missionaries into the interior .self come?' asked a grandfather who of the mountains. They took their stood near by with his two grandsons own tent, horses, servants and food. by his side. At night, after marching about fif- teen miles a day, they camped out, "Then came the opportunity to tell sleeping on the ground. them that He had indeed come in the person of His well-beloved Son, and Mr. Gracey was the first secretary had told the Father's love for us and of the Methodist Indian Conference, had showed it by His life and death. and in 1867 became the president.
"'Tell us another story, sahib,' Of these events James M. Thopiped the old grandfather, and in re- burn, then one of his colleagues in sponse we told them of the woman's India, now the honored bishop, lost piece of silver, and gave the writes: meaning. "At the first Conference Mr. Gra- "After the meeting was over the cey was elected secretary, and marked old man brought his two grandsons out the line of procedure which has that we might pray over them and been followed ever since. He was place our hands on their heads in afterward the first missionary elected blessing. Tears flowed while we did president in the absence of a bishop, so. and proved himself well qualified for the post. Later, in 1868, he was "In many places we found lepers, elected to the Methodist Conference or consumptives, or other men and in America, so that he had the diswomen and children starving by the tinction of being the first delegate roadside. To these Gracey was al- sent from India to the General Conways a good Samaritan, dropping a ference of the Church. At that ascoin into the leper's bowl, giving sembly he acquitted himself with
honor, and secured for India the per- ester, Syracuse and Buffalo he served manent right of representation. several churches, and was for one term "But he was not strong enough presiding elder.
physically for work in India, and In 1876-77 Dr. Gracey visited the as Mrs. Gracey was in poor health, missions in yVest Africa, coasting they were advised to take up work in along the shores for some 2,000 miles America instead of returning to their on his tour of investigation of the chosen field." Methodist missions. On his way home Dr. T. J. Scott, another of the he visited France and Spain. Dr.
early Methodist missionaries to In- Gracey's editorial work was extensive, dia, writes of Dr. Gracey: "He was not only in the periodicals of his own a very companionable man, and his denomination! but in wider fields. A home in India was wide open to hos- small handbook on China, a mission- pitality when, anon, we turned up ary guide-book, and several other dusty and jaded from our travel by volumes came from his pen. In 1883 'coolie' or 'dak-gari.' Nothing was he organized the International Mis- too much trouble for him and his sionary Union, composed of all those wife to do for his friends. Their who had served a term on foreign house was at once a parsonage and fields. Dr. T. J. Scott calls it "The a sanatorium. Great Campfire of the World." This "Dr. Gracey's ample brain, ready has now I,500 members, whose object speech, and facile pen during seven is to promote missionary fellowship years in India made him a potent and to increase missionary interest factor in laying broad and deep foun- and effectiveness. For nearly thirty dations for the Methodist mission years Dr. Gracey was the genial there." president, by his tact and good cheer, So it was that, after less than seven his wit and wisdom, guiding the or- years' labor in India, Mr. and Mrs. ganization and winning the coopera- Gracey were obliged to give up and tion of strong men and women.
enter again into work at home. When the MISSIONARY REVIEW OF For two years after his return to THE WORLD was transferred to Dr.
America Mr. Gracey was in the em- Arthur T. Pierson in 1888, Dr. Gra- ploy of the Missionary Society of his cey became one of the associate edi- church, spending much time in speak- tors, and continued to render effect- ing and writing in the interest of ive service in world-wide interna- miSSIonS. For one year he was pro- tional and interdenominational circles fessor of historical theology in Drew for over twenty years. Dr. Gracey Theological Seminary, and won an was invited to speak at the World enviable reputation as a scholar and Missionary Conference in London in thinker, and as an able orator on I888, and again rendered valuable pUlpit and platform. aid in guiding the intricate business In 1872 he was transferred from of the Great Ecumenical Conference the Philadelphia Conference to that in New York twelve years later.
of Central New York (the Genesee About eight years ago, at the age Conference), of which he remained of seventy-two, Dr. Gracey suf- a member until his death. In Roch- fered from an apoplectic stroke, which
TALBOT GRACEY
would have caused most men to give see and voice the need for woman's up the battle of life, but which only work for woman in heathen lands.
partially incapacitated this faithful "'hen they were compelled to return warrior. His mind was still active to America she promptly identified and his heart was young, so that he herself with the newly formed "Wom- surrendered only so far as it was an's Foreign :Missionary Society,"
absolutely necessary. and later for twenty-three years was In 1901, with characteristic hU111or, corresponding secretary of the Board.
he sent to the writer a newspaper clip- Mrs. Gracey was an able writer, ping which he deemed over-generous, speaker, and organizer, and rendered and entitled it "Gracey's Obituary." very important service on the litera- This tribute, from the first Methodist tme committee of her own Church Church in Rochester, shows that this and on the Woman's United Mission prophet was held in honor in his own Study Committee. She pays a tri- country. It says in part: bute to woman's work, and records "As a speaker and writer on mis- its importance as author of a book sions he has come to stand for the on "Eminent Missionary Women.'
best in this greatest of Christian en- In the home Mrs. Gracey was first terprises. Nobly seconded by his de- of all a devoted wife and mother.
voted wife, who wields a pen not Outside duties did not cause her to second to his own, they are jointly neglect these. One who knew her doing a great work for the Master. well quotes as true of her the words Dr. Gracey is in great demand as a of King Lemuel, the prophecy that lecturer on all phases of the mission- his mother taught him: "She looketh ary question and on ethnic religions. well to the ways of her household "He is worthy of the highest trib- and eateth not the bread of idleness.
ute that can be paid either to his dis- Her children rise up and call her tinguished ability or to his honored blessed; her husband, he also praiseth career but for those of us who know her."
him it # is, after all, the man and Four years ago, in February, 1908, friend that we love. His genial na- almost on the eve of their golden ture, true friendship, and his fellow- wedding anniversary, Mrs. Gracey ship with God cause a great host to was suddenly called home, and left pray that for many years 'his bow her husband, son, and two daughters may abide in strength.' " sadly stricken. Dr. and Mrs. Gracey Not long after this notice appeared 110t only devoted themselves, but gave in reference to himself, Dr. Gracey their substance and brought up their also sent us a clipping (February, family to the work of God. The son, 1902), marked, "Mrs. Gracey's Obit- V. A. Gracey, is editor of the Geneva uary-but not dead yet, thank God." Daily Times; one daughter, Lilly Under her photograph he had marked Ryder Gracey, has had wide experi- in his characteristically clear hand, ence as a newspaper writer, and an- "Isn't she lovely?" She sympathized other daughter, Frances Ida Gracey, with her husband in his ideals and was an invalid for many years, but always actively joined him in his was widely known for her beautiful work. She was one of the first to character and heroic nature. She also
succeeded in many ways in promoting Speaking at the meeting in prepa.
the cause of missions, and from her ration for the Ecumenical Conference room in the sanatorium at Clifton in 1900, he emphasized the great Springs, for two years she conducted advantage of a world-wide vision on a campaign to raise $5,000 for a the one hand, and increased solidar- hospital for cripples in China. Soon ity of Christian forces on the other.
after her father's decease she, too, He said in part: went to join her beloved parents, but "As separate bodies we have been before her departure had nearly com- too much studying the origin of spe- pleted the desired sum. cies, until we are saturated more or The large labors and high ideals less with our denominationalism. All appealed to Dr. Gracey. His was no these denominations represent his- small-caliber task. He was peculiarly tory, and each stands for an idea.
fitted by education and by tempera- Methodists can do some things bet- ment for the great work of winning ter than Presbyterians; Presbyterians the world to Christ. His labors were can do some things better than Bap- not confined to his own city or de- tists; Baptists can do some things nomination, but to the world, and he better than Episcopalians. We want served all classes and all churches. to find out without sacrificing any of He was optimistic and energetic, and our individuality the mighty idea the greatest hardship he was called back of that denominationalism, so upon to bear, next to the separation that we may adjust these into a from his beloved wife, was enforced mighty solidarity. After Magenta inactivity in the Master's service. the army of France and Italy had to His was a singularly rounded char- march through a great forest of low acter, and while he conceived and trees. The men could not see each exprest great ideas, he gave vent to other; only a few hundreds on either playful but never irreverent humor. side and they were deprest. Then they On one occasion, at a meeting of deployed out into the great plain, the International Missionary Union and hundreds and thousands and tens at Clifton Springs, he spoke earnestly of thousands of them were put into in favor of "Church Union," espe- line of battle, and as their bayonets cially in missionary work. It was bristled in the sun, they gathered before the movement had become mighty courage. They were just as popular. He said: near to each other an hour before.
"This is a great work in which There were just as many of them, we are engaged, and little differences but they did not feel the thrill and must be set aside. We need closer inspiration of the mighty multitude.
union and more perfect cooperation The next day was Solferino! So I if we are to win this world to our think we will get closer together and Lord and Master. We already have begin to ask what there is that we something of this union and coopera- can do, not in divisions only, but as tion. We Methodists draw the poor a solid army."
sinners out of the mud, the Baptists Dr. Gracey died in Gifton Springs, wash .them, the Presbyterians 'blue' N. Y., on January 5th, last, after them, the Episcopalians starch them." a long and tedious iIlness. His
1:2] JOHN TALBOT GRACEY 29
funeral services were attemled by Dr. William V. Kelley, ellitor of many who honored him highly, ami the Methodist Review, also paid a appreciative words were spoken. Dr. loving tribute when he said: Ward Platt, secretary of the Methodist Episcopal Board of Home Mis- "I have come close to him in the sions, said: unofficial years of his life, when he was not busy with a multitude of "To meet this man was to be stimu- things, not girded like a soldier, but lated from the first even to the last at ease and simply himself, with all of the interview. To enter that home his thought and all his heart given to in Rochester, where every member you as you sat down beside him, in was wedded to a world purpose, was the simplicity of his personality apart to be lifted out of a rut and launched from all official offices or activities of in an orbit. life. From the first time I saw this man until now there has been some- "He was a prodigious worker, and thing gallant in him. He took his yet he was bound by no regular rules wounds like a soldier. He was chivof labor. It might be at any night alric, princely in nature; courtesy hour or any time of day that he took was inborn, and he had a delicate up his tasks, and yet it was by a deference to others. He was a splenmethod so overpowering that you did optimist. He dared to believe just wondered at the quantity and the his religion and to venture upon it quality of the literary productions. in confidence and faith.
"He was a true representative of "The buoyancy of the man was the 'Holy Catholic Church,' and in very delightful, and so we would rethe last essence a Methodist. Method- member his laughter. He filled life ism could have no better defender with laughter. One of the things I of its beliefs and of' its spirit, and can not help remembering him by yet he was far more. He was at one was that magnetic laugh, so explosive with every circle which was at home at times. with Jesus Christ! Two Presbyterian ministers in Rochester were wont to "In his last days of illness I found speak of him as their assistant pastor, him one night deprest, and I could so often had he ministered to their not understand exactly what he was congregation." trying to say. I said, 'Say that over again, please.' 'Be calm, and sink Rev. J. Sumner Stone, D.D., of into His will,' he said;' 'my mother's hymn.' It was a part of the hymn: N ew York, spoke from long personal acquaintance when he said: "Who fed thee last, will feed thee stilI, "Dr. Gracey left behind him what Be calm and sink into His will." seems to be a cloud of glory, as illustrated in the transformed lives of Thus passed from the realm of toil men and women who came in contact and suffering to the realm of rest and with him-a life like a ship leaving glory, this servant of God. After behind a silvery streak in the ocean. eighty years, his soul took flight as he laid his armor down and wel- "In Dr. Gracey's life sacrifice was comed the passing over the river that a broken alabaster box-a shattered he might rejoin his beloved wife in shell left, but the fragrance will go the presence of his King. on down through the ages."
A NATIVE VIEW OF INDIA'S EVANGELIZATION *
BY MR. P. O. PHILIP, B.A. lIi~sionary of the National lIissionary Society. Karwar, Canara.
( gT HE evangelization ofr~J our countrymen are by no means les:: India-this is a phrase remarkable. which so.unds familiar Witness, for instance, the new enough III our ears j movement which goes by the name of neo-Hinduism-the Arya Samaj but it conveys to most of our minds nothing in northern India, the Brahmo Sa- more than ideas akin maj, Prarthana Samaj and other to those aroused by the thought of similar Samajams in eastern and an unrealizable ambition or a pious western India, and theosophy in hope. Are not the leaders of our southern India-all these are evimissionary societies entertaining vis- dences of the prevailing dissatisfacionary ideas in hoping that India tion of the educated Hindus with will ultimately become an integral popular Hinduism. part of the kingdom of Christ? What The antichristian attitudes these is the actual situation? Are our movements generally assume show fears justified by a survey of the past that they are conscious that the citaachievements and the present work- del of Hinduism is in danger. The ing of the Christian forces in this methods of imitation they adopt in great nonchristian land? Have we their work and the way in which they sufficiently taken into account all the read noble Christian truths into the resources that are within our reach confessedly immoral stories of their for this great work? What part have Puranas and Shastras show further we Indian Christians as individuals that Christianity is the cause of this and as a Church in this work of religious awakening. "We have in enthroning Jesus Christ in the hearts Hinduism all that your boasted Chrisof the millions of our fellow coun- tianity can give us, and a great deal more"-this is the position that is trymen? fast taking foot in the minds of the educated Hindus as the result of It can no longer be said of modern these new movements. India, as was once the case, that she is unmoved by the new forces of re- It is certain that neo-Hinduism will ligion and civilization that are oper- be the greatest opponent of Chrisating upon her. The hackneyed tianity in India in the near future. lines: The movement is yet young, not even thirty years old, and confined to the She let the legions thunder past, upper classes, but in future years, And plunged in thought again, are no longer true of the modern with the advancement of education, conditions of our land. We need not the large middle-class population will at present stop to consider the re- also be brought within its sweep j markable changes that have taken and great will be the proportions as- place in the space of the last seventy- sumed by this antichristian movement.
five years in the social, intellectual Hard and long will be the struggle, and moral outlook of the Hindu. but there can be no doubt as to the They are of importance to us only ultimate result, if only we maintain in so far as they show beyond a our privileged position as faithful doubt that the protective armor of and intelligent fellow workers with Hinduism has been pierced, and God.
pierced beyond recovery. But the There are already signs of life in changes in the domain of religion, the dry bones of India's missions as such, that have taken place in the which are full of hope. I do not last twenty or thirty-five years among want to appeal to statistics for the * From The Bomooy Guardian. Part of an address given at the Y. M. C. A. Students' Camp, Pallavaram, near Madras. obvious reason that the results of the Lord talked with him and commis- secret working and the actual growth sioned him to bear witness to small of the Kingdom in any country can and great of the Gospel of His grace.
not be tabulated in figures. I would, Nor is there any reason why we on the other hand, try to focus your should doubt his testimony, for noth- attention on certain facts which to ing short of a heavenly vision can my mind are more convincing than account for the great change that any amount of statistics. The mighty has t<.ken place in him. For four spiritual revivals and the wonderful years and more he has lived a con- cases of individual conversion we sistent and fearless Christian life in meet with in different parts of the the regiment. Sometimes he visited country are sure signs of the work- his English officers in their tents, and ing of the Spirit of God. The recent after a smart salute, has knelt down revival in the Khassia Hills, As- and prayed in Hindi and immediately sam, led to the conversion of thou- departed. On one occasion he was sands and to the quickening of the rebuking his comrades of sin and Church all over the land. Such re- they caught him by the ear and vivals show that when God begins to dragged him for a distance of two work, the most serious difficulties miles along the road. He went to which we in our limited and blurred the hospital for some weeks in con- vision are accustomed to look upon sequence of this cruelty, and it was as big mountains are overcome in a found that some of his aural nerves moment. So also the accounts of in- were permanently injured. But he dividual conversion under the most rejoiced to be counted worthy to suf- unexpected and, humanly speaking, fer for Christ's sake, and when asked the most impossible conditions which to disclose the names of his perse- we meet with in the annals of many cutors he refused. To-day he is of our missionary societies show that spending his hard-earned holiday Christ is as truly working in our preaching the Gospel in Nepal, his land to-day as in any other land or native country, a land which is closed in any other age. Yes, He is the to Christian missionaries. "I have same yesterday, to-day, and forever, known him for four years and I have whether in Asia or in Europe, in In- not met a more simple-hearted, brave dia or in Korea. and enthusiastic disciple of the Mas- The Story of Guman Singh ter"-such is the testimony which a well-known English worker gives of In the year 1905, during the great him. Christ has begun His good and revival of spiritual life among the gracious work in our land and His Khassia people there was quartered kingdom is making headway in India in Shillong, the capital of the Khas- in ways and manners we do not al- sia Hills, a Gurkha regiment. There ways know. Let us, therefore, be was a bandsman in this regiment, confident of this very thing that "He Guman Singh by name, who had pre- which hath begun a good work in viously known nothing of Christ or us will perform it until the day of Christianity. During the time of the Jesus Christ."
wonderful revival he felt an irre- Have we sufficiently taken into ac- sistible impulse to go to the church count the resources that are within where many were assembled day and our reach for the accomplishment of night, and where God was doing this great work?
marvelous things. He understood I would now try to direct your nothing of the Khassia language, but thoughts to the greatest of all our he is to-day a humble believer in resources, to the living God, domi- Christ. He attributes his conversion nating, possessing and using all fac- to an independent revelation of the tors and influences to work out His person of Christ. He affirms that the eternal purposes concerning our land.
No lesson of missionary experience sionary enterprise in our land so has been more fully, impressively and limited? Why is it that we find no convincingly taught than that apart large accessions to the Christian from the divine working all is inade- Church from the ranks of those who quate. Our well-organized mission- are most influenced by Christian ary societies, activities, methods and thought? Is it not because so many plans are of no avail if they are not Christians, let us say so many of us, inaugurated, directed and sustained fail to fulfil the conditions required by Him. "Except the Lord build for the forthputting of the divine the house they labor in vain that power? An ordinary steel cable, look- build it." It was the firm conviction ing like so many yards of twine, may in the practical availability of the il- lie idle in the bazaar. But you in- limitable resources of the Heavenly sulate it properly, and connect it with Father which enabled and still en- a dynamo, and it becomes the channel ables many a servant of God to dare for conveying the mysterious electric. and to do great things. in His name, current into its practically illimitable more than the need for money, more powers of lighting and driving ma- than the need for men, and more chinery. Two simple conditions, in- than the need for any of the re- sulation and perfect contact, make the sources which are, after all, of the whole difference. What we also want earth earthy, what we want to-day in to-day in our spiritual life is exactly our churches and mission fields is the same. We should be saved from the faith which will enable us to selfishness, insulated, as it were, draw largely from "the unsearchable against the inroads and suggestions riches of Christ." Adoniram Jud- of the world and self, and we should son, the apostle of Burma, in one of also preserve an unbroken connection the darkest periods of the history of with the abounding and never-failing missions, confronted by an almost source of superhuman power, the dyunbroken line of heathenism, and namo of our spiritual life, even Jesus without any trace of a hopeful fu- Christ the eternal Son of God. ture beyond, was able to write to the American Christians: "If they ask Now with regard to the first conwhat promise of ultimate success is dition. How could this insulation be here, tell them, 'as much as there is effected? By surrendering ourself, an almighty and faithful God who our whole life unconditionally to the will perform His promises and noth- Lord Jesus Christ. This is not an ing more.' " Yes, it is this superhuman easy thing to do. Christ Himself factor in the evangelization of India makes no attempt to conceal the difwhich should grip our souls. Elimi- ficulties of discipleship. He wants nate the supernatural from our mis- every would-be follower of His to sion work and the next moment the sit down and count the cost at the whole thing will reduce itself to the outset, so that it may not be said of level of a huge humanitarian social- him, "This man began to build and service movement and nothing more. was not able to finish." His words are very plain and quite uncompro- Causes of Limited Success mising. "If any man come to Me and hate not his father and mother We have seen that the situation in and wife and children and brothers India is, on the whole, one which and sisters, yea, and his own life also, should strengthen us in our confi- he can not be My disciple." "Whodences in the final victory of our soever he be of you that forsaketh Master. We have also seen that we not all that he hath, can not be My have in our Almighty Father all the disciple." "Except a corn of wheat resources necessary to meet and to fall to the ground and die it remainovercome the greatest difficulties. eth alone, but when it dies it yields Why, then, is the success of the mis- much fruit." Yes, following Christ
NEGLECTED FIELDS OF AMERICA
may mean to you and me the giving tudes of His devoted followers; if up of some of our cherished ambi- the longing of your heart is, as it is tions and dearest dreams. It may surely our Lord's, that India should mean bare subsistence allowance in- know the true God and Jesus Christ stead of sumptuous salaries and af- whom He has sent, and that speedfluent circumstances. It may mean ily you will consider no sacrifice too to some of you the painful experience great to make for the realization in of going right against the ideas and however small a measure of this most hopes with which those near and dear sacred of ambitions. As Indians, our to you have long been associating position is one of peculiar privilege your future career. All these are and opportunity. I love to think of real difficulties. But are we to be the day when different elements of frightened from taking the decisive the Indian Christian community, forstep by any or all of these difficulties? getting all their petty differences of The answer to this important ques- origin, organization and beliefs, will tion depends upon the extent to with the single-eyed purpose of winwhich the claims of the Master and ning India for Christ, send forth her the needs of the Kingdom have taken preachers and teachers and Christian hold of our minds. If your heart Sadhus to every village and town, beats in unison with that of the Mas- and thus hasten the coming of the ter, and with the hearts of the multi- Kingdom in India.
THE NEGLECTED FIELDS OF AMERICA* AN ACCOUNT OF THE SIGNIFICANT WESTERN CAMPAIGN OF THE SPECIAL DEPUTATION OF THE HOME MISSIONS COUNCIL BY Hl'llERT C. HERRING. ll.D. Secretary of the Congregational Home Missionary Society I lS]IX home mission secre- (4) How many of them are more taries, represer~tinl? as than four miles from church services many denom111ahons, recently completed a held in a language which they can tour of thirteen West- understand?
(5) What amount of home mis- ern States, arranging sion money is expended for each or- in each State for a sur- ganization in each place? vey of religious conditions, school district by district, throughout the (6) What communities, speaking what languages, are without religious care? whole territory. This step has been (7) What undenominational, retaken bv the Home Missions Council ligious and social agencies are at because- of its growing sense of the work, or should be at work, etc.? need of closer cooperation and of In at least one of the States under facts upon which to base that co- review there are as many as 8,500 operation. school districts. When it is remem- The survey sought answer to such bered with what great reluctance the questions as these: average human being addrest him- (I) What nationalities, what self to the task of filling out a blank, churches, what pastors in a given it will be seen that the State comcommunity? mittees have undertaken no small (2) How many people in that com- task. It is not expected that the remunity? turns will all be in before July I, (3) Speaking what tongues? 1912. The results of the survey will * Condensed from Missio1"IS.
make the most significant home mIs- ficult by the same causes which have sion document ever published. produced it, viz., lack of money ade- quate to maintain work in a com- Lack of Religious Privileges munity unable or unwilling to do much for itself, and lack of ministers In every conference there was capable of succeeding in the country strong testimony on this point. Par- and willing to go there. But a way ticularly in the States where frontier must be found, whatever the difficonditions are largely in the past, culties. such as Nebraska, Kansas and southern Minnesota, it was found that Workers in Exceptional Vocations scores of communities of considerable size are separated from church Most prominent are the unmet services by a distance which is prac- needs of the lumbermen. In Wistically prohibitory. In addition are consin, Minnesota, Idaho and Washhundreds of scarcely less destitute ington a population of several hunrural communities, which are de- dred thousand are directly dependent pendent on the irregular service of upon the lumber industry. A large a non-resident minister, too often ill- percentage are single men, or men equipped. This condition is made the separated from their families for long more serious because of the polyglot periods. The conditions of labor precharacter of the population. Families vent permanent residence, and often and neighborhoods, speaking one are directly promotive of vicioLls language, are surrounded by the habits. The "lumber jack" is prolarger community, speaking another, verbially thriftless and reckless when and are unable either to provide a not something worse. A lumber town church of their own or to share that is crude, and its population fluctuaof their neighbors. Then, too, sec- ting. It, therefore, naturally results tarian traditions, and particularly the that religious work is carried on, gulf between Catholics and Protes- whether in camp or town, against tants, further complicate the case. As great odds and with little visible outa result of it all, there is beyond come. The bulk of the lumbermen doubt a wide-spread and ominous in camp are under no religious influfailure of organized Christianity to ence. The sawmill towns are often reach the scattered dwellers on West- but little better. Here, as in so ern farms. The home mission boards many vocations, the producers who have upon them no obligation so are nearest nature's sources are less pressing as this. privileged than those farther away.
This does not mean that the aggre- The home mission boards are not gate of rural churches in the West likely to be able to meet this need in is small. In Kansas, for instance, at adequate degree. The cost is so great, least one-fifth of the evangelical and the type of worker required so churches are in the open country, rare, that only a limited expectation away from the railroad. Add to these of enlarging present work can be the churches in small towns, essen- indulged. The ideal solution of the tially rural in their constituency, and problem would be a "Lumbermen's the total is large. But the areas are Mission" carried on under joint auso vast, and the population so pre- spices of the denominational boards dominantly agricultural, that a great and the Y. M. C. A. portion is still unreached. Children grow from infancy to majority with- Of similar sort are the unmet out Gospel influences, save as a needs among miners. These are less limping and intermittent Sunday- pronounced so far as lack of church school and a rare sermon bring Christ privileges is concerned. As to the to their thoughts. The effort to cor- amount of indifference and godlessrect this condition will be made dif- ness, presumably there is not much difference. In great mining centers,
like the Cripple Creek District, the in a town is not a conclusive indica- Cocur d'Alene, and the Black Hills, tion of the facts. The Western boom are many churches. But their task spirit, which sees a coming metropolis is hard and their hold small. The in every hamlet, has naturally crowded great need is such equipment and forward church building enterprises.
leadership as shall enable them to em- Add to this the fact that the coolest phasize the social side of the minis- and most experienced are liable to try. In smaller outlying camps are misjudge the future in a region often no churches at all, or else where population is so fluid and its buildings with no preachers. The elements so liable to change, and you proposed survey will render an in- have another cause of overbuilding.
valuable service by furnishing a com- Then the multiplicity of tongues and prehensive view of the whole situa- the strong tendency of the Teutonic tion in mining towns. peoples toward sectarian subdivisions Here and there, in the round of has contributed to the situation.
conferences, many glimpses were had One can easily get a mental pic- of groups of foreigners without .or- ture of a town of a thousand people, ganized Christian effort, Greek, Japa- with two English-speaking Protestant nese, Chinese, Spanish. In one pain- churches, a Catholic church, two ful and reproachful case a commu- Swedish churches of different sects, a nity of 3,000 Finns was found to German church and a Norwegian have no vestige of religious work church, making a total of seven- among them. In most of these cases patently too many and yet perfectly it should be possible to supply the explainable. The English churches present lack. were built before it could be known Overchurching that the place would become so large- This question was earnestly dis- ly foreign-speaking. The foreign cust. So great, however, ·was the churches were organized to meet the difficulty of agreeing upon a defini- demand for the mother tongue, and tion, and so divergent were the judg- duplicated in one nationality or more ments of workers as to actual condi- because of irreconcilable antagonisms tions, that no comprehensive state- springing out of the past. Not every ments can be made until prolonged case, however, is so simple. Fre- study has been given to more ample quently the English-speaking churches data. That there is overchurching, have multiplied through mere secta- of course, goes without saying. But rian zeal and local pride. But now, on all questions as to amount, _na- compelled by necessity, or by a sense ture, cause and cure it was difficult of the proprieties, many of the weaker to get a consensus of opinion. It ones stand unsupplied or are de- is plain that in most of the States pendent on the service of a non- but little effort has been made to resident minister, so that five church bring about acquaintance and estab- buildings often mean but two or three lish mutual confidence among home ministers. This, as far as it goes, is mission leaders. As a result each a step toward a cure. But the vari- man's work has been largely unre- ous organizations remain, each a dis- lated to, and often at cross purposes couragement to the other, and the with, that of men in other denomina- unused buildings discredit the cause tions. It was evident that the vari- they represent.
ous conferences went far toward A long, vigorous and intelligent clearing the air and establishing a course of treatment will be required basis of closer relations in the future. before the West is cured of its sec- Attention was repeatedy called to tarian ills. It was refreshing to hear the fact that overchurching is often from place to place of localities which overbuilding rather than overman- are addressing themselves to the re- ning. The number of church spires duction of sectarian inflammation.
EDITORIALS
MOTHERS OF THE TEMPLE or others in whom they are inter- ested, may take up this definite Chris- A GREAT era of missions was in- tian service. augurated when the churches or- Various committees have been organized to send out missionaries and ganized, and regular bimonthly meet- ings have been planned for conferto direct their work in foreign lands. ence, prayer and study, and inspira- tional addresses. Another epoch was marked fifty years This organization lays the right ago by the organization of women emphasis on responsibility and privi- lege. It begins with the home. Here to bear their share in the enterprise. is where missionaries, preachers and Bible teachers should be trained; Twenty-five years ago the young here they should learn to know the full meaning of surrender to Christ; people came forward to organize as here they should see the vision of the world need, and hear the call volunteers for service, and the mis- of God to work in His Vineyard. May God bless the "Mothers of the sionary force has doubled in that Temple."
time. More recently students of mis- TVOICES THAT CALL TO MISSIONS HOSE who do not hear the call sions have started a campaign of to join in the great work of win- ning the world to Christ can not give missionary education, and the laymen as an excuse the failure of God to make known His will. They need have banded together to increase the to go direct to the Great Physician for spiritual operations on their eyes, supply of funds to support the grow- their ears, their hearts, their nerves, and their powers of locomotion. What ing work. are some of the voices that call to missionary work? Now comes a new organization of 1. The voice of God in His Word. mothers. It is thus far local, but may The marching orders of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The whole well become world-wide. An asso- Bible is a missionary book.
ciation has been formed in the Cen- 2. The voice of human need. Ig- norance, culpable ignorance, shuts out tral Presbyterian Church, Rochester, the vision of men and women living and dying in sin. None can see the N. Y., called "Mothers of the condition of men in any land without recognizing their need of a Savior. Temple." Its purpose is to bring the 3. The voice of ability. Christians mothers in the church into closer have vast resources at their command, and all the powers of nature are being fellowship for prayer, child study, and harnessed to do man's bidding. Every new discovery and invention is but a consideration of the needs of man- a new instrument put into OUf hands to carry the Gospel into the regions kind in order to promote a "World beyond.
for Christ Movement." This is to be done by' consecrating their chil- dren to the Master. Like Hannah of old, these mothers are ready to bring their children to God, and dedi- cate them from birth to His service.
The association also purposes to raise an educational fund to help members of their church who are striving, amid difficulties, to educate them- selves as Christian ministers or mis- slOnanes.
The active members of this organi- zation are mothers who study the Bible and are praying that their chil- dren may take up definite Christian work, obeying the command of Christ to "go preach the Gospel."
Other women may join as associate members if they study the Bible and are praying that those in their classes, 4. The voice of history. The past church-members. The sooner each is failures of men without Christ and imprest with his or her own personal the successes attending missionary responsibility to use tongue and tal- work are summons to further en- ents to spread the Gospel, the sooner deavor. In the past missionary cen- the kingdom of God will be estab- tury twice as many have been added lished.
to the professing followers of Christ Not long ago we came upon one of as in all the preceding eighteen these "Fishers of men," of which the ccnturics. The work is a success. church should be composed. He was S. The voice of opportunity. Doors a plain, stalwart, successful Long have been opening on every hand, Island fisherman, who had heard the and many obstacles that long stood call of God sounding in his ears to be- in the way have disappeared. Even come a personal worker. He entered persecutions have left the doors open into the work with the same energy wider than they were before. God is that he put into his deep-sea fishing.
leading the way. In the summer he uses his nets and 6. The voice of love and thanks- ships barrels of fish each day to the glvmg. "The love of Christ con- market; in the winter he uses his Gos- straineth me." The fact that we owe pel net to seek men individually, not so much to God must lead to greater only to bring them to his Master, but sacrifice and service for Him. to lead them to become themselves 7. The voice of self-interest. Ex- "Fishers of men." In this way he has perience proves that the greatest bless- been used by God to take in his net ing comes to those who give them- one thousand individuals in the past selves wholly to this work. Those three and one-half years-whereas who are self-centered stagnate and previously to that time he had spoken die. Christianity must flow out if to none.
it is to be kept living. The most This man, without college or theo- short-sighted policy is that which be- logical education, a simple Christian, gins and ends at home. like most church-members, has a rec- Whosoever hath, to him shall be ord that few laymen can equal. He given, and to whomsoever much is will speak to anyone, tactfully, mod- given, of him shall much be required. estly, earnestly, planting the seed and FISHERS OF MEN trusting God to give the increase. In his "Fishermen's Oub," or "God's T HE late editor-in-chief, Dr. Pier- Messengers," this personal worker son, used to say that the true di- has secured the names of bankers, vine idea of "Apostolic Succession" lawyers, preachers, teachers, editors, was revealed in Romans 10: IO: hear- clerks and heads of large business ing, believing, confessing; hearing, houses. He spoke to the sales girl believing, confessing, in perpetual who sold him an umbrella, and to the succession from one end of the world president of a large fountain-pen com- to the other. pahy, where he sought a pen with Truly this is the ideal, apostolic which to record the results of his method, to be used by the Spirit of "fishing." Both of these, as well as God for the extension of the king- editors of some well-known publica- dom and the conversion of mankind. tions, thanked him for his earnest The Church can not depend on great words and agreed to become also organized efforts however powerful, "fishers of men."
or 'on social movements, or on paid This worker testifies that in all the workers however efficient, to carry hundreds of people he has approached the Gospel to the unbelievers. None he has never met a rebuff. Some have of this can take the place of the gen- refused to commit themselves, but all eral individual work for individuals have been courteous and appreciative.
on the part of the rank and file of Surely there are thousands of other
Christian men and women who will sanctification. There can be no sanctitake up this work for the Master, a fication until there is separation from work to which he has called us and on the world. which he has set his seal of approval. Is not this the difficulty with many OUR LORD'S INTERCESSORY movements toward church unity? Any artificial or external union must PRAYER fail. This great end can not be achieved by uniting disciples; it must T HE great prayer of our Lord for be accomplished by union with the His disciples, recorded in the Master in nature, affections, will, seventeenth chapter of the Gospel sympathies, and work. according to St. John, relates to their separation, sanctification, unification, The result of such union will be and glorification. a new power and new results in witness to the world. It will sim- First he refers to their unworldli- plify our creed, and this unanimity ness. This characteristic is defined in faith will beget confidence-belief in seven particulars: in our testimony. It will also give an example to the world of the na- Chosen out of the world. ture and power of the love of God. Sent into the world on a mission. Living in the world. The result will also be cooperation Not of the world. in service and economy of resources Hated by the world. andeffort. Let us seek for greater Kept from the evil in the world. unity, but let that unity be based on Witnessing to the world. greater conformity to the nature and will of God.-A. T. P. Next our Lord is moved to pray for their sanctification. MISSIONARY STATISTICS OF INDIA By the truth He had taught them. A STUDY of the statistics for mis- By the example He had left them. sions in India as reported in 19IO, compared with those of ten years ago, Third, He prays for their Unity. show decided signs of progress. For Four times He repeats this petition India, Burma and Ceylon we have a "that they may be one," and indicates total foreign missionary force of 4,998 its result on the world. men and women under 141 societies, as compared with 4,267 ten years ago, This characteristic follows their under 115 societies. This is an inseparation and sanctification, and pre- crease of one-sixth in the foreign pares the way for their glorification. force. The native workers of all This unity is to be: classes now number 38,143, as com- pared with 28,136 ten years before. A unity of all believers. This is an increase of over one-third, A result of union with Christ. and shows that the policy of using Like that of the Father and the Son. native evangelists has been adhered Perfect spiritual oneness. to with good results. The number of Followed by belief in the world. native communicants has increased from 332,924 to 538,737, and total Fourth, our Lord's prayer suggests Protestant adherents from 1,033,529 to that His disciples shall all partake of 1,521,423 (including communicants). the divine nature. The form of the This is an increase of over 50 per subject of this prayer is the glorifi- cent. in less than ten year… cation of all disciples.
Glorified in Christ. . Glorified with Christ.
There can be no glorification of the Church until there is unity, and there can be no unity until there is
STATISTICAL TABLES FOR INDIA, BURMA AND
THE GENERAL AND EVANGELISTIC WORK FOIlEIGM MISSIOMAIlIEI NATIVII WOaDIl, STATIO•• CUlllSTIAR COJUlURITY ARD CoRTaIBunoRS Physicians COUNTRIES AND SOCIETIES i rn 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 INDIA American and Canadian Societies American Baptist Foreign Mission Societr ' •• " . • • • • 1814 131 13 8 5 131 83 361 287 3,384 3,671 73 1,893 1,091 8,558 127,963 127,963 347,052 1,115 36,293 102,475 American Board of Commissioners for For. Miss… 1813 28 7 Baptist For. Misa. Board, Maritime Provinces…… 1873 10 3 1 3 33 21 91 59 1,078 1,137 18 537 91 691 13,165 "13,165 46,282 479 13,165 14,424 Board of For. Miss., General Conference Mennonites 1900 4 3 8 16 35 100 100 8 17 9 102 544 544 *2,100 28 630 3 3 Board of For. Miss., Gen. Council Evan. Luth. Ch. 1869 2 9 10 10 2 1 1 42 42 42 4 150 Board of For. Miss., German EV!"$'elical Synod…. 1865 9 7 8 9 23 .- Board of For. Miss., Methodist Episcopal Church 1. 1856 4 34 Board of For. Miss., Gen. Synod, Evan. Lutheran Ch. 1842 11 3 2 308 310 4 413 250 *1,000 1,521 14,871 16,866 92 2,781 1,500 8 12 2 614 616 5 498 497 218 13,281 37,255 44,008 294 17,506 3,725 8 1 5 98 7 2 16 151 151 6 43 35 100 2,002 3,208 *4,000 8 1,198 5 86 99 Board of For. Miss., Presb. Church in U. S. A… 1834 48 7 4 42 36 295 199 4,746 4,945 66 200 282 11,282 122,986 178,943 181,049 3,523 148,591 113,852 146 53 750 803 27 120 61 1,281 7,418 *10,465 18,669 277 9,903 35,957 Board of For. Miss., Reformed Church (Dutch)I… 1853 9 1 2 11 5 31 14 374 388 8 172 19 238 2,997 4,725 Board of For. Miss., Reformed Episcopal Church '… 1894 2 9,757 182 6,715 2,830 2 1 2- 4 11 11 1 Board of For. Miss., Reformed Presbyterian Church 1837 78 3 23 26 4 6 15 549 725 2,076 6 Board of For. Miss., United Presbyterian Church ,. 1855 22 1 3 2 23 35 86 82 550 3 25 596 621 12 331 33 1,487 14,202 14,202 26,122 151 1,320 12,792 Board of Management, Gwalior Presbyterian Mission 1904 1- – – 1 1 22 22 1 5 4 55 145 787 787 3 Christian and Missionary Alliance……………… 1887 22 – 86 80 100 – 7 28 29 35 124 124 19 1,000 1,000 1,600 Christian Woman's Board of Missions………….. 1882 2,149 Evan. Lutheran Synod of Mo., 0'1 and Other States. 1895 7- 5_ 5 18 16 136 136 10 20 10 42 682 682 *2,600 34 1,350 8- – 8- 25 29 29 5 131 *400 942 Foreign Christian Missionary SOciety…………… 1882 11 3 3- 12 5 10 For. Dept., International Committee, Y. M. C. A… 1889 6 16 124 140 6 8 8 162 852 852 *3,200 31 2,036 536 5- – 9 11 – 192 For. Dept., National Board, Y. W. C. A., U. S. A.. 1894 – 46 5 60 – – – – 6 50 4 For. Miss. Board, Baptist Conv., Ontario and Quebec 1866 16 28 For. Miss. Com., Presbyterian Church in Canada… 1873 15 2 3- 12 15 6 6 307 313 12 161 45 531 5,093 5,093 9,700 275 5,300 28 4,182 Friends' For. Miss. Soc.,-Ohio Yearly Meeting,…… 1896 – 3 5- 15 12 26 2 109 111 7 19 9 141 1,031 21,031 *4,000 33 1,572 18 3,301 General Conference of .l'-ree Baptists………….. 1836 11 – 1- – 5 13 18 18 1 1 1 60 60 310 2 140 300,955 11 8 General Miss. Board, Church of the Brethren……. 1895 11 – 1 1- 11 5 12 317 329 7 10 19 166 1,368 1,368 2,375 112 4,544 – – 8 General Miss. Board of the Free Methodist Church.. 1885 4 1 47 48 10 25 4 45 787 800 1,064 34 1,004 14 Gen. Miss. Board, Pentecostal Church, Nazarene… 1897 4- – 1 5 8 3 11 11 3 1 11 40 56 180 5 220 4 5- – – 5 3 2 12 14 4 4 Hephzibah Faith Missionary Association……….. 1898 2 – 10 Lee Memorial Bengali MissIOn·……………….. – – – 2 4 17 1 1 2- 1 1 1 3 44 Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities……… 1899 7 34 34 1 6 12 600 4 4- 1 5 4 Missionarr Society, Calvinistic Church in U. S. A.. 1869 5 52 52 3 4 4 60 451 492 600 17 555 1- 1- 1- 6 Peniel Mlssionary Socie!y_o…………………… 1897 – – – 2 2- 5 5 1 1 2 9 9 *36 18 7 Pentecost :Bands of the World…. ;……………. 1896 5- – – 2 3 15 7 1 Scandinavian Alliance Mission………………… 1892 3 – – 4 3 7 15 3 2 Seventh·Day_ Adventist Mission Board………….. 1895 12 1 2 9 11 9 3 3 4 1 3 19 Vanguara Missionary Association……………… 1895 – – – 2 1 4 22 8 4 221 221 221 12 225 Woman's Home and For. Miss. Soc., Advent Chris. 1898 – – – 1- 4 40 40 3 1 Woman's Gen. Miss. Soc., Churches of God……. 1896 2 – – – 1 3 20 20 3 7 60 60 *200 14 1,200 Woman's Union Missionary Society of America….. 1863 – – 4- – 14 2 25 25 25 3 50 ~–68-6-!-1-3-,7-41-56-0l-1-4-,4-13-52-0~-3S-0"':"'5''''4,-S-11-11-l-Z-,4-8-8-1-2-6,-1-8-6-1—,-4-94-+-4-18-,-77-5+-7-25-,-32-1:+-6:-,:-74-4-'2'7–26-1-,9:-3:-8'- 'T.667 324 Totals, 39 American Societies………………… —-+-'-s-2-7+-4-7+-7-1~–S9—5-1-3-~–4-8-0 Australasian Societies Baptist Association of Queensland For. Miss. Com.. 1885 1- – – 1 1 3 3 2 5 1 1 11 11 13 1 2 52 Baptist For. Miss. Soc. of New South Wales……. 1885 1- – – 1- 2 1 12 24 2 9 2 28 116 3 106 118 Furreedpore Missionary_ Society •.•..••..•..••…. 1882 2 1- – 2 4 8- 24 22 2 3 2 59 New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society……….. 1891 _ 1 2 11 59 42 100 3 375 1 1- – 1 3 5 2 20 42 77 Tasmanian Baptist Missionary Society…………. – 1- – – 1 1 3- – 4 114 336 __ __ Victorian Baptist Foreign Mission…………….. 1883 4 – 800 26 1- 1 5 11 3 17 20 3_ – 53 800 *3,000 ~83+ 1 -~~ r-~—T—r–~–T—~~—+—~—-':—-:–~–~—+–~—-+—-T—-~ ~ Totals, 6 Australasian Societies……………….. – 10 2 1- 7 14 32 9 75 84 10 151 6 64 929 964 3,394 36 1,426 454 British Societies Baptist Missionary Society f…………………. 1794 67 2 5 6 60 5 143 39 1,016 1,055 38 118 *52 1,158 9,572 9,572 -*35,000 320 11,020 9,373 Bntish and Foreign Bible Society…………….. 1807 4- – 2 6- 12 _ • 535 535 6 Central Asian Mission…………. …………… 1902 1- – 2 1- 4_ 3 3 1 Ceylon and India General Mission……………. 1893 – 20 – – 12 5 7 24 – 52 52 1 11 7 21 Children's Special Service Mission…………….. – – – – 1- – 1_ 4 4 1 1114 196 335 22 512 39 Christian Literature Society for India…………. 1858 2 – – 1 – 3 6 _ 191 191 2 739 Christian Missions in Many Lands·………….. 1836 – – – 55 43 36 134 29 – 85 85 67 12 78 1,244 1,244 5,710 10 233 128 19 9 27 132 88 432 223 177,816 Church Missionary Society………………….. 1813 159 – 13 – – 140 153 178 3,288 3,466 47 – 8 – 8 – 1,151 45,468 158,869 8- 3- 52,215 Church of England Zenana Missionary Society…. 1880 – 3 16 – 849 849 18 11 *14,000 Church of Scotland Foreign AMssis~sci.onfo Comm ittee… 4 6 2 – 7 54 12 Church of Scotland Women's r For. Miss.. 1829 22 – – 41 47 13 315 328 8- 8- 187 2,698 12,183 153 9,208 1,732 1837 – _ 201 201 EdinburJrb Medical Missionary Society…………. 1885 1 1- – 1- 3_ – _ 1 English "National Council, Y. M. C. A., For. Dept. – – – – 3 1- 4_ – _ 2 For. Mission, Presbyterian Church of Ireland o. • .• 1840 15 1 4 5 17 13 55 5 462 467 14 54 25 119 1,131 4,237 5,197 100 4,381 1,970 For. Miss. Com., Presbyterian Church of England.. 1862 1 2- 2 2 2 9 – 5 5 2 1 *56 Friends' Foreign Mission As80ciation………….. 1866 – 7 14 30 1 1 8 6 12 28 – 97 97 8 5 8 14 .~ 173 10 173 1,118 Kurku and Central Indian Hill Miuion……….. 1890 – 8 9 7 24 1 24 25 6 2 33 1,947 297 – – 1 1 – – _ 1 20 175 277 550 9 Lakher Pioneer Mission ……………………. lj05 – – – 2 – 387 40 London Missionary Society………………….. 1817 55 5 3 2 52 36 153 43 1,991 2,034 30 820 1,291 14,175 "14,175 110,065 602 21,996 15,758 Ludhiana Zenana and Medical Mission………… 18"79 – – 2 – – 10 12 – 17 17 3 1 Missionar:!, Settlement for UniverSity Women….. 1895 – – – – – 4 4 – – _ 1 National Bible Society of Scotland……………. – – – – – – – _ _ '~35 235 _ North India Industrial Home for Christian Blind.. 1887 – – 2 3_ 1 1 1 1- – 9 *30 53 58 *60 3 O:dord Mission to Calcutta………………….. 1880 10 – 1 4- 10 25 – – _ 5 Regions Beyond Missionar), Union…………….. 1901 5- – – Repr. Coun. Epis. Ch. in Scotland For. Miss. Board 1871 4 5 14 – 16 16 4 11 4 22 22 150 9 2- – – 1 2 5_ 20 20 1 4 1 Scottish Mission' Industries Co., Ltd………….. 1903 – – _ 2 Scottish Nat'l Council, Y. M. C. A., For. Miss. Dept. – – – – – 3 1- 4- – – 2 1 3- – _ 1 Society for the Propagation of Gospel"……….. 1814 96 1 8 4 16 72 197 136 1,682 1,818 42 77 234 2,128 38,865 100,068 114,879 777 32,562 24,723 South Indian Strict Baptist Missionary Society….. 1860 4 – – 1 4 1 10 4 65 69 4 28 Strict Baptist Mission ………………………. 1860 3 – – – 2 6- 2 4 71 768 1,500 2,850 32 889 "'827 1872 56 17 11 16 1 44 44 14 2 56 ., '*-200 United Free Church of Scotland's For. rM. Missi.ssC. oCmo.m' .. 1872 1 – – 46 29 101 10 56 16 750 545 United Orig. Secess. Ch., Scotland's Fo 1840 1 – 1 60 193 13 1,391 1,404 1 16 3 – 4 1 4 1 18 19 6 36 350 3,738 9,307 10,622 120 8,352 4,959 1817 76 – – 14 15 312 10 73 157 169 Welsh Calvinistic Methodists Foreign Mission…… 1896 – – 8 57 6 37' 21 485 506 44 377 5 186 – – 10 827 9,316 25,114 28,437 Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society ,…….. .. 45 190 42 1,944 1,986 360 520 15,525 215,525 46,938 354 21,290 8,684 534 19,765 9,572 Y. W. C. A., British National Foreign Department. 15 15 – – _ Zenana Bible and Medical Mission…………….. 1852 _- ~–~ _~_-_-L__1~ 0 __-~___- __~__14_0___1_50____- ____2_56____25_6___~ 25 ___1_5+-__~____~_____ ~ _____+___________________ Totals, 37 British Societies…………………… – 596 50 86 169 500 772 2,160 496 15,292 15,788 638 2,074 753 7,964 143,227 352,758 554,170 3,097 133,538 I 130,86.5 Ceylon Societies JaHna Student Foreign Missionary Society……… 1900 – – – – – – – 2 – 2_ 1- – – – _ 2 _ 160 Jaffna Women's Foreign Missionary Society…….. 1900 — – – – – – – _ 1 1 __ 1- – – – – _ __ 167 ___ Totals, :I Ceylon Societies……………………. r– ~—~–~- —- +— ~—~—~–~- –~2~~–1-7–3 ~-_–~-2-~– -~— –~– —'~—–~~–7Z—~_:– 327- Conti.ental Societies Evangelisch-Lutherische Mission zu Leipsic.8•••••• 1706 34 1 32 17 83 17 60S 622 31 209 237 437 9,671 21,162 21,295 14,263 Evallgelische Missionsgesellschaft zu Basel .••••••• 1834 60 24 67 11 164 Evangeliska Fosterlands·Stiftelsen ••••••••••••••••• 1878 17 2 18 57 26 841 867 25 114 87 459 9,964 17,767 18,206 52 2,537 7,857 4 18 6 28 Danske Missionsselskab ……………………. . 1863 13 2 9 103 103 11 11 653 -1,241 *2,500 8 543 85 1 6 92 Gossnersche Missionsgesellschaft ••..•••••.•..•••• 1842 44 6 36 2 1 79 80 8 14 8 455 1,139 *1,550 8 347 1,964 1 1 LOve'i'thals Mission ……………………….. . 1872 1 19 335 354 57 460 382 25,642 70,865 91,771 443 7,114 7,291 10 2 26 5 5 1 L. P. Larsen Missionary Society•••••••.••••…•••• 1 14 4 39 – – 1 20 Missionsanstalt zu Hermannsburg ••.•••••••••••••• 1866 13 37 187 1 2 157 159 10 37 47 93 2,680 3,392 4,392 207 Schleswig·Holsteinische Missions~esellschaft ••••••• 1877 20 240 240 9 44 South German Young Men's Chnstian Association•• 64 493 237 2,274 9,172 12,577 5 460 500 – – 1 –1– Totals, 10 Continental Societies•••••••••••••••••••• 203 6 65 2,365 2,430 154 878 772 1,226 51,339 125,278 152,311 516 11,001 32,167 * From the World Atlas af Christian Missions, Student Volunteer Movement, 1910. • Church statistics reported by only seven missions. • Includes data for the Jungle Tribes Mission formerly conducted by the INDIA Presbyterian Church in Ireland. 10 Church-members in good standing. • Includes data for the Woman's Society. 11 It has not been possiole to be certain that this data includes no work • No report for Baptized Christians other than the number of Communicants. for whites. • Not reported. IS Includes a government school grant. • Rev. and Mrs. D. H. Lee are missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal .. Includes data of the Swedish Diocese, which is a mission of the Church{ but are reported with the Lee Memorial Bengali Mission. Svenska Kyrkans Mission. • Inc udes data for the Baptist Zenana Mission. • Colporteurs under the direct supervision of the Bible Society.
– – – – – – – – – • Includes six publishing branches and thirty-five sales depots. * Estimate. Except in column 18, all estimates are from the societies. THE AND EVANGELlSTIC WORK j DATE FOREIGN NATIVE W<;>RKERS CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY AND CONTRIBUTIONS a ~t I . £ . . COUNTRIES .AND SOCIETIES Physicians ·1 rn ______________________________________________ rJ …. -~_;'~~=:t~C:}"h~gaE-~-~~7_i~.1i1.~s.~.:r..:~..~.!~~=~.·Fi~~~-l~0at";'7,~.5C~~~~-+~0.]Z..~~~.~~~~"~;·".P"'c~rd-ISc5E~E"&"u.i~~~.~~~'.l.i'.~;.O]E5-.I~.I.~) ~~O-~"l~o;o0":·~z~~.EES~. "~~,,1f"t '~::"w~~~.~g_~..N:~O;~":..e0-~gba:n5S~~~:~.~§<~v-tf.ii5Elt-~) –~~°"~8!0;:~~:Ss"l.~~6£b4~~~j.~GJ ~~~~'~-z~~0.~!.·!1~58":.~~i,3~–~~o'-z~.~t..OC…s.~r~…m ~U=~:a~~~~]o'·.~v~5~.~~~jo.c~~§.:="ts~":i~Q-.:;~=>~<ti~i~o4~~~~~1"~.~".u,c.'..:.~-.~~~~rlg_-~J.~~'-.J:~~~~ta~t~QI.l~~~:~tf.~i~t ~o ~·•"~u_f§.~,i:.,c:.,~.:,39.=g~i~– ,.>~~.~.".O:..~~'..!~E~~.l~:~l "."'.o"~-o~'-5;Ir.=ga_:_.__~"~"~~_•~~.,oa._,_'.U,:._=.~·!~.§~g~.'5J~;o:~cai~~:= 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 India Societies 1- – – I -I 1 _2 1 Indian Christian Endeavor Union ••….•……•… 1897 1 India Sunday·school Union…………………… 1876 1- – – – 1- -, _ _ Indian Home Mission to the Santhals………….. 1867 6 — – 3 =4 I, =-_2 15 5 258 263 5 25 -7 3- 3- 14,9_90 *30,0_00 3_ – a_ National Council, Y. M. C. A. of India and Ceylon. 1889 – – – 8 , 8 — 21 21 8 72 _ 61,010 – – National Y. W. C. A. of India, Burma, and Ceylon. 1896 – – – – — – 10 10 _ 131 – __ __ _ _ __ _ 36,728 Totals, 5 India Societies……………………… ~~- ~—-~8 —-7—-~–~-11-~I~~4-.-: –2—~25—–5 –~2~91—-2-9~~–71_5–_2,28–~–7 —– _.—_—_14.,9-9-0—3-0-,0~0-0 —-_._—-_ –~97_,_73_8 International Societies China Inland Mission …………………….•.. 1875 1- – – 81.1 — 2- 1 1 1- 1 5"5 20 1_60 Mission der Briidergemeine …….•…………… 1853 8- — 1 4 21 – 24 24 5 3 6 — 56 125 2 37 30 Salvation Army……………………………. 1882 – 4- 66 44 I 36 150 — 1,901 1,901 23 2,424 – – – _ 411 10,332 :– –~–9~—4,~-~- –~-67—.53r-j –40.–1-73-~— -~-1,-92-~~-1-,9-2-6 —-~~_T-~—-~—-~—_7—-+_—.-~-~—- . Totals, 3 International Societies………………. 29 2,427 7 – 61 130 180 413 10,369 30 Independent Societies Bengal Evangelistic Mission ………………… 1889 _24 _25 Industrial and Evangelistic Mission of India…….. 1880 3- – – 2 4 9- 3 North India School of Medicine lor Christian Women 189t – 3- — 2 5 — _ _ 1 – 2 24 24 5 2 Poona and Indian Village Mission……………. 18S, – _. 1 9 7 ·20 37 – 20 21 1 11 5 24 24 47 23 1,175 – _ 1 8 Strict Baptist Mission, South India…………… 1880 1- – – 1- 2 1 2 105 105 285 5 130 23 Tehri Border Village Mission………………… – 1- – — 1- 2- ,~–~—.~–~—.—,—-;~~–.~—~—-~–~–~—-~–7_–~—-_+—–~——~–~–___~_____ i Totals, 6 Independent Societies……………….. – 332 I 28 1,305 5- 4 9 11 26 55 2 68 70 11 15 13 2 129 129 23 i Indigeneous Societies Boys' Christian Home Mission …….. :…………. 1900 – — – 5 2 i1 3 10 -i 20 20 3 2 51 222 Chtnsurah and Hooghly Zenana MIssIOn……….. 1875 __ _. _ _ 1 GInoddiaavnarMi iBSSaIpOtinsatrySwSoadcieesthya oSfuvTairntanveyvapealklya ..S.o..c.i.e.t.y… 11898038 -_ -_ _, 1 1 56 Jungle Tribes Mission……………………….. 1891 _ -_ -_ _ = Ii.' -= -= 201 2231 1 8 Keskar's Christian Mission at Cholapur………… 1899 – – 110 MMaudkrtai sMTaimssilioMni.s..s.i.o..n……………………………………………….. _ _ 152254526~ 1252~6r6iO 29 14 7 55 167 906 113 National Missionary Society of India………….. 1-896 — -1 1 "8 13 St. Thomas Syrian Christian Evangelistic Association 1905 – – – _ – I' – – 1 2 1 2 1,248 60 1,956 South Travancore Native Evangelistic Society…… 1891 – _ 125 103 Tinnevelly Children's Mission ….•……………. 1901 – – -=2 1," -_~5 -_~9 =_1 1 1 10 620 1,248 4 293 '- 1891 – – -35-,4-5-2 7 360 1,530 7 1,377 Totals, 12 Indigenous Societies ………………. — -1 2 *SOO 20 2,167 – – 6 9 2,170 1,800 2,381 4 658 6,395 Grand Totals for India, 120 Societies•••.•………. _ _ -52-2-,3-4-9 55 230 —- -1,-3-5-8 –35-8 15 25 454 36 154 _ _ nil- t – — -10-,-87-2 2,558 4 10,895 – – -, – – 9 9 4-2-2-,1-3-~ -57-3-,4-5-4 – – 4 _ 4 4 4 – 1 30 5 320 —3-2-5..;..—-6-'1—-6-7'- 42 3,749 6,109 -1-1-5 -16-3 1,279. ,.17 4,'6,35' 1,270 34,084 35,354 1,2136[110,217 -4,-08-8 9-1-6-,7-7-3· -1,-47-1-,7-2-7 CEYLON American Societies t~1' , = = 396 409 t"~ = – – – 4;418 . c' FAFoomrr..erDiDceeappntt..,B, For. Mis …… " 3 ,II ld, :Ii 12Jl' 1;973' 11,973 72~ 3,818 8,758 oard of Commissions for .YA. .,MU. .CS'.AA…… 1816 3 1 ! . 2 1 4! 19 INanttei ornnatalioBnoala rC,doYm.mWitt.ee 11899~6~ — – -_ -1 It,,' '1= -_ _ – .j 1 _ -_ -_ -_ _ _ _ Trustees of Jaffna College Func!s. '…….•……… :_1_8Z_'~-;-___i–_ _i_—-+-.'__.-_Z-i-'-'___:____J .~~.,______:,—_'.-.-.–+–t-i——-~_;..'——_i_-'·-_~–i—-.–~-_-_- ~,,–__-'_-_~-_=;e—.. _ 1'—– .~-, -f-'-~~- Totals, 4 American Societies •…•.••…………. – 4 1 2 4 3 5 18 13 396 409 9 23 19 121 1,973 1,973 4,418 72 3,818 8,758 British Societies Baptist Missionary Society •……•..••………… 1812 4 2 63 69 20 110 130 2 55 *19 48 1,057 1,057 *4,200 123 1,575 8- British and Foreign Bible Society .•.••…………. 1810 1 Children's Special Service Mission .•…………… 1 2 '91 91 Christian Literature Society for India…………. . 1858 1 1 1 1 Christian Missions in Many Lands ……………. . 1 '1~ 2- 45 45 1 4 2 – – – 1 Church Missionary Society………………….. . 1818 20 62 21 760 781 9 28 30 70 2 a9_0 8,309 23 23 3 – 3 – 6162 11,613 Church of England Zenana Missionary Society …. . 18f·9 4,158 11,272 8- Friends' Foreign Mission Association ………….. . 1896 8 8 — 28 28 2 Indian Christian Realm Mission ……………… . 1903 2 12 – 56 56 4 16 129 22 895 292 1 3 – 27 27 1,650 63 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. …….. . 1840 4 4 109 111 2 16 16 285 512 982 2,846 16 220 20 2 854 904 5 24,005 1,592 'Vesleyan Methodist Missionary Society 7 ••••••••••• 1814 22 2 2 10 2 56 50 – – 4 9 43 802 2,803 29 3,850 4,676 2 -, Y. W. C. A., British National Foreign Department. IM7 14 213 325 112 7,437 7,437 337 17,137 1 ..—!—…;—-;..—-7—-+—.;—-~,- —-7—+—!–~–_+—;–~—_;_—-;:__—-;:—–i—-.— Totals, 12 British Societies ….•…..•…………. 50 2 15 36 119 222 93 2,081 2,174 55 309 369 659 13,994 23,581 44,513 529 23,767 14,932 Ceylon Societies Colombo Industrial School. ..••……………….. 1896 20 21 *300 *300 *1,000 2,287 Henaratgoda Village Mission ………………… . 1895 300 300 1,000 2,287 National Council, Y. M. C. A. of India and Ceylon .. 1896 18 18 ~ otals, 3 Ceylon Societies ..•…………………. 6 6 5 44 45 Continental Society Evangelisch·Lutherische Mission zu Leipsic s. . . . . .. 1903 20 2 90 205 205 50 International Society Salvation Army 1882 8 5 18 157 157 128 Indigenous Society Jaffna Native Evangelical Society …………….. . 1832 2 3 3- 1 31 42 60 4 250 674 Grand Totals for Ceylon, 21 Societies …..••••…..• 62 4 19 44 134 263 109 2,680 2,789 – – 1 – – —-~ 69 483 388 783 16,388 26,101 50,196 606 27,885 26,651 .. Federates denominational Sunday·school work. No independent statistics. • Colporteurs under the immediate supervision ·of the Bible Society. • Sales depots. CEYLON 6 Net increase. 1 No report for Baptized Christians other than the number of Communicants. 7 Includes data for Women's Society. 2 Includes data for the Baptist Zenana Missionary Society. 8 Partial data of the Swedish Diocese, which is a mission of the Svenska – – – – -3 -No-t reported. Kyrkans Mission. * Estimate. Except in column 18, all esti111ates are from the societies.
WORLD-WIDE
MISSIONARY NEWS ASIA-INDIA mony as exists between caste and noncaste Hindus, and intensify any Christian Progress in India surviving social bitterness between them. T HE growth of Christianity in the T India's Foe-Alcohol . last decades is shown by the fol- HE secretary of the United lowing remarkable figures: 1881, Council on Work Among Young 1,862,634; 1891,2,284,380; 1901, 2,- People in India, in discussing the 923,241; 19 11 ,3,876,196. question, "What has a convert to Christianity a right to expect of the Of the present total more than two Christian Church in the matter of the and one-third millions are to be use of alcoholic drinks?" calls atfound in southern India, where there tention to the fact that the use of are Christian colonies planted in the intoxicants in India is enormously early centuries of the faith, and where increasing. The harm done to India's considerable accessions by conversion manhood by alcoholic drinks is great. have been reported in recent years. Thousands are annually added to the There have been striking increases list of drunkards, from among those in the Panjab and the United Prov- ""ho are "moderate" drinkers. The inces, the combined figures being Church should unwaveringly and un- 379,445, as against I6g,546 ten years compromisingly teach that the use of ago. In the two Bengals and their alcoholic beverages is an unmixed evil. States the number of Christians has Only total abstainers should be orrisen from 315,198 to 464,573, while dained and tolerated as ministers of in Hyderabad an advance from 23,- the Gospel. No person's name should 000 to over 54,000 is reported. In be allowed to remain upon the registhe Native States, as a whole, the ter of the Church who is guilty of advance has been relatively greater using liquor to excess, nor should he than in British districts. be taken back into membership until he had shown that he was free from A Hindu Condemns Hinduism the habit.
T HE Christian Patriot, of Madras, T What is Hinduism? published a very interesting letter HE Leader, of Allahabad, recentrecently addrest by Mr. Justice San- ly published the replies of more karan Nair to Mrs. Annie Besant, or less representative Hindus to the who desired him to endorse a move- question, "What is Hinduism, and ment to establish a Hindu university. what is essential in it?" One, an Altho the responsible educational au- authority in himself, said, "A Hindu thorities under the government of In- is one born in India, whose parents, dia have sanctioned the project .of as far as people can remember, were the noted theosophist, and a public not foreigners, and did not profess official might therefore have been a foreign religion like Mohammeexpected to give at least nominal ap-' danism or Christianity or Judaism, proval to the proposition, the justice, and who himself has not embraced notwithstanding he is himself a Brah- one of those religions." man of high degree, totally discountenances all thought of a sectarian Another intelIigent writer said, school for the propagation of Hindu- "There are no dogmas in Hinduism. ism. He says that any revival of the You may believe in any doctrine you teachings of the Hindu sacred books can only tend to destroy such har-
choose, even in atheism, without ceas- harmonious, and full of promise in ing to be a Hindu." view of the new chapter in Indian history recently opened by the Sov- A third writer stated, "Hinduism ereigns at Delhi. The national awais adherence to certain practises im- kening in India is, of course, the direct peratively demanded and prescribed result of British rule and of faithful by it." missionary service.
The last answer comes near to the American United Presbyterian Mission root of the matter, for "practise" founded on caste is the stronghold of IN 1855 the American United Pres- Hinduism. Tho Hinduism holds to byterian Mission in India was comthe theory of "maya," viz., that menced with one missionary and his things are not what they seem, and wife, in the northern part of the Panthat the external aspect of the world jab, and it has grown under the and human life is only an illusion, Lord's blessing until there are 22 men yet the practises of social and so- and 34 women missionaries from called religious life (chief among America, 34 native ordained ministhem caste) are its very center. With ters, and 395 native lay workers. the falling of caste Hinduism will There are 43 organized congregaquickly surrender to the attack of tions, and 24,352 members, while the the messengers of the Gospel. Christian community numbers 46,451. The 181 Sunday-schools contain 8,30 Efficient Service of Bible Women pupils, and 201 day schools have 11,- 003 scholars. NOT enough is thought and. said about one of the most important The work among the Chuhras, one and valuable of Christian native of the deprest classes, is especially agencies in India. A splendid, 1.!nseen flourishing. Dr. Martin saw the opporwork is being carried on incessantly, tunity and heard the call. Unreserdevotedly and indefatigably just now vedly he committed himself to the by hundreds of native Hindu Bible evangelization of the whole Chuhra women. Their lives are obscure. class. He employed the best agents, Their efforts are not trumpeted, and pushed education, and trained boys to they have no thought of commenda- teach others, raised up teachers and tion or praise. But they are doing preachers from among them, and what no other workers could even started a theological school. Thus he attempt. They gain access to the gathered the Chuhras, baptizing four women of every class and caste. or five hundred a year. When he died Many of them are wives of village in 19IO, a canvass of the rolls of the readers living in the little scattered districts in which he labored, showed rest houses. These are in contact, that he baptized in all 7,200 Chuhras. in an intimate manner, with the na- Thus the Lord blest the work. tives, in a degree impossible to foreign agents. They are especial fa- The Basel Mission vorites of the low-caste folks and the wretched pariahs, and among these T HIS German Mission works in they succeed in the work of teach- Malabar, South Canara, in the ing inquirers and new converts.- southern Maratha country, the Nilgi- Homiletic Review. ris and Coorg, and uses three lan- guages besides several spoken by The Indian Native Congress aboriginal tribes. The first mission- aries, including the famous Hebich, SEVEN thousand educated Indians, came to India in 1834, but the society, including 1,000 delegates from a restricted at first to providing misdistance, met at Calcutta recently to sionaries for the C. M. S. and other discuss Indian affairs. The proceed- societies, was founded in the year ings opened "with prayer, and with the of the battle of Waterloo, and prepasinging of a national song," were very
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rations are already in view for cele- of the missionaries called them the brating the hundredth anniversary of most refreshing which he ever attend- 1815. In Malabar every church-mem- ed in China. Why? because Dr. Yang ber will be expected to make a con- is a man of faith and prayer, and he tribution of coins of whatever de- preaches "Christ crucified." nomination. This suggests the remark that the Christians of this mis- The Chinese Character sion, who now number, communicants and others, 18,602, are making re- AS" the late. Sir Robert Hart said: markable progress in liberality. . The Chmese are well behaved, law-abiding, intelligent, economical, Mission Schools in Ceylon and industrious. They can learn any- thing and do anything. They are T HE American COtlgregational punctiliously polite, they worship Mission in Ceylon has a system talent, and they believe in right so of 124 village schools, with 16,000 firmly that they scorn to think it rechildren in attendance. For the sup- quires to be supported or enforced port of these schools the home board by might. These qualities are not gives $570, the government appropri- simply to be found in isolated cases, ating yearly $14,000 for all expenses but are characteristic of the race as save religious instruction and the a whole." China's agricultural wealth upkeep of school buildings. But as may be estimated from the fact that the $4.50 per school appropriated by it sustains a population five times the board is hardly sufficient to pay as great as the United States upon the expenses of the religious instruc- a smaller area. The people of China tion, the school buildings themselves furnish the largest potential asset of are in pressing need of renewal. Two skilled and cheap labor of any nahundred doIlars would, on an aver- tion in the world. age, replace and equip each of these mud schools with a substitute one Traveling Then and Now of coral. A MISSIONARY writes: A new CHINA epoch has dawned in travel- ing in this part of China. We are o A Chinese Moody leaving the old and embracing the R. YANG'S parents and grand- new. We used to ride almost exclu- _ parents were Christians. He him- sively behind the "wooden-headed" self was brought up in the Methodist mule, but now the iron horse is slow- Episcopal Church and educated in the ly but surely displacing the mule on Methodist Episcopal institutions. He the great highways of North China. practised foreign medicine in an inter- The "Peking" cart has a far-away and ior city and made money, but his suc- classic sound, but as an instrument of cess gave him a proud heart, so that he torture for tired bodies and broken became cold toward God and man, and nerves it is not lightly to be dismissed; was only a nominal Christian. Then the comfortless and springless, it has held spirit of God showed him the evil in- its place for many hundreds of years fluence which he exerted, and a desire over the roads of North China. The to study the Bible was created within "patient" mule has dragged it through him. He read it morning, noon and myriads of morasses in the shape of night, until he was convicted, then con- mud roads, and over ages of rocky verted. He gave up his practise of roads, but in some places, at least, the medicine and became a teacher of the end is in sight. Bible. Like Moody, he is really a man of one book. He is now employed Passing of Chinese Idols by the Bible Study Committee to organize Bible study work throughout T HE idols of China are suffering the country. A short time ago he held from increasing neglect on the a series of meetings at Kashing. One part of the population. A writer in the Assembly Herald remarks: "The
shrewd, matter-of-fact, materialistic furloughs, two of which were spent Chinese peasant, prest for the next in England and one in the United meal, entertains no great respect for States.
ldols upon whom he spent hard-earned Miaaionary Conference at Swatow cash in offerings, but from whom he gets no help in his day of need. Nor I N spite of the rebellion in China, in these days of piping peace does it the missionaries of the South conduce to his awe of their power to China Baptist Mission held their ansee them, as one can now see them in nual conference at Swatow from Deevery section, fallen over against the cember 13th to 16th. The seven wall, with an arm or leg or sword central stations were represented, and gone. Often one sees the Buddhas, matters of great importance were dewith their sickly-placid smiles, dumped cided. The question of union in into a corner, helpless; or a hideous educational work with the English war-god, lying prone on his face and Presbyterian Mission in Swatow was broken like Dagon, with none so poor transferred to a special committee for to do him reverence. further consideration.
Educational work among the Hak- Dr. Griffith John kas will be undertaken in connection with the Southern Baptist Mission A FTER more than half a century in Canton, and a committee was ap- in the service of the L. M. S. pointed to lay before the Home in China, Dr. Griffith John has re- Board the facts concerning the large turned to his native land. A gray- emigration of the Swatow Chinese haired veteran, for he is now in his to Hongkong, Annam, Straits Settleeighty-first year, he is completely bro- ments, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and ken in health. Dr. John was born above all, to Siam, which calls for in Swansea, in r83 I, and was early the speedy sending out of missionconverted. He preached his first aries among these emigrants in their sermon at a small prayer-meeting in new homes. Strong action was taken a private house, when he was four- looking toward the opening of new teen years old. In 1855, when he stations in the unoccupied territory and his wife sailed for Shanghai, the to the west and northwest, which criticism was made that children were would form a link between the now sent to convert the Chinese. But Southern Baptists at Ying Tak and the "child" Griffith John grew into the China Inland Mission in southern a strong man who has founded more Kiang-si. than one hundred mission stations and has planted scores of churches. JAPAN From Shanghai he penetrated. the How a Japanese Was Converted A country in every direction, tho Han- JAPANESE Christian tells how he was won to Jesus: "A miskow became the center of his activi- ties. There he founded a hospital, sionary lady got 25 Japanese boys a high-school, a normal school, a di- into a class to tell us of Jesus. We vinity school for the training of na- had great curiosity to see this foreign tive evangelists, and a medical school. lady, and not caring about Jesus, we He has been indefatigable as a trans- did care to see how everything looked lator, having acquired an admirable -her dress, her books, her furniture, knowledge of the written and spo- her pictures. But every time she ken language of the people among would have us read the Bible. We whom he worked. He was also in- had the Gospel of Luke. We read strumental in establishing the great till we came to the crucifixion. She Central China Religious Tract So- could not speak Japanese; she had an ciety. English Bible, we had a Bible in J ap- Ee has spent only five years out anese language. When we read the of China since 1855; has had three story of the Cross, she got down on
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her knees and prayed for us. vVe The Presbyterian Host in Korea could not understand what she prayed, but we watched her close. Soon she T HE Korean Presbyterian Church began to cry. Then she fell on her is alert. In a membership of face, weeping bitterly. Then 25 Jap- 36,074, there are 6,308 men and women who serve the Lord as elders, anese boys cry, too. Then inside of deacons, leaders of tens, class leaders, three weeks, all us 25 boys give our Sabbath-school teachers, and in varihearts to Jesus." ous other ways, entirely at their own charges. There are only 78 organ- KOREA ized churches, but r,059 groups- churches to be-some of them with What God Is Doing in Pyeng Yang congregations of 400. Special classes for Bible study, lasting four days T HE station at Pyeng Yang was each or more, and including some established in 1895, a little more Bible institutes of a month, enrolled than sixteen years ago. It contains during the year ending September to-day about 6,000 Presbyterians 1st, 54,587 persons. and Methodists, and the Christian constituency is 10 per cent. of the The total number of adherents, total population. In the territory catechumens and members of the enaround Pyeng Yang, 27,720 more tire Presbyterian Church is only 108,- Christians are found, and they all 970. The gifts last year amounted aided during the past year the for- to $8I,309.I7 gold. If we estimate the eign missionaries and the seven or- ration of income between the churchdained pastors, the 57 evangelists, the membership in Korea and in the 63 women helpers, the 10 Bible col- United States as one to ten, the toporteurs, and the 1,700 Sunday-school tal contribution per communicant is teachers of the native force in mis- equivalent to $22.50. sionary effort. Thus it does not seem remarkable that the baptized num- Six thousand, eight hundred and bered 2,417 between October I, 1910, twenty-three adults were received on and September 30, I9II, while 3,854 confession of faith last year, and 14,- catechumens were received. In the 757 catechumens, or those under in- Bible institutes and Bible classes in struction preparatory to full mem- Pyeng Yang, 1,219 men and 981 bership. women received instruction, and they in turn instructed 12,163 men and One of the newest stations is at 6,369 women in country classes. In An Dong. First Christian service the 186 primary schools, 2,950 boys was held at An Dong in a book-store and 815 girls were taught by 296 -August, 1909, seven believers. On tellchers, while in the academies 316 the second anniversary, 220 enrolled boys and 140 girls attended under members. Seventy-three were exam- 25 teachers. The college had 49 ined for church-membership, the oldstudents this year, and a new build- est a woman of 73, the youngest a ing has been erected for them and girl of 8. for the boys of the academy. The theological seminary had 134 stu- Conditions in Formosa dents, and the graduating class had 16 members. The Christians of Pyeng T HE Japanese Government, SInce Yang territory contributed $29,524 the cession of Formosa to it by to the support and the extension of China sixteen years ago, has rendered the Church, and Koreans receive only life and property secure, built railabout one-eighth of what an Ameri- roads and other roads, and has so can earns per day. developed the country at large that it is self-supporting. The camphor Truly, the Lord is doing wonderful and opium industries are government things among and through the Ko- monopolies, but the use of opium is rean Christians. being discouraged and has decreased, so that its complete abolition is only a
question of time. The sugar indus- The country roads are infested by try is under severe restrictions, but bands of robbers, so that trade is the production is much larger than almost at a standstill. At Yezd, in the days of Chinese rule. Public which was recently a prey to looters, schools are being established among the supply of wheat from Shiraz has the Formosans, with Japanese teach- stopt, and bread is very scarce. The ers in charge, and the Japanese lan- roads are forsaken, the horses unguage is spreading rapidly. The re- derfed, and the people everywhere lations between the Japanese adminis- are starving. Add to these miseries tration and the people at large are the unhappy foreign. relations of constantly improving, tho there are Persia with Russia and Great Britain few Formosans in official positions at and one may well pity the Persian present. Government and people.
The mass of the Formosan people The Beirut Theological Seminary is still firmly held in the bonds of superstition and demonolatry. Thus, T HE Syria Mission (Presbyterian) the Canadian Presbyterian Mission, announces the reorganization of founded in I872 by the famous G. L. its theological seminary in Beirut 011 Mackay, in the north, and the Eng- an interdenominational basis. Inlish Presbyterian Mission, commenced struction will be chiefly in Arabic, in 1865, in the south, have done most and the course will cover three years. excellent work along evangelistic, English, Hebrew and Greek will be educational, and medical lines. They added to the regular courses in thehave gathered about I2,000 church- ology, history, geography, etc. Rev. members, and have 160 churches. But F. E. Hoskins, D.D., will be presithe wild savages of the eastern part dent, and the faculty will contain of the island are not yet reached. Messrs. Hardin, March and Ford as Of the 80,000 Japanese now in the other American members, with Mr. island, only 700 are connected with Ibrahim Haurani and .other Syrian the five Presbyterian and two Epis- scholars. A new building for the copal churches. While this number seminary will be erected at Beirut, of Christians is much greater in pro- and a class will begin in 1912. The portion to popUlation than that in Syrian Protestant College has prom- Japan itself, it is mainly due to the ised cooperation, and the opening of influx of Christians from Japan and the various departments of instrucnot to work done among the J apa- tion, of the library, and of the munese in Formosa. There is, there- seum to the students of the seminary. fore, urgent need of increased missionary activity among the Japanese A Call from Euphrates Colle&e in Formosa. The numerous members of the Kumi-ai churches are urging MANY Young Turks are utt~r1y the Japanese Home Missionary So- at sea in religion and morals. ciety, A. B. C. F. M., to enter the They and their associates from the field and open work, perhaps in Tai- Christian races have been educated hoku, the center. in European universities, where the religious influence was destructive, MOSLEM LANDS with the result that, as a rule, they are agnostic or atheistic in their Misgovernment in Persia opinions, and they have brought back loose moral ideas. Many openly scorn I N spite of the fact that Persia is the restraints which to us seem fun- now enjoying a democratic consti- damental. Truthfulness is despised, tution, misgovernment there was assassination is glorified, social purity probably never worse than at present. and the sanctity of the marriage re- Lawlessness is rife in the towns, and lation are ridiculed by men who are on December 1st the Governor of honored as leaders in the new life Fars was assassinated in Teheran. of the people.
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The future of Turkey undoubtedly Soon the sheik accepted Jesus as his depends on the education that future Lord and Savior. After his baptism leaders will receive. Euphrates Col- he returned to his village and began lege, at Harpoot, Asia Minor, is pre- to preach Christ immediately. Perse- paring to meet the needs of the mo- cution commenced. He was arraigned ment, but it must enlarge its facilities on a false charge, and imprisoned, and broaden its work before it can having boldly confest that his only meet the pressing demands. It needs crime was his faith in Christ. This funds for the purpose immediately. blest work goes on, a living proof • May its friends come to its aid. of the power of the surrendered life of the young man who caused him to What Mission Schools Are Doing become an inquirer.
AFTER a recent extensive tour AFRICA through the Orient, Secretary Patton, of the American Board, IHow the Dark Continent Was Peopled writes: "Mohammedanism can not N popular thought the Africans are long withstand the inroads of Chris- all negroes. But in reality the tian education and evangelistic effort. Dark Continent is a museum of races. Already our schools are drawing Mos- In the remote past, race after race lem pupils in goodly numbers. In the entered Africa from Arabia, and, heart of the Stamboul district of Con- driving the older invaders before stantinople stands the Gedik Pasha them, swept across the continent. school, conducted by our Woman's First were the bushmen, a diminutive Board. Never shall I forget walking copper-colored race of hunters. Land- into one of the rooms and finding 40 ing in the vicinity of Somaliland, they Turkish lads, the sons of Government wandered across the continent. officials and men of wealth. Straight- limbed, fine-featured, intelligent-look- The negro seems to have been the ing boys they were, and they hold the next important arrival. This power- future of Turkey in their hands. In ful black race pushed its way across other schools it is the same, especially Africa from east to west, until it in the colleges like Robert College, occupied all the country from Cape and the American Girls· College on the Verde to the Nile Valley. The bush- Bosporus, the Syrian Protestant Col- men turned their faces southward to lege at Beirut, and the institutions of avoid the inrush of negroes. the interior. In course of time Hamitic and Influence of a Spirit-filled Life Semitic tribes crossed the Isthmus of Suez or the Gulf of Aden into Af- A MISSIONARY of the C. M. S. rica, and gradually occupied the in Palestine tells a story which northern and northeastern regions. once more proves the power of a sur- rendered life in recommending the By intermarriage of negro and Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. A bushmen (and perhaps Hamite) the very wild and immoral young Mos- Hottentot race originated in the re- lem became a patient in the mission- gion north of the equatorial lakes. ary hospital. There he heard the Gos- At an unknown date these people, pel, and, by the grace of God, was driving their horned cattle before born again, a new creature in Christ them, emigrated southward, pushing and also completely changed in all his their way through the vast hunting- habits, he returned to his native vil- grounds of the fierce little bushmen, lage. So marked was the change that until they reached the southwestern it attracted the attention of the sheik coast. who immediately inquired after its cause. The reply which he received, After a lapse of centuries the bush- led him to visit the medical mission- men were again disturbed-this time ary, who preached Christ to him. by the powerful Bantu tribes. This hybrid people first appear north of the lakes, and may have originated
in the ingrafting of Hamitic and Gairdner and A. T. Upson in 1908. Semitic tribes upon a negro stock. The list is divided into three sec- A proud, imperial race they were, tions: ( I) Books specially for Mosand, disturbed in their original home, lems; (2) books for Jews; (3) books they swept over the southern half of for Christians. Africa. The conquest took centuries to accomplish, but gradually the Plans are being made for the speedy Bantu drove Bushman and Hottentot publication of suitable literature for alike into the southwest corner of women, and a "Directory of All the continent, and themselves occu- Workers Among Moslems, in All pied the mighty African peninsula. Lands" is under consideration. A" The L. M. S. work is among the small series of Arabic leaflets is be- Bantu people.-L. M. S. Chronicle. ing prepared in response to a special request from China. An Efficient Missionary Helper In its colportage work the Nile A NEW mission boat is to ply the Mission Press has entered upon a Nile. The American Mission plan of cooperation with the Church has purchased the Allegheny, at a Missionary Society, so that the Church cost of $5,00:). It will take the place Missionary Society takes the westof the Ibis, which has been used ern part of the Delta and the northfor many years. The new boat is ern provinces of Upper Egypt, the 74 feet long. It has a deck 60 feet Press takes the eastern part of the long, suitable for meetings, dining- Delta and the southern provinces of room, kitchen and bathroom. A barge Upper Egypt. The Press has five will be secured to tow with the boat, colporteurs who work hard, with to be used for a clinic and doctor's much opposition and amid great difoffice. Through the means of this ficulties. They are, however, meeting boat last year, the British and For- with encouraging success and greatly eign Bible Society distributed 28,0:)0 need funds to employ additional colcopies of the Bible or portions of porteurs and for a permanent and the same. d.dequate printing plant.
AFRICA-NORTH The Sudan Pioneer Mission The Nile Mission Press WHEN the Sudan Pioneer Mis- sion was founded in Germany T HE Nile Mission Press, founded in I905 for the twofold purpose in 1900, there were few who conof producing and circulating Chris- sidered aggressive missionary work tian literature among the people of among the Mohammedans feasible, Egypt and other countries, especially and many who took an active part in among Mohammedans, continues to its organization thought that it should do a great work. It has published simply prepare the way for future recently four more "KhutDas," writ- aggressive work in southern Egypt ten for Moslems by Sheik Abdullah and in the Sudan. Four years later with the aid of European mission- it was decided that the way was aries. The three addresses on per- open for aggressive missionary effort sonal purity which Dr. John Mott among Mohammedans, and the repdelivered to young men in Cairo dur- resentatives of the Sudan Pioneer ing his visit in March, I9II, have Mission began to work earnestly at been printed in Arabic and English, Assuan, which had been occupied and nearly one thousand copies were soon after the founding of the missold in the first two or three months sion. Darau was occupied in I907, after their publication. The Press and a third station, Edfu, in Novemhas issued a new edition of the Der, I9II. "Descriptive Guide to Books," which was brought out by Messrs. VI!. H. T. The missionaries of the Sudan Pi- oneer Mission are still the only mes- sengers of the Gospel among the
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large number of Mohammedans in him more of God's Word. But he Nubia, while in the Sudan they are hesitates and halts, when he sees in close cooperation with other so- others about to accept Christ, and cieties. Their work consists in his people approach him with compreaching, in medical missionary and plaints and fears concerning the in educational work, in visiting among spread of Christianity. the women, and in itinerant work in the surrounding villages. The t'oO Among Mohammedans in Togoland schools for girls at Assuan and Edfu have about 150 pupils, while all the I N Togoland, the German colony in evangelistic meetings are well at- Vest Africa, the number of Motended. The four Gospels have been hammedans has been increasing so translated into the Nubian language rapidly, and the danger of a spread (Kenuzi dialect), and are to be pub- of Islam has been so apparent during lished by the British and Foreign the past years, that the director of Bible Society, probably with Latin the North German Missionary Socharacters. Thus, after more than ciety, Dr. Schreiber, in his annual re- 1,000 years, the Nubian language is port for 1901, asked, "Shall the to be printed. The introduction of building of the minaret of a Mo- Latin letters, in place of the Arabic, hammedan mosque precede the erecmay counteract somewhat the use of tion of the tower of a Protestant the language of Islam, and thus break church in Lome?" Ten years later, the power of that religion. at the seventy-fifth anniversary of the society, we heard Dr. Schreiber The missionary force of the Sudan call attention to the danger threaten- Pioneer Mission consists of seven ing the heathen Erhe in Togoland European and five native workers, from the aggressive missionary spirit while four additional European la- of the Hausa traders, and said: "It borers are preparing to be sent out is our duty to pay attention to these in the autumn of this year. Mohammedans in Togoland." A few days later the executive committee of AFRICA-WEST the North German Society took ac- tion very quietly, and it instructed An Emir Almost Persuaded Missionary Funke, of Lome, then on furlough, to commence work among ONE of the earliest converts of the the Hausa in Lome immediately af- Church Missionary Society in ter his return to the field. About northern Nigeria, Mallam Fate, main- the middle of November Mr. Funke, tains himself by means of a sewing- therefore, quietly opened aggressive machine. Last fall the Emir of Kat- work among the Mohammedans in sina, a Hausa State, invited him to Lome. Thus an important forward his palace, and Fate worked his ma- step has been taken by this German chine daily in his presence, sur- society. The new work will strengthen rounded by princes and courtiers. the hands of the missionaries of the The faithful Christian daily spoke Basel Missionary Society, who are of his faith, and used his Arabic getting ready to enter North Togo- Bible diligently. He also visited the land and try to stem the tide of Momallams in the city, and he taught hammedanism sweeping in upon its some to read the Gospels in the heathen inhabitants. Hausa Roman character. When the Emir went on a five days' journey Islam on the Gold Coast he took Fate with him, saying, "I dare not leave you in the city lest DURING the days of the old heayou should convert others." But Fate then kings of Ashantiland few found many opportunities to speak of Christ, and now the Emir himself Mohammedans elared to settle in Kuhas become a diligent inquirer, and masi, but since the country has come frequently asks the Christian to tell under English rule, Mohammedans have come from the Sudan, from
Timbuctu and Sokoto, from Moroc- hitherto, selected Uhha as its new co, and multitudes of Mohammedan field of labor. It is located north- Hausas flood the country. These east of Ujiji, which is the most im- Hausas settle in quarters of their portant commercial center on the own, called Songos, wherever they eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, come in large numbers. In Wankyi and is the endpoint of the future the Songo is larger in extent and German East Africa transcontinental population than the Ashanti town, railroad. Uhha is very fertile, pro- while four to six thousand Moham- ducing, beside tropical fruits of all medans inhabit the distinct quarter kinds, dates, rubber, coffee, cotton, of Kumasi. The Protestant societies oranges, and also almost all kinds on the Gold Coast Colony (the S. P. of European grain and vegetables.
G., the Basel Society, the Wesleyan Its inhabitants, the Waha, however, Methodists, and the American Bap- have shown hitherto much hostility tists) should pay especial attention to to the German Government, and have these followers of Islam, who un- a bad name on account of frequent doubtedly retard and endanger Chris- attacks upon caravans and upon ru- tian work for Africans. lers and tribes friendly to the Ger- AFRICA-EAST mans. The Neukirchen Missionary So- Extension in German East Africa ciety, whose laborers have been busy S TRETCHING from the coast of hitherto in British East Africa and the Indian Ocean to Lakes Tan- upon Java, have chosen as its new, ganyika and Nyasa, German East third field, U rundi, which is lo- Africa has an area of about 375,000 cated a little northeast from the square miles, and a popUlation of northern end of Lake Tanganyika about 7,000,000, of whom the ma- and not far from the borders of the jority are fetish worshipers. The Kongo Free State. It is south of Moravians, the Berlin, the Leipsic, Ruanda and Usumbura, where the and the German East Africa Mis- missionaries of the German East Af- sionary Societies, the Church Mis- rica Missionary Society are doing a sionary Society, and the Universities blest work. The first Neukirchen Mission have been diligently at work, missionaries are erecting the first yet much territory remained unoc- buildings in Iruvura under great difcupied. The Leipsic Society has, ficulties. therefore, decided to occupy new ter- Thus the great stretches of land ritory in the colony, while two other in German East Africa, where no German societies, Breklum and Neu- missionaries were located hitherto, are rapidly being taken up by the kirchen, will also enter. The Leipsic Missionary Society se- German societies, which are now reallected the Kilimanjaro region, and izing their special responsibility for two of its missionaries have occu- the German colonies.
pied Iramba. The new field is a AFRICA-SOUTH table-land with about 50,000 inhabit- A South African "Orient" ants, who are settled closely together.
T vVhile Roman Catholic missionaries HE next triennial conference of missionaries, representing all the have taken possession of Turu, which is south of Iramba, the regions of. agencies at work in South Africa, Iramba and of Isansu and Ijambi is to be held at Cape Town in are entirely unoccupied. The German July, and is to be made a very spe- Government is planning a railroad cial and memorable occasion. A mis- (Mpapua-Kilimatinde-Taboral) ,which sionary demonstration or exhibition will make the region easily accessible. on a very large scale is being or- The Breklum Missionary Society, ganized to show the place mis~ions which has had work in India only have occupied in the past of South
WORLD-WIDE MISSIONARY NEWS 3II
Africa, and their intimate relation fered to any churches which wish to to the present situation and the pro- erect hostels in connection with the motion of harmony between whites college, and three important churches and blacks. Mr. J. Du Plessis, the have taken the first steps to this end.
historian of South African Christian The college, tho not giving formal missions, is organizing the exhibl- religious instruction, is to be Chris- tion, and Messrs. Thomas G. Howe tian in tone and character.
and F. Holderness Gale (who were Are Not "Rice Christians" actively interested in promoting The Orient in London) are cooperating. I N the Limpopo district, Portuguese The bioscope will play a very large East Africa, there are 10 native part in the demonstration at Cape workers-one third of the entire Town. A cinematograph operator number in this one district-who acis to be sent round the mission fields, cept no salaries, thus making a conand the films will be reproduced first tribution of about $600 a year toward hand in South Africa. native self-support in that one dis- trict.
Racialism in South Africa Dying Out Let Others Do Likewise BRITON and Boer are showing ad- T HE White Fathers, Catholic mis- mirable qualities in their way of sionaries on Lake Tanganyika, solving the difficult problem that con- have hit on a practical plan for fronts them in South Africa. Happi- checking the Mohammedan propaly the leading men are men guided by ganda which is carried on by Arab Christian principle, men who seem traders. They have trained the nato be honestly striving to apply the tives in trading, so that the needs of Sermon on the Mount to the demands the country are met by the inhabitof the situation. At a great congress ants, and Arab interlopers, with their of all parties recently held at Dloem- vices and their religion, are no longer fontein, General Botha (presiding) able to make a living there. exprest the hope that influences would Once a Savage, Now a Saint radiate from that gathering which TEWART WHITE, who pio- S would "sweep South Africa clear of neered English missions on Lake racialism !" The language difficulty is one of the most formidable, but they Tanganyika, tells of a chief in his have apparently discovered a way out, neighborhood, .who, in order to vex so that there seems every prospect the missionary, cut off the ears, nose that South Africa will be presently and lips of an old woman and sent them into the station with his com~ a great white man's country. pliments. Later his headsman, with T Wesleyan Work Prospering a raiding band, descended upon the HE English Methodist lIission in mission garden and beheaded three South Africa has 3,609 volun- of the men peacefully working there. tary workers (i.e., teachers, local. This headsman is now a Christian, preachers, and class leaders) on its and sits at the Lord's table with roll. It built last year IS new churches those he once persecuted. and opened 86 new preaching sta- tions. A Second Uganda N November last Bishop Peel re- I N December, 190 5, a g-reat conven- turned to Mombasa from a visita- A Notable Native Achievement I tion of natives, representing prac- tion in German East Africa, amazed tically every tribe in South Africa, at the great progress made since the decided to raise $250,000 for a South tour in 1907-8. In an account of his African native college. This has recent visitation the Dishop writes; now been practically pledged and "My eldest daughter, who has trav- the college is to be located at Port eled with me three times in all the Hare. Grants of land have been of- districts previously, is able to very
fully realize with me what a grand reduced to writing. Gazaland, on the change has taken place. It is diffi- East Coast, and the Portuguese terri- cult to convey to you a correct idea tory, Swazieland, Zululand, Pondo- of what is happening. Heathenism land, all have thousands of natives is hard hit in the whole field. All who are still without the Gospel. hostility has vanished in places in They are sadly degraded through which, to say the least, there was no beer-drinking and heathen customs, welcome in past days. In every part but their sad condition can be reme- which the missionaries and their Af- died only by the preaching of the rican helpers can possibly reach there Gospel. Thus the missionary needs is interest and readiness to be in- of South Africa are numerous and structed, and in very large areas great. there are very active efforts to attend the teaching given."-c. M. S. AMERICA Gleaner. A Fitting Centennial Celebration The Needs of South Africa I T was a happy thought on the part THE South Africa General Mission of the officials of the American was organized in 1894, out of Board to keep the hundredth annithe older Cape· General Mission, for versary of the ordination of its first the evangelization of nonchristians, missionaries, Judson, N ewell, Hall, for the rousing of the Christian Nott and Rice, in Salem, and in the Church to a holier life, and for the same church, hy ordaining five other aid of existing evangelical missions missionaries soon to sail, Harlow, and churches in Africa. Its fields Holmes, Lette, Lyman and Maas. are the whole of South Africa, Nyasaland, and Portuguese East Af- Thirty-six hundred were in attendrica. During 191 I there has been ance at the services of the day, which encouraging development in the well- scores of persons said was the most established centers in South Africa. impressive ceremonial they ever wit- At Lutubeni, the Lord has sent a nessed. very definite revival, which still continues. In Gazaland the attendance Christian Endeavor Moving On at the missionary schools has increased, while the numbers of in- SINCE July, 1909, no less than 10,- quirers seem to point to definite re- 345 new societies have been added sults. In Northwest Rhodesia the with 1,002,500 members. The worldwork is to be extended to a new cen- wide organization has 79,977 local ter or centers, while in Nyasaland bodies, which have 3,953,850 memevidence of the persevering labors of bers. China alone has 781 societies, the missionaries is appearing. In and India 1,337. Pondoland and in Transkei varied experiences of encouragement and Shansi Day at Oberlin disappointment have come to the workers. In Swazieland the youth- A GREAT event of the Oberlin ful king and his mother have shown College year is Shansi Day, when friendship and confidence to the mis- the college subscriptions are taken sionaries, while the work in Zululand for the benefit of the "new Oberlin has been a constant source of en- in China," now four years old. Alcouragement. ways the day following the Day of Prayer for Colleges, it is well ad- To the westward of Northwest vertised a week in advance, but no- Rhodesia there are many tribes which body dodges the collection! The big are unacquainted with the Gospel. chapel is unusually well filled, and They are farmers and cattle-raisers, all come for business. To raise $2,000 and have a dialect which may readily in ten minutes for a foreign mission- ary enterprise is something worth seeing. And to do this in a con- gregation of college young people, one-third of them more or less self-
WORLD-WIDE MISSIONARY
supporting, is perhaps unusual. But Christian service started. Thirtythey do it, and more. one years have witnessed a tremen- dous growth. According to the last The Harvest Great, the Laborers Few :eport issue~, out-of-door army meet- mgs numbermg 173,000, were held in TWENTY-FIVE of the principal twelve months, with an estimated at- tendance of some I 5,000,000. Inforeign missionary societies of door meetings of the Army num- bered 2I5,000 in a year, attended by the United States and Canada have 8,000,000 adults and 1,500,000 chil- dren. It is no unusual sight for sent to the "Student Volunteer Move- sinful men who have been touched on the street corner to follow the ment for Foreign Missions" urgent band of workers into the hall or bar- racks, and there give their hearts to calls for 629 qualified men and women, God. Those claiming their conversion whom they wish to send to the mis- last year through this method number 46,554. sion field this year. This list in- A College for Religious and Social cludes a request for both men and Workers women. The men desired are 244 HE American Interchurch College ordained and: evangelistic workers, T for Religious and Social W ork- ers, at Nashville, Tenn., is being or- 48 physicians, 50 teachers, and a ganized by educators to meet the needs of the South. Its board of number of practical business men. directors is composed of some well- known Christian leaders and educa- The women desired are 114 evan- tors. Among the special reasons for its organization are: gelistic workers and Bniobrlematleatcehaecrhs~ 82 trained college or ( I) That there is not in all the South, east of the Mississippi River, ers, 26 physicians, 22 nurses, and a any school adequately equipped for the training of laymen and women as number of kindergarten and music spec!alists m religious and social servIce. teachers, orphanage directors, etc. (2) That five denominations, the Laymen's Movement Plans Y. M. C. A., and the Y. W. C. A. urgently need training schools in the OUR Laymen's Missionary Move- South, but that they can not estab- ment, with its general staff and 20 lish separate and adequate training schools, because it takes at least a salaried secretaries, issues its policy half million dollars for the endowand program for 1912 and 1913 as ment and equipment of each. follows: To keep world-wide missions in the minds of laymen; to co- (3) That Northern training schools operate with denominational move- do not enlist enough Southern stuments to organize every church for dents to supply the demands of the missions; and to increase information South. concerning missions, and contributions from laymen to them. It an- (4) That the South probably needs nounces again its supreme function trained workers more than any other to leadership, and this leadership it part of the United States, on account will seek to apply both to the move- of rapidly changing social and ecoments within various religious bodies nomic conditions, of illiteracy and and to the organized and official attendant evils, and of the large nemissionary societies. As methods it gro population. proposes five metropolitan centers, and suggests New York, Boston, Chicago, Richmond, and Toronto as such centers. At great conventions to be held at these centers it would secure as speakers men whose missionary message will command attention.
THEA Year of the Salvation Army Salvation Army in the United States had its beginning in Philadelphia in 1880. In an old building which had been used as a place to repair chairs this form of
The Nashville Institute for the schools of North America during the Training of Negro Christian W ork- last five years. If we include the ers is to be a department of the young men of the senior department American Interchurch College, but with the men of the adult departments, entirely separate and distinct from and all the men who are officers and the institution for white students. teachers, we should find probably that Its board of directors asks for its there are from two and a half to three support because there is not in all million young men enrolled in the the world an adequately equipped schools of this continent. negro institution for the training of laymen and women as religious and What Every Church Should Have social workers, because there is not a sufficient number of negro stu- ACCORDING to the Men's Missiondents being trained in Northern insti- ary Movement, to every church tutions to meet the growing demands these four adjuncts are essential: for workers among the negroes of the South, and because the colored I. A missionary committee to work denominations are unable to establish with the pastor in enlisting the entire and operate their own separate train- membership. ing-schools. The first session of the school will be opened on September 2. A period of intensive missionary 12, 1912, at No. 323 Sixth Avenue, information and education once each N., Nashville, Tenn. year, continuing through at least two or three weeks, preparatory to an A conference of missionary train- every-member canvass for missions. ing-school workers is to be held in This should be in addition to general St. Louis in connection with the Re- missionary education throughout the ligious Education Association. year.
New York a Native or Foreign City? 3· The adoption of the weekly basis for missionary offerings-instead of OF every 100 white residents of an annual or occasional collection- Manhattan, only 51 are native with a simple and effective collecting Americans, and only 14 have native device such as the duplex envelop. American parents. In the Borough of Queens, 70 out of a ·chance 100 4. An organized and complete perwhites are native born, but even in sonal canvass of every member and Queens only 29 of the 100 are of congregation once each year by groups native American parents. Of a.ll the of two men each, after proper preparaelements of the population of Ne~ tion for their work. York, the most nearly "native American" are the negroes. The majority Agitation for Universal Peace of the 91,702 negroes in New York City are not only themselves native A N exchange thus sums up the first born, but come of native parents and year's work of the Carnegie grandparents.-Christian Advocate. Foundation for the Promotion of In- ternational Peace: "The Carnegie I The Greatest Men'. Organization Foundation for the Promotion of In- T is estimated that about 40 per ternational Peace, now a year old, has cent. of North America's Sunday- established a summer school of interschool army of 15,000,000 are over national law at The Hague, adopted eighteen years of age; and one of the an unexcelled program for the study most remarkable features in the re- of the causes of war, started an intercent development of the Sunday-school change of professors and publicists is found in the large number of men between Latin-America and the Unitidentified with it. Probably 500,000 ed States, has sent President Eliot men have been added to the Sunday- upon a peace journey to Asia, and has accomplished much more for interna- tional friendship and the abolition of war."
WORLD-WIDE MISSIONARY
Chinese Converts in America organizations among Chinese students in the United States, viz.: the Chinese A YEAR or two ago 20 Chinese Students' Alliance (social chiefly), the students in the University of Illi- Academy of Arts and Science (ennois were gathered into a Bible-c1a~s couraging investigation of knowledge) in the Urbana Methodist Church, and the Chinese National Union none at the time being Christians. A (political). Almost all the important recent investigation shows that 17 offices in these three organi~ations are have confest their faith in Christ, filled by the members of the Chinese and the three remaining are deeply Students' Christian Association this interested in Christianity, altho not year. yet definitely committed to a change of faith. These young men will re- EUROPE-GREAT BRITAIN turn to China to assume positions of large influence in the new nation. Chinese Students' Christian Union of Chinese Students' Christian Association Great Britain and Ireland THE purpose of the Chinese Stu- I N the early part of 1908 a few dents' Christian Association is to Chinese Christian students met in unite all the Chinese Christian students London for prayer and Bible study. in North America for the promotion Others joined the little circle, which of growth in Christian character and after a few monthly meetings, was for carrying on Christian work for organized into the Chinese Students' and by the Chinese students. It was Christian Union of Great Britain and organized in Hamilton, N. Y., in Ireland. Its aims are to establish September, 1909, with 20 Christian and strengthen the members in the and 35 non-Christian Chinese students knowledge and love of God, and to (out of a total of 470 then in the seek to bring other Chinese students United States) present. In I9IO it to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus was divided info four departments, Christ. Seven or eight Chinese stuviz.: the Eastern, the Middle West, dents have been brought to Christ the Western and the Women's De- through the instrumentality of the partments. Twenty-seven classes for members of the Union. Some of them Bible study were especially organized have returned to China after the comfor Chinese students by the associa- pletion of their studies. The Union tion during that year, while three con- has now 47 members, of which 31 ferences were held during the sum- are active members; that is, Chinese mer. At present it has 330 members. students. It has been the means of The importance of the Chinese uniting the Chinese Christian students Students' Christian Association be- in Great Britain and Ireland, and has comes apparent when we hear that done much to strengthen its memthere are now 362 Chinese students bers spiritually. in the leading universities of the United States, and altogether over 800, in- EUROPE cluding 60 girls in universities and secondary schools. Michigan heads Waldensians of Italy Pressing Forward the list with 56, then comes Cornell THE men of Italy are to-day pracwith 46, Columbia with 45, Wiscon- tically without a religion: They have largely become indifferent to the sin with 35, Illinois with 41, Berkeley Roman Church, dissatisfied both with with 22, Harvard with 21, etc. From its teachings and its interference in these men will come China's future State affairs. Antagonism between lawyers, educators, doctors, engineers, Church and State continues. There in fact, leaders in every walk of life. are fewer pilgrimages to Rome, and They will play an important part in national feeling is increasing at the the regeneration of China. expense of the Roman Church. The Waldensians are taking advantage of There are three other important this disaffection and are aggressively
pushing their work. From their orig- into one, the Societe Centrale Evan- inal valleys, southwest of Turin, they gelique.
have dotted Italy and Sicily with This society is unable, however, to churches and mission stations, and meet the religious needs of these dis- have extended their work to Egypt, semines, or scattered Protestants.
Argentine and Uruguay. Most of the How great these needs are may be larger cities of Italy now have self- seen from the following facts. In sustaining Waldensian congregations, the department of Cantal, in southern and buildings commensurate with their France, there is no settled Protestant needs. In Rome a large new building minister. In the Basse Alps there is is rising across the Tiber. one Protestant minister, serving a Everywhere this once persecuted mission station supported by the people is gaining esteem. This may Evangelical Society of Geneva, but be seen from the fact that the three there is no other Protestant church.
governesses of the children of the The departments of Aube (close to Italian king and queen are 'vValdensian Paris), of Indre, of Landes (in the young women. The Waldenses num- extreme southwest), of Mayenne, of ber among their members many of Vienne, of Sarthe, of Morbihan (in the leaders in business and profes- southern Brittany, where once the sional life in the various cities of Italy. McAll Mission had a prosperous Marconi, the inventor of the wireless work), and of Corsica, have one telegraph, is a member of the Walden- Protestant minister each. Nine de- sian Church in Leghorn. partmen ts with only one Protestant church or mission station, and one Russia and the Bible 111 inister each!
G ENERALLY, Russia has prohib- Eleven other departments have ited Bibles that do not contain only two Protestant churches and the Apocrypha or spurious books. two ministers each, while there are Occasionally, the presses of the Holy still others with only four or five Synod have printed an edition without churches or mission stations.
the Apocrypha, but even now the The Protestant churches of France British and Foreign Bible Society, are scarcely able to meet their own which agrees entirely with the Ameri- needs, yet they are doing their best to aid the scattered Protestants in can Bible Society on this question. is their relig'ious destitution. These deseeking permission, in vain, in order scendants of the Huguenots should not be neglected. to circulate another such edition. Consequently, its colporteurs can circulate only such portions as the Pentateuch, OBITUARY NOTE Psalms or the New Testament, never an entire Bible in Russian, without the Rev. A. Boegner, of Paris Apocrypha. P ASTEUR A. BOEGNER, who FRANCE visited America a year ago in Religious Needs of French Protestants the interests of French evangelical missions. died in Paris recently from FEW people realize that there are the result of a stroke of apoplexy.
in many parts of France numer- He was the director of the "Societe a ous descendants of the Huguenots, des Missions Evangelique ches les who are almost destitute of religious Peuple non-Chretiens Etablie privileges. In their behalf the Frencll Paris," otherwise known as the Paris home mission societies, the Societe Evangelical Missionary Society. He Centrale and the Societe Evangelique, was a leading figure in French Prot- were founded, the first early in the estant religious and missionary· circles nineteenth century, the other some and a man of fine Christian spirit, years later. Both are now merged ability and devotion. AND MISSION LANDS OTHER SHEEP. By Harold Begbie. 8vo, fuses faith and superstition (calling faith "a stumbling-block to the evo- 355 pp. $1.50, net. Hodder & Stough- lution of humanity"), he shows that ton, London; George H. Doran, New faith in Christ and His Gospel is York, 1912. the great essential to true progress. lIr. Begbie would be more in his "Twice-born Men" was a strong element if he would confine himself to narrative and omit his philosophy. book, with remarkable stories of men In the former he excels-in the latter he fails. converted through the instrumentality CHRIST AND ISRAEL. By Adolph Saphir, of the Salvation Army. Me Beg- D.D. 12mo, 227 pp. 3s. 6d. Morgan bie's later volumes, however, have & Scott, London, 1911. contained too much of Me Begbie Adolph Saphir, the capable and deand his philosophy, and too little of voted Jewish Christian, was a man of thorough knowledge of his people God and His Word. This latest con- and of God, as revealed in Christ and His Word. An earnest Christribution to the philosophy of con- tian can not read this volume without having his faith stimulated in the version deals with India and the Sal- Dible as the Word of God and in the divine purpose to redeem Israel. vation Army. The author visited that Dr. Sophir records the fact that the fruit of Jewish missions is not empire for a very brief time, and small, as is often supposed, but that twenty-five years ago 300 converts saw its people, its missionaries and from Judaism were occupying Chris- tian pUlpits. He truly says that 'fonly mission work largely through the a true Christian can understand the claims of the Jews, because they only eyes of Commander Booth Tucker, know that the righteousness of the law and mere morality are not sufthe Fakir Singh, of whom he presents ficient."
a strong, attractive portrait. Mr. CHRIST AND HUMAN NEED. Addresses at the Conference on Foreign Missions Begbie is enthusiastic in his esti- and Social Problems, Liverpool, Janu- ary 2 to 8, 1912. 8vo, 210 pp. 25, net. mate of Salvation Army work, .but Paper. Student Volunteer Missionary Union, London, 1912. not always safe in his judgment; he This report has been issued in recquotes the Bible and commends the ord-breaking time. The volume con- tains the addresses of the Fifth Quadconverts, but he is weak in his un- rennial Conference of the British Student Volunteer Missionary Union. derstanding of the teachings of the It was the largest ever held, having a total registered attendance of 2,093 Bible as to Christ and his salvation delegates, including ISO from abroad -Austria, Bulgaria, Russia and Tur- Mr. Begbie is effective in his narra- key. The social problems were giv- tives of conversion, but weak in his explanation of the causes and meth- ods. He is picturesque and graphic, but his philosophy is tiresome and does not grip or convince. He mis- interprets some missionaries in say- ing that they teach God as the "au- thor of their damnation," or that they so present God as to make Him con- founded in the Hindu mind with the devil. Mr. Begbie also fails to un- derstand the Atonement as taught by missionaries ..
Notwithstanding some conspicuous wboeoakk.nesIstes~ehveoawlsevethr,e this is a strong need in India in glaring colors-a need which only Christ can supply. It also shows the effect of simple Christlike life and teaching on the Hindu mind. In spite of the fact that the author conen a prominent place in the program, as abutlt 70,000, a total of 146,508. and the delegates were made to feel The majority of Roman Catholic their responsibility for the reproach Christians are in the Nagasaki provupon Christ because of social condi- ince, and are the result of the work of tions at home and abroad. Francis Xavier, his associates and successors, three centuries ago. Be- In the morning and afternoon ses- tween eight and ten thousand Protsions the case was examined and diag- estant church-members are added each nosed. The darkness in non-Christian year. lands was revealed in its causes and consequences. In the evening ses- THE GEOGRAPHY OF CHINA. By Horatio B. sions the remedy was presented in Hawkins, M.A. 4to. Commercial Jesus Christ-a series of addresses Press, Limited, Shanghai, 1911. dealing with His character and life, His place in history, His death and The appearance of this atlas does resurrection and His indwelling. great credit to the Chinese press from which it is isuued. The maps are One noticeable feature in this con- clear and simple, but not at all comvention is the number of speakers plete in their location of cities and whose names are new to American towns. The general description is readers. Few of the famous mission- excellent, but elementary. Englishary advocates were present, but there Chinese students have the advantage was, nevertheless, evidence of spir- of proper names, being printed in itual fervor and power. The report both languages. The volume is well contains not so much a series of edu- illustrated to show the character of cational papers on mission lands as the country, ancient and modern eninspirational addresses on spiritual gineering feats, views of cities and of needs and ideals-brotherhood, social villages, trades and customs, schools betterment, religious charges, unrest, and temples, industries and trades. educational work and intercession. Each province has a separate map and chapter. The volume could not, in THE CHRIsnAN MOVEMENT IN JAPAN. any sense, take the place of such an Edited by Daniel C. Greene. 12mo,600 atlas as that of the China Inland Mis- pp. The Kyobunkwan, Tokyo, Japan, sion, prepared by Mr. Edward Stan- 1911. ford, but it is most interesting and useful for a general elementary study This ninth annual issue of the or reference book. Many of the Japanese Mission Year Book con- photographic illustrations are of tains much that is of great interest, unique interest. for the past year was one of great historical importance. Christianity is ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY. making it,S way, Japan as a nation is By Dr. and Mrs. S. M. Zwemer. Illusreaching out, and ethical ideals are trated, 8vo, 125 pp. $1.00, net. Fleming changing. Dr. Greene has given us, H. Revell Co., 191 L not a missionary year book only, but one that deals with all phases of J ap- Arabia, the land of the horse, the anese life. The foreign affairs are camel. spices, gems, dates, pearls and considered, the anarchist plot, the Islam, is here delightfully presented politica! parties, commerce, education, in pictl1re and story for the benefit of industrial conditions and the religious children of all ages. Dr. and Mrs and missionary situation. Like its Zwemer are charming guides, for predecessors, this volume will be eag- they .>peak the language of the naerly welcomed and frequently con- tives, they know the customs and the sulted by all deeply interested in the historY, they see the most interesting progress of Japan. The official places and people, and are fuIJ of statistics of Christian churches (De- cheery, good humor, and Christian cember, I 909 ) gives the number of common sense. We commend the Roman Catholics as 62,158, of Greek book highly for interest and informa- Catholics as 15,098 and Protestants tion.
12 ] BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS
AN OPEN LETTER TO SOCIETY. From Con- CHUNDRA LELA. By Z. F. Griffin. 12mo, vict 1776. Introduction by Miss Maud 84 pp. SO cents, net. Griffith & Row- BaBington Booth. 12mo, 160 pp. 75 land Press. Philadelphia, Pa., 1911. cents, net. Fleming H. Revell Co., 1911. Chundra Lela, the converted Hindu priestess, was a famous convert, The "nameless writer" writes from whose story has been frequently told. the standpoint of a prison cell. The The writer of this memoir, a missionletter is not bitter or prejudiced, but ary in India, was personally acquaintis candid, clear and convincing. It ed with Chundra Lela, and from her arraigns modern conditions in prison lips received most of her story. It is life, and those who know and care brief and of deep interest-an excelwill admit that most of his charges are lent book with which to answer artrue. The evils are not perhaps so gla- guments against the good results of ring as those that existed fifty or sev- foreign missions. enty-five years ago, when Charles Reade wrote his "Never Too Late to DR. ALEC'S SONS. By Irene H. Barnes. Mend," but they are none the less Illustrated. 12mo, 192 pp. Is. 6d. bad and should be remedied. The London Missionary Society, 1912. writer objects to the general assignment of criminals to one "criminal Those who became acquainted with class." He has some wise remarks to Dr. Alec will be glad to follow the make on punishment and its effects. f.ort~nes of his sons. It is a story of The picture of the peniteniary, its hfe III England and how the boys' inmethods and value furnishes food for terest in foreign missions was awakthought. The effort of courts of jus- ened and directed. Adventure and tice is, as a rule, to punish, not to re- sentiment add the usual relish, but dress or reform and, therefore, the the purpose of the book is clear and penitentiary is often a curse to society strong. The tone is wholesome and rather than a blessing. the interest well sustained.
Convict 1776 believes and says EVERY MAN'S RELIGION. George Hodges. much to prove that "fear of the law 12mo, 297 pp. $1.50, net. The Macmildoes not result in reformation." He lan Co., 1911. rightly holds that one who desires to commit a crime is in reality a crim- Dean Hodges, of Cambridge, in his inal, and therein he follows the teach- essays on religion, says that "the ing of Jesus Christ. No. 1776 also background of every man's religion is holds that when a man 'ceases to de- the fact of mystery." This is, no sire to commit a crime he ceases to be doubt, true, but the basis of the Chrisa criminal. He believes in giving tian religion is the fact of revelation. convicted men a chance to earn an These essays take up some of the imhonest livelihood, to learn a better portant problems of religion in conway of life and to have' awakened nection with revelation, miracles, within him a desire for better' things. character, the world, the flesh .and the He suggests that punishment fit the devil, happiness and eternal life. To crime, and that offenders against pros- us and to many others, Dean Hodge's perity be compelled to work to re- view of the Bible is inadequate. He store what they have injured and to calls it "A number of the most useful pay the expense of the legal action- of the books of religion, bound tothat is all. gether. They contain the experiences and conclusions of men who were The letters are exceedingly well masters of the religious life." His written and are worthy of careful view of inspiration accepts errors in reading. They do not deal with of- the Bible "in science, history, morals, fenses against God, or with the power and even in theology." He rather beof Christ to regenerate a life. This lieves that the Bible is merely a recis natural, but it is also the weakness ord of the experiences and views of of the plans of reformation suggested. uncommon people-those who were able by nature to make spiritual dis-
coveries. Nevertheless, he believes THE S'JORY OF [(OREA. By Joseph iI. Long- that this revelation is a disclosure of ford. 8vo, 400 pp. lOs. 6d., net. 1'. God. Fishel' Unwin, London, 1912. Dean Hodges believes in some THE STOLEN BRIDEGROOM AND OTHER EAST miracles and explains their use, but INDIAN IDYLLS. By Anstice Abbott. Il- he relegates the story of Jonah to fic- lustrated, 12mo. 75 cents, net. Fleming tion, and other miracles to poetry or H. Revell Co., New York, 1912. parable. He views the devil as the spirit of evil rather than as an evil FARMERS OF FORTY CENTURIES, OR, PERMA- spirit-a personality. Every man's re- NENT AGRICULTURE IN CHINA, KOREA AND ligion is an attempt to expound relig- JAPAN. By F. H. King. Illustrated, ion .as a philosophy rather than as a 441 pp. $2.50, net. Mrs. F. H. King, supernatural revelation. Madison, Wis., 1911.
THE OLD FAITHS AND THE NEW GOSPEL. CHIN A SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. By Rev. A. B. Simpson. 12mo, 161 pp. The Annals of the American Academy The Alliance Press, New York, 1911. of Political and Social Science. Janu- These addresses are in marked con- ary, 1912. Per year, $6.00; per number, trast to the papers by Dean Hodges. $1.00. Issued Bimonthly by the Ameri- They combat the modern views of theology as to creation, Biblical criti- can Academy of Political and Social cism, the place of ethical culture, Science, Philadelphia. miracles and socialism. They also up- hold the belief and practise in modern A HISTORY OF WESTERN TIBET; ONE OF THE UNKNOWN EMPIRES. By Rev. A. H. divine healing. Dr. Simpson believes Francke. 2s. 6d., net. Partridge, Lon- in a modified doctrine of evolution so don. far as it is not inconsistent with the account in Genesis. His views are CALVIN WILSON MATEER. Forty-five Biblical; and (except on divine heal- ing) in simple, unscientific language, Years a Missionary in Shantung, he states the position taken by the China. A Biography. By Daniel W. majority of conservative Christians. Fisher. Illustrated, 12mo, 342 pp. $1.50, NEW BOOKS net. Presbyterian Board of Publica- tion, Philadelphia, 1911. . AMERICAN-JAPANESE RELATIONS. By Ki- yoshi K. Kawakami. 8vo, 370 pp. $2.00, THE CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT IN JAPAN. net. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1912. Daniel Crosby Greene, Editor. Ninth THE NEGRO AND HIS NEEDS.. By Raymond Annual Issue (1910). 12mo, 599 pp. Patterson, with foreword by President Taft. $1.25, net. Fleming H. Revell The Conference of Federated Mis- Co., New York, 1912. sions, The Kyobunkwan, Ginza Kyo- CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN TflE TELUGU COUN- bashi, Tokyo, 1911. ' TRY. By G. Hibbert-Ware. Illustrated, 12mo, 216 pp. 2s., net. S. P. G. House, SEVENTEEN YEARS AMONG THE SEA DYAKS Westminster, London, 1912. OF BORNEO. A Record of Intimate As- VILLAGE LIFE IN KOREA. By T. Robert sociation with the Natives of the Bor- Moose. $1.00. Smith & Lamar, Nash- nean Jungles. By Edwin H. Gomes ville, Tenn., 1912. M.A. And an Introduction by th~ Rev. John Perham. Illustrated, 8vo, CHARACTER-BUILDING IN CHINA. The Life 343 pp. $3.50, net. J. B. Lippincott Story of Julia Brown Mateer. By Co., Philadelphia, 1911. Robert McCheyne Mateer. Illustrated, 12mo. $1.00, net. Fleming H. Revell ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY. Co., New York, 1912. Arabia in Picture and Story. By Sam- SOUTH AMERICA. By Robert E. Speer. Student Volunteer Movement, 125 East uel M. Zwemer and Amy E. Zwemer. 27th Street, New York, 1912. Illustrated, 12mo, 124 pp. $1.00, net.
CHRISTIAN AND MOHAMMEDAN. A Plea for Fleming H. Revell Co., New York . Bridging the Chasm. By George F. 1911. '
Herrick, D.D. Illustrated, 12mo. $1.25, THE LAND OF GOOD HOPE. By the Rev. net. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1912. Herbert Moore, M.A. Illustrated, 12mo, 372 pp. 25., net. S. P. G., 15 Tufton St., Westminster, 1911.
TEN YEARS' REVIEW OF MISSION WORK IN MADAGASCAR. 1901-1910. With Notices of the Preceding Decade. 12mo 187 pp. London Missionary Society's Press, Antananarivo, Madagascar 1911. '
PRISCA OF PATMOS. A Tale of the Days of St. John. By Henry C. McCook, D.D. Illustrat.ed, 12mo, 318 pp. $1.25, net. Presbytenan Board of Education ' Philadelphia, 1911.
DOCTOR ALEC's SON. By Irene H. Barnes. Illustrated,. l~mo, 192 Pp. Is., 6d., net. Church MiSSIOns Society, London.
The Missionary Review of the World — September 1905
NOOKSACHK INDIAN
This is a ::Uethodist Mission near Whatcom, Washington. The Indians built the church unaided THE JAPANESE METHODIST CHURCH, OF OREGON Missionary Review of the World Old Series i SEPTEMBER, 1905 Ij New Series VOL. XXVIII. No.9 f VOL. XVIII. No.9 THE GOVERNMENT, CHURCH, AND PEOPLE OF RUSSIA BY REV. GEORGE WASHBURN, D.D., LL.D., CONSTANTINOPLE Ex-President of Robert College, Constantinople Theoretically an autocracy is the simplest of all forms of government; and, given a wise and good autocrat, it might be theoretically the best. Russia and Turkey are examples'of what it is ir.fact, and these two countries have been an object-lesson to the world for the last twenty-five years. The late czar, Alexander III., was a man of good intentions, narrow mind, and great will-power. 'l'he present czar is personally a good man, devoted to the interests of his dynasty, weak in mind and body, and intoxicated with the contemplation of his own grandeur. But whether it be Alexander 01' Nicholas, the word of the czar is the law of the empire, from which there is no appeal. The question of peace or war, as well as the life or death of his humblest subject, depends upon his will, and the peasant has been taught to look upon him as the" Little Father" who can do no wrong.
As the autocrat is neither omniscient nor omnipresent. he must depend upon others for information upon every subject and for the execution of his orders, and, as he is human, he is certain to ask the advice of those whom he trusts. He must also have official ministers to carry out his decrees and attend to the details of the administration. The world has been made familiar, of late, with the names of those upon whom Nicholas II. depends for advice. It may be the favorite of the hour, like Admiral Alexieff. It may be some man or woman of the imperial family. It may be a man like Pobiedonostseff, who was the most trusted counsellor of Alexander, and who has retained much of his influence under the present Cllar. It may be a Minister of the Interior, like Von Plehve or Trepoff, whom the czar trnsts to put down all rebellion and discontent with the knout, the rifle, or the dungeon. Whoever the favorite may be, he is for the time the chief power in the empire. The official Ministers, who are known to the world, may be very bad counsellors, and they often are, but they are far less dangerous to the welfare of the country than the more intimate, unofficial, and altogether irresponsible favorites who form the entourage of the autocrat, and are an occult power behind the throne.
Those who have read the great Russian novels of the last century will understand that the character of the administration does not de- pend upon the good will of the czar. The" Little Father" knows very little about it. The great curse of Russia is its bureaucracy, its vast army of incompetent, tyrannical, and corrupt officials, each one of whom feels himself to be a little czar, and whose least harmful oc- cu pation is the writing of endless reports which are never read. As each minister is independent and responsible only to the czar, there is no common responsibility for the policy of the government, and no harmony of action. 'They are often in conflict, as the other powers of Europe have discovered in their relations with Russia. The Minister of Foreign Affairs often makes promises which are ignored by other Ministers, as in the case of Port Arthur, where the English government was assured by the Foreign Minister that it would remain an open port, while that branch of the administration known as the" Asiatic Section" proceeded at once to fortify it. There have been many similar cases both in the llear and in the far East. Even Russian ambassadors receive their orders from half a dozen independent sources, and these orders are frequently contradictory. When the conflict is serious it has to be referred to the czar, but this is a last resort. But the great evil of the bureaucracy does not lie in this anomalous position of the ministers. It is in their relation to the internal administration of the government. 'rhe great army of officials is corrupt to the core, and this appears in every department. What it is in the army or navy has been made manifest to the world since the beginning of the war with Japan. It is the same in other departments. 'I'he chief sufferers from all this misgovernment are the people, and for them there is no redress. The governmeM is strong, and it is merciless. We may disapprove, but we can not wonder at the outbreaks of Nihilism, and the frequent assassination of high officials by the more intelligent sufferers.
The czar is alarmed at the present state of public opinion, and we hear every day of promises of reform of representat.ive assemblies, of constitutional government, and of religious liberty. What the outcome of this will be is very doubtful. Some thirty years ago the Sultan of Turkey, under similar circumstances, made similar promises, proclaimed a constitution, and called together a parliament of very much the same character as that proposed by the czar; but when the crisis was over the constitution and parliament disappeared, and the government became more tyrannical and arbitrary than ever. It is doubtful whether more can be expected from the Romanoffs. But in Russia there is a fair chance that the people may prove in the end to be stronger than the czar, and that a revolution may follow any attempt to return to the old regime. How such a change in the character of the government would affect the relations of Russia to other
THE GOVERNMENT, CHURCH, AND PEOPLE OF RUSSIA
nations can not be foreseen. Should there be a period of anarchy and a general uprising of the peasants, Europe would have reason to be alarmed, for every genuine RlIssian has a firm bel~ef in the destiny of the Slavic race to overthrow the rotten and materialistic civilization of Europe, and to establish a new, more Christian civilization based on the principles of universal brotherhood. If, on the contrary, the en- lightened classes maintain their Stl premacy Russia will probably cease, for a time at least, to be a terror to the world, and cultivate the arts of peace.
The Russian .. Orthodox" Church Turning now from the government to the Church and the people of Russia, we find a population of more than 130,000,000. Of these some 80,000,000 are Russians. The balance are of the conquered races occupying the belt of territory which encircles Russia propel'. Of the 80,000,000 Russians, more than ';'0,000,000 are mujiks, or peasants. Less than 10,000,000, probably less than 7,000,000, constitute what we know as enlightened Russia. Out of the whole population of 130,- 000,000, about 1,500,000 are employed in mines and manufactories, about 16,000,000 live in cities, and the balance are mostlyagriculturists. 'rhe religious divisions are estimated about 91,000,000 of the Orthodox Church (including all dissenters); 12,000,000 Catholics, 7,000,000 Protestants, 4,000,000 Jews, 1,500,000 Armenians, 12,000,000 Mohammedans, 2,500,000 of other religions. The 80,000,000 Russians may all be counted as members of the Orthodox Church, 01' of the sects IV hich are more 01' less heretical. In this article we must confine our attention to the Russians. Most of those of other races who are counted as Orthodox have been brought into the Church by force, and would gladly escape from it. Russian Christianity came from Constantinople, but it is the boast of the Orthodox churches, in opposition to that of Rome, that they have no head but Christ, and, in fact, what we call the Greek Church constitutes a group of autonomous National churches whose creeds are identical, and whose forms of worship are similar. They claim a more direct descent from the apostolic Church than they allow to Rome, and accept the degrees of no council later than the seventh. 'rheologically, the Church is what it was twelve centuries ago. In different countries there have been some modifications in the ritual, especially in the music, but it is essentially as of old. The Russian Church is governed by a synod, of which the czar is nominally the head, but since 1880 its policy has been determined by Pobiedonostseff, the procurator, who represents the czar in that body. He is undoubtedly responsible for the attempts which have been made to crush out all dissent, and to force the Catholics of Poland and the Protestants of Finland to join the Orthodox Church, and in general to secure the Russification of all races in the empire. IIe is an able man, and in a book which he has published in defense of his policy
he takes the ground that while Protestantism is good for England and Catholicism for some other conntries, the Orthodox Church is the only olle adapted to Hnssia. For the moment he seems to have lost his influ- ence with the czar, and it is reported that he has left the country.
The best thing that can be said for the Russian Church is that it has not forhidden the use of the Bible to the common people. 'rhere is a Russian Bible society, and colporteurs, with their boxes of Bibles, are carried free on all the Rnssian rail ways. The priests are married men, and in close relations with the people. Some of them are good men, but in general they are very ignorant, very poor, and incapable of giving any religious instruction beyond that embodied in the cere- monies of the Church. The higher clergy are unmarried, and all come from the monastaries. Some of them are men of faith and high Christian character, some are distinguished scholars, but in general they are more concerned with their relations with the government than with their spiritual duties. The official catechism of the Russian Church, a translation of which may be found in Dr. Schaff's" Creeds of Christendom," naturally contains some things to which Protestants would not subscribe, but on the whole is an aamirable compendium of practical religion. The ritual of the Church seems to foreigners ex- cessive and wearisome, and has often been condemned as mere formal- ism; but it should be remembered that this ritual is the only thing which has kept before an ignorant people the essential facts of the life and teaching of Christ, and made it possible, for some of them at least, to live by faith in Him a Christian life. The Russian people have taken their Christianity seriously, and they are sincerely religious, with a keener sense of the supernatural than is found in most Chris- tian nations to-day. 'rhe educated class has been greatly influenced for more than a century by various forms of unbelief of French or German origin, and scientific skepticism is current among them to-day, hut many of this class have been, and still are, not only believers, but earnest Christian workers, full of spiritual life, doing what they can to reach and elevate the lower classes. It would not be fair to men- tion Tolstoi as a type of this class, but there are others who have much of his spirit, while they do not accept his teachings or adopt his methods.
The People of Russia We must seek the real Russia not among the enlightened classes but in the 'iO,OOO,OOO mujiks. The Russian peasant is not attractive in appearance. He looks dull and heavy. He is very ignorant, generally dirty, often baH starved, and too often drunk. He is suspicious of strangers, and not easily approached, even by Russians of the upper class. But his appearance belies him. He is no fool; he has ideas of his own. He is willing to work, and he makes an admirable soldier. He is intensely religious. Superstitious? Yes, but with a firm faith
in the Gospels as the Word of God and in J esns Christ as the only Savior. The saints? Yes, he believes in them, too, and often seeks their aid. Dishonest and immoral? Yes, too often, but he is possessed of a greater fund of kindness and good will than is common to peasants in other countries. The very essence of the 1Jl1ljiks' religion is the idea that it finds its truest expression in voluntary suffering for others or for the Lord, such as is illustrated in the suffering and death of Christ for the redemption of the world. The real :;haracter of the nwjik comes out most clearly in those dissenting sects which take their start directly from the study of the Gospels, and there are many such. There is always an attempt to bring the life into harmony with the teaching of Christ. Many of these much-persecuted communities are models of simple and virtuous social life. Other sects are based upon strange misconceptions of the teaching of the Gospel. The so-called" Old Believers" are those who think that the modern Church has departed from some of the forms and ceremonies sanctified by the ancient church. It is true of all these sects that the 1Jlujik looks upon his religion as the most important thing in life, and is ready to die for it. With all his ignorance, with all his faults, he is worthy of our sympathy, and I believe he is destined to play an important part in the development of European civilization. No one can foresee, at the present time, what changed are to take place in Russia. We have no evidence as yet that this great peasant population has bee~ moved at all by the existing crisis, and no one can predict what would happen if they were suddenly aroused to shake off their chains and stand for their rights. It is probable that any sudden and violent changes would result in general anarchy. It is by no means clear what the czar means by his promise of religious liberty; it is very doubtful whether it implies any change in the r~lation of the Church and the State; very doubtful whether it will lead to any change in the policy of the government as to the toleration of foreign missionaries in the empire. We may be thankful if it puts an end to the bitter persecution of native Russians who are dissenters from the Orthodox Ohurch. This vast peasant population needs instruction, religious as well as secular, but it seems to me certain that it would be a great mistake to attempt to send Protestant missionaries to work among them at the present time, unless they were ready to follow the lead of the Y. M. C. A. and work in harmony with the existing Russian Church, and chiefly through members of that Church. A good deal of work of this kind has been done by Lord Radstock and others with good results. I remember, many years ago, attending one of Lord Radstock's meetings in Paris, and I can never forget the deep spirituality of a prayer made at that meeting by a Russian gentleman connected with the embassy. The Y. M. C. A. works among the students and Lord Radstock's work is with the npper class. It is only
through them that the peasants have been reached, especially through the circulation of religious literature. It may be that more of this friendly cooperation with the Russian Ohurch will be possible after the present crisis has passed away, but no one can foresee how soon that time will come.
Russia and Missions The difficulty of reaching the other races in the empire in the past has been that there is a law which forbids any man changing his re-· ligion, except to join the Orthodox Church, and there has been a certain amount of genuine missionary effort on the part of the Church to· win converts from the heathen tribes, but none, so far as I know, from the Mohammedans. Central Asia was once Christian, and long resisted the inroads of Mohammedanism. It might be a fair field for Protestant missionary enterprise now, but I suppose that this law is still in force, and we do not know that it will be repealed. The Russian government is not likely to repeal it for the benefit of Protestant missionaries. The great Protestaut nations have sympathized with Japan rather than with Russia in the present war, England has been her ally, and the people of America have been almost unanimous on the same side. They have rejoiced over the destruction of the Russian navy and the defeat of her armies, and the Russian autocracy never forgets. ,['here was a time when no foreigner had such a welcome in Russia as the American, whoever he might be, but this is true no longer. Perhaps in time it will be understood that, while we can not sympathize with the Russian government, such as it has been for the last twenty-five years, we have the deepest interest in the Russian people and the Slavic race. '1'here is no reason why this race should not rise to playas important a part in the history of Europe and Asia as the Latin or the Teutonic races which have preceded it, and it is for the interest of all the world that they escape from the crushing despotism which keeps them in darkness, and have the opportunity to give the world an example of that higher civilization and purer faith of which the mujilc dreams now in the midst of his misery and suffering.
THE FOUNDER OF THE CHINA INLAND MISSION
THE FOUNDER OF THE CHINA INLAND MISSION A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF REV. HUDSON TAYLOR BY THE EDITOR – IN – CHIEF The departure of saintly souls makes heaven richer, while it leaves earth poorer.
When, in the city of Chang-sha, in the province of Hunan, the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor passed away on June 3d, a remarkable servant of God departed to be with Christ. While his own humility shrank from undue publicity, and especially from human praise, it is right that we should glorify God in him; and that we may glorify him the more, it is well carefully to study the peculiar fitness for the I.Jord's work of one who has been, not inaptly, called" Paul the Little."
First of all, let us not forget in these days of declension of faith in the authority and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, that of all Mr. Taylor's characteristics, nothing is more prominent than his deep, uncompromising, and unswerving devotion to the Word of God. He communed with God through the Word habitually. He believed that in that Word were the secrets of heavenly wisdom, both for individual life and for organized work; he sought, therefore, every day some new insight into the Holy Scriptures, and, as it were, a new motto for each day's duty. He looked with strange wonderment upon the readiness of so-called "higher critics" to make concessions to the enemies of the supernatural element in Scripture, and he compared it to the Russian flinging out his children to the pursuing and hungry pack of wolves, in order that he might escape their violence. lIe felt that men were flinging out, one after another, the precious vital truths of our faith to appease the clamor of rationalists, and he held firmly to the Word of God in its entirety to the end of his life.
Then Mr. Taylor will always be remembered as preeminently a man ofprayer. He believed in prayer as a practical remedy for all difficulties and.a practical guide in all perplexities. He prayed without ceasing, in a true Scriptural sense. Jeremy Taylor says, "If thou meanest to enjoy thy religion, do it rather by enjoying thine ordinary devotions than thine extraordinary." Hudson Taylor's prayers were not an incident, they were a constant lifl'-factor; not occasional, but habitual. He lived in an atmosphere of prayer. He felt it necessary to both ordinary and extraordinary activities, and it is a wellknown fact that for the sake of seclusion with God he rose in the early hours of the morning, when the world was asleep; when there were no letters brought to him by the postman, and no interruption of callers; when the very silence of night and of the busy world helped to the stillness of prayer; one can readily understand, in the light of his life, what he meant by tuning instruments before the concert performance, in order to insure that life should be one harmonious anthem of devotion to God.
As to his life-work, Mr. Taylor will always be remembered by intelligent students of missions as a great missionary pwneer. His great passion, like that of the Apostle Paul, was not to take another man's work made ready to hand, hut to press into the "Regions Beyond," and occupy the unoccupied territory. This reminds us of the famous encomium pronounced by Florence Nightingale upon Dr. Livingstone, who, as she said, "stood alone as a great missionary traveler, or rather as a bringer-in of civilization, as one that cometh beforehand to the races lying in Darkness."
Hudson Taylor dar.ed, in more than one sense, to be a pioneer. He ventured out in faith and prayer to follow apostolic precedents, long and lamentably neglected by the Church of Jesus Christ. He could not but feel that, especially since the days of Constantine, the Church and the world have been so wedded that the spirit and maxims of the world have not only permeated the Church, but crowded out the simplicity of primitive faith, and to this he sought to return.
A Remarkable Career When this single man undertook to occupy the eleven unoccupied provinces of China with resident missionary workers, and to go forth, like Abraham, "not knowing whither he went," trusting the Lord alone fol' supplies of money and of men, there were not a few who ridiculed his methods and prophesied that, like many other venturesome and am bitious projectors of schemes, he would come to grief; but he went steadily forward in his pioneer work, manifesting a spirit heroic in self-denial, but not'less heroic in its childlike faith. He had indeed an ambition, but it was a particularly holy one,and should rather be called" aspiration." He had a passion for souls that burned like fire in his bones and made him" weary with forbearing," so that he could not stay. When one sees the more than eight.hundred workers now in the China Inland Mission, and sees how during forty year~ there has never been a serious failure either of workers or pecuniary means, and no dependence except upon prayer, one can easily understand how ridicule has been transformed into applause. Mr. Taylor conquered hostility and the worse antagonism of indifference by making it plain that God was with him. His whole work was largely impelled and upheld by a conviction that he was led out into God's plan, and that God was bound to carry out His own plan, and hence to give his ser· vant's work success. The French have a proverb: "Ou Dietl guidera Die1t gardera," (Where the Lord guides, the Lord provides).
The history of the China Inland Mission is redolent with the perfume of that sort of success which is the blossoming of prayer and
faith. Oountless have been the instances in which Divine interposition has been so conspicuous that no candid mind can refuse to acknowledge the evidence of such supernatural intervention.
With Mr. Taylor the perfection of all plans and work for God was the approximation to the pattern presented in the Word of God, and he was quite content to risk everything upon the success of methods which have no model but that which is divinely furnished. At the same time, he saw in the condition of the world, and in the progress of history, a mighty confirmatory appeal to activity, emphasizing that plan which is revealed in the Word of God. While, on the one hand, he looked to the Word of God for a mighty spiritual impulse to his work, he saw God as the Governor of the nations, and the Demonstrator of history, and recognized the fact that such facilities were furnished in modern days for world-wide travel and communication between distant peoples, that hermit nations were coming out of their seclusion, that the human mind was waking from the long sleep of apathy and lethargy, that there was a general assimilation of people to one another, and a new alliance of the nations for commercial and other purposes, together with the obvious triumph of the Ohristian faith wherever it has had a fair field, and the fulfilment of the prophetic word. Such facts as these he set, side by side, with the witness of the Word; and thus all history became to him a ki:ld of prophecy, a declaration and confirmation of the will of God, and events were fingers which indicated the direction of duty.
We have been struck more than once by the dependence which Mr. Taylor felt upon prayer in connection with the mission work. Often in his public addresses he emphasized the statement of our Lord when, seeing the multitude, He was moved with compassion, and bade His disciples pray the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust forth laborers into His harvest. Mr. 'l'ayloroften said that if, by raising his hand, he could determine the decision of his hearers in favor of the mission field, he would not raise his hand, that he did not want any man or woman to go abroad into this wide world-field who was not thrust into it by the Lord Himself. Hence, he was never impatient of results, and was content to wait quietly upon God, and leaye the effects of the appeals which were made both by the field itself and by the Word of God to find a deep root in the hearts and minds of the hearers.
One peculiarity of Mr. Taylor's appeals was found in his constant endeavor to make every believer both an intelligent student of the world-field and an individual giver according to his means. I have often heard him say that it is not the few large gifts of the wevJthy that will most promote the cause of missions, but the countless gifts of the many, however small their average ability, because every giver is incited by the fact of his gifts both to secure greater information of the field and to offer more earnest supplication fOl it. As in chem-
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THE FOUNDER OF THE CHINA INLAND MISSION
ical galvanism the increase of power is not secured by increasing the dimension of the cells of the battery, but by increasing the number of cells, so if we want the most successful mission work we must not depend upon the large gifts of the few, but the small gifts of the many. As John Wesley said, "The poor are God's chosen materials for building up churches; the rich make good scaffolding, but poor materialfor structu re."
" What we need," says a quaint Christian worker, "is to have the missionary spirit work down from the head to the mouth in testimony, to the heart in love, to the conscience in moral obligation, to the will in determination and surrender, to the pocket in contributions, and finally to the legs and feet in the actual going."
Dr. Alexander Maclaren has finely said that the reason why so few people are truly annointed and endued with the Holy Ghost for service, when the annointing is free to all who really desire it and ask for it, is that" so few are willing to be made invisible by the Divine investiture." It is only when, in our humility, we are little in our own eye; and willing to be unseen of man that God may be glorified, that it is possible for God to make the largest use of us. Mr. Taylor never, in his largest successes, lost his humility, but rather grew in this great virtue which, with love and patience, stands at the very summit of all Christian attainments. Love is the unselfish grace, patience the enduring grace, but humility the unconscious grace.
Mr. Taylor', Passion Mr. Taylor had a deep }Ja88iU}~ for lhe glory i!l hilS 111aster and the salvation ol men. Aristotle long ago said, "There is no great geniull without some mixture of madness, nor can anything grand or superior be spoken, except by the agitated soul." When Hedley Vicars first really drank ill the wOIlllerful statement of the first Epistle of John, "The blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth ns from all sin," he stopped and meditated a moment, and then, looking up to heaven, quietly said, " If this is 00, I will henceforth live as becomes a bloodwashed man." That was Mr. Taylor's passionate determination, to live as became a blood-washed man, and to seek to bring others under the power of the same blood.
'L'he founder and director of the China Inland Mission sympathized with Shaftesbury, who said: "I feel old age ill creeping upon me. I know I must soon die; I hope it is not wrong to say it, but I can not bear to leave this world with all the suffering in it."
Mr. Taylor wa., essentially heroic, but his heroism can only be accounted for by his faith. It is faith that triumphs over one's environment, for while nature may put circumstances between us and God, and Satan may put hindrances between us and our work, Grace puts God between ourselves and both our circumstances and our
hindrances. All heroism involves sacrifice, which is its necessary con- dition. As Froude says, " Sacrifice is the first element 'of religion, and resolves itself into love of God. Let the painter pause to consider how much his work will bring him, and the cunning will forsake his hand and the work of genius will be gone."
Mr. 'raylor had sagacity and insight-the essential traits that go to make up a proverbialist. If his choice sayings or proverbial utter- ances were carefully compiled it would be found that they present a body of wisdom npon practical matters pertaining to the spiritual life not easily equaled. A few of these choice sayings we venture to quote simply as specimens of what deserve to be embalmed in the literature of the century: "Study the habit of delight in God. This is a valuable law of life- it gets out of our way all unrepented sin, all hindrances to fellowship and communion. The joy of the Lord is our strength."
" Be careful of your attitude and habitude of mind and heart. Occasional good acts or words signify little; but the half-unconscious and semi-involuntary frames are the true index of spiritual growth, and constitute the essence of character."
.. The Christian life is Christ's life lived backward from the Cross to the Cradle. It is becoming again a babe, and it is the babe that gets nurtured and cherished, held and fondled."
"The revelation of a personal Christ to those who go apart with Him into the desert of paganism is so much richer than before that it repays all toils and trials. But for that missionaries would sometimes die or become insane."
.. Beware of legalism in relations with God. All works done to commend ourselves to Him by our own merits are dead works, and, like all dead things, offensive to Him."
"Do not have your concert .first, and then tune your instruments afterward. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him."
" Satan may build a hedge about us and fence us in and hinder our movements, but he can not roof us in and prevent our looking up."
"Some are jealous of being successors of the apostles-I would rather be a successor of the Samaritan woman, who, while the apostles went for meat and forgot souls, forgot her water-pot in her zeal to spread the good tidings."
.. If there was more true abiding in Christ, there would be lesiS selfish abiding at home."
One of the first indications that Mr. Taylor's nervous system was giving way nnder the strain of his long responsibility and numberless exposures was in Boston in 1900, when, after the great Ecumenical Conference, he was holding meetings with the writer, and it was observed, in an otherwise effective address, that he repeated one 01' two sentences a score of times 01' more. 'fhese sentences were as follows: "Yon may trust the Lord too little, but you can never trnst Him
IN MEMORiAM: J. HUDSoN TAYLoR
too much." "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He can not deny Himself."
There was something pathetic and poetic in the very fact that this repetition was the first visible sign of his breakdown, for was it not this very sentiment and this very quotation that he had kept repeating to himself and all his fellow-workers during all the years of his missionary work-a blessed sentence to break down upon, which had been the buttress of his whole life of consecrated endeavor. What would he desire to be made emphatic by his whole career if not this simple lesson of the impossibility of trusting God too implicitly, too boldly, and too constantly?
Even in his lifetime his heroism was not without reward. The Rev. Hunter Corbett was reproached by a former college fellow student with having buried his life in China; his simple answer was: "Perhaps it may have been so; but I know this, that at this moment there are at least two thousand converts in China, brought to Uhrist. through my humble labors, who daily pray to God for me." It is duu btless true that, directly or indirectly, fifty thrJUS(tluZ Chinese have heard the Gospel uecause Hudson 'faylor responded to Gorl's call nearly fifty years ago.
IN MEMORIAM: J. HUDSON TAYLOR BY B. JlROOMHALL, LONDON, ENGLAND 'fhe designation, "Founder of the China Inland Mission," is in itself an almost sufficient epitaph. When eulogy has said its last word and a full-length biography has been written-the best and the noblest epitaph of the widely beloved missionary will be, "Founder of the China Inland Mission." The China Inland Mission is his memorial, and a nobler memorial could not be desired for any man. Wherever the work of that mission and its special characteristics are known, it will be evident that by the death of Hudson Taylor there has been removed from the sphere of earthly service one of the most distinguished missionaries ever given to the Church of Christ.
:F'ifty-two years ago, September 4, 1853, the writer of these lines went to see his friend, Hudson Taylor, shortly before he was to sail for China. The place of meeting was Dr. Brown's surgery, at the corner of St. Mary Axe, Cammish Street, Bishopsgate Street. During that visit Mr. Taylor accompanied himself on his concertina as he sweetly sang: "For Ohina's distant shore, Embark without delay; Behold an open door; 'Tis God that leads the way.
His call is clear and loud; The missionary band Rhould gather like a cloud, And leave their native land.
* * * Nor wilt thou grieve for home- The home that's left behind; The thought of one to come 'Vill wholly fill thy mind.
And thou wilt bless the day When thou didst part with all, And hasten far away A t thy loved Master's call."
He was joyfully anticipating his departure for Ohina in a few days' time, and the words truly represented his own feeiings.
About a fortnight later the writer was in Hudson Taylor's home at Barnsley when his mother arrived from Liverpool after seeing him embark for Ohina.
It was characteristir, of that loving and greatly-beloyed mother that she wrote and gave to each of her two daughters her "Recollections" of the parting from their brother at Liverpool. In those days a voyage to China meant mnch more than it does to-day. Fj'oT:1 these " Recollections" we take the following: On Sunday, .'leptembel' 18, 1853, Hudson was Illuch hiessed and strengthened by the religiouH services of the day. Seeing his mother in tears, he said: "Oh, mother, do not grieve; I am so happy I C(lil not; my only sorrow is to see yOllI' sorrow. I'll tell YOll what r think is the difference between YOll and me: you look at the p(ll'iimg-I look at the meeting," alluding to our reunion in the" bettel' land."
The next day they and some other friends met in the cabin of the _Dun~tl"i,e8. After a little conversation, singing and pray!'r were pl'U- posed, and Hudson gave out in a firm, clear voie!', the beautiful hymn: "How sweet the name of .Tesus sounds In a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his WOlln<iR, And drives away his fear."
After prayer, the tillle came to say farewell, I stepped off the vessel scarcely knowing what I did, and was seated on a piece of timber which lay close by. A chill came over me, and I trembled from head to foot. Seeing my distress, he leaped ashore to breathe words of consolation. "Dear mother," he said, "do not weep; it is but for' a little while,' and we shall meet again. Think of the glorious object I have in view in leaving you; it is not for wealth or fame, but to try to bring the poor Chinese to the knowledge of .TeSlls." As the veEsel was receding he was obliged to return, and we lost sight of him for a minute; he had run into his cabin, and hastily writing in pencil on the blank leaf of a pocket Bible, "The
CHINA INLAND MISSION HOUSE IN
love of God which passeth knowledge.-J. H. T.," returned to the deck, and threw it to me on the pier.
While we stood waving our handkerchiefs and watching the depart- ing ship, he took his stand at its head, and afterward got into the rigging, waving his hand in token of farewell, looking more like a victorious hero than a stripling just entering the battle-field. His figure became less and less distinct, and in a few minutes passenger and ship were lost in the distance.
After a long and tedious voyage of twenty-three weeks and two days, Mr. Taylor lauded at Shanghai on March 1, 1854.
Of his work during the first six years in Ohina nothing need here be said. One fact, however, is significant, and should be named because of its relation to later developments. Writing home in January, 1860, Mr. Taylor said: Do you know any earnest, devoted young men desirous of serving God in China, who-not wishing for more than actual support-would be willing to come out and labor here? Oh, for four or five such helpers!
They would probably begin to preach in China in six months' time: and in answer to prayer the necessary means for their support would be found.
These few workers were given-they were the first of a great company, of whom there are now connected with the mission more than eight hundred missionaries, including wives, most of whom were missionaries before marriage. . 'rhe missionary zeal and devotion of this great company is a greater cause for thankfulness than for the large number. Probably two requirements have done much to prevent unsuitable persons joining the mission, namely: a distinct understanding that there was no guarantee of income whatever by the mission, and the importance attached to proved efficiency in work already done. A good record for Christian work already done counted for much; without this the candidate had but little chance of being accepted.
How the work grew-how province after province was opened for mission work-how, without collections or personal solicitation of money, it has been sustained, nntil now an aggregate sum of over $5,000,000 has been given, it is not our present purpose to say. In the space available our reference must be, not to the mission and its development, but to its founder.
The purpose of his life has often been referred to, but never has it been better told than in an "In Memoriam" notice of Hudson Taylor in The Guardian. The writer of this notice has gone to the heart of things, and has grasped and stated with striking precision the object and aim of Mr. Taylor in his life-work. He says: He had but one aim-to preach Christ to China by any means that came to hand. With no defined views upon Church order, there was nothing so real to him as the individual soul, and God in Christ for its
190il] iN MEMORiAM: j. HUDSON
salvation. All he probably sought was the first real act of faith, disregarding as of quite disproportionate value sacramental means of grace. So burning a spirit soon gathered kindred souls round him, and he launched upon China the finest missionary lance of our generation to break down in the first place opposition to the foreigner, and to make the One Name known.
If any wish to realize what simple faith in God can effect in so brief a space of time, let them study the map of China in the "Stud~nt Volunteer Atlas," and mark the stations, marvelous in number, of this mission, dotted apparently all over the western regions of the Chinese Empire. The spiritual force has been so great that no Church or denom- THREE VIi:TERAN MISSIONARIES OF THE CHINA INLAND MISSION J. W. Stevenson J. Hudson Taylor James Meadows Feb. 6, 1886 March I, 1854 May 24, 1862 This photo was taken In ShanghaI lAst spring. The date Is that of arrival In China ination can show so imposing a mass of missionary agents in China as the Inland Mission, with the exception of the Church of Rome-with its four centuries of work behind it.
All through Mr. Taylor'S missionary life his aim was just what this writer says it was-to preach Christ to the Chinese. Nothing turned him aside from this. The desire grew, and he longed to enlist others in the work. At first.• a few helpers, then more, then Protestant missionaries for each province in China in which there were none, and however impracticable at the time this project might seem, he was permitted to see the desire of his heart realized. The desire of
his life was that Christ might be preached throughout the length and breadth of China. For this he labored unceasingly, and with the measure of success that has been seen.
For Hudson Taylor's best, and all-unconsciously written, autobiography, we must read the early volumes of "China's Millions." No record of his life can better portray his true character, and nothing he has ever written is better worth republication than his short comments upon the texts of Scripture printed as page illustrations in these early volumes. These articles, under the general heading of "China for Christ," are faithful reflections of the missionary zeal-the faith-the prayerfulness which made Hudson Taylor what he was. In them we may see the seed corn that was sown some thirty years ago, of which the China Inland Mission of to.day is thp. manifest fruit. The lesson is for us all. It is that God honors faith, answers prayer, and never fails those who" attempt great things for God, and expeet great things from God."
After the many years of the most strenuous labor, there came, in 1900, a complete breakdown of health, and Mr. Taylor was compelled to withdraw from the work of active leadership, tho glad to advise, as needed, his successor in the general direction of the mission-Mr. D. E. Hoste. He retired for quiet and rest to Switzerland, and during his stay in that country had to bear the great sorrow of the loss of his devoted wife, whose help both in health and sickness had been to him of inestimable value. In the beginning of 1905 he felt well enough to deeide to revisit China–traveling 1Ii(( America to avoid the great heat of the Red Sea. After a very brief stay in Rhanghai he went on to Yang-chou, to the training-home for the lady missionaries of the C.1. M. On his way to Chin-kiang he wrote the following letter: April 20, 1905.
My BELOVED FRIENDS: To be once again in China :1nd to see and hear from one another personally, is a great joy and refreshment. May I ask your prayers that we may be guided as to the employment of the short time I can remain before the great heat of summer begins? Traveling is now so much less difficult than formerly, that I may, perhaps, be able to attend a conference in Ho-nan, and visit the capital of Hu-nan, a province for which we have prayed so long. Help me by your prayers, dear friends. My strength is not what it once was, but" He giveth more grace." He does not expect or require anything in us that He is not willing and able to impart. I have found the Lord's word in my reading to-day so precious, " Let Thine hand be ready to help me .. for I have chosen Thy precepts."
Gratefully your in Christ, J. HUDSON TAYLOR.
Mr. Taylor had set his heart on a visit to Chang-sha, the capital of the Hu-nan Province. lie reached that city, and there on the 3d of
so:r.rE BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS
June the home-call of the weary laborer came. Probably in no city in China could he have more appropriately adopted the words of Simeon. Of all the unevangelized provinces of China in which he had sought to place missionaries, the province of Hu-nan was the last to receive them. It was the most violently anti-foreign province in China, Il,nd all efforts through many years to open a station had been unsuccessful up to 1898. The faithful worker has been removed, but the lessons and influ- ence of his life remain, and will yet mean much for the spread of the Gospel in China. We close this article with some of his earnest words for China, and never were they more needed than now; "The claims of an empire like this should surely be not only admitted, but realized! Shall not the eternal interests of one-fifth of our race stir up the deepest sympathies of our nature, the most strenuous efforts of our blood-bought powers? Shall not the low wail of helpless, hopeless misery arising from one-half of the heathen world, pierce our sluggish ear, and rouse us, spirit, soul, and body, to one mighty, continued, unconquerable effort for China's salvation? n SOME BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS * The China Inland Mission has furnished an object-lesson for missionary societies the wide world over, and its story forms one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of the world's evangelization. While Mr. Hudson 'I'aylor would have been the last man to say that he has been the only human instrument in bringing about snch blesHea results, he was none the less, under God, the chief worker both in founding and extending the mission. 1<'rom his first endeavors in this direction he has been honored in helping forward the purposes of his Master, with respect to the evangelizing of one of the mightiest nations on the face of the earth.
A native of Barnsley, Yorkshire, Mr. 'l'aylor had reached the ripe age of seventy-three. More important than the date of his birth is the suggestive fact that his father, who was himself an earnest evangelist (tho a business man), had been deeply stirred as to the spiritual condition of the Chinese; and he prayed God that if ever a son were giveR him, that son might become an ambassador of the Cross to China. Mr. Taylor was, ther€fore, consecrated for missionary service in China from birth. During his childhood his health was feeble, and his parents had to abandon, for a time at least, the fond hopes they cherished; but the answer to their prayers was not denied·-it only tarried. Already their son was interested in China, and had begun to regard it as the sphere of his life-work. He has himself described how in his youth he had a skeptical fit, and how he was brought out of the region • From The Christian (London).
of darkness and negation into the goodly land of faith and peace and assurance as a clear answer to the prayers of his mother and his sister (Mrs. BroomhaH). At the –;ery time when his mother was agonizing in prayer for him seventy or eighty miles away, he was stepping into the light of conscious acceptance with God, through reading a Gospel tract which came into his possession.
During Mr. Taylor's period of training at the London Hospital, many experiences calculated. to strengthen his faith in the direct inter- position of Ood. for guidance or deliverance at critical moments. He had learned to commit his way, and all its daily difficulties, to his loving heavenly Father, and the unmistak- able responses of God to this life of simple trust taught him many lessons that proved invaluable in later years. The sense of the press- ing spiritual needs of China that was borne in upon his heart at the time of his consecration, grew in weight and volume during his student years, and it was with inexpressible joy that in September, 1853, at the age of twenty-one, hav- ing been accepted by the Chinese Evangelization Society as a medical missionary, he sa;'1d for the land J. HUDSO!'i TAYLOR WHEN HE SAILED of his heart's desire. FOR CHINA Landing in Shanghai, the young missionary found himself in the midst of a native rebellion. The path of every missionary was beset by dangers and difficulties, and Mr. Taylor had many hairbreadth escapes from bullets and the fanatical soldiery. There were also diffi- culties relating to the work itself; but out of them all God provided a way of escape, tho faith was often sorely tried. These early embar· rassments and hindrances did not damp the zeal of the young mission- ary, but only caused him the more unreservedly to cast himself on his God. One very happy circumstance of his first stay in China as a pioneer missionary was his association with William C. Burns, of the Presbyterian Mission-a fellowship fraught with mutual blessing, and one to which Mr. Taylor was never tired of referring in after years.
For about four years Mr. Taylor devoted his energies to itinerant 'Work, meeting with numerous diss.ppointments and trials, but finding through them all that God was indeed the refuge and strength of His servants. At the end of 1856 he had been led to terminate his offi- cial connection with the society (tho continuing to work with it), and
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS
began the method of looking directly to God for the supply of his needs and the needs of the work, to which method he henceforth consistently adhered. His fai.th was honored in a way that was a further preparation for the founding of the Inland Mission. Failing health compelled him sorrowfully to return to England in 1860. For a time he was engaged as a collaborateur of Rev. F. Gough, of the C. M. S., in the important work of revising a version of the New Testament ill the Romanized Colloquial of Ningpo, to be published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. This also proved to be a providential circumstance in his life, an experience which he described as follows: In the study of that Divine Word I learned that, to obtain successfullaborers, not elaborate appeals for help were needed, but, first, earnest prayer to God to thrust forth laborers; and, second, the deepening of the spiritual life of the churches, so that men should be unable to stay a.t home. I saw that the apostolic plan was, not to raise ways and means, but to go and do the work, trusting in His sure word who h as sa id: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
Months of earnest prayer strengthened the can vic t ion "that a special agency was essen- tial for the evangeliza- tion of inland China; and that by simple trust in God, such an agency might be raised up and sustained without inter- fering injuriously with any existing work." At home he saw congrega- tions well cared for spirit- ually, while the millions of China were perishing for lack of knowledge, and this brought his feel- ings and resolves to a CrISIS. lIe surrendered himself to God for this service, and there and then asked Him for )IRS. J. HUDSON TA.YLOR twenty-four fellow-work- ers, two for each of the eleven inland provincesof China, then without a Protestant missionary, and two for Mongolia.
About this time Mr. Taylor wrote" China's Spiritual Needs and
Claims," a volume which was exceedingly helpful in imparting a true knowledge of that vast country, and in stirring up consecrated workers to go forth to help in its evangelization. The mission was formed in 1865. In May of the following year a mis3ionary party of seventeen sailed for China in the Lamrnermuir, and the China Inland Mission was fully inaugurated. The Chinese people were not naturally disposed, like some races, toward the reception of a new religious faith; pride of intellect and of country were found to be strongly against it. England herself has done much to baT the door of China to' the Gospel of Christ by her un-Christian action in the matter of the opium trade.
When this first C. I. M. party sailed, eleven of the eighteen provinces were entirely without a Protestant witness for the truth. At the present time there are 200 central stations with over 450 outstations, while since 1900-the year of persecntion-50,000 souls have been added to the Church in China. It is a cause for deep thankfulness to God that Mr. Taylor was spared to see something of the great harvest that is being reaped to-day. In the e,entide of his life he was permitted to see the work of the Lord, which has prospered in his hands, prosper also in the hands of an army of devoted followers of His Master-men and women who went forth prepared to suffer and die, if only the Gospel could .be given to the millions of China. Some idea of the progress now being made may be gathered from the fact that during last year sixty-six missionaries were added to the staff on the field, making a total of 828 workers, the highest figure yet recorded.
Mr. Taylor has been twice married, and each time has been singularly happy in his life partner. His first wife, to whom he was wedded during his first visit to China, was a daughter of Hev. Samuel Dyer, a very devoted agent of the London Missionary Society. After her death he married Miss Falliding, who was one of the party that sailed in the Lammerrnuir, and was greatly blessed of God as a worker among the Chinese. She was called to her rest and reward in August of last year.
It was fitting that our beloved friend should receive the home-call from Chang-sha. It is the capital of what was for years the most violently anti-foreign province in China–a province for which the C. 1. M. has worked perseveringly for the last twenty years, but for a long period without being able to get a station opened.
Mr. Taylor held a service for the Chinese on the day that he fell asleep. His daughter, Mrs. Howard Taylor, was with him when the summons came, suddenly but quietly, as the venerable missionary rested in his room in the evening. His body rests in Chinkiang (Chen-chiang), the city of his early residence, and the burial-place of his first wife and their four infant children. Mr. Taylor's earthly tabernacle was laid to rest with a simple Chinese Christian funeral service in the presence of his two sons and forty China Inland missionaries. WHAT THE MISSIONARIES HAVE DONE FOR THE NORTHWEST * BY DON O. SHELTON, NEW YORK Associate Secretary of the Congregational Home Missionary Society An exhibit of the work of the heroic pioneer preachers of the Northwest, were it possible to make it, would unquestionably be of more absorbing interest to Christian pevple than any other part of the great Portland e!"- position. Such an exhibit would include pictures of new communities in process of transformation under the power of the Gospel. It would reveal hardships cheerfully borne and self-sacrifices willingly made in the interests of the Kingdom of Christ. It would show the vanishing of the darkness of sin and evil from countless homes and communities, and the emergence of characters and commonwealths dominated by the Christian spirit.
But while it is impossible, by the use of pictures or figures or charts, to make an adequate exhibit of the heroic living and noble achievement of the missionaries of the Northwest, it is possible to portray, in words, some of the magnificent results of their lives and labors.
The story of the events that MAROUS WHITMAN STATUE led up to the entrance of the home missionaries in the vast Oregon country, and made possible condi- tions that were favorable to their ministry, is of deep interest. The acquiring, by the United States, of this immense and valuable section was the first important step. When, through the Louisiana Purchase, the claims of France to the Northwest territory were yielded, at once the United States government directed that it be explored. Speedily • For photographs of Whitman College, the page from Mrs. Whitman's diary, and the hatchet supposed to have been used in the Whitman massacre, the author acknowledges his ndebtedness to the Rev. Dr. S. B. L. Penrose, president of Whitman College. an expedition was fitted out. In 1803 President Jefferson recom- mended to Congress that his private secretary, Merriwether Lewis, be placed in command of the party. The tour of Lewis and Clark, which began May 14, 1804, and ended September 23, 1806, has been referred to as one of the longest, most difficult, and most important overland journeys of governmental exploration ever attempted.
l'hroughout the years that followed this tour there were many controversies respecting the ownership of the Oregon country. It was not until over forty years after Lewis and Clark had finished their work of exploration that the United States came into undisputed control of this invaluable section. In the meantime the country was slowly settled by those drawn to it by the opportunity of comn~ercial gaiu. Various trading companies were established, and became closely identified with the lives of natives and immigrants.
Men of Might Required In 1821, by the union of these rival corporations, the Hudson's Bay Company was formed. It quickly became the most powerful trading organization in the Northwest. Its agents were alert, aggressive, resourceful. The company was so successful that Americans could not do business within the territory on the coast. It used its vast power in subordinating, or in exterminating, persons who interfered with its monopolistic methods. Summarizing the evil practises of the Hudson's Bay Company, Sir Ed ward Fitzgerald said: "It has stopped the extension of civilization and excluded the light of religious truth." By misrepresenting the condition of the country, by unjustly disparaging the character of the natives, and by other disreputable methods, the company sought to prevent immigration from the East.
But the men chosen for the stern task of founding Christian churches in this immense region had vigorous faith and robust natures, and ability to endure hardship for the sake of Him whom they served. From most of the severities and perils of that early frontier life they were not immune, but they were unfearing. To them, as to multitudes in a latel' time, the voice of the West was a trumpet-call to rigorous self-sacrifice.
Yes, man must sink or fight, be strong or die! That is thy law, 0 great, free strenuous West I The weak thon wilt make strong till he defy Thy buffetings; but spacious prairie breast Will never nourish weakling as its guest! He must grow strong or die! Thou givest all An equal chance-to work, to do their best- . Free land, free hand-thy sons must work or fall, Grow strong or die! That message shrieks the storm-wind's callI It was in 1833 that Gabriel P. Disosway, Presiden t of the Young Men's Missionary Society of New York, heard of the notable visit to St. Louis of Nez Perce Indians, of Oregon, in search of the white man's Book. These Indians had been told by travelers of a Supreme Being and of that Book that reyealed Him. Desiring the aid of Christian teachers, they made the perilous journey of three thousand miles to St. Louis. Arriving there, they were welcomed by General Clarke, Superintendent for Indian Affairs for the Northwest. They were generously entertained at theaters and dances, but did not find the Light they sought. Two of the four died at St. Louis, and the other two made their way homeward without the Book. One of the latter, in a farewell address at St. Louis, said: When I tell my poor blind people, after one more snow, in the big council, that I did not bring the Book, no word will be spoken by our old men or by our young braves. One by one they will rise up and go out in silence. My people will die in darkness, and they will go on the long path to the other hunting grounds. No white man will go with them, and no white man's Book to make the way plain. I have no more words.
Jason Lee's Statesmanlike Work Directing the attention of the Church to these messengers and their remarkable mission, Mr. Disosway urged the claims of the Northwest.
The call was heard by President Wilbur Fisk, of Wesleyan University.
Through the Church papers he asked for two unmarried men, possess- ing the martyr spirit, who would minister to the Nez Perce nation.
For this important enterprise President Ifisk chose Jason Lee, a missionary at work among the Indians in Canada. He was vigorous, athletic, stalwart-six feet three inches tall. He was appointed by Bishop Heading "to this f01'eign mission." A little later Daniel Lee, a nephew, was designated as a coworker, together with Cyrus Shep· ard and T. S. Edwards, both laymen. .
Till with sound of trumpet Far, far off the daybreak call-hark I How loud and clear they heard it wind, Swift! to the head of the army!- Swift! spring to your places, Pioneers! 0 Pioneers!
Jason Lee and his associates went forth in March, 1834, and early in the following September arrived at Walla WalIa, on the Columbia River in Washington. On September 28 Lee preached the first Prot· estant sermon ever heard at Vancouver. The mission founded by him was situated in the Willamette valley. He and his associates began at once to build log cabins, to till the ground, and to establish a school for Indian children. It was a rough log building, with a chimney made of sticks and clay, in which they held their earlier meetings.
Jason Lee was wise in his selection of mission stations. "To name the missionary stations that he selected from whence to work outwardly and touch all the land," says Dr. H. K. Hines, "IS to name the controlling centers of education, religion, and trade in the Pacific Northwest of to-day." These were Salem, Oregon Oity, now a part of Portland, and Nisqually.
In 1838 Jason Lee lectured in the Eastern States, and urged Oon- gress to offer to the immigrants a square mile of land in Oregon. His vigorous appeals led the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episco- pal Ohurch to appropriate $40,000 to the mission. Fifty-three people, including ministers, mechanics, farmers, teachers, and a physician, sailed for Oregon, ~or the reinforcement of Mr. Lee and his coworkers.
The work of the mission advanced. A new station was founded at The Dalles in 1838. Within the next t·wo years more than half of the Indians in the surrounding section were turned from darkness to light. In 1841 th~ first Methodist society was organized, with thirteen mem- bers. After Jason Lee retired, in 1844, another efficient superintendent succeeded him. With the increase in population the church grew.
The speoial work for Indians went forward, but an urgent demand arose for a church for white immigrants. The latter work received increasing attention, and gradually became of chief importance.
Bishop Hurst states that the firm foundations of Methodism in Oregon were laid, not among the Indians, but among the whites. In 1848 the work in Oregon was organized by the Methodist General Oonference as an annual mission conference, and was included in the Oalifornia conference.
Marcus Whitman and His Achievements In 1836, two years after Jason Lee began his fruitful toil in the Willamette, Dr. Marcus Whitman, a member of the Presbyterian church at Wheeler, N. Y., and the Rev. H. H. Spalding, of Bath, N. Y., were commissioned for missionary work in Oregon. Dr. Whitman, by personal investigation, became convinced of the need and choice oppor- tunity of missionary work in behalf of the Nez Perce Indians, and early in 1836 he was married to Miss Narcissa Prentiss, and they began their long and arduous tour.
In those days the Oregon country was more remote from New York than are Ohina and India to-day. The perils met by Dr. and Mrs. Whitman and their coworkers, in their journey westward, were even of a sterner kind than those met by men, who, like William Oarey, went to India in 1793. The view held by Ohristian people in the East as to the remoteness of the Oregon country is indicated by the hymn sung in the country church, when Narcissa Whitman bade her friends farewell: Yes, my native land, I love thee: All thy scenes I love them well; Friends, connections, happy country, Can I bid you all farewell ? Can I leave you, Far in heathen lands to dwell ? The story of the pilgrimage of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, with the Rev. and Mrs. H. H. Spalding and Mr. W. H. Gray, is of thrilling in- terest. One of the most successful achievements of the tour was the taking of the first wagon over the Rockies by Dr. Whitman. It was extremely difficult to make a path for it, but he persevered, and proved that a wagon route over the mountains was possible. "You who have rolled over those vast plains and slept in your Pullman palace cars," said the Rev.
W. H. Gray, Whitman's com- panion, "have never once imagined the toil and labor of that old off-hand pioneer, as he mounted his horse ill the morning and rode all day in THE TOMAHAWK SAID BY INDIANS TO HAVE BEEN the cold and heat of the USED IN THE MURDER OF MARCUS WHITMAN mountains and plains, to prove that a wagon road was practicable to the waters of the Oolumbia River."
On September 2, 1836, Dr. Whitman and his associates reached the Columbia, homeless and among people who had no homes. But Ohrii!- tian white women had been brought safely over the mountains! That was a tremendous victory. The missionaries located as follows: Dr.
Whitman at Waiilatpu, near Walla Walla; Mr. Spalding on the Clear- water River, one hundred and twenty-five miles eastward, among the Nez Perces.
The people whom they fonnd in the Oregon country were without farming utensils or cattle. Dr. Whitman had taken out a quart of seed wheat. Eleven years afterward the fields had been brought to such cultivation that there were harvested between twenty and thirty thousand bushels of grain; cattle were numerous; beautiful gardens and orchards abounded. Within ten years an Indian school, edab- lished by Mrs. Spalding, had about five hundred pupils, and a church, with a membership of a hundred, had been founded.
In December, 1836, Mr. Gray went East for additional workers.
The American Board responded to his appeal by appointing three new missionaries. Upon their arrival at Waiilatpu in 1838, with Mr. Gray, they became an effective force at Waiilatpu, Lapwai, and at new sta- tions among the Flathead and Nez Perce Indians.
It was during the winter of 1842-43 that Dr. Whitman made his notable journey East. It is now conceded by the ablest authorities that his object in coming was to save Oregon to the United States.
He interviewed President Tyler, Daniel Webster, and other govern- ment officials, urging the retaining of the Oregon country; visited his early home; and then went to the Missouri River for the purpose of guiding a large company of emigrants who were about to start for Oregon. Dr. Whitman helped to form this company, and felt a personal responsibility for their welfare. The task of leading them through the wilderness and over two ranges of mountains was a gigantic one, but was accomplished. He reached home in October, 1843, and energetically prosecuted his work. This was more exacting than formerly, as some of the Indians had become disaffected during his absence in the East. As the years passed their alienation developed into hostility. Their estrangement was attributed in part to the misrepresentation and influence of Jesuit priests and the Hudson Bay Company. Dr. Whitman was urged to leave lest he lose his life. He THE WHITMAN COLLEGE MEMORIAL BUILDING, OItEGON replied: "My death may do as much good for Oregon as my life can," and remained at his post until that fateful fall of 1847, when he and Mrs. Whitman and twelve others were brutally massacred.
Immigrants began to arrive in large numbers a few years after Dr. Whitman's death. Congress instituted a territorial orgarization, missions and churches grew in number and strength, and the great Northwest entered upon its career of increasing influence and power.
Other Important and Influential Beginnings In the last letter written by Dr. Whitman to the American Board, in 1847, he earnestly plead that the Gospel he preached to the whites in the Oregon country. He desired that the American (Congregational) Home Missionary Society and the American Tract Society should enter the field without delay. The fact that the former society, A PAGE FROM: MRS. waITMAN'S DIARY at about the same time, began a thorough investigation of the needs of the Oregon country is significant. This investigation was prompted by fhe apparent enlarged opportunities for Christian service in <:!regon, and also by the making of a treaty, in 1846, between the United States and Great Britain, establishing the northwestern boundry through to the Pacific Ocean.
As a result of this systematic inquiry, one month and five days previous to the Whitman massacre Mr. and Mrs. George H. Atkinson left Boston for Oregon, under appointment of the American Home Missionary Society. Off the coast, near Honolulu, they heard of the martyrdom of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, anu were urged by their friends not to go to Oregon. Dr. Atkinson replied: "I am destined to go to Oregon, and to Oregon I must go." Early in 1848 he began his ministry at Oregon Oity, and it became immediately influential. He was not only an able preacher of the Gospel and efficient pastor, but an effective promoter of the best interests of the commonwealth. It is said that a series of articles by him, in which were considered the varied inter- ests of Oregon, in TlLe Oregonian, won the attention of Oongress and the government.
When Dr. Atkinson began his labors there were two Presbyte- rian pas~ors in Oregon-the Rev.
H. H. Spalding, the associate of Dr. Whitman, and the Rev. Lewis 'fhompson. With a small herd of cattle the latter had wearily journeyed from Missouri to Clat- sop Plains, on the Pacific, directly south of the mouth of the 00- lumbia. There he made his home.
Pasture was abundant, the climate ~Iolleer COIl~egatlGo.naHl. ATKINSON in Uregon equable. On September 19, 1846, Home Missionary he founded at Olatsop Plains, with a membership of four, the first Presbyterian church in Oregon.
Other early Presbyterian home missionaries in the Northwest were the Rev. E. R. Glory and the Rev. Robert Robe. On },T'wember 19, 1851, at the home of Mr'. Glory, near Lafayette, the Presbytery of Oregon was organized. The first Presbyterian church at Portland, Oregon, was founded on January 1, 1854, by the Rev. J. L. Yantis, D.D., with twelve mem bel'S.
Another pioneer missionary of large influence and usefulness in the Presbyterian Ohurch of the Northwest was Aaron L. Lindsley, D.D., LL.D., who became pastor of the first church of Portland in 1868.
, He unstintedly devoted his energies to evangelism. His coming, it is said, marked the beginning of a new era in religious work in the Pacific Northwest. "The Indians of Idaho and East Oregon felt his bene- ficent touch; the Ohinese shared in his sympathy and interest; while both he and the grand Ohurch to which he ministered lent a helping hand to every struggling community and to every worthy interest."
The church of which he was pastor founded eight other churches in Portland. He also organized twenty-two other churches outside that city.
As early as 1845 the Baptist Home Mission Society had its repre- sentative in Oregon, four yeal's preceding the organization of the territory. In the preceding year a Baptist church ha.d been organized at West Union. The pioneer Baptist missionary was the Rev. Ezra Fisher. He began his labors in Astoria in April, 1845, and continued there one year. Reporting his 2,500-mile tour, he said that he had walked farther than the whole distance, bearing his full proportion of the services to the company. He keenly felt the responsibility of his position, but severe difficulties did not depress him. Even such obstacles as those described in the following sentence did not over- whelm him: "We have but one church in Oregon; only two of the members live within twenty-five miles of the place of organization, so that all efficiency by church organization is lost; and those that have immigrated the past season are generally poor and but just able to provide temporarily for their immediate wants."
Eight months after Mr. Fisher began his work he was reinforced by the Rev. Hezekiah Johnson, who located at' Oregon City, and remained there two yeal's. In a letter written December 19, 1845, Mr.
Johnson described his experiences and outlook. When he arrived his money had been spent, and his family needed clothes and provisions.
"I havp heard but one Baptist minister of good standing," he said, "in this country besides Elder Fisher and myself, hence you may see that we have enough to do and that we have come to the country none too soon."
The first Baptist church on the Pacific coast was built at Oregon Oity in 1848. In that year, also, the first association of Baptist churches in Oregon was formed. After ten years of home mission labor in Oregon, twenty Baptist churches were re- ported, with a member- ship of 674.
This is the record of the typical beginnings of evangelistic zeal in the Northwest. Representa- tives of other denomina- tions were faithful and heroic in their labors, and their self-sacrificing min- istries were no less fruit- ful in results. The Disciples~ Episcopalian, FIRST BAPTIST MKETI!'G-HOt'SE! OREGON CITY and United Brethren churches were an early aggressive force, cooperating with the denom- inations previously mentioned. Some Re.ultJ of Pioneer Work Among the notable results of Northwestern pioneer missionary effort that can be summarized are the following: 1. The Indians were taught to till their own soil, and not to wan- der over the mountains, among antagonistic tribes, in search of food.
2. The early mIssIOnaries learned the language of the Indians, and taught the children to read and write.
3. They published for the Indians school-books, a code of laws, a small hymnal, and the Gospel of St. Matthew, the mis- sionaries themselves being type- setters, pressmen, and binders.
4. Churches were organized among the Indians. One was founded by the Rev. H. H. Spald- ing, with ten or more Nez Perce members, of whose conversion he had proof. "Travelers, miners, and immigrants who frequently met those Nez Perces bore re- markable testimonies to their REV. ROBERT ROBI'! honesty and friendliness, and to their habits of family prayer."
Dr. Atkinson states that five hundred of these Indians continued to be enrolled as faithful and worthy members of the Presbyterian church.
5. Christian educational institutions were established. Reference has already been made to the Willamette University, established by Jason Lee. At Walla Walla, Whitman College has been founded in memory of Dr. Whitman. In other sections of Oregon and in Wash- ington and Idaho strong home mission colleges give evidence of the breadth of view and Christian zeal of the early missionaries.
6. A keen moral sense among the people has been developed.
Recently, in the State of Washington, two bills were passed, one mak- ing it a felony to open a barber-shop in the State on Sunday, and the other a gambling bill, making it a felony to conduct or to take part in any gambling game whatever.
7. Strong, aggl'esfOive churches have rapidly multiplied. In less than thirty years after Jason Lee and Marcus Whitman bega.n their ministi'i es, the labors of the brave and devoted pioneer missionaries brou ,ght forth a rich harvest of org-anized church activity in the great Northwest. In 1870 there were the following denominational organizations in the Oregon country: Baptist, 31; Christian, 30; Methodist, 113; Episcopal, 19; Congregational, 10; Presbyterian, 24 ; United Brethren, 13; Roman Catholic, 28-a total of 268. The value of property owned by the churches in 1870 was $350,000.
During the twenty years that followed an era of unexampled home missionary activity was entered upon, and there was remarkable fruitage. In 1890 there were in the three states of Oregon, Washington, WASHING10N OR£:GON IDAHO (From "The Religious Forces In the Uuited States," by Dr. H. K. Carroll) CHURCH MEMBERSHIP OF THE LEADING DENOMINATIONS IN lSg0 and Idaho 2,108 churches, with 153,358 communicants, and with church property valued at $5,519,085. This marvelously rapid growth in the number of churches and in the value of property bears remarkable testimony to the zeal and efficiency of the self-denying missionaries.
The Present Opportunities Magnificent opportunities for home mission initiative and enterprise still beckon. There is still a frontier. Churches in many sections of the great states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho still require the aid of their home mission boards. In these three states last year the Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Oongregational home mission boards helped financially 769 churches. The continuation of this aid until these churches reach self-support is imperatively demanded.
And there are forceful calls for extension! Here are two paragraphs from the experiences of present-day workers which portray vividly the need of reinforcements at the front. This is the outlook from the point of view of the Presbyterian Home Mission Board: Curry County, Oregon, is not less than one hundred and twenty miles long. Into this entire coast we have put one man, because of necessity. There is no minister of any other church solely engaged h the work of the ministry except ours. We have organized the church of Curry County. We located our missionary as near the center as possible, and then instructed him to work both ways, up and down the coast. His appointments are at Langlois, in the extreme north; Port Orford, sixteen miles south, with outstations at two schoolhouses; Wedderburn, thirty miles south of Port Orford; Gold Beach, one mile south of Wedderburn, but across the river, with no bridge or ferry; Pistol River, thirty miles south of Gold Beach, and Chetco, still thirty miles farther. In the win- ter time this is simply impossible, but in summer, by persistent horse- back or stage travel, it is done.
While on one of his tours in the North west, friends said to one of the most alert and faithful of modern home mission board superinten- dents, the Rev. J. D. Kingsbury, of the Congregational Home Mission- ary Society: " Do you know about Pearl? " "Why, what is Pearl?" he inquired. "Why, a mining camp up in the mountains here. where they have never had the Gospel." " How far away? " "Twenty-five miles." "How do you get there?" "On the coach." " When? " "To-morrow morning at seven o'clock." "So there we were," says Dr. Kingsbury, "with a full load-you want to go with a full load to keep those springs from tossing you up into the air and down on the floor of the stag-e, you know. Up over the mountains and down through the cations, and by and by down on the slope there is the little camp of Pearl. The telephone had borne the message: 'Will you listen to me in the schoolhouse? I am to preach the Gospel in the schoolhouse to-night.' A large building; it was crowded full-as many men as women. I never preached the Gospel to a more attentive crowd. And after the preaching service they gathered about me and said: 'Oh, we never have had a church here, nor the preach- ing of the Gospel. The nearest church is twenty-five miles on the one side and eighty on the other. Can't we have the Gospel?' And I began to realize that that was a little bit of the frontie1'."
Loud and many are the calls of the frontier to-day for vigorous churches, for strong preachers of the Gospel, for men as sturdy, as steadfast, as self-denying, and as aggressively evangelistic as were the . noble army of pioneer missionaries in the Northwest.
FOREIGN MISSIONARIES IN COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY UNION-TWENTY-SECOND SESSION BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., PRESIDENT There is a great difference between a missionary meeting and a meeting of missionaries. Among those present at the International Missionary Union in June were authors who have reduced the unwritten languages of peoples who have previously had no book form, or letter, or printed page; women who have translated many American books-often college text-books-into the languages of the conntry to which they have gone; physicians who have established hospitals; men who have been decorated by foreign powers, eulogized in the British Parliament, and commended by the United States govPl'nment for their extended educational endeavors in building up schools and colleges;
FOREIGN MISSIONARIES IN COUNCIL
evangelists who have opened the door of the Kingdom to thousands of souls in foreign lands.
Rev. T. J. Scott, D.D., has been forty years in India; he was one of the charter members of the" Union" whf;n it met originally at Niagara Falls in Oanada, and preached the annual sermon this year. He wrote directly afterward: "Here returned missionaries sit around the camp-fires of the world's evangelistic campaign, and listen to the war-council of bronzed and scarred veterans. From the land of burn- ing suns and from the frigid north, where the aurora borealis flares and flashes; from the isles of the sea; from ancient lands, where an effete Ohristianity must have new life; from the great fields of old and won- derful civilizations, like Persia, India, Ohina, and Japan, they come. It was a rare privilege as contingent after contingent filed to the platform to hear their story."
John R. Mott calls it unlike any other institution in the world: it is wholly unique. Mr. David McOonaughy, who has recently been made vice-president of the Union, says: "The proceedings afford a panoramic view of the progress of the Kingdom of Ohrist in all lands, which is indeed unique."
Reports from Africa From Africa it was reported that a new mission had been begun in Gazaland, Portuguese East Africa, a memorial of Mrs. Sydney Strong, who went thither with the deputation sent by the American Board last year. Dr. Strong and his friends have provided six thousand dollars to secure buildings at Beira, and Dr. Bunker has been assigned to open this mission.* He will begin with a Gazaland boy educated in Natal churches. This is a much greater undertaking than the Ohristians at home appreciate. All the conditions of this work are new. "Patience I patience I patience I" is the motto of Africa quoted by the missionary who is the new appointee. Writing from the front, he says: "The climate must be braved and tested. The mountain of su perstition must be moved, and in this case it is deeply entrenched on the European traffic in rum and prostitution."
Rev. Francis W. Bates, who has been in Africa since 1887, acknowledged that the people had many good qualities: they are brave and honest. But the foreign rule has brought greed for gold, and lust and passion of men. There has been one great scramble for this great continent, until to-day there is scarcely a foot of it which the natives can call their own. In Ohina the opposite policy has obtained. Mr. Bates once stood before a heathen king, to tell him why they had come. 'rhe king replied: "You have been too slow." It was a terrible comment. England has, perhaps, done more than any other nation to ad vance the Africans; she has helped educational matters, but she has • See p. 445, June number, and p. 558, July number.
a great load to answer for in the sins of omission in the past, and to-day is piling up for herself a new load of sin. 'fhe American Board began work in Natal seventy years ago, and in the last ten years they have a self-supporting church in that country. Not a penny of American money has gone to its support; but the missionaries can not put all the burden on the natives–a part of it belongs to America.
Rev. William C. Bell said they had been working in Portuguese territory for seven years. The people are anxious to go to school. They met with the difficulties of the rum traffic, but there are two hundred boys and girls under their direct control. They try to find work for them to do through the industrial department, at wagonmaking and carpentry, and they become largely independent. Graduates are accepted by ballot at a monthly meeting, and can not join the industrial,asso::iation unless they are Christians, and the candidate is put on probation for months after he has made his declaration, and he can not be successful unless he is willing to take part in the evangelization of those about him.
Mrs. W. C. Johnstone reported a church of two hundred and six members and two hundred and sixty in the inquiry class. In German territory the government asks that the missionaries teach German if they teach any language in addition to the vernacular. They are, therefore, seeking German missionaries. The greatest trouble on her heart was the condition of the girls; they are all wives. She said: "I was going to have a class of girls and no married women. But they become wives so young. I started with all wives. They were from six to thirteen years of age. All the men's wealth is in their wives. Sometimes they will say they are not going to get any more. They have said this when they then had twenty-five wives. They are rivals of a chief who has a hundred, so they are giving up something. The young African Christians can not carry rum, and they have been known to come back sixty miles empty-handed rather than carry rum for the trader. Many are afraid to go to Africa lest they will die there, but all do not die who go there." She told of one missionary who had been on the coast for thirty-five years, and two ladies who have just returned who have been there twenty-five years.
One missionary reports from the Kongo region: I have been disappointed at the stand the Kongo Uonference took in the troubles and atrocieties there, but for some reason they did not present a united front to the government. The Belgians have not granted anything to the agitators nor to the diplomats; whether they will do so or not I do not know.
England does not want the Kongo. Belgium is onlybeginning the work of governing natives. England did not always treat natives rightly. It is what all sailing was supposed to be in the Philippines. This is a large country. Some parts of it are governed fairly well. There are grand statesmen-and plenty of bad ones, that is true. I
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think the real trouble is with the concessionaires. There is no doubt but that there are large monopolies. How to stop the thing I do not know, except by agitation.
There is one fact, and that is, that the native!) will do nothing except by forced labor. They ought to have a better recompense, and not be worked and driven to death, as they are at present.
The mission work of the Protestants is going ahead and being blessed, but we can get no more stations while this agitation is going on. In the meantime priests and nuns are coming out by the hundreds, and getting all kinds of facilities and help from the state. I do not find that the officers of state love the priests at all, but it is the policy of Belgium to be helpful in every way. We can grumble all we like at the Belgians, but if it were French, I think, we would have been turned out long ago. I believe that the basis of all that they say against the state is true, but not all over the country and not of all state officials. W. T. Stead, in an interview with Mrs. Shelden, gave my views as neal' as anyone. Things are bad, but I am quite sure they are better than they were. They have fixed it; now let them be extended.
Let responsible men from home be sent out every year to visit the whole country. I would say the same of the missionary societies. There is too much one-man power. Very few men can be trusted with arbitrary power. The missionary and the state officer both have it without much snpervision. One man abnses it, another man is good for llothing, and goes backward himself instead of leading the natives forward. The government ought to have a dozen good schools that the natives look forward to. I think they have one at Boma.
The Protestant missions have done real good work in education. The New Testament has been printed in the dialect of the Lower Kongo, and about fifty other books. Just now the Bible is coming out in Ki-Kongo, published by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
I have snfi'ered much from the state oppression in the measure of the rubber, when four thousand of our people fled from that State to French territory. r have been in seven places on the Upper Kongo and eight places on the Lower Kongo. Some of the people that are at home only see one side of a thing.
Rev. Samuel J. Mead, of Angola, West Africa, sent the following interesting information in regard to the opportunities in his field of labor: Trade and civilization have opened up Africa, the richest gold and diamond mines in all the world have been successfully operated, and yet on the larger portion of the" Dark Oontinent" the white man has not placed his foot. As each year has rolled by, new roads have been opened up, rivers have been explored, and the sharp trader, eager to gain' his fortune, has left his trail, so that the missionary can now enter the very center of the land with comparative safety and ease. There is a fear that the Ohurch will not enter this open door, that she will not see the advantage of using this stepping-stone, or will fail to avail herself of it. Delay will mean great loss. '['he millions in the interior are dying in the dark, without anyone to tell them of God's great salvation and His love for all mankind. Bishop rraylor said, as he rested on one of his journeys, and by one of the graves that marked the trail that reaches across Africa (and he said
it with tears in his eyes): "They are dying like sheep, and there is no one to tell them of Jesus."
We at the front have never seen the time when we were better prepared for an advance into the interior than now. In our printing press the Rev. Herbert C. Withey has trained boys who are doing effective work in printing literature in the Kimbundu language, Bibles as well as other books, which enable the missionary, through his interpreter, to do work at once. There are no greater mis'sionaries than those heroes, men or women, who will go into the interior of Africa to do what seems to be the lowliest part of work-that of reaching the children, esteemed by many as the minor part in the working out of the missionary problel1l. The young children must learn the elementary principles of all, being the destiny of all mankind. This, to some, is a very small w.ork. This teaching the half-naked heathen, day by day, the very alphabet, is plodding work, but the result will be glorious, and we should ever keep in mind sowing under God for future generations; we must not look for all the harvest in our day. We must labor on in patience and endure as seeing the King. Many are the prayers that are going up for Africa. May God still lay the burden on His people. It is well to quote the saying of one who said: "I can see a bright day dawning for Africa."
Many years ago, as we were going to a conference at Pungo Alldrongo, at an encampment where we were to stay over night we had one faithful listener, a woman slave. Telling her of Jesus becoming' our substitute, and that in dying for us He became our Savior of soul and body, she wished me to repeat again and again. Finally, to make it more sure that she would remember it, she wished me to teach it to her on her fingers. I asked her to hold out her hand, and I bent down her first finger, and said: "God died for you"; then bending down her second finger in the same manner, I said: " If you believe in Jesus and receive Him, you are saved and happy forever." Bending down her third finger, I said: "If you deny Him and believe not, you will never know the God of love, but will be miserable forever." She repeated this over and over, bending down each finger, with eagerness to know the truth and to remember it. She moved away, and we saw and heard no more of her for a year. One day, while we were in the yard, this same slave came running in, leading her child by the hand, and said: "I remember my lesson," and, bending down her fingers, she repeated over, word by word, that which had been taught her by the way, and with great joy beaming in her face, she said: "Look here!" as she lifted up her child by his hand, "I know what you said is true; see him; this child was sick with the smallpox. We called in the heathen doctor; he grew worse; I told Jesus, and He saved him." This is only one case out of many where the seed sown by the wayside has taken root and borne fruit. Who are the ambitious ones for such seed-sowing? God takes care of His work and His workers. Africa is one of the last dark corners on His earth to be enlightened, and the reward is sure to him who endures" unto the end."
Present Opportunities in China The late Rev. J. Hudson Taylor expressed the conviction that there were never greater opportunities than to-day in China. At least five thousand Chinese have gone to Japan for education. 'fhe high officials are following our methods, and are establishing schools
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for Western education. In the Province of Fuchau a prefect has closed two large temples, and transformed them into schools for teaching Western branches just as are taught in America. Our books are being translated into Chinese, and in their cities they have opened schools lor teaching these branches. The Viceroy of Nanking visited in person one of the mission schools, and, after praising their education, said: " After all, young men, the religion of Jesus Christ is deeper than the religion of Confucius." The high officials are anxious to model their schools after the schools of America. A year ago a committee of four came to his house with a document written in letters of gold, looking to the establishment of a girl's school at Hangchow. These were not Christians. There are other such schools. '1'he Chinese are great book-makers, and know what these books are. They do not treat of anything but Chinese subjects, but these young men demand a knowledge of things of the world outside. In Shanghai the professors were so conservative that they demanded that the students give up the reading of the magazines. The young men left the college rather than be prohibited from reading these articles. Mr. Mott held four conferences in China, and these were more largely attended than any outside of America. Mr. Mott fonnd in his travels round the world no field so encouraging as China. They came from the teachers and scholars of all parts of China. These were the best that could be made up in all of China. Old China is passing away, and Ilew China is rapidly coming in. The Young Men's Christian Association began in China with the largest number of any country in the world. There are twenty-seven auxiliaries now in China. Mr. Mott says the opportunities and possibilities for educational work in China are greater than they ever were. Mr. Mott was asked: "If you could make a choice for the rest of your life, what would you do?" He replied: "If I could make a choice, I would unhesitatingly give all to China, and then work for the young men of China." Mr. Judson called attention to the Viceroy of Nanking, who, a few weeks before, was present at the closing services in the Episcopal church, and invited the graduates to visit him the next day. He conferred upon them the Chinese degree. The theological students refused these, as it would be incompatable with their obligations to the Church. He offered to send these graduates to Europe for a postgraduate course, and perhaps in a short time these graduates may be back. The viceroy ordered a large consignment of Bibles to be distributed among the officers, that they might judge for themselves. He has taken an active part in the protection of missionaries in times of trouble, and has helped to protect their lives and property under his administration. It is men like him that are moIling China, who will not, after a little, be a " yellow peril," but a handmaid.
Mr. Taylor told of a Chinese who became a Christian, who was
last yeftr a delegate to the General Assembly in America. His family were heathen and worshiped idols, and he begged to spend his vacation in the school premises rather than go home, where he would have to worship idols. How did he come to America? He became a teacher and elder in the church among Chinese. One day they wanted some one to come to the St. Louis Fair, to take charge of an exhibit. They were looking for some one to trust, to give a correct rendering of the business and the money. They came to the missionaries. The young man had a reputation by this time, and they asked for him. It was that way that he came to St. Louis. The Presbyterians made him delegate to the General Assembly.
The Insane in China Rev. Charles Selden, M.D., told how, thirteen years ago, the thought came to him, as a chemist, to go to South America-that it would be possible to do Christian work there. He was, however, led to China, thinking to do orphanage work there. He found, in course of time, that that was not to be his work, but that the Lord had a very different line of work.
Dr. J. G. Kerr spent forty years in medical service under the Pres byterian Board. He felt the need of an insane asylum, and for many years tried to start one, but he received no encouragement. Toward the end of his life, by his own generosity, he started one, the first, and till now the only one in the great empire of China. There is a theory among the Chinese that insanity comes from a great quantity of phlegm taken up by the stomach and choking it.. The stomach means to them all the inside organism. The families of the insane will speak of their condition before them. Many are perfectly conscious that they are insane; others are unconscious of it. Dr. Kerr's work is independent; no society is back of it. Dr. Selden says: In case I should have to go away there is no one to leave in charge of the work except the Chinese. I have a very competent assistant, but I do not wish to leave the work to him. I hope to build a hospital which will move up and down the river from Canton and along the creeks, remaining just a few weeks at a place. Then, in case of my breaking down, or my family being ill, I can send word to my colleague and have him come. Dr. Kerr during his life educated about one hundred and fifty young men and young women, and sent them out. There are now in Canton a large general hospital and a woman's hospital, with a nurses' training home, and soon there will be a children's hospital, besides the insane hospital.
The Crisis in Japan In view of the extraordinary providential preparation of Japan to receive the Gospel-by her history; by her acceptance of Occidental civilization; by her intimate relations with Christian nations; by her universal education and absolute religious liherty-Japan's mission-
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aries expressed the thought that she appeals to the Christian world. 'l'hey emphasized the growing sense of inadequacy of Shintoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism to meet the wants of the people, and the danger from her being without religion. The views of her best people concerning the competency of Christianity to meet the demands of the hour religiously was shown. The fifty millions of Japanese, of whom only a fraction have heard of the actual teaching of Christianity, and the influence which Japan will necessarily exert hereafter in the world, as the twentieth century Occidental civilization, were dwelt upon. Japan as a nation which bids fairto haye most to do with the Western nations, especially with the religious reorganization of the Far East, exerts an influence which will be a help or a hindrance to the best progress of civilization. They laid a special stress on missionary work in the future relation of Japan. The missionaries from Japan thought the late wars, eminently that in progress with Russia, would have a sobering effect on Japan. In view of all these circumstances, they thought it would be a moderate demand that the churches be asked to double the 'present force on the field, and that the means at their command be vastly increased.
Miss J. S. Vail, twenty-fiye years ago, entered Japan, and in outlining the Methodist schools she said she gave the history of all mission schools, for the battles and victories have in the main been the same. One bright May morning she found herself looking into twenty-fiye pairs of bright, searching eyes, which, twenty-five years later, were exchanged for two hundred in cadet blue with brass buttons stamped with the school. There were now in the school, in collegiate and academy department, four hundred and thirty-seven, thirty of whom are in the theological department. Was all this, she asked, worth contending for? "Oh, the weary days and troubled nights! " Technically no foreigner could hitherto own property on Japanese soil, and the beautiful site of twenty-five acres was the property of one Japanese. Thank God, he was true to us then, and has been ever since! The students of the school got together secretly, and sent to the Board at New York a constitution, which resulted in an understanding which led to a calm which lasted until the minister of education, one day, brought out of a pigeon-hole, a rule which had been more honored in the breach than in the observance, until its very existence had been forgotten. It was to the effect that no institution enjoying government privileges should be allowed to hold any religious services in the school-building. The government" privilege" included freedom from military conscription while pursuing a course of stUdy. In all other schools students were subject to draft. 'rhe mission took the position that, let their school be reduced in numbers as they might, they would have religious schools or none. "But you have got to obey the law of our land, and you must find a new school home," they were told. It
was now August; it would be impossible to find any place before Sep- tember 1, on which day the term opens. "What is the latest moment we can ghe up the privilege and instHute Christian worship?" we inquired. "In April," was the answer. We had put ourselves on record, as not for an instant voluntarily giving up the public worship of Christ within our walls, but were obliged to yield to the law of the land. This we did, and opened the school with a half-dozen scholars. The native Christians and the missionaries tried to show that the edict was contrary to the spirit of the constitution. This resulted in a cemplete victory; the edict was reversed.
Later valuable school privileges were granted. The students of Christian schools were to be admitted to the higher government institutions on the same basis as graduates in government middle schools. Miss Vail has never before, in a public assembly, given anything bearon the case.
She gives the following incident, to show what a Christian student can do among the Japanese. It was at the time of the China-Japan war. We admired the soldier students' new uniform and bright sword (the Samaurai boy's pride), and with suppressed and forced smiles we bade them God-speed. It was the night before the battle, and the Christian Japanese sought comfort in his Bible and hymn-book. The battle is over, the dead have been buried, and all is still. At evening our hero walks around the old deserted forts and meets an old Christian Chinese. They need no introduction; they could not converse by lip language, but they could both read the Chinese character. The Chinaman eaid: "Our missionary, with his wife, has been obliged to flee, for my countrymen who do not know Christ sometimes kill foreigners. You Japanese have taken our little church, aud filled it with guns and ammunition." A conflict arose in the Japanese soldier's heart. Should he venture in his commander's presence and confess his Christian faith, and make a request for his Christian brothers? Yes, he must do his part. Wishing to have the place cleared of gunpowder and guns of the Japanese and Chinese Christians to worship their God on the morrow, he applied to the commander. "A bold request," said the commander, "but you have been a good young officer. You don't smoke, you don't drink, you have been brave and true and kind to your rough comrades, and you shall have what you request." And on the morrow they who had yesterday stood facing each other in battle, together sang the praises of the Prince of Peace.
Dreadful Conditions in Turkey Communication from Turkey was presented by a missionary whose name we do not give only because we have no authority to present the same, not because the facts are not public. He said that he would ear-
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nestly beg that the attention of the convention be invited to the dreadful conditions existing in this land, and especially at the eastern end of it, and that they lift up earnest and believing prayer to the Ruler of Nations that He will speedily intervene for the relief of the great suffering and ner-d which exists. The conduct of the government seems to imply that its purpose is to exterminate the Armenian population, if not by massacre then by intolerable oppression. 'l'axes are being collected with entire heartlessness, while the protection which should be the return for taxes is entirely withheld, and the people are reduced to the very verge of starvation, while a good many are passing beyond the verge, and the want and suffering are pitiable. Life for them is becoming almost unendurable on account of the suffe~·ing seen all about them, and the numberless appeals which are beyond their power to meet, and the nervous strain of it all, which is far greater than that of their regular work, heavy as it is.
Woman's Work for Women and Children In the afternoon which was given to woman's work eleven women were introduced, whose aggregate years of work was three hundred and forty years. There were present three candidates from FoIt's Missionary Institute, two going to India and one to Africa. Mrs. Mills gave an account of the first school for the deaf in China, which she had established in 1898. The Chinese, she said, had not considered the deaf capable of being taught, and before they can be induced to provide for the education of their deaf children it must be demonstrated to them that the deaf can be educated and that it will pay. In the few years since the school was established methods have been developed and translated into Chinese, and books printed. The deaf have been taught to read and unite the Mandarin Chinese characters, to speak Chinese, and to read the lives of those who speak to them. Four boys have graduated and are teaching. This is the first and only school where teachers can be trained for the four hundred thousand deaf in the great empire. No provision has as yet been made for the girls on account of lack of accommodations. Mrs. Mills' school is undenominational.
Mrs. T. C. Winn, of Japan, has introduced crocheting, and found it was taken up readily by the women. She has also taught the women to do foreign cooking, as they were anxious to learn, and she found it a great opportunity for teaching Christianity.
Miss Clark, who had been in South Africa for seven years, referred to the twenty-one native churches which were all self-supporting; also to the fact that the school for boys with which she had been connected gave a missionary to assist in opening new work at Beira, Portuguese East Africa.
Dr. Anna Young, who had been to Ceylon for several years as a
medical missionary, told how this work was meeting the needs of the Hindu women. In the northern part of the island there are two hos- pitals-one general, the other exclusively for women and children. These institutions in the midst of a heathen population are great educators.
Miss Best, of Korea, declared Korea was a weak nation, unable to govern herself. Her work lay in Northern Korea, and has been among the country churches. The policy has been to hold training. classes among the men and women. In the first class of twenty-seven women, in some cases they were known to have walked a hundred miles to attend the class. It now numbers some three hundred. They bring their money or their rice to pay their way.
Medical Work Dr. Anna Scott went as a missionary to Southern Ohina in 1889. Sometimes she would see the dead bodies of the little castaway girl babies, with dogs devouring part of a child and pigs devouring another part; sometimes there would be three little girl babies floating on the river at once. There were, as a rule, castaways if there were more than two girl babies in a family. Their excuse was that they were very poor. 'fhey would ask whether to throw them away, or let them grow up and half or wholly starve to death. 'fhe poverty was very great, the common salutation being: "Have you eaten sufficient?" To which they would often reply, because of their pride, they had enough, when they had had next to nothing at all. The native doctor knows nothing of surgery, and will not practise it. Many times the women were put on the floor to die, because they were too poor to buy another bed. A bed would be spoiled if anyone were to die upon it. The vermin literally swarm over the body. It seemed to her that she aged twenty years instead of five. She had led many of the poor women to trust in Jesus. There are many women brought to Ohrist by the medical profession. She had her country dispensary; she had two hundred patients in a day.
She was in Assam thirteen years, and fifteen years in China. Her work was among the Christians, but she could not confine it to them. A few opium-smokers would come, and she would average one case a day. She had treated four hundred opium-smokers in a single year. She thought in this country nothing was known of the terrors of the opium habit.
Miscellaneous Among the nineteen that died during the year were three officers, of which special mention was made. Mrs. Thayer, the secretary, WitS the all-important member of the officers on whom all the rest had come to lean. She was also the representative of the Sanitarium, and all centered in her. Among her last prayers was one for the success
1905J FORl£IGN MISSIONARIES IN COUNCIL
of the Union. Dr. 'I'. L. Gulick had attended the sessions of the Union since the second meeting at Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Dr. O. W. Oushing since the meetings at Thousand Island Park. These officers were greatly missed.
The last news of a death was that of J. Hudson Taylor. It reached the meeting by cablegram the day preceding the opening session. Mr. Taylor had been a member since the fifth meeting, held at Bridgeton, New Jersey, seventeen years ago, which was the home of Rev. W. H. Belden. At that session Mr. 'faylor is well remembered for his rising early for private prayer. He had been accustomed at this time to solicit a blessing on the missionaries whom he had throughout China. He will be distinguished for seeking to place two missionaries in every one of the provinces then unoccupied, which was eleven. Others have sought to send missionaries, as he did, without any guaranteed support, but none had sent them into all the capitals at that time, as he did. He will ever be remembered in that connection.
The officers of the Union for the year following, except the Board of Oontrol, are: J. T. Gracey, president; David McOonaughy, vicepresident; Horace A. Orane, secretary, and O. O. Thayer, treasurer.
NEW MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY UNION Archer, Miss Annie L. . Japan Johnston, Mrs. W. C.. · Africa Austin, ~Iiss Laura F. . India Judson, Rev. J. H .. · China Bates, Rev. Francis W. . Africa Judson, Mrs. J. H. Beattie, Rev. James A. . . India Lyon, Rev. James · India Beattie, Mrs. James A.. Lyon, Mrs. James Bell, Mrs. William C. . . Africa Means. Miss Alice · China Bement, Miss Frances K. . . China Mendenhall, Frederic Bement, Miss Lucy P., M.D.. Mills, Mrs. Charles. · India Best. Miss Margaret . Korea Moorhead, Max Wood · Chile Brown, Rev. Hubert W. . Mexico Palmer, M. B. · Japan Chester, Mrs. Edward . India Robinson. Rev. J. Cooper Clark, Miss Hattie. . Africa Robinson, lIlrs. J. Cooper. · Ceylon Crawford, Miss Mabel L. . . China Sanders, Rev. Frank K. Crummy, Rev. Eber . Japan { Assam Cummings, Rev.•T. E. . . Burma Scott, Mrs. Anna K., M.D.. China Dye, Rev. G. R. . Fraser, Rev. Andrew L. . Burma Selden, Charles Coo M.D.. · Japan Fraser, Mrs. Andrew L. . India Selden, Mrs. Charles C. Gilmore, Rev. David. . Africa Tenny, Rev. Charles B.. · N. A. Ind. Goodwin, Mrs. E. B. . China Tenny, Mrs. C. · India Hallman, Miss S. B. . Theal, Mrs. Annie . · Japan Hallock, Rev. H. G. C. . . Japan Todd, Miss Grace. Henry, Miss Anna, M.D.. White, J. Campbell · Ceylon Jones, Rev. Ephraim H. . Winn, Rev. Thomas C.. Winn, Mrs. ThomaA C.. Young, Miss Annie, M.D.
68fi
OBSTACLES TO CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN CHINA-II * BY TONll KWOH ONN, SHANGHAI, CHINA 2. The AtWnde of Missionaries Toward Ancestral Worship (Continued).-The Chinese do not look upon Confucius or their ancestors as gods, but as men to whom especial honor is due. But granting that there is an element of idolatry and superstition connected with ancestral worship, are the missionaries and the Christian Church ready to incur the responsibility of maintaining their present attitude_ without making a last effort to purge the practise of its idolatrous nature and bring it into harmony with the Christian faith? If the Church does not prohibit native converts from prostrating themselves before their living parents, to render them honor and respect, why should they interdict acts of veneration before their parents when dead? If the Chinese must continue to offer the same homage and veneration to their dead parents as when they were living, why can not the Church allow them to do so, excepting that instead of setting up the usual tablet, a portrait or photograph might be used in its stead, and that it is distinctly understood that no Divine attribute is to be ascribed to the souls of the dead?
In the history of the Roman Catholic propaganda we find that they pursued a very different policy. Referring to their methods, a writer says: "From the outset they have sought to adapt themselves to the people and to the popular need. They may have gone too far in becoming all things to all men, but their idea is worthy of careful consideration in our day of national transformation and new needs." Above all things, an active combative spirit is to be discouraged and avoided. If the Christian faith is to be planted in China it must be made to adapt itself to the surroundings. This was the policy adopted by the apostle Paul. The foundation is to be Christ, but the building is everywhere to be reared with new materials adapted to the locality -not with the decayed debris of theological dogmas, much less of the hay and stubble of bigoted sentiment. Hence it is not the duty of Protestant missions to propagate prescribed forms of theology, dogmatic sentiments, modes of worship, church government or customs, but rather to spread the Gospel of Jesus and implant the new life of fellowship with God in Christ.
The Rev. John Ross, in his essay on ancestral worship, quotes a Taotai, a Chinese official of high rank and a Christian believer thoroughly acquainted with the Old and New Testaments for years, as saying that there was one thing which debarred a great many of * We do not, of course, endorse all the views of the writer of this article, but believe them worthy of serious consideration. if for no other reason than that they represent the views of a large number of educated Chinese. In a later issue of the REVIEW we expect to publish a reply from the standpoint of the foreign missionary.-EDITORS.
OBSTACLER TO CHRISTIAN MISSIONR IN CHINA
the mandarins from entering the Ohristian Ohurch, and that was the position the missionaries took up with regard to ancestral worship. He stated that, as far as he understood ancestral worship, eliminating the modern idolatrous practises, his conscience was perfectly clear, and that as a Ohristian man he could observe these ancestral rites. Other literary men in Mukden held identical views with him. '1'hey were believers, readers of Scriptures, and some of them held family worship, but they could not enter the Ohurch so long as all connec- .tion with this ancient custom was absolutely forbidden.* It would seem that the venerable usages of a civilized people like the Chinese should be judged by their intrinsic merits, and that a spirit of forbearance should be exercised to keep the hearts of the people open to counteractive influence and teaching rather than to condemn the usages off-hand. If any independent body of missionaries were to take up such a position there is little dou bt but that they could initiate a movement which would in a few years result in much greater success than has been achieved thus far by the united efforts of aH.
European Injustice 3. The Inju8tice of Ohristian Natio1Zs.-Next in importance of the obstacles to Christianity, I mention the unprincipled condnct of the so-called Christian nations toward China in their political and diplomatic relations. Since Christianity professes to teach not only individuals but nations the practise of virtue and righteousness, it should of course be expected that Christian nations in their dealings with heathen Ohina would exhibit those principles. But, as a matter of fact, ever since the foreign powers discovered the military weakness of China, they have consistently acted upon the principle of the" mailed fist," and taught the Chinese that right is useless unless supported by might. The long series of aggressions and unjust acts to which Ohina has been subjected since the commencement of her foreign intercouse would shame the followers of any pagan religion, but when these unjust acts are performed by so-called Ohristian peoples, what must the Ohinese think of the religion which they profess? The direct result can only be suspicion and dread. Not satisfied with the imposition of unjust treaties, or extortionate demands for injuries received, the Christian powers rob China of valuable portions of her domains, as well as to dictate the policy of her internal administration. Not content with having exacted full reparation and revenge for the" Boxer" outbreak, Ohristian powers must continually remind Ohina of her Immiliation and disgrace by the presence of foreign troops in the capital and the erection of fortifications threatening the palace. 'rhe role which Russia, one of the" Ohristian" nations, has played in China * A literary man of high degree said: "Your honorable religion is good, but there's one thiIIg you will never get us Chinese to do, and that is to give up the worship of our ancestors."
within recent years is neither creditable to the good name of Chris- tianity nor promotive of the rapid advancement of Christian missions.
In view of the form in which Christian powers have presented themselves in the Far East, is there any wonder that the "yellow" powers should hesitate before admitting the moral superiority of their would-be teachers and benefactors? If foreigners would but admit the fact, they have no cause to feel proud of their acts toward China. When, some few years ago, the first step toward the disintegration of China was taken by Germany, by the seizure of Kiao-chou, the few vestiges of conscience still left to the Christian political world were shocked, and this high-handed treatment of a weak nation was almost universally condemned. Can it be wondered at if the Chinese government hesitate before accepting the Christian creed, since they can discern no effect of such creed upon the political and international policies of so-called Christian nations?
That the Chinese officials feel most keenly the humiliation to which their country is almost daily subjected is often shown in their writings. One of them, a man of wide observation and great experience, gives vent to his pent-up feelings in these sad but nevertheless true words: It is we who do not accept the Gospel of peace, yet practise it-it is you who accept it, yet trample it under foot. Irony of ironies! it is the nations of Christendom who have come to us to teach us by sword and fire that right in this world is powerless unless it be supported by might.
A Chinese official, referring to the awful atrocities committed by the troops of the so-called Christian powers at the" Boxer Outbreak," wrote in the following strain: But what fills me with amazement, and even with horror, is the fact that the nations of Europe should attempt to justify their acts, in connection with their recent attack on China" from the standpoint of the Gospel of Christ, and that there should be found among them a Christian potentate who in sending forth his soldiers on an errand of revenge, should urge them, in the name of Him who bade us turn the other cheek, not merely to attacK, not merely to kill, but to kill without quarter. . . . And your troops! and your troops! nations of Christendom! Ask the once fertile land from Peking to the coast; ask the corpses of murdered men and outraged women and children; ask the innocent mingled indiscriminately with the guilty; ask the Christ, the lover of men, whom you profess to serve, to judge between us who rose in mad despair to save our country, and you who, avenging crime with crime, did not pause to reflect that the crime you avenged was the fruit of your own iniquity.
Among the many acts of injustice which China has suffered and is still snffering at the hands of Christian powers, the opium trade is a most glnring instance. This trade and its corollary the opium habit constitn te an obstacle to Christian missions of t he greatest moment. The habit is so universal in some provinces of China that people will
AN EPOOH-MAKING OONFERENCE IN OOREA
tell the inquirer that" eleven ou t of every ten" are opium-smokers. The fact can never be emphasized too strongly that the existence of the opium traffic is a great stumbling-block to the progress of Christianity in China. The upper and official classes in China have so far been almost entirely unaffected by the preaching of Christianity, and the reason is not far to seek. The Chinese official sees that while the English missionary offers his Bible and its moral teachings, the English merchant still more eagerly offers his opium to demoralize and destroy the Chinese race. He most reasonably inquires of the missionary, " If Christianity is the religion of your country, how can your' king and your people be guilty of the awful crime of forcing the opium traffic upon us?" So long as England continues this iniquitous trade, so long will the Chinese population look askance at Christianity. If the opium traffic ia discontinued, one of the chief obstacles to the spreading of Christianity will be removed. What is the loss of a few million pounds of revenue when compared with the fate of millions of China's sons and daughters, whose non-acceptance of Christianity deprives them of happiness ill this life and salvation in the life to come?
In view of the facts above cited, is it not natural that the Chinese government and people should cherish feelings of hostility and opposition, not merely to those nations who are guilty of such gross injustice, but to the religion which they profess? Where enmity and hatred predominate. is it not well-nigh impossible to win souls?
(To be continued) AN EPOCH-MAKING CONFERENCE IN KOREA THE MOVEMENT FOR A UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH BY REV. S. F. MOORE,SEOUL, KOREA Missionary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, then were we like them that dream. Then said they among the heathen: "The Lord hath done great things for them-whereof we are glad."
The events of the past few days have marked an epoch in mission- ary work in Korea. While the results achieved have beeu only what many missionaries have long desired, the fulfilment of those heart- desires were looked upon as practically impossible. If anyone had predicted a year ago what has now come to pass he would have been loohd upon as a Utopian dreamer. The definite movement for closer cooperation, and in some points union of forces, of the Methodist and Presbyterian missions seems to have originated in Pyeng Yang, altho the subject has been touched upon every year at the annual meetings in SeouL .
Dr. O. R. Avison, of the Severance Memorial Hospital, has been
working for years toward union in medical work. He was a member of the Methodist Church in Toronto before coming to KOJ'ea nnder the Presbyterian Board, and his addresses year by year at the annual meetings have always emphasized the importance of united effort. Rev. C. D. Morris, probably more than any other one man in Pyeng Yang, has brought about the present happy agreement. The rapid development of the work in the North during the past year has often witnessed the beginnings of work by native Christians of both denominations in the same town. The difficulties which arose as a result made it plain that unless steps were taken now for division of territory, future years would bring more and more serious complications. The missionaries accordingly came together and arranged for a division of territory. It was feared by some that the native Christians would object to losing their beloved foreign pastors, but the joy caused by the movement was so great that all were happily disappointed. The idea of uniting forces in educational work next suggested itself, and at the first session of the Methodist conference in the last of June the superintendent of the Methodist mission cordially invited missionaries of other denominations to be present at the conference on educational work.
There are four Presbyterian missions in Korea-one from Canada, one from Australia, and the Northern and Southern churches of U. S. A. These four missions have united in a common name for the church in Korea, the territory has been divided among them, and the native Church is governed by a council composed of all male missionaries in the four missions. The two Methodist churches in Korea have also had a large measure of union, but heretofore the Presbyterians and Methodists met separately to discuss their educational problems. Dr. Baird, Principal of the Presbyterian Academy in Pyang-Yang, came to Seoul and addressed the union meeting. All present felt that they were treading on holy ground, and that the Lord was leading them on into some of His great thoughts and plans for the enlargement of His Kingdom. This meeting, which will be long remembered by those present, was addressed by Messrs. Bunker and Hounshell, in charge of Pai Ohai, the Methodist institution for higher learning in Seoul; Mr. E. H. Miller, in charge of the Presbyterian intermediate school for boys, also in Seoul; Dr. W. B. Scranton, who presided; Dr. Gale and Dr. Avison, of the Prebyterian Mission; Mr. P. L. Gillette, Secretary of the Y. M. C. A.; Prof. Hulbert, of the government schools; Bishop Harris, and others.
Altho educational work was the subject which had beel! announced, the thoughts of [111 present seemed to be led on to the larger subject of union in other lines also. The new Presbyterian hospital has recently been completed, and the Methodists have received money for the erection of a new woman's hospital. Miss Dr. Cutler, in charge
AN EPOCH';V1AKTNG CONFRRRNCE IN COREA
of the Methodist Episcopal woman's hospital, said that she realized the advantages to the work of cooperating with the gentlemen physicians in charge of the Presbyterian hospital, and altho there were difficulties she was willing to unite the plants and conduct the work as one. MISS Hilman, temporarily in charge of the Methodist Episcopal girls' school, said that it took so much time to attend to the machinery that she had very little time for teaching; the same thing, she thought, was true in the Presbyterian and Southern Methodist girls' school. The Presbyterian girls' school building is inadequate, while four or five foreign lady teachers can be accommodated in the fine Methodist Episcopal building, where there is room for all the girls at present gathered in the three schools. Miss Hilman believed that uniting our forces would promote the best interests of the work, as one lady could attend to the housekeeping of the three schools united, leaving the other ladies free to teach.
Short speeches were also made on the subject of union in evangelistic work and even theological instruction. One Presbyterian speaker thought that if Methodist astronomy was good for Presbyterian converts, and Presbyterian physiology for Methodists, he saw no reason why Methodist missionaries should not teach Presbyterians the Gospel of Matthew in the winter Bible classes. " Yes," said Dr. Scranton, "but what about Romans?" The Presbyterian replied that Romans-even the ninth chapter-could be taught to Presbyterian converts by Methodist missionaries without danger. The desire for practical union continued to deepen and broaden, and received fresh impetus from Bishop Harris's sermon the next day. He has recently been visiting Manchuria and Port Arthur, where he met the Japanese colonel who had charge of the artillery during the recent siege. This colonel remarked in conversation that the Russians had some fine guns and some excellent marksmen, but that they lacked in ability to unite and concentrate their forces. On Monday morning the Methodist conference in regular session appointed a committee to confer with a similar committee to be appointed by the Presbyterians, and a meeting was announced for Monday evening at the home of Mr. Bunker, where a large company gathered. Bishop Harris presided, and the first resolution adopted was as follows: Resolved, THAT IT IS THE SENSE OF THIS MEETING: THAT THE TIME HAS COME WHEN THERE SHOULD BE BUT ONE PROTESTANT CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN KOREA.
The name for this Church," Ta Han Jesu Kyo whoi," was approved. The question of a union hymn-book and union Church papers were discllssed, and declared possible and desirable, and resolutions declaring it to be the sense of the meeting that the Olt1-istian News and the Ohristian Advocate (one the organ of the Presbyterian Church and the other of the Methodist Episcopal Church) should be united under a
joint editorship, and also calling for a union hymn-book, were passed. Another )'esolution suggested to the Presbyterian and Methodist missions the advisability of appointing committees to bring about as speedily as possible the joining of our forces in educational, medical, and evaligelistic work. All votes were unanimous, and there can be no doubt that the request will be granted and such committees appointed by the missions. One suggestion was that the joint committee (consisting of the two committees to be appointed by the missions before named) should arrange for a council of all Protestant missionaries in Korea, to be held in Seoul the coming autumn, at the time of the Presbyterian council meeting. At that time it is expected that the subject of one united native Church will be discussed, and altho it is anticipated that there may be questioning and some hesitation on the part of conservative men who were not present at the meetings above described, still we do not doubt that the Lord who has graciously commenced this movement will carry it forward to a glorious consumation. What an enthusiasm it will create among the Koreal1s, and what it will mean in blessing to the native Ohurch the future will reveal.
The incoming of the Japanese marks an epoch in Korean history. Old things are rapidly passing away, and it is matter for devout thanksgiving to God that He has raised up in Bishop Harris the man to properly deal with the new situation. He is a man of broad and catholic spirit, and without his encouragement and counsel the movement for union could not have reached its present status. We realize that the consent of the home boards is necessary before such union can be consummated, but we can not think the board will object to what is so manifestly for the advancement of the cause. The Presbyterians have let the contract for a new building for their" intermediate school for boys," and work has been already commenced. They have expected, also, to go forward at once with the erection of a building for their girls' school, but now all building is to be stopped until the question of union is decided, as some are in favor of locating a united plant somewhere outside the city. The Methodist school buildings (for boys) are adjacent to those occupied by the mission press, and, as the latter is cramped for room, it is suggested that they be henceforth used as part of the printing plant, which ought to be greatly enlarged to meet the constantly increasing demand.
New Korea is crying out for education, and many young men, unable to receive what they want here, are going to America to study. Now is the time for the united Ohurch to establish such a school here as will make an everlasting impress on the nation.
Is not this a golden opportunity for some generous giver to make another investment?
THE REVIVAL OF BUDDHISM IN CEYLON
THE REVIVAL OF BUDDHISM IN CEYLON * TRANSLATED AND CONDENSED BY LOUIS MEYER The recent strengthening of Buddhism, the ancient religion of the Singhalese, in almost every part of the Island of Oeylon, is one of the strangest but well-established phenomena of the present day. The missionaries have to pay more attention to it than to anything else, and we might well speak of "the present-day revival of Bnddhism in Oeylon." Twenty-five years ago Buddhism in Oeylon was neither aggressive nor defensive. The ancient temples were standing, the priests studied their sacred books, and on holy days crowds thronged the sanctuaries; but no efforts were being made to deepen the religious life of the peopie, or to hinder the Singhalese from accepting Ohristianity. Ohristian schools were flourishing, and heathen children, having received Ohristian instruction, were baptized. In the villages only Buddhism was still a strong power, but it showed no life whatever in the cities.
Nowa remarkable change has come. Buddhism has founded schools everywhere, high schools in the larger cities and common schools in smaller cities and in villages. In all these schools the tenets of Buddhism are taught most zealously, and thus an effort is made to counteract Ohristian influence. Even a few orphanages have been founded to keep poor and deserted children from seeking admission to Ohristian institutions. Buddhism is making use of the printing-press to spread its teachings. Text-books, leaflets, and tracts have been published, and there is an effort to give the priests a better secular and religious education. In Oolombo a hall has been opened, where public lectures on religious subjects are given in English and in Singhalese. Feasts and pilgrimages are multiplied, and better attended than ever before. Societies for the promotion of Buddhist interests have been founded, and the followers of Buddhism have become strengthened in their belief.
But the most remarkable fact is that this revival of Buddhism has come about through the efforts of laymen, and not through the priests. Laymen are spending time, strength, and money for the founding of schools and the support of priests and temples in such a large-hearted manner that even the opponents of Buddhism must admire their consecration. They are trying to awaken, from lethargy and indolence, the priests, who continue, as heretofore, to spend their time in introspection, holy (?) meditation, study of sacred writings, and the collection of alms for their own support, appearing rarely in public for the encouragement of this forward movement.
It is impossible, says a missionary, to give tigures concerning this revival, which we meet on every street and on every corner. We find proofs of it in public places and in the railroad cars. We come in touch with it everywhere-in the school, in the congregation, and wherever we proclaim the glad tidings of salvation. Even in the daily papers we see proofs of the revival, and none can doubt the great fact that Buddhism in Oeylon is to-day not only defending itself upon all sides, but is going forward in attack.
A few districts are still exempt and not yet touched by the wave of revival, and in some places where the revival is strongly felt a few heathen children are still attending Ohristian schools; but the careful observer • Condensed, in free translation, from Evangelisches Missions-Magazin, Basel.
must confess that if Buddhism continues to progress in Oeylon as it has progressed the last twenty-five years, the movement must soon be felt over the whole island.
'Vhat results have this revival of Buddhism in Ceylon already at- tained? The follower of Buddhism, standing in the midst of the movement, would naturally claim greater results than the Christian spectator. However, some effects are apparent to all. Buddhism has become more highly respected among its followers, who no longer are ashamed of their religion. There was a time when witnesses in the courts of justice sought to excuse themselves for being followers of Buddha, but now they proudly own the fact. Again, Christianity is being opposed not only as a religion, but as an Occidental influence inimical to everything Oriental. Again, a surprising spirit of consecration and liberality has been awakened among Buddhistic laymen. Children, heretofore almost neglected and forgotten, are now cared for, and are taught the Buddhist catechism. Religious instruction has been introduced into the day-schools, and even Buddhist Sunday-schools have been organized. Special processions of children are formed on holy days and led to the temples. Thus Euddhism is trying to gain respect and authority.
But in spite of all these outward signs of revival, Bnddhism in Ceylon makes no effort to cleanse itself from its internal faults. Trees are worshiped, as are also relics and idols, and demons are feared, altho these things are quite contrary to the principles of Buddhism. Even caste, directly condemned by Buddha, still exists in spite of the revival, and the inmates of the immensely rich cloisters in the mountains have not been aroused from their lethargic slumber.
The Causes of this Revival Three distinct reasons for this revival have been advanced. Some ascribe it to direct influence of Europeans and foreigners. This seems a plausible explanat,ion, because the revival commenced at the time of the arrival and the public appearance of Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky. A branch of the Theosophical Society was at once founded, and many prominent. Buddhists joined. On the other hand, no outside, especially no foreign, financial aid has been given to the movement, and this foreign influence has almost ceased. And, further, the interest of the lower classes is far greater than that of the rich men who furnish the means.
Others advance the theory that Buddhism was oppressed by the different foreign governments which succeeded one another in Ceylon during the past centuries, and now, released from its shackles, it shows its inherent powers. The Portuguese, lords of Ceylon from 1505 to 1656, followed the principle of King John, and the heathen were gained to the Christian religion not so much by the hope of eternal life as by the expectation of temporary gain. Similarly was the action of the Dutch, 1656-1795. Baptism was made obligatory for all who wanted to occupy official positions-yea, even for those who wanted to own real estate. Thus. there is no doubt Buddhism found itself in sore distress for two centuries, or, rather, until 18t)(). For not until that year was the pernicious system fully abandoned by the British government. From that time on the revival of Buddhism dates, it is true, but it would be wrong to consider this religious liberty the only reason for the revival, for in the interior provinces of Ceylon, where the religious tests of the Portu-
THE UEVIVAL OF BUDDHISM IN CEYLON
guese and the Dutch were entirely unknown, Buddhism is not yet revived to the same extent as on the coast. A third reason for this revival is found in the very existence of the Christian missions. "Vhen we study the history of the Christian Church during the first three centuries, we find three clearly distinct phases. At first heathendom showed contempt and proud criticism; then followed a period of bitter hatred and persecution; and at last a period of revival of heathendom ClLme, when it followed the example and methods of Christianity in its efforts to spread its own tenets. Thus it has been in Ceylon. At first Buddhism looked upon Christianity as a rival, well-meaning but not dangerous. Then came the time of bitter hatred and of warfare. And to-day Buddhism in its revival follows the example and the methods of Christianity, not only in its own defense but in its active aggressiveness.
The Opportunity of Christian Mission.
There is no doubt that the time has come when Christian missionaries must be more energetic in their efforts in Ceylon than ever before. There is a lamentable lack of conversions at the present time. Work among the children is hopeful, but few baptisms are reported. Missionaries are laboring on in fait,hful consecration, and the societies are conscious of the greatness of the task; and yet less impression than before is made upon the heathen, who cling to their ancient belief with increased tenacity.
"How should Christianity be recommended to the masses as a system far superior to Buddhism in moral and religious aspects?" That is the one important question. At first the foolishness of idolatry and of the service of demons were shown, and the insufficiency of Buddhism were proved. This was successful for a time, but soon a new way of attack had to be chosen. The idealistic theory of the Christian religion was opposed to the materialistic theory of Buddhism, and the superiority of Christian doctrines of morality was easily proved. This manner of attack was not very successful.
What should be done now to make an impression upon the followers of revived Buddhism in Ceylon? We answer: Let the native Christians live Christ before their heathen brethren! Almost one-tenth of all the inhabitants of Ceylon belong to some Christian denomination. What a wonderful effect they could have upon the nine-tenth who are heathen! To-day the nominal native Christians are a hindrance, not a help, to the spread of the Gospel. Most of them abstain from public immorality and sin, but true spiritual life exists very rarely. To deepen the spiritual life of the native Christians is, therefore, the first duty of the missions in Ceylon.
The second duty of the missionary societies at work in Ceylon is undoubtedly an increase of conse{:rated European and native laborers. And the last but main duty of all Christians is more diligent and earne,st prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Christian workers in Ceylon, upon the native congregations, and upon the mass of followers of Buddha, now enslaved in the shackles of superstition and idolatry more strongly than ever before. Then shall come the time of harvest and the ingathering, in spite of the opposition of Satan.
MOHAMMEDANISM AMONG THE ASHANTI TRIBES Missionaries of the Basel Society at Kumasi report a considerable movement toward Mohammedanism among the Ashansi tribes of the northern part of the Gold Coast Colony. The movement is stimulated, if not caused, by a modification of the" snow ball," or "endless chain," letter system which has been adopted to propagandist purposes by Mo- hammedans. The latter, which is now being circulated among pagans, is well devised. It appeals to their fears, and especially to their belief that there is something essentially supernatural about disease; it speaks as if by revelation of Mohammed's wishes and acts, and it assumes a dic- tatorial tone, which influences people not accustomed to think or act for themselves. It was written originally in Arabic, and has been translated into Rausa and into English (the language of the coast towns). Whoever reads it is expected to pass it on to his next friend, or to copy it and hand it on to several. The people, like those who receive" endless chain" let- ters in this country, feel constrained to send the document on, because the letter insists that they may not break the chain. A translation into French of this powerful letter is given by Rev. E. Perrefaux, of the Basel Mission, and we translate it as follows: * " In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate: "Blessed be Mohammed, his family and his people, on whom with all holy prophets may peace rest.
"This letter is written for all true believers living on the west of the desert. It comes from the holy men of Mecca, who seek to follow the paths of righteousness, from the disciples of the holy Abdul Kadir, to whom be glory forever, and from those who walk in the footsteps of Abd Illahi and Abdurrahman. t Take heed to its contents.
" During his long sleep our Lord Mohammed has seen that our world and all that is in it will certainly be destroyed; true believers, even, have forgotten the holy word; even orphans are robbed treacherously.
" , Oh God, our God, our Creator, our Guide, who dost see most the secret actions, have mercy on us.'
"Then God answered Mohammed in his sleep, •Because of the Twenty, those columns of righteousness. I will hold my hand.' Five times a day they pray God according to the words of the prophet, upon whom be peace from God. Two of them live on the hill of Karfatu, three in the city of Bagadasa. two at Murgadasi, three in Egypt, and two at Garfu. These truly are the true believers. They have besought the angels to intercede with God, so that He may wait patiently until they can send to you, who live in the West, this present message.
" , May the Lord Mohammed direct their steps.' "For this reason pay good attention. The gates of hell will open widely for evil-doers; diseases, hunger, and thirst will have their share. Oh, men of the West, follow the Divine instructions; repent of your evil' deeds, and ask pardon of God, the Almighty. Come together to pray, then your diseases will be cured and your thirst will be quenched. Labor faithfully; give alms; and, above all, pray in order to ask the Divine help. If you do not, you will be exterminated, and will dry up with thirst. Do not bear false witness; do not violate your oaths, or you will be over- • From Le Mi,qsionnaire, organ of the Basel Society, June, 1905, tThese are names of saints of the Dervish orders.
THE REVIVAL OF BUDDHISM IN CEYLON
taken by sickness and death. Do not become angry one with another; do not speak evil of one another, and especially observe the hours of prayer.
"Alas, all peoples despair of you! Ask the help of your priests, and attend their worship. Pray in the places of prayer, and give offerings to your spiritual guides. Pray to God, and render homage to your king. Your avarice and your falsehoods will cause your ruin; you will be attacked by disease, and hell will open its doors to receive you. Every judge who allows himself to be corrupted will go to hell. Seek salvation by assembling together for pnyer at the hours fixed by your priests. Fathers, mothers, children-all will leave this world behind them; why, then, should they load themselves up with misdeeds?
" We beseech Thee, 0 Almighty God, for the sake of Mohammed and his family, save us !
" In conclusion: Whoever receives this letter must needs pass it on to another district under pain of hell fire. Before long the gate of repentance will shut itself forever. Repent! The Day of Judgment is near! Fast; give alms; pray! Whoever reads this letter to his brother shall be rewarded for it ; paradise shall be his portion; in the Day of Judgment he shall not be judged. Whoever, on the other hand, neglects to do it, shall be sent with the idolators into the seventh hell. Pray; fast; and pay tithes, without which you will not be received into paradise. God will not disappoint those who follow His paths. It is finished."
This curious epistle was brought to West Africa and into the Gold Coast Colony by a pilgrim from Mecca, and is now being passed from hand to hand among the people. It attracts much attention. It seems to the people to teach just about the same thing that the Christian missionaries have been dinning into their ears all these years, but it speaks with far more of confident authority than Christian missionaries ever use.
The Mohammedans browbeat the country people, telling them that they have got to become Mohammedans whether or no. Rev. Mr. Perregaux says that in his last tour the people of a village came to him and said: "The men "-the Mohammedans-"wish to force us to kill our black fowls and our black sheep, and to burn our black waist-cloths and our feti"hes and the chairs of our chiefs (that is to say, to give up their tribual authority). and to call on the name of Mohammed. Have we got to do it?"
One of the strange things about the British rule in these countries is that the British officials, on the whole, favor the schemes of the Mohammedans. Instead of telling the people clearly that they are under no obligation to obey Mohammedans who assume authority over them, the officials say to the people: "If you wish to be Mohammedans, you must obey these orders. Otherwise, you need not." By such half-way admissions that Mohammedans have no authority, the British encourage the submission of the people to men who will later make trouble for the colonial government through this very assumption of political power as a necessary part of the Mohammedan propaganda.
EDITORIALS A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE AT THE KESWICK CONVENTION OF 1905 After thirty years, something new has been witnessed at Keswick, and it is important to form a sober, spiritual judgment as to its meaning. Some think that an impetuous outbreak of Welsh emotionalism, becom- ing infectious, swept through the Convention; others, that the Spirit of God, who is moving so mightily in Wales, stirred those great audience!!, and bowed hearts as the wind, which bloweth where it listeth, bends and sways the stalks of grain; that this was not a visitation of Welsh- men so much as a visitation of God.
Having been brought into close personal contact with the very meet- ings where some most marked manifestations occurred, it seems incum- bent to give such testimony as may at once prevent misconception or misrepresentation, and promote a healthy sentiment and sense of responsibility.
For instance, at three evening gatherings, where the writer was himself a speaker, he witnessed striking movements of God's HoJy Spirit, which grew in intensity and power. On Monday, the opening night, there was an outbreak of spiritual interest that would have been a fit climax for the closing meeting. Tho no after-meeting had been contemplated, one followed as an inevitable necessity, needing no urging, but hard to suppress. Yet on Wednesday evening the spiritual tide rose to a higher flood-mark, and the meeting lasted till, from motives of expediency, it closed at 3 A.M.; and yet the closing meeting of Friday rose to a yet higher level of spiritual power.
It was felt to be a new Pentecost; not the intoxication of emotionalism, but the exhilaration of spiritual infilling. There was deep feeling which found occasional vent in sobs, tears, and outcries, but it was not wild and uncontrollable; nothing was more remarkable than the restraint manifested. The heart of the meeting responded immediately and instinctively to every spiritual suggestion. There was no need of human leadership; the Invisible ONE was in control, and the place became" dreadful" with the sense of that PRESENCE.
At the Wednesday meeting there was perhaps undue noise, some little unguarded speech and tendency to fanaticism, for a few moments at the outset of the after-meeting. But there were many silently praying God to subdue and suppress any discordant element; and, presently, and in a remarkable way, all dis:urbing influences ceased, and from that time, on to 3 A.M., there was one anthem of prayer and confession and praise, which passed from major to minor keys and reversely, with not one discordant note or a break in exercises, spontaneous and varied, but alluplifting and helpful, oftentimes a half dozen on their feet at once, yet without disorder. We can not account for all this by human psychology, but are constrained to look for explanation to Divine Pneumatology, as John Owen calls it.
On the closing meeting, Friday, many prayerful souls had largely focussed their prayers. The writer was privileged to be one of a company of about thirty that met by agreement that afternoon for an hour of prayer, when definite requests were made that the Holy Spirit would preside at the meeting in power, setting aside the appointed speak-
EDITORIALS
ers, if He pleased, breaking down souls in penitent sorrow, and compelling confession of definite sins, bursting through all rigid restraints of program, leading to boldness of testimony, keeping down all disorder, guiding to momentous decisions, inspiring new self·dedication, constraining to the removal of hindrances to holiness and usefulness, and impelling some to offer themselves for the mission field. Every specific request thus made was fulfilled to the letter!
While Rev. E. 'V. Moore was speaking on 1. Cor. iii: 11-15, on the "Ordeal of Fire," dwelling with searching power on the necessity, not only of building on the right foundation, but with pU1><ified building mate1'ial, and picturing the careless builder losing all work and reward, and himself fleeing from his burning house, himself saved only as by fire, God's refining fire was felt to be going through us, revealing the wood, hay, and stubble of work and motive. When I arose to speak some such humbling and overwhelming conviction made it quite involuntary to make this confession, and ask others, who likewise felt conscious of God's direct dealing, to stand before God and beseech Him so to refine us now that worthless material might not accumulate against the coming Day of Fire. The invitation met such response that the whole ientfnl ofpeople rose as one man! And before a brief prayer was concluded the spirit of prayer and confes~ion became so audibly manifest that not one 'Word Df the proposed address, carefully prepared for this closing meeting, was ever delivered, or even the subject indicated. It had been my intention to speak on "Praying in the Holy Ghost"; but, as Prebendary Webb- Peploe says, "God set aside the address, and gave an illustration of the theme, instead."
The spirit of penitent confession could not be restrained, and broke out in every quarter for about two hours and a half. A soldier, for instance, confessed to desertion and theft, and left the tent to write out his confession to his commanding officer. A commander in the navy declared his purpose to make his ship a floating Bethel. Not less than a hundred clergymen, evangelists, and leaders in Christian work, confessed to sins of avarice, ambition, appetite, lust of applause, neglect of the Word, of prayer, of souls; and hundreds more to various sins of omission and commission, sometimes a half dozen or more on their feet at once.
No improper word was spoken: all was subdued, but deep, intense, searching. The meeting might have gone on all night without decline of interest, but from motives of expediency closed about 10.30, already having continued four hours.
No one present will ever forget that meeting; seldom has anyone present witnessed such a scene. It was so patent that God moved in wholly unexpected ways that no one could think of interfering. He had set aside chairman and speaker, and was both presiding and speaking. There was a strange k1/sk of God in the meeting; few loud outcries; no hysterics or fainting: and, besides the 3,000 in the tent, a great crowd gathered outside. When the meeting closed with" Coronation," there had been no disturbance. Penitence, confession, prayer, self surrender, holy resolve, had led up to praise and adoration, and there was one profound sense that God had visited His people.
A deputation was present from Wales-brethren from the centers of the great Revival, and themselves God's appointed leaders in it, such as Rev. Seth Joshua, Prof. Keri Evans, Rev. Mr. Jones, of Carmarthen, and Mr. Jones, of Llwynpia; D. Wynne Evans, of Che~ter: Owen M. Owen,
of Nerthyr. Revival scenes in their own churches had kindled in them a spirit of believing, expectant prayer. Apart from a special meeting for testimony as to the" Welsh Revival," none of them spoke, but they prayed; and the blessing borne to "Vales from Keswick, in the conventions at Llandrindod and Pontypridd, and through the testimony of Mrs. Penn Lewis, MI'. Inwood, Mr. Meyer, and others, came back as vapors return in showers.
In these days it behooves us all to tread softly. The Spirit might be grieved, if not quenched, by attributing to man what belongs to God, by an over-critical spirit, by a disposition to adhere to a rigid, frigid method, to elevate a prejudice or a preference to the rank of a principle. Let us be tractable, docile, and hold out reverent hands to be led by the All Wise Spirit. But, above all, let us continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Again, we appeal to all brethren, in all parts of the world, to unite in covenant prayer for a world-wide effusion of the Spirit. The mere reports of the Welsh Revival, spread by the press in aU lands, and translated into various languages, have been known, in a large number of cases, to be used for spiritual quickening. It was the printed accounts of the Keswick addresses that, a :score of years since, kindled revival fires in Uganda, which are yet burning. And may God use this brief personal testimony thus given to our readers, of God's wondrous working at the Keswick of 1905, to fan the slumbering embers upon many an altar into pentecostal flames.
SIGNS OF WORLD·WIDE REVIVAL In 1902, July, at the Keswick Convention in England, a prayer circle was formed for united prayer for a world-wide effusion of the Holy Spirit, the appeal being similar to that issued by Jonathan Edwards in 1747. The basis of the union was a simple agreement among disciples without any pecuniary feature, or bond of obligation, beyond the one covenant of daily and definite prayer.
Since that time remarkable outpourings of the Spirit have been wit· nessed in many parts of the world, as in Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Japan, China, Burma, and India, Korea, Persia, Uganda, the Nile Valley, and other parts of Africa, the Philippines, Bulgaria, Great Britain, and especially Wales; and in different and widely separate part3 of the United States, as in Schenectady, N. Y.; Pittsburg, Pa.; Denver, Col.; Los Angeles, Cal.; Portland, Oregon; Dayton, Ohio; Kansas City, Mo., etc., and nearly every week we have announcements of new centers of great spiritual awakening.
Thus, while on the one hand disciples are moved to united and earnest prayer, on the other hand God is conspicuously answering prayer. And no feature is more noticeable than the spontaneous character qf the movement. It comes like a flood, suddenly and often unexpectedly, and, like a flood, sweeps all before it. Advices from India come to us every week conveying important news of revivals breaking out in various contiguous mission fields, like forest fires suddenly kindled and growing into conflagrations.
Certainly the spirit of prayer should be fostered and the eye of faith clear-visioned to watch the signs of the times.
Much attention is now being called to the lleed of not only large increase in giving to the work of God, but of an entire reconstruction of
our so-called benevolence. Rev.•Tohn Wilkinson, of the Mildmay Mission to the Jews,- was so struck with an article in these columns upon "Our Lord's Teachings About Money" (see pages 241-246 of the REVIEW, April, 1905), that he has asked the privilege of reissuing it in pamphlet form to circulate by tens of thousands. And the recent newspaper discussions on "tainted money," and the moral questions which arise in connection with its acceptance by mission boards; will at least have the effect of leading to a far deeper investigation of the whole matter of the rfllation of money to the Kingdom. There is a financial basis for evangelization. The Kingdom of God, however spiritual, depends, like other kingdoms, on the •• mater'ieZ of 1CW'," Missionaries and Bibles and tracts; evangelism and pastoral supervision; church buildings and schools-the whole machinery of the Gospel demands sanctified, devout, systematic contributions to the work of God-not so much large gifts from a few as many gifts, however small, from all, And while new attention is being called to prayer, it is also being appropriately centered on gifts.
In fact, a new crisis is upon us. The offers of service in the field are unprecedentedly numerous. Great societies, like the Church Missionary Society, the China Inland Mission, the I~ondon Missionary Society, etc., are compelled to ask whether they ought not to send forth the excellent men and women now spontaneously consecrating their service to God, even though the provision for their support is not all at present in sight. I t is becoming a question of intensest interest whether faith in God is not to be accompanied with faith in His people-that is to say, whether when He is thrusting forth laborers into the field He will not also at the same time stimulate the giving spirit in His own people. Either, it is COlltended, we must believe that these candidates are not led by Him to offe1', or else that He will likewise lead others to furnish the means. To deny either of these simple propositions involves either a distrust of his operations or of his self-consistency. May Divine wisdom be given in this great emergency! It may be that a comporate body, like the individual believer, is sometimes called to "go out," like Abraham, "not knowing whither," and venture calmly upon God.
SLEEPING SICKNESS A recent report shows nearly 50,000 deaths from Sleeping Sickness in the Uganda. Have not the germs of this disease found their way to our churches at home? We do not refer to any slumberous tendencies in church services in the summer months, but to the general folding of the hands in sleep in face of the great opportunities which are opening before the Christian Church to-day.
A recent interviewer of Griffith John in China reports him as say- ing that, in all his years in China, he has never seen such an awakening in that nation, such an eagerness for Christian literature and Christian instruction, as to-day. The West China Christian Literature Society is overwhelmed with demands which it can not meet, and yet our mission boards approach the end of their fiscal year with fear and misgiving, or with the record of such a paltry advance as indicates that the mass of the membership of th'l Church is asleep as to this great duty. And to be asleep to missions is to be in great danger, even danger of spiritual death. There is one other parallel also in this strange disease. It is caused by a fiy, a gauzy thing apparently so trifling in itself, like the Christian's love of self-indulgence or some idle prejudice-a little thing, but sufficient to bring the work of life to an end.
FOR THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY The Minionary Maga7.in~ * The homage rendered to Jesus Christ by non-Christian religions The Cht£rch Missionary Intel- in India is a sign of the times. ligencer, as usual, overflows with East and West, the quarterly regood things. Two articles have view published by the S. P. G., has especially impressed us as worthy in its July number an article, "A of wide reading because they make Christian Fakir," by Dr. Griswold, one recognize the fixed gulf be- of the Presbyterian Mission, on tween the people of non-Christian the Chet-Ramis, one of the Indian and Christian lands. It is well to sects which illustrates such homknow how serious a task we under- age. It is thoroughly worth readtake, for instance, in trying to ing and pondering. The question evangelize China. 'Ve realize this of the manner in which missionaon reading the article which de- ries "spend their time between scribes the painful efforts of some Sundays" is often given up as inwomen missionaries, during two soluble by one class of people at days, to prevent the public suicide home. Light upon this question of a widow. The obstacle was a is given by The Chl'Onicle (L. M. S.) brutal mob which had gathered to in the article "Tiger Kloof After a see the woman kill herself. They Year." It is the simple, straightregarded the spectacle as the old forward story of the process of Romans would a combat of gladi· evolving from an empty South ators, and insisted on their right to African veldt an important trainsee what they came for. Never- ing and industrial school. It is also theless, after a long struggle, the a revelation of the all-compelling brave missionaries carried the day. efficiency of the missionary in The other article, which also takes charge of the enterprise. one into the midst of the common people, but of another race, is an The Missionm'Y Herald published appeal for more vigorous effort to an "extra" about the middle of evangelize Persia-a land mOl e July, which contains a rapid and open to missionary labor than impressive survey of the various almost any other Mohammedan fields of the American Board. The country. August number of this same maga- zine has for its most interesting China, the organ of the Chris- article Dr. De Forest's account of tian Literature Society for China some of his experiences in Man- (London), gives Dr. Timothy Rich- churia while visiting the Japanese ard's views on the China problem. armies with the Y. M. C. A. He The outcome of the article is sym- renders a warm tribute to the pathy with his opinion that if 400,- Scotch medical missionary heroes 000,000 of people are to be Chris- who stood at their posts and let the tianized, the assignment of a dozen two great armies sweep over them, missionaries and four or five winning the hearty respect of both presses to the provision of Chris- Russians and Japanese, to say nothtian literature for the Chinese Em- ing of the love of the poor Chinese, pire is an absurdly inadequate use who are almost the greatest sufferof the power of the press. ers through the war.
• The European magazines here mentioned The Assembly Herald contains an are for the month of July and the American illustration of the fact that home magazines are for August, except as other· and foreign missions are but parts wise stated. of one indivisible undertaking. It
J FOR THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY
gives some 45 pages to descriptions the Japanese is found in the Mis- of work for immigrants in the sionary Intelligencer (Foreign United States. One part, dealing Christian Missionary Society). It with strangers from Europe, is is by Mrs. Maude W. Madden, and labeled "Home Missions," and the gently suggests to readers of Laf- other section, dealing with strang- cadie Hearn's rhapsodies certain ers from Asia, is marked "Foreign cogent reasons why they should not Missions." The reader can not see let themselves be carried away by any dividing line. His interest the idea that all is good in Japan. follows the whole story of fruit- ful work among these strangers, JAPAN AND THE JAPAN MISSION OF THE C. M. S. who are to make or mar our her- By E. C. Snell. 181 pp. Map. Illustra- itage. tions. Fourth Edition. Church Mission. ary Society, London. 1905. The Baptist Missionary Magazine gives us some notes on "Curious This is an interesting survey of Customs of the Chins." The Chins the Church Missionary Society's are not a part of the human anat- mission in Japan, written about omy, but an extremely sturdy tribe fifteen years ago, and revised and of mountaineers in Northwest brought down to date. It contains Burma, who carry respect for de- a very good survey of the country, ceased ancestors to the point of the people and their religion, a stuffing food into their skulls dur- rapid outline of the work of Proting years after death, but who are estant missions in Japan, and a beginning to show the fruit of Gos- description of the Anglican mispel teaching. One gets a hint, from sions. The Appendix contains a several informing articles in World- chronology of the Church Mission- Wide Missions for July, of the use ary Society's work, a list of made of the printing-press by the missionaries and native workers Methodist Church in its missions. employed by the society, and We have not discovered in any statistical tables of its work. The other denomination so many really conclusions of the author as to the important and efficient publishing prospects of Christianity in Japan houses on the mission field. are interesting. He does not attach Another subject worthily treated serious importance to Shintoism. in this number is "Our Work East He points out that the religion of of the Andes," by Dr. H. K. Car- the people of Japan is really roll. South American missions Buddhism, and predicts a long and are destined ere long to become of hard conflict with that strange absorbing interest, altho they now religious medley. Mr. Snell admits attract little attention. A very that Buddhism in its present and interesting report of Bible work modified form is a strong moral and among the colored people of the religious force. It can never be South holds an important place in overcome without continual dethe Bible Society Record for Au- pendence with simple faith and gust. Every article from missiona- earnest devotion upon the unlimries that comes close to the life of ited power of the risen Christ. He the Japanese is sure of appreciative has, however, earnest belief in the reading. We can recommend two power'of Christianity to supply the such articles in the Women's Mis- special needs of the Japanese nasionary Friend (M. E.) entitled tion, and he believes that the re- "Soldiers and Tracts" and" What suit of missions in Japan will, in Japanese Girls are Doing for the ~he end, be another triumph for War." Another useful article on Christian truth-" the same yester- day, and to-day, and forever."
TWENTY-ONE YEARS IN INDIA. By Rev. J. L. The book has about a dozen ex- Humphrey, M.D. 12mo. $1.00, net. Jen- eellent illustrations. It is an in- nings & Graham, Cincinnati, O. spiration, and gives a graphic view of the progress of mission work in Rev. J. L. Humphrey, M.D., is India. Dr. Humphrey has the ad- very modest in his title. He was vantage of saying: "All of which I connected with the India mission saw, part of which I was." of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in India, from its beginning. He EJIIPIRE BUILDERS. By various writers. saw the work expand from its be- 12mo. 219 pp. Illustrated. Is. 6d. ginning, he lives to see its present Church Missionary Society, London. proportions. Soon after Dr. But- 1905. ier had reached northern India, he was joined by Dr. Humphrey, who The English are far ahead of arrived just at the breaking out of American publishers in their mis- 'the Mutiny. As soon as the coun- sionary books for young people. try became quiet, Dr. Humphrey Here are eighteen breezy, imprescommenced his work, and for sive stories of missionaries who 21 years of service on the field are helping to build the Empire of he has been identified with every Christ. The writers are missioninterest of the mission. He had aries in Canada, Africa, China, the honor of baptizing the first Persia, India, Japan, and elseconvert, a Mohammedan, who be- where. They tell of adventure, came a most useful native minister curious customs, heroic deeds, odd and presiding elder, and for 38 experiences, and wonderful transyears was a bright example of the formations. American young power of Divine grace io trans- people will find it of interest as form a life. truly as will their British cousins.
The period of Dr. Humphrey's "ALASKA FOR JUNIORS" is anlabors for India extended over 43 other useful pamphlet by Miss years. as recorded in this volume, Katharine R. Crowell, giving the or from 1857 to 1900, with occasion- facts about Alaska in a most atal visits home in the interests of tractive way, together with many the work. Seeing the great need practical suggestions and programs for medical missions, he' returned calculated to stir up missionary inhome and took a thorough medical terest and impart knowledge to course, and went back to India to children of mission bands. Leaders do a most acceptable work as a can not do better than to make use medical missionary. He undertook of these studies. (Published at 20 what was then considered a great experiment in the education of 'V cents each by the oman's Board native Christian women in medicine, and which proved a success. of Home Missions, 156 Fifth Ave- This was the beginning of woman's nue, New York.) medical work in the Orient. "THE YELLOW PERIL, by Dr. From baptizing the first convert, Marcus L. Taft, of Clinton, New he has now lived to see a Methodist York, is a pamphlet presenting Christian community of 146,000, strongly the case of the Mongolian nearly 3,000 Sunday-schools, with races. Dr. Taft shows up the sins 125,000 pupils, and great education- of European nations, the spirit of al institutions established. the yellow races, and the path of safety for the Occident-fair treat- mentand Christian enlightenment.
GENERAL MISSIONARy INTELLIGENC:El '{05
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE AMERJCA for additional conferences of the same type, especially for Canada Young People At the Fourth An- and the middle and far West, will and Missions nual Conference of probably result in a provision for a.t Silver Ba)' the Young People's such gatherings for the summer of 1906. The demands upon the sec- Missionary Move- retarial force of the Movement foz· ment, at Silver Bay, Lake George, the conduct of missionary insti- N. Y. (July 20–30), 603 delegates tutes for ad vice on local problems, registered, 166 more than last year. and for the production of an ade- These came from Canada and 24 y'uate literature on mission fields States, and China, Korea, Japan, and methods of promoting mission- the Philippines, Assam, India, and ary interest have so grown that an Africa were represented hy re- increased number of secretaries turned missionaries. will be enlisted for this work dur- ing the coming year. The Young People's Missionary Movement is an interdenomina- Woman's The Summer School tional organization working under Summer for ",Vomen's Fordirect denominational supervision, School for eign Missionary and the purpose of these confer- Mission Stud)' Socil:lties is the natences is to bring inspiration, suggestion, and training to Young ural outgrowth of People's Society leaders by aiding the United Study of Missions, orthem to promote missionary inter- ganized by the ",Vomen's Boards of est and enthusiasm and right ideals Foreign Missions for the United of Christian stewardship and servo States and Canada. During the ice among young people. past four years more than 200,000 copies of the United-Study books Hon. Samuel B. Capen, Boston, have been sold and have been used President of the American Board by at least half a million women. of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, was the presiding officer of The second session of the school the Conference, and among the was held at East Northfield the last platform speakers of special note week of July, and study was carwere ltohert E. Speer, Dr. E. E. ried on along three lines: Bible Chivers, Mrs. Lawrence Thurston, Study; How to Use the Text-book Dr. Robert P. Mackay, Dr. Howard B. Grose, Dr. William I. Haven, on Africa (Christian Liberator), * Dr. Charles L. Thompson, Mr. J. Campbell White, Dr. A. L. Phil- and Methods of Work in the Diflips, and Dr. John F. Goucher. ferent Boards. The evening ad- dresses were designed to arouse The strengthening of the mis- missionary interest. Those who sionary idea upon young people attend the school are largely offiwas evidenced by many other facts cers of boards, State organizations, than that of an enlarged registra- or leaders of mission classes. tion. A developing initiative among local and district leaders, a The methods considered had to readier grasp of comprehensive do with the training of children to educational plans, and a greater missionary zeal and intelligence willingness to put real effort into from their earliest years, the manmission study were all to be noted. * Each of the leaders had prepared a sylla- Two conferences are held each summer, one at Silver Bay, and the bus of the lesson to be taught, and these other at Asheville. The demand with abstracts of lessons will be published in the report of the Summer School.
agement of missionary circles and women to engage in some effort to meetings, and the employment of impart that uplift to the less fa- missionary literature. vored. The department utilized 13 church buildings in crowded ten- Last year ther.:) were 212 mem- ement districts July and August bers registered, but this year the five mornings a week. One pGriod number was increased fifty per was devoted to Bible story suitable cent., 335 names being entered. A for children, and tD the singing of similar summer school has been in- carefully chosen hymns. Another troduced at Winona and Chautau- period was given to industrial work qua, and next year one is to be held for both girls and boys; the girls in Canada and one at Nashville. were taught the Teachers' College system of sewing, while the boys SUSAN HAYES W ARB. learned basketry and hammock- making. Once a week a talk was The Flood A conservative es- given to the children on "What to of the timate for imi- Do Before the Doctor Comes," 01' first aid to the injured, alld once a Foreign-born gration for the year week on ,. How to Keep the Doctor 1904-05 places the Away," 01' personal hygiene.
figure past the million mark. This Christian At the recent conis at least 150,()()() more than were Endeavor vention of this inreceived during the year 1903, Forging ternational society, which held the highest record- Forward held in Baltimore, 857,046. The report of the Immigration Bureau for May shows an 66,772 local organiincrease of 26,206 over the corre- zations were reported, with a memsponding month of last year. That bershi!'J of 4,000,000, and representthe character of this foreign flood ing 10 denominations. has not changed is evidenced by the nationalities, which show the Full support for some native largest increase. Austria-Hungar'y foreign worker is provided by 125 sent 11,081 more immigrants during societies, 350 specify financial aid May, 1905, than were received duro given to their own church. The ing the same month in 1904; and amounts given by 10,000 societies from Italy there was an increase of have been added up, and the sum 17,368 fDr the mDnth. While 75 Dr for missions alone is $228,840.88. 80 per cent. of the immigration ar- The same societies report $268,- rive in New York, Philadelphia, 960.92 given for miscellaneous Boston, Baltimore are also receiv- causes. The roll of those who give ing their share of the increase. a tenth numbers to-day 21,794. Dr. Two European steamers arrive Clark was absent on account of ill each week at Baltimore bringing health, but an address from him from 1,200 to.l,600 foreigners, the was read upon "The 'Evangelizamajority of whom are of Slavic tion of Our Young People, Our birth. Recently, 1,500 Italian im- Country and the World," which migrants landed at Philadelphia set before the young people the in a single week. ideal of bringing a million new members into the societies, a mil- Vacation The New York City Lion people into church, prayer- Bible Schools Fed e I' a t ion of meetings, and Sunday·schools, a for Tenement Churches and Chris- million young people into chllrch- membership, and a million dollars Children tian Organizations for missions at home and abroad. has now instituted a Vacation Bible School Department which appeals to the thousands of Christian young men and
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Y. M. C. A. Association 1tIen percentage of total population. Missionary for August states New York gained 929,888 in ten years-I890-1goo. One person in Activity that by the end of every 4 in the Borough of Man- this year" 25 of the hattan is a Jew.
best men North America can send A Prosperous No earlier year of out will be at work in the great seaports and commercial centers of Year for our work has sur- China and Korea. Work has been well begun in Shanghai, Tientsin, Baptist Missions passed, if any other Chefoo, Kiaochaw, Hongkong, and Seoul, and men are on the ground has paralleled the at Fuchau and Hankow. The pop- ulations of these cities range from record of the year now closed. 250,000 to 2,000,000." To meet the cost of this work more than $30,000 Says the Baptist Missionary Maga- have been already subscribed. To· ward providing suitable buildings zine: "It has brought to us a great in Peking, Seoul, and Kyoto, J ohn Wanamaker has promised gift in precious souls. Baptisms $100,000, with the only condition that those cities shall provide the on the Asiatic and African fields land required. fall little short of 10,500. When An Open-air The Interdenomi· Campaign in national Evangel· we recall the fact that at the end New York istic Committee are of fifty years of missionary labor, carrying on this converts enrolled in missions of the summer an open-air campaign in New York City. Two women have Union were considerably less in placed 6 automobiles at their disposal to serve as pulpits for open- number than the ingathering of air meetings, and they also use a large wagon, drawn by four fine this single year, the cause afforded horses for the same purpose. On the first Sunday afternoon a large us for profound satisfaction and meeting was held in the Academy of Music, and on the following day confidence is revealed." . 'Vall Street" kings" of oil, cotton, grain, and railroads had the oppor- Southern Baptist The fact has altunity of hearing the Gospel. '1'he need of such aggressive work is Missions ready been stated shown by such facts as these: The total population June 1, 1904, was Also Prosper that for the South- 3,945,907, of which churchless "Protestants" numbered 1,087,762, ern Baptist Conand Roman Catholics 1.300,000; Protestant communicants and at- vention the last year was the best tendants numbered 829,245, and Jews 725,000. The districts in New in every particular; but from York in which over 34 per cent. are foreign, had in 1900 a population Brazil the tidings are especially of 1,396,542; now they have 1,602,- 037, and have retained the same cheering. Since 1891 out of 70 churches, 60 have been organized.
During the same period the church- members have increased from 200 to 5,000, with other thousands of adherents. No less than 1,700 were baptized last year, and the churches contributed $15,613.
Episcopalians R e c e i p t s of the Grow in the Protestant Episco- Grace of Giving pal Board of Mis- sions for the current year are about $74,000 in excess of the receipts at this time last year, and compared with four years ago the same body of Christians is giv- ing twice as much as it did then. This is a fine record, due in large part to the apportionment system by which each diocese is given a sum which it is charged to collect, and also to the educational work
which the Churchman has done by curtailment of political and civil way of exhortation and reproof. rights, and the denial of fair oppor- Methodist The Woman's For· Women's Work eign Missionary So- tunities and economic life. 'I'he for Missions ciety of the Metho- importance of higher education is dist Episcopal emphasized, and an earnest appeal Church numbers in its constituency 217,000 members. Its yearly re- is made for a chance to bring up ceipts amonnt to half a million dollars, exclusive of the money their children in decent localities. raised by the General Missionary Society, and is administered in for- The appeal continues: eign work by the women. It has raised for foreign missions since its The negro race in America, stolen, organization, thirty·five years ago, ravished, and degraded, struggling $7,386,744, and holds real estate in up through difficulties and oppresforeign lands amounting to the sion, needs sympathy and receives value of $1,086,668. The work. of criticism, needs help and is given this society reaches to India, China, hindrance, needs protection and is Burma, Japan, Mexico, South given mob-violence, needs justice America, Bulgaria, Italy, Korea, and ill given charity, needs leader- Africa, Malaysia, and the Philip- ship and is given cowardice and pine Islands. Two hundred and avology, needs bread and is given ninety missionaries, of whom 25 a stone. . . . Especially are we are physicians, 1,000 native Bible- surprised and astonished at the readers and teachers, 539 day recent attitude of the Church of schools, 21 training schools, 67 Christ-on the increase of a desire boarding schools, 20 orphanages, to bow so racial prejudice, to nar- 2 colleges for women-1 in India row the bounds of human brotherand 1 in Japan-30 hospitals and hood, and to segregate black men dispensaries, treating over 150,000 in some outer sanctuary. This is patients every year, are supported wrong, unchristian, and disgraceby the society; 16,000 Christian ful to twentieth-century civilizawomen are receiving instruction, tion. and 20,000 non-Christian women are having Christ preached to them. We believe that the colored peo- The Negro Prof. W. E. Bur- ple of America have many just Niagara gardt Du Bois, of causeR for complaint, but it will Movement Atlanta, is the mov- ing spirit in a new take long years and persevering national negro organization, form- progress on their part to rectify the ed at Buffalo on July 13th, at a conference of colored men. The evils. organization is for the purpose of securing fairer treatment and high- A Missionary In Berkely, Cal., is er privileges for the negroes of the United States. An" Address to Business Block to be found an edithe Country" was adopted, which appeals to the American people fi c e, b u i I t a n d and to Almighty God, setting forth the grievances of American owned by Mr. J. L. Barker, the negroes, and protesting against the rent of which is devoted to the sup- port of his daughter, Mis3 Lydia G.
Barker, a missionary in India. May the number of such structures rap- idly increase! .
EUROPE The Baptist The international World's gathering of Bap- Congress and tists at Exeter Missions Hall in London, July 11-18, repre- sented 6,000,000 communicants, and was attended by 4,000 delegates. Dr. Alexander McLaren, of Man- chester, England, who was elected president, spoke on the work of the
1905J GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Church carried on "in the name of evangelize such tribe and others by Christ and bythe'power of Christ." their means, and that the trustees Several other strong missionary should map out the world in its addresses were delivered. Dr. parts unreached by Holy Scripture Richard Glover spoke on the" In- and supply such parts with at least adequacy of the non-Christian Re- the printed Gospels of John and ligions to Meet the Need of the Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, World," and Mrs. Norman W ater- as far as it might bo found practic- bury on "Woman's Work on the able so to do."
Foreign Field." Dr. H. C. Mabie, The L. M. S. is assured that its of Boston, gave an able address on portion of the bequest will not be "Interest in the Home Church," le8s than $1,500,000, and is planning and Herr J. G. Lehmann on" Mis- for substantial enlargement.
sionary Methods." Many foreign Thanks for Those who read of missionaries spoke on their respec- a Deed the doings of some tive fields-among them, Dr. Timothy Richard, of China; Dr. John. a Century Old missionary soc i- McLaurin, of India, and Dr. Hol- eties 100 years ago man Bentley, of Africa. A statue of Charles H. Rpurgeon was un- will learn with interest that the veiled in the Baptist Mission directors of the London Missionary House. One result of the congress Society have had the somewhat is a World's Baptist Alliance, which unusual experience of receiving a is to meet at intervals in capital letter of thanks for action taken a cities of the various countries rep- century since. The letter in quesresented. The first meeting is to tion has come from the Christian b3 in 1910. community at Bethelsdorp, Cape Colony, and expresses hearty grati- tute to the L. M. S. for having sent The Arthington When Robert Ar- Dr. Vanderkemp to preach the Gos- Bequest thington died in pel to their ancestors in the year 1805. Now there are in Cape Colony Now Available 1900 he left a will some 120 independent churches or by which, after set- branch churches, with more than 10,000 communicants and 32,000 adting aside a fund for trust expenses herents, all of which owe their exand one-tenth for the benefit of istence to the early efforts of the certain relatives, five-tenths of the L. M. S.-C. M. Intelligencer. residue was given to the English Baptist Missionary Society and four-tenths to the London Mission- Another Society The June issue of ary Society, none, however, to be in Straits Regions Beyond used to sustain work already com- for Funds contains an article menced, but all to open new fields. by Dr. H. Grattan The wish was expressed that his Guinness, which strikes a loud note gifts should be applied for "the of alarm. In common with other purpose of giving to every tribe of missionary societies, the Regions mankind which has them not, and Beyond Missionary Union is pass- which speaks a language distinct ing through a seriour crisis. It from all others, accurate and faith- would seem that while the mission ful copies of at least the Gospel of enterprises are going forward with John and the Gospel of Luke, to- vigor, the sources of income at gether with the book of the Acts of home are all but dry. To the direc- the Apostles printed in the lan- tors of the union it is a matter for guage of that tribe," and to teach no little solicitude that the ex- such tribes to read, with a view to chequer is almost empty, while ex-
isting needs amount to £4,000, dress Rev. G. T. Manley, Christ's apart altogether from prospective College, Cambridge. expenditure on the passages and outfit for missionaries leaving for What a magnificent thing it the Kongo, or returning from that would be if committees in England river, representing another £1,200. and America could cooperate with But in spite of this fact, Dr. Guin- missionaries and merchants in all ness reports that 24 "new mission- non-Christian lands to care for the aries are ready to go forth from spiritual welfare of these young Harley College, Dodc Lodge, and strangers within our gates. Bromley Hall at the close of the present session. In addition to The Great The British and thelSe, we have a group of 7 Kongo Work of the Foreign Bible Sodmissionaries returning to the field Bible Society ety-one of the after furlough, together with 3 married ladies going out for the greatest helper·s of first time. Our total output this all missionary societies-reports for year thus amounts to 34. Of these, last year (1904-1905) a circulation of 15 are to be identified with the 5,857,645 copies. This is an increase R. B. M. U. work in Peru, Argen- of 160,284 copies over the previous tina, and the Kongo; 14 are joining year. The Scriptures thus put in other societies." circulation would require a train of carts ten miles long to transport. Asiatic Hundreds of young The record output from the London Bible House was 81 cases (9 tons) in Students in men from China, one day. These cases contained Scriptures in 28 different lan- Christian Lands Japan, Siam, In- guages. This sowing of the !Seed dia, and elsewhere means a coming harvest.
are in America and England study. United Free This body of stal- Church wart saints is passing to prepare themselves for spheres of usefulness in their own Enlarging Its ing through sore Foreign Work trials, but is not in lands. What are the Christians the least faintdoing systematically to lead these hearted. For at least in two of its fields forward steps are soon to be young men to Christ? An excel- taken. First, in the old Calabar lent organization for the benefit of region, on the 'Vest Coast of Africa, a new medical station is to be Indian students has been started in opened as the basis of an advance. The other forward step relates to England which might well be new work in northern Manchuria, and this in spite of the Russo-Japbroadened to include all Asiatic anese war. A year and a half ago a prospecting tour was made students. The following letteI' has through a region called Hielung- Chiang, about as large as Massabeen sent to leading educationalists chusetts. Half of it is arable land, and missionaries in India: all under cultivation. It has four walled towns, each with a popula- A committee of Christian men tion of 100,000, with a great number has been formed in England, with of smaller towns and prosperous Sir Andrew Wingate as president, villages. This prospecting party to promote the welfare, both social passed over the Sungari River, findand spiritual, of Indian. students ing an open door and not far from coming to study in England. A list of suitable lodgings in London has been prepared, and wherever possible, arrangements will be made to meet students on arrival in London. It would be a great help if you would let the committee know of any students who intend to come to England, with the dates of their arrival, and any details that would be useful. Ad-
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
3,000,000 souls. In one town, Hulan, Christian workers, especially of there were found to be ],000 busi- those. whether foreigners or naness firms of good size, and the peo. tives, who understand the English pIe everywhere welcomed the ap- language. English, Scotch, and proach of the white missionaries. native Christian workers joined A missionary is soon to be sent most happily with the American thither. missionaries in promoting the con- ference. Christian workers were Moravian From the last an- present from Athens, Greece, from Missions nualreport recently Sofia, Bulgaria, and from Trebi- to Date issued from Herrn- zond, Salonica" Smyrna, Tarsus, and several interior cities of Tur- hut, it appears that key. The Rev. John McNeill, the the total number of souls in weIl -known Scotch evangelist, the congregations gathered from came on invitation to lead the among the heathen is 101,3!)1 (total meetings, and addressed the conmembership at home, 41,199), a gain ference twice a day in English, also of 1,020 over last year. There are preaching every evening in differ- 390 European and American mis- ent parts of the city. The sermons sionaries, and 73 native born, em- were interpreted into Turkish or Armenian or Greek or Hebrewployed in 15 mission provinces, Spanish." Later he went t,o Smyrna having charge of 251 stations and to hold similar meetings for five outstations, and in addition 450 days in that city. preaching-places. There are 1,775 native helpers of all kinds. As al- ASIA ready announced, the deficit is less than $10,000, instead of £30,000, as Good Signs The Moslem world in Syria in general presents was feared. an undivided front New The Uhambel' of against Uhristianity. Prejudice is being broken down in many places, Opportunities Deputies has pass- however, and, in spite of threats and persecutions, some are forsakin France ed in amended form ing all to follow Christ. Dr. Samuel Jessup, who has been forty-two the bill for separa- years in Syria, says that last year he baptized 12 students in Girard tion of State and Church. Pasteur Institute, Sidon, 1 of whom was a Moslem. Last March he invited Knatz, of the Societe Central, in any boys who so wished to come into his office. Twenty-five came, Paris, says that while the Reformed and 16 offered prayer. A Maronite village near Sidon sent a signed Churches are facing a serious crisis petition for a school, and offered to pay for a teacher, who was furon account of the withdrawal of nished. Several other villages have done likewise. subsidies, yet this will no doubt be A Call to This is not the call overruled for good in spiritual Prayer for Islam to daily prayer strengthening. France is no longer from Moslem min- arets, but the call from missiona Rmnan Catholic country, only aries in Arabia to their fellow- Christians in America and England one-fourth being really Romanists.
There are great opportunities, in the rural districts especially, for preaching Christ to eager listeners.
Religious In the last Mission- Conferences in ary Herald Dr. Constantinople Greene says that a conference was held in May last in the chapel of the Bible House, and continued a week, the first of the kind ever held in the Ottoman Empire, whose object was "to deepen the spiritual life of the
to pray for ourselves that God's cutta Sanskrit College. Poor boys grace may abound in us unto holier are allowed free boarding there, living and more efficient service; while some 25 of those residing in for the Arab nation, that God may the house are to be not only fed, turn the hearts of many to accept but clothed as well, at the expense Jesus as their Savior; that many of the donor. An allotment of Rs. more wonders may be sent to this 150 per mensem, we are told, has neglected land, and that the avowed already been made Ollt of the assets purpose of the establishedsocie- of the deceased to meet the lodging ties to reach the interior may speed- expenses of these boys. A profesily be realized. This call is signed sor of the college has been invited by missionaries of the Reformed to accept the post of superintendent Church of America, the United of the boarding-house. The resi- Free Church of Scotland, the dential house given by the late Church Missionary Society, and Babu is valued at one lac of rupees, the Danish Mission in South Ara- and the allowance of Rs. 150 a bia. The call had its origin in the month would represent, say, a capannual meeting of the Arabian italized value of Rs. 50,000. This, mission in Bnsrah. This is the first indeed, is a princely gift, and it is act of cooperation among Arabian hoped this noble example will be missions. followed by other rich Indians in other parts of the country. The Day of Rev. Napier Mal- Opportunity colm, of the C. M. Baptisms in the Rev. J. Heinrich's Telugu Missions reports a total of in Penia S. Mission, reports that tho the spirit 1,231 baptisms in the American Baptist Telugu Misof persecution and intolerance to- sion during the first three months ward Christianity is still prevalent of this year: Allur, 19; Hanamakamong Persian Moslems, yet there onda, 18; Suriapetta, 105; Gurzalla, is a spirit of religious inquiry in 17; Kandukur, 7; Udayagiri, 42; the air, and many are prepared to Kavali, 42; Narsaravapetta, 31; make immense sacrifices if only Ongole, 390; Ramapatam, 46; Pothey can obtain a certain knowl- dili, 114; Madir'a, 159; Gudval, 18; edge of salvation. These inquirers Nellore, 21; Nalgonda, 11; Kanigiri, confess their blindness, and go 109; Kurnool, 12; Vinukonda, 6; about seeking some one to lead Vepery, 2; Madras, 36; and Darsi, them by the hand. Many are 26. And Rev. John Newcomb turning to the Bahais, who might writes: "I have nothing new to rebe led to Christ if our missionaries port, except the fact that we shall were not so few. probably have the joy of baptizing some 700 believers during the next An Indirect A Bengali paper three months or so. These have Result of s tat e s that rich been candidates for baptism for Missions Hindus in Bengal some time." in India are making munifi- cent donations tow- An We usually need to ard the spread of Ranskrit educa- Unconditional view at least a detion in that province. The late Babu Bolyechand Dutt, of Calcutta, Surrender in cade to discover ina rich man and a philanthropist. it is said, made a gift of his residential Haidarabad disputable signs of house to the Education Department of Bengal for the purpose of hous- progress. Ten ing bona fide students of the Cal- years ago a native evangelist named Amos, of the Vesleyan So- ciety, stopped one night near the
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
well of the outcasts in Medak, The Revival The Christian Pa- Haidarabad, India. The people in Assam triot (Madras) of felt so outraged at this defilement July 8th publishes by a Christian that they seized him a letter from the Rev. J. P. Jones, by the ears and kicked him out of of Sylhet (Welsh Mission), in the the place. This year the chief who Khassia Hill Country of A!)sam.
led the assault entertained the He reports another pentecostal same evangelist in his house and wave as passing over the Cherra- was baptized, together with 26 punji district. All the Christians heads of other families. are so taken up with the revival Ten Months The Church Mis- that it is difficult for them to find Progress Among sionary Society time to give an account of the work, and it is almost impossible to give the Telugus reports that in anything like an adequate account ten months, end- of the meetings. One writes that "the scenes in the services are ing November, 1904, the number of beyond description." Another their baptized Christians in the writes: Telugu Mission, India, increased by 1,078, besides 2,173 catechumens.
Forty-one new villages were occu- The Christians are almost wild pied in the same time, and 46 addi- with joy, they are never tired of tional evangelists and 84 more praising Him; one can not realize teachers are needed. Thus the the joy unless one is present with work grows. and yet the Church them. I am much struck with the cries: " Retrench! Keep out of change in the faces, the expresdebt!" !'ions are now so earnest and in- tense. Some faces especially have The Price of Many Hindus will quite lost the old look, and one Confession ignore, or even fa- feels on seeing them that they have in India vor, missionary looked upon the great things of God. The children, the old people, schools until one of and the young have all been touched their family shows a leaning toward so tenderly. It is this that goes to Christianity. Then all is changed my heart-God is so tender with in some such manner as at home, us. Oh, the meekness and the genwhere some Christians favor for- tleness of Christ! He is now showeign missions until their own chil- ing to us the richness of His love. dren volunteer. A lady belonging Mr. Jones quotes from another letter: to a Mohammedan family in India I am exceedingly glad to inform has bravely confessed her faith in you what God has done to all His Christ to her husband and father, people here these days. All-men, altho unable at present to leave her women, and children-a,re full of home in order to be baptized. On rejoicing. The Spirit of God has one occasion the father put an iron been working very powerfully here into the fire, then down upon her foot, saying: "Repeat the Kalima" in Cherrapunji and in the adjoin- (There is no god but God, Moham- ing villages. This time the revival med is the prophet of God). She is more wonderful than before. said: "I can not." He said: "You The other day, when one brother will not!" Then he put the iron was praying, the Spirit spoke with into the fire again and placed it on such power to an "egg-breaker" the other foot, saying: "Now you (one of the leading demon-worshipwillI" She replied: "No, I can not, ers) that he fell to the ground. But for I am a Christian." Her life is he refused to obey God. Then he not safe, even tho she has not yet fell a second time, and again he rebeen baptized. fused to obey. He said he had to go, to sacrifice some goats which he had bought for the demons. Then the Spirit spoke to him again, the third time, and told him thq,t unless he obeyed at once he would,
be struck again. At last the man, them among the Laos, and that with fear and trembling, confessed stations ought to be multiplied his sin and accepted Christ as his rapidly throughout all that terri- Savior. tory. Even the Buddhist priests are friendly, and the rank and file From Jowai, east of Cherrapunji, of the people seem eager to hear word has come of the spread of the the Gospel. revival to the very outskirts of the district bordering on the plains. The French Protestant m i s- Inquirers are to be found in every Bible Society sions are still exvillage, and many have been added to the Church. in Annam eluded from some of the French pos- Much that is hard to understand appears in the fragmentary reports sessions. Annam and Cochin of this great revival on the mission China, for instance, are almost outfield. Perhaps we might under- side the influence of evangelical stand better had we greater capa- Christianity. The Bible Society of city for spiritual gifts in our own France, however, is actively enhearts. Clearly these plain hill- gaged in circulating the Scriptures folk of Assam, but yesterday pa- in those regions, and one of the gans and demon-worshipers, have agents writes: attained an insight respecting Gospel truth, a hearty self-surrender, There is not a single imJ?ortant; a perception of the love of Jesus place in Cochin China, III the Christ, which Christians every- southern part of Annam, and in the where would fain share. Let this French Laos territory which has marvelous movement among the not many copies of the Holy Bible. Khasi people be an occasion for More than 400 copies of the Bible fervent prayer for them-and for have been distributed among the our own selves. Protestant colonists and soldiers, and more than 300 copies have gone A Forward The Laos mission into the hands of Roman Catholics Movement in of the Presbyterian who have asked for them. A large number of Annamites, Cambo- Laos Land Church (North) has dians, Chinese, and East Indians, recently overflowed who have learned to read French, have also eagerly received the from the Shan States of Northern Bible. Siam into the Shan States of British Burma. They are still working This French society, which pubamong the Laos people, who live lishes the Scriptures in one lanunder Chinese, French, Siamese, guage only, is finding by experience and British rule. The first station that an effective means of preachto be established outside of the ing the Gospel in all the world is Siamese territory is at Kengtung by disseminating the Gospel every- (Chiang Tung), British Burma, where. where 4 missionaries and 3 Laos Christian families have located. The Martyrs' The Advisory Com- They have found here a splendid Memorial mittee appointed in opening, and: there have been, in for China London to assist in 10 months, lO professed conver- raising a fund to sions. The people and officials are friendly, and the medical work is erect a building in Shanghai as a proving a great :opening-wedge for memorial to those who laid down the Gospel. Rev. W. C. Dodd, the their lives in the Boxer uprising, missionary in charge, says that a has passed a resolution to the effect far grander opportunity lies before that it is best to abandon the proj- ect. This is in view of the fact. that some of the large missionary socie- ties do not fully approve of the
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
scheme, and the missionaries in vices to finish a trip. What would China are not unanimous in their a home pastor think of such a recommendations. Rev. D. Mac- parish? Gillivray, who has been raising the fund, is therefore returning to The Growth of In 1884, when China. The General Committee in Twenty Years Bishop Moule had Shanghai has, however, entered into negotiations with the Y. M. already been a C. A. committee, and have decided resident at Hang-chow for 20 years, to turn over all funds collected the number of Christian communi- (now 9,000 taels) to the Chinese cants in the city and district was Y. M. C. A. at Shanghai, on condi- 350, in connection with the C.M.S., tion that they incorporate a " Mar- the China Inland Mission, and two tyrs' Memorial Hall" in their new American Presbyterian missions; building in the heart of the foreign and the contributions for the year settlement of Shanghai. This hall amounted to $320. At the beginis to seat not less than 700, and is ning of the present year they numto be available for interdenomina- bered 1,676 (C.M.S., 692). The baptional religious conventions, etc. tized during 1904. were 24.3 (C.M.S., These conditions have been accept- 84), the catechumens were 614. (C. ed by the Y. M. C. A. Contribu- M.S., 201), and the contributions tions may be sent to E. S. Little, were $3,056 (C.M.S., $1,176). Every Esq., Treasurer, Shanghai. year a united meeting of members of the four missions, and of the Presbyterian The Southern Pres- churches connected with them, Progress byterian C h u r c h meet together for prayer, when the in China reports that while statistics are presented by Bishop in the past ten years Moule.
their number of foreign missiona- Union Medical The China Medical ries has remained the same, their Colleges Missionary Assonative helpers have increased in China ciation, which was threefold, and the converts gained formed in 1887, has in one year fourfold. The number baptized per missionary in 1894 been the means of coordinating the was I, and in 1904, 22. This is medical missionary forces in the largely due to the increase in num- empire, and has brought about two ber and efficiency of the native important results: first, the formaagents. The average contributions tion at great centers of Union Mediper member have doubled in the cal Colleges, and the preparation of same time. up-to-date text-books for medical students. The Union Medical Col- Rev. A. A. Fulton, of the Presby- leges are taking the place of smaller terian Church (North), writes}rom schools, and are more efficient. Canton that on his recent quarter- Peking, Canton, and Shanghai have ly tour he baptized 240 men and now such union schools, and one is women on confession of faith-415 to be established in Central Shanin four months. This means 2 new tung. congregations of over 200 each every two months. There are in- The recent statistics of medical dications that the number will work in China show that 4.7 hosreach 700 for the first six months of pitals and dispensaries treated 147,- this year. Mr. Fulton has 36 477 in-patients, and 457,390 dispenchapels in charge, so that it re- sary patients. Most of these quires over one month of daily ser- hospitals are training native Chris- tian doctors and nurses.
Japanese Emperor The value of the cooperation between natives and and Empress gifts made by the foreigners. The one would assimi- late Christianity to Japan; the as Given Empero!' and Em- other would transform Japan by press of Japan for Christianity. The one stands for the centralization of authority; the various forms of Christian work can other for Presbyterian and Re- formed principles. The one stands not be measured in terms of J apan- for government by interference; ese currency. They have given 10,- the other for self-government. The 000 yen for Y. M. C. A. tent work members and adherents of the "Nihon Kirisuto Kyokwai " should in Manchuria, andl,OOO yen for the not be misled by the superficial, work of Mr. Rara in behalf of ex- shallow" independence argument" as it is called. They should not be prisoners, and have promised 1,000 controlled by a passing fit of naryen per annum for 10 years for the row, bigoted, patriotic sentiment.
Okayama Orphanage. Dr. Atkin- They should earnestly and thought- fully recall the history of the past, son writes that tho these 3 objects and with the future developments have a humanitarian side, yet they and possible results of the present situation in mind, they should are permeated with . Christian make up their minds about this teachings, and are distinctly Chris- momentous question, not with ref- erence to the opinions of the J aptian in character, and the Japanese ~nese people, but with prayer, as III the presence of God and of His understand clearly from these con- Christ.
tributions of the emperor that in the higher circles of the empire Christianity is no longer feared nor despised. It is assumed that it is increasingly approved, and this in- A Strange Story A C. M. S. Mis- dorsement is most helpful. of Conversion sionary in Japan tells the following A Crisis in the The "Nihon Kiri- interesting story: "A we 11- Protestant suto Kyokwai" Church (Church of Christ educated young soldier came here in Japan in Japan) is a result of the united educa- early one morning and brought a tional and evangelistic work of piece of thorny briar; he showed the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of England and America. it to me and said, 'I once saw a It has a total membership of 13,830, of whom 1,066 were baptized last picture of a head crowned with year. Its confession of faith is the Apostles' Creed, and its govern- thorns like this, and I can never ment is Presbyterian. From the time of its organization this Church forget it; whenever I have things has made steady progress toward self-support, and is moving toward to bear in the barracks the thought self-government. Many are asking for a Japanese Christianity not too of this picture helps me. Can you closely patterned after that of the missionaries. Just here is a crisis tell me about it, and has it anyin the Japanese Church. It is somewhat like the Ethopian Move- thing to do with your religion?' ment in South Africa. One missionary writes: You can imagine what joy it was The one stands for the exclusion to put a Bible into his hands, and of foreigners and for isolation in the native Church; the other for to read and explain the trial and death of our Lord. He simply drank in every word. It seemed as tho his whole soul were thirsting for the Living Water. He very soon grasped the way of sal- vation, and made up his mind to follow Christ. "Ve were talking about his being baptized when, quite suddenly, his company was ordered to the front. I get long letters from him, full of hope and joy. He tells of wonderful peace
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
given in the midst of battle, how forwarded a large autographed:por- marvelously his life has been trait of himself to the Bible House spared when all around him have in London. been shot down, and what comfOl·t he finds in reading his Bible and Bible Distribution There is nowhere prayer." in a Hard Field a fi e I d m 0 l' e Japanese J a pan e s e Chris- stony than North Foreign tians are already Africa, but in spite of all difficul- Missions sending missiona- ties, in Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli, during the three years 1901, 1902, ries to Korea, Man- and 1903, more than 2,500 Kabyle churia, and Formosa. The mis- portions were circulated, over 7,000 sionary churches of Japan look Arabic portions, Testaments or to Formosa as their especial mis- Bibles, and about 4,000 Hebrew sion field. They are already carry- Judeal Arabic and Tunisian collo- ing on work among the Japanese, quial Arabic Scriptures, making a who, as officials, settlers, mer- total of over 13,500 portions, Testa- chants, soldiers, to the number of ments or Bibles, in what may be 40,000, are living in the island. called the native languages, beside The Japanese Episcopal Church 23,000 copies in European lan- has asked the Society for the Prop- guages. In Morocco the details of agation of the Gospel to assist it in the reports are not available for establishing a Formosa mission; 1903, tho the total is given. It and if this Angelican mission con- would appear that between five and fines its operations to the Japanese, six thousand Arabic Scriptures, no complaint could be urged against either portions, Testaments, or it on the ground of missionary whole Bibles, were circulated dur·· comity. The two Presbyterian ing the last three years, and probmissions, those of the Canadian ably about 5,000 Hebrew Scriptures. and English Pre s byte ri an Spanish comes next with about Churches, occupy the whole island 5,000, then we have about 1,500 effectively, so far as the Chinese English, and rather more than 1,000 population is concerned. in other languages; so that, alto- gether, in the Barbary states dur- AFRICA ing the last three years, some 55,000 Bibles, or portions of Bibles, The Khedive His Highness, the have been circulated. Accepts an Khedive of Egypt, Arabic Bible has accepted a The Telegraph There are in French Invading the West Africa nearly splendidly b 0 u n d Dark Continent 17,000 kilometers of copy of the Arabic Bible in three volumes from the British and For- telegraph lines, of eign Bible Society, as a memento which 7,300 are in the Sudan, 2,800 of its Centenary. The presenta- in Dahomey, 2,000 in Senegal, and tion was made at a private audi- 2,150 and 2,050 in Guinee and the ence, in which the Rev. A. A. Ivory Coast respectively. These Cooper, the agent at Alexandria, lines radiate from Kayes like an was received most cordially by His immense system of tentacles reach- Highness, who, in accepting the ing to all parts of French West Bible, expressed a hope that the Africa. There are two conductors, society meet with every facility for one at St. Louis, the other at Dakar. its work in his country, and em- A separate line goes east from phasized his appreciation of the Kayes to Kita, and thence goes on to good being effected through its join the Guinee line, this having a agency. His Highness has since
length of 868 kilometer~, and com- women abused, children mutilated, municating with Conakry. This is and the country despoiled. The joined by the short lines of 280 kilo- report of this evidence may be had meters constructed during 1904 to from the Kongo Reform Associamake connection between Diaro- tion, care of E. D. Morel, Hawardougou and Faranah. From Kouli- den, Chester, England. koro another line starts which returns to Kong in the Tvory coast Better Schools According to West system. There is then a long span for Girls Afdca, an imporof 743 kilometers to Grand Bassam, tant movement is and then another line runs through a connection with Blieron. Finally, on foot with the object of providing at Sergou, the wire is divided into secondary schools for girls in West three cables going to Timbuctu, Africa. The want of such facilities and two inland to the east. The has been much felt for the last ten working of this telegraphic system years. It is suggested, as a good requires 151 offices, 371 operators, beginning, that a college for the and 401 inspectors and other em- higher education of girls be foundployees. ed. In connection with this insti- tution an industrial or technical The Kongo The Commission of branch would be provided where Mission of Inquiry appointed the ordinary school curriculum could be pursued, together with Inquiry last year by King horticulture, poultry farming, Leopold of Bel- nursing, laundry work, dress-mak- ing, cooking, and the manufacture gium to investigate some of the of native foodstuffs. The developcharges of atrocities and abuses ment of native arts would not be alleged to prevail in certain dis- neglected, in connection with which tricts of the Kongo State, has re- weaving of native cloths would turned to Belgium, but its report form a prominent item, and most has not been published. The King likely be the means of bringing may not wish to publish it, as we closer to others the Mohammedan understand that the evidence fully heathen and pagan population. corroborates the testimony of Consul Casement, missionaries, and Livingstone A correspondent to travelers who have protested Township the Glasgow He'¥'- against the cruelty and oppression on the part of State officials. ald writes: "The railway, which is to do so much for The Kongo Reform Association Rhodesia, was extended as far as of England has secured, and pub- Victoria Falls on April 25, 1904. lishes in concise form, the evidence The directors of the British South laid before the commission at vari- Africa Company had contemplated ous places. While the territory the founding of a township in the covered by this commission was ex- vicinity of the Victoria Falls long tremely limited, and tho the rubber before the railway reached that district, where most of the abuses point, but it was not until lately have taken place, was scarcely that much has been heard regardtouched, nevertheless the evidence ing the chosen site. The site of against the administration of the the township has been fixed at a Kongo government is convincing spot about three miles from the enough to warrant interference by Falls in a northerly direction, and European governments. For the on the left bank of the Zambesi. sake of rubber, towns are made The town has, of course, been given desolate, men are shot down, its name, Livingstone, after the
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE'
great explorer and pioneer of civili- The Outlook The recent meeting zation. He it was who gave the in the of the Evangelical name to the Falls, and Livingstone Union of the Philip- Island is not far distant. Philippines pine Islands re- ISLANDS OF THE SEA ported great opportunities for Christian work, that the people are The Bible Mr. Briggs, Baptist eager to heal' the message and the in the missionary, writes spirit of inquiry is rife. "The Ul'- Philippines to the Jfi88ionary gent needs are: (1) More men for Magazine: the speedy evangelization of the Three thousand copies of the Vis- unvisited areas; (2) added means ayan New Testament have been for the training of an indigenous ministry; (3) the reinforcements printed and sent to the islands that come from the voluntary since 1003. These have all been labors of Ohristian men in secular sold, as well as 17,000 copies of the employ in these islands." It is only five years since Protestant Gospels and Acts in individual vol- work was begun and the open umes. "We started on this trip," Bible was given to these Filipinos. Most of the provinces of Luzon says Mr. Forshee, of Bacolod, have now mission stations, and " with 1,500 books, and finished it without any. Everywhere the people are eager to get our books, and ready to listen to what we say."
Good Testimony Dr. Homer O. there is work in the islands of to a New Bishop Stu n t z , in the Panai, Samar, Negros, Ouba, and Philippine Chris- Leyte. Wide stretches of country tian Advocate, has this note con- in Mindanao are as yet entirely neg- cerning Bishop Oldham: "It is all lected. Now is the hour of oppor- too common for the leaders in both tunity. The people are ready. The Ohurch and State to receive indis- spirit of inquiry is abroad and criminate and effusive praise. But schools are crowded. It may be it is only just to say of Bishop Old- now or never in our new posses- ham that he has displayed a truly sions in Malaysia.
remarkable familiarity with Phil- ippine .conditions – a familiarity Government Dutch officials have born (1) of the double parentage of Testimony to not made an envi- actual missionary experience at Missions able record in their Singapore, and (2) long and close management of in- study of missionary conditions in ferior races in Malaysia, and have all parts of the world, supplement- put many hindrances in the way of ed by a careful study of this partic- Gospel work. But recently the ular field. He has proven himself government of Holland has laid a wise, spiritual, aggressive leader. bef~e its parliament a report on with an instinct for the things that the condition of the native races in are vital. Bishop and Mrs. Oldham Borneo, Sumatra, Nias, and other spent nearly all the month of April Malaysian islands. The report de- in visiting the work in the prov- clares tha,t while the government inces in the Philippines, and had found itself powerless to extir- preached in Malabon, Hagonoy, pate various cruel or immoral cus- Malolos, Oalumpit, Guagua, Mex- toms of the savage tribes of these ico, San Fernando (Pampanga), islands – cannibalism, slavery, Tarlac, Gerona, Panique, Bautista, head-hunting, debauchery, etc.- Dagupan, BanzaI, Pozorrubio, Lin- Ohristianity has abolished them gayen, San Miguel de Mayumo, over a wide territory, and that the Oamias, and Baliuag." tribes which have accepted Ohris-
'120 tHE MISSIONARY REVIEW 01<' TilE WORLD
tianity are steadily improving in Who feels that he has only one propriety of social habits, in char- life to live, and wisheii to make it acter, and in material prosperity. count.
Mission Stations A cyclone swept Who believes that giving is as Destroyed in Kusaie and Pon- much a Christian grace as loving or Micronesia ape, islands of the believing. Caroline group, Whose ambition it is to be like where the American Board has Christ, who gave"HIMsELF. flourishing stations. The typhoon struck Kusaie on April 19th, de- Who wishes to be found a faith- stroying the girls' school buildings ful steward when Jesus comes. and unroofing the houses of some of the missionaries. Miss Wilson Who Ought The man who be- narrowly escaped from the school Notto Give Heves t hat the with a broken rib, and the mission- to Foreign world is not lost aries were living, when they wrote, Missions? and does not need a in a workshop 14 x 20 feet square. Five Kusaians were killed, and it Savior. seems miraculous that all the mis- Who believes that Jesus Christ sionaries escaped on Ponape; every made a mistake when he said: "Go mission building was laid low, and ye into all the world and preach papers, household goods, etc., were the Gospel to every creature." blown away or ruined by the rain. Who believes the Gospel is not The breadfruit-trees were de- the power of God, and can not save stroyed, and will prove a serious the heathen. loss. The new mission ship, the Who wishes that missionaries Morning Star, dragged her anchor had never come to our ancestors 8 times across the harbor, but re- and that we ourselves were still ceived no serious damage. The heathen. workers in these stations have suf- Who believes it is "every man fered serious loss, and will have for himself" in this world-who, their hearts and hands full helping with Cain, asks: "Am I my broththe natives and repairing the dam- er's keeper? " age. Who believes ne is not account- able to God for the money intrusted MISCELLANEOUS to him. Who wants no share in the final Who Ought He who believes victory. to Give to that when God said Who is prepared to accept the final sentence: "Inasmuch as ye did Foreign the heathen would it not to one of the least of these, Missions? be given to Christ, ye did it not to Me." Such an one is not asked to give he meant it, and to foreign missions.-From a leafcan and will accomplish it, and is let published by the Presbyterian now accomplishing it. Board of Canada.
Who believes in the power of the Donations Received Cross to conquer the world. No. 326.-Pandita Ramabai ………… 810.00 Who rejoices that the world is No. 327.-Industrial E. M. India…….. 50.00 open as never before, and that the No. 328.-Industrial E. M. India.. .. …. 5.00 prospects are brighter than ever No. 329.-African Missions.. ….. …… 32.27 before.
The Missionary Review of the World — May 1905
CHILDREN'S MISSIONARY
Tile numbers refer to those magazines reproduced in the Frontispiece 1. The Day Star (Reformed Church in America). 2. The LUtle llfissionm'y (Moravian, U. S. A.). 3. The Ronnd TVorld (Church Missionary Society, England). 4. Over Sea and Land (Presbyterian Church, North, U. S. A.). 5. The Children's 11"Iis8'ionary (Presbyterian Church, South, U. S. A.). 6. The Children of the Ch1trch (Society for the Propagation of the Gosl'el, Church of England). 7. The ChUdren's Missionar'y ~Magazine (United Free Church of Scotland). 8. The ltlis8ion Day Spring (American Board, Congregational). 9. JILnior Builders (United Brethren, U. S. A.). ID. The Day-Break (Presbyterian Church, Ireland). 11. The Juvenile (London Missionary Society). 12. The Young Christian Soldier (Protestant Episcopal Church). OTHER CHILDREN'S MAGAZINES NOT REPRODUCED IN OUR FRONTISPIECE 2lfo/'n'ing Rays (Church of Scotland). The Children's Missionary Friend (Methodist Episcopal Church). Ar'ound the World (American Baptist Missionary Union). News from Afar (London ~iVIissionary Society). The Jlessenger for the Children (Presbyterian Church of England). Missionsblatt fur Kinder (Basel Missionary Society, Germany). The JuvenUe Jfis8'ionary Herald (Baptist Missionary Society, Eng.). The King's Jlessellgers (S. P. G., Church of England). Holianna (Berlin Missionary Society). Gleanings for the Yonng (British and Foreign Bible Society). The Jun'ior' Missionary Magaz·ine (United Presbyterian, U. S. A.). The Little lVol'ker (Methodist Episcopal, South). Day-Br'eak (Church of England. Z 11. S.). Spirit of Jfis8'ions, Children's Numher (Protestant Episcopal Church). At Home and Abroad ('Vesleyan Methodist, England).
Missionary Review of the World Old Series t MAY j New Series VOL. XXVIII. No.5 f 1 VOL. XVIII. No.5 MISSIONARY METHODS IN FOREIGN FIELDS THE DEPARTMENTS OF MISSIONARY WORK-A ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION BY REV. JAMES' L. BARTON, D.D., BOSTON, MASS. Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions In early modern missionary operations the conversion of the indi- vidual and his baptism were generally considered the supreme end of all effort. This was called "evangelistic work" as over against what was named" educational work." In the eyes of most people the mis- sionary was sent out only to "evangelize."
In these days our conception of "evangelization" has enlarged. The baptism of the individual is but an incident in mission enter- prises, and only the first step toward the consummation of the mis- sionary idea. 'l'his step, however, as a sign and seal of regeneration, is absolutely essential to all true missionary work. The missionary now plans to organize a balanced Ohristian society, at the center and foundation of which shall always stand the native Ohristian Ohurch, which shall be intelligent, self-respecting, self-directing, self-support- ing, practising the Ohristian virtues and exhibiting the Ohristian graces.
Ohril5tian schools and Ohristian literature are as essential in mission countries for the permanency and power of the Ohristian Ohurch and the stability of Ohristian society as they are in America or England. No country can be evangelized except by and through an independent, self-directing, enlightened native Ohristian Ohurch and a recognized Ohristian society, all dominated by trained native Ohristian leaders. All educative work directed to the above ends is missionary and fundamental to permanent evangelization.
The medical work is not primarily humanitarian, but illustrative of the foundation principles of Ohristianity. The medical missionary and the Ohristian hospital and dispensary demonstrate to the natives that the high and the low, the rich and the poor, in the light of Ohris- tianity, are regarded as equals. The poor beggar is surprised that he receives any attention, while the man of rank is surprised that he does not absorb it all. To this is added the ocular proof that the Ohristian " missionary is interested in relieving distress without respect of per- sons, and" all in imitation of the life and works of Ohrist. The devout medical missionary is a mighty preacher of the Gospel of equality,
brotherhood, and unselfishness up to a certain limit, after which he becomes a mere healer of diseases. Profitable medical missions must be limited in number, and made subservient to the idea of an organized Ohristian society with native Ohristian physicians.
The native Ohristian community should be self-respecting and self-supporting; hence, it must be industrious. Industrial school!! develop habits of industry and self-respecting manhood in their pupils or they are failures. Their primary object should be, not to teach a trade, but to teach independence, industry, perseverance, and thrift. If this results in a permanent trade, so much the better; but never a trade at the sacrifice of intelligent, sturdy Ohristian independence. It is only a step from the most helpful industrial training to the boldest industrialism and commercialism-the former absolutely essential to the permanent Ohristian society and the independent selfsupporting Ohristian Ohurch, the latter having no proper place in missionary operations.
All missionary operations and departments of work must aim at a ~ well-balanced, intelligent, devout, self-respecting, self-propagating, and independent native Ohristian society. neither dependent upon the missionary for its continuance, nor asking help from foreign lands for its support. Whatever contributes to this end is truly missionary, and all else is superfluous or positively harmful.
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF VARIOUS METHODS BY ALONZO BUNKER, LOIKAW, BURMA Author of "Soo-Thah "; Missionary of the American Baptist Missionary Union, 1866- In missionary work, evangelistic 11Jork easily takes the first place. By this we mean the proclamation of the Gospel message. 'rhis, tho foolishness to men, is declared to be the wisdom of God. This must be true for the following reasons: (1) Jesns gave a definite command to His disciples to evangelize the world; (2) His uniform practise agreed with this command; (3) most great spiritual victories since Ohrist have grown out of obedience to this command.
In like manner, medical missions fall into the second place in importance. Indeed, they are often so interwoven with that work that it is difficult to separate them. The importance of medical mis- ·sions has been shown on many fields. This is supported by the exam- ple of Ohrist and His apostles, as by experience in modern missions; also by their fitness to meet human need, and to open the way for the Gospel message. The proclamation of the Gospel is always necessary in all lands, but this is not always true of medical work. Yet, when combined, their union has been most helpful in opening the way to the Great Physician of souls.
As to educational work (schools and literature), the latter, led always by translations of the Holy Scriptures, is necessary for the
MISSIONARY METHODS IN FOREIGN FIELDS
spiritual growth of converts. Here we are well within the limits of the" all things" commanded by Jesus in our teaching, as we are also in such school work as that in which He engaged when traveling with His disciples. Schools must, however, vary in importance in mission work in different lands; but, generally speaking, they fall under one of three classes: (1) Evangelistic schools with a distinct evangelistic aim; or (2) secular schools under missionary control without such an aim, save incidentally; or (3) secular schools usually under joint missionary and governmental control.
There can be no doubt as to the usefulness of the first class for evangelizing the nations, nor of the second within suitable limits; but the third class, we believe, conceals a very grave danger to evangelistic work, and is calculated to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. Paul distinctly condemns such joining of forces in his warning against being" unequally yoked with unbelievers." Experience also warns us of such control with an ever-increasing protest. It weakens, undoubtedly,' the singleness of aim, on the part of converts from heathenism, for the glory of God, their dependence upon Him for temporal as well as spiritual good, and, we believe, the devotion of both converts and their teachers. It is opposed to healthy self-help, and tends strongly to divert native helpers from evangelistic to secular pursuits, and, finally, it puts unnecessary and heavy burdens on missionaries, who should be free for evangelistic work.
In the light of the above remarks we have no difficulty in placing industrial work. Like medical work, its necessity varies with the conditions which surround the converts. In short, granting the prime importance of the proclamation of the good news at all times, in all lands, all other missionary work readily falls into the place intended by Christ, and, by the blessing of the God of missions, will surely lead to glorious r~sults. Any departure from this Divine order, substituting the wisdom of men for that of God, must inevitably lead to failure.
THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF MISSIONARY WORK IN INDIA BY W. J. WANLESS, M.D., MIRAJ, INDIA Missionary of the Presbyterian Board (North), U. S. A., lSS~ It is now generally acknowledged that the evangelization of the world involves not only the simple proclamation of the Gospel message to every creature, but the projection of the Church of Jesus Christ into all the regions beyond. Not necessarily, and indeed not desirably, the Church of the West, with its ecclesiastical bag, baggage, and bric-abrac, but the the Church in Spirit and practical life, modified and adapted to suit the conditions and environment of the place of its planting; hence, the occasion for composite missions.
The relative importance of any department of missionary work will
necessarily be determined by the consideration of several factors: 1. The country in which the work is established. 2. The degree of civilization obtaining. 3. The spiritual conditions of the people. 4. Their educational status. 5. The social and physical needs. 6. Industrial development. 7. The attitude of the ruling power, and, possibly (8) the personnel adaptability of the missionary body in a given field.
Education in Relation to Evangelization In India it may be said that while the relative preponderance of a given department of missionary work will vary somewhat according to local conditions, the order of preference for all India of the different departments, technically so called, appears to be as follows: 1. Educational. 2. Evangelistic. 3. Medical. 4. Industrial.
In the order of importance it would probably be agreed that the evangelistic should stand first, but in actual time consumed in its activities the evangelistic can not be said to hold the first place. This is not because missionaries do not regard the purely evangelistic work of lesser importance than other forms of mission service, but because all departments are essentially evangelistic in their aim, and also in consideration of the further fact that a considerable portion of the time expended in conducting educational institutions is consumed indirecLly evangelical teaching. Another fact influencing the present relative status of evangelistic itineration and preaching per se, is that apart from, and unpreceded by some form of educational or other preparative effort, the purely evangelistiq work has been comparatively barren of the number and quality of converts that are ordinarily won through the combined forms of missionary effort.
The above statement might not hold completely if applied to a homogeneous community of aborigines or to some of the dominant lower classes, whose religion consists mainly of some form of demon worship and lacking the elements of developed religion, and who as a class have little to lose and much to gain in the social scale by becoming Ohristians. But even for these people, if not prior to conversion, certainly afterward, a large proportion of the missionary's time must be spent in their intellectual and physical improvement. There appear to be two other basic reasons which may be mentioned in defense of the average missionary in India giving relatively so scant a portion of his time to strictly evangelical work. One is the general illiteracy of the country, six per cent. of the entire populationand only one in three hundred and thirty of the women of India-being able to read and write. The Gospel may be printed, but to read there must be readers, and the government of India is not producing read· ers in a measure in any way commensurate with the growth of the population or the aspirations of the Ohurch of Ohrist for the purpose of evangelization. Another condition necessitating missionary education is the existence in India of the most stupendous system of idolatry and superstition the world has ever known and added to, and the result of which is the absence of a general desire for a higher spiritual life than the non-Christian religions of India are capable of creating. Ignorance is undoubtedly the foundation-stone of idolatry, and education is the cure for ignorance. So long as the average unlettered Hindu idolater or Mohammedan fanatic freely compares his intellectual capacity with that of "a stone," "a donkey," or "a monkey," educational work in the interest of his intelligent acceptance of Christ will remain a necessity, whether he is baptized first and educated second or educated first and baptized second.
That there is among the educated classes an increasing repugnance to the grosser forms of idolatrous Hinduism (a fact largely due to the work of educational missions), as is evidenced in the development of the Indian Somajes, a wide-spread dissatisfaction with Hinduism in general, and, among the lower classes in many places, a remarkable Christward movement, is abundantly manifest. And yet, after all this has been said, the fact still remains that while throughout the land an increasing number of individuals are found who thirst and long for It better life than the non-Christian religions of India are able to produce, the great mass of the uneducated are still mad upon their idols, and have, as a pilgrim to a heathen shrine recently said to one of our missionaries, "no appetite for the true God." An appetite must be created, and, once created, developed. Undoubtedly educational missions have had much to do with the cultivation of a higher moral and spiritual taste, and will continue so to do. It should also be recognized that where in many districts simple evangelistic preaching of the Gospel is now yielding an unprecedented fruitage, such fruitage is in a large measure the result of past years of seed-sowing and the development of Christian character and life in station schools, printing-presses, medical work, etc. Again, it should be borne in mind that while the work of educational missions occupies more hands, involves an expenditure of more time and money than any other form of missionary effort, a very large part of this outlay, if not the major part of it, is expended on the education of the Christian community, and rightly so, since it is only by the use of an educated Church and native agency that India is to be for Ohrist.
The outlay of men and money involved in educational work to the non-Christian communities in India is a question somewhat apart, but it is claimed to be justifiable-first, on the ground of the educational need,- which the government of India is unable to satisfactorily meet, and, second, because of the neutral position of the British government, and its inability, for this reason, to impart, or permit to be impar~ed, in government schools, moral or religious instruction. The government,
however, not only permits such insHuction in private institutions, but encourages religious instruction, and is both willing and desirous of generously aiding sectarian institutions. The grants in aid are offered alike to non-Ohristian and Ohristian schools. Moreover, the government of India highly appreciates the work of mission schools as a force making for the highest type of national character, and is sensible of the ultimate effect upon the nation of education without moral instruction, and particularly that moral instruction that has ever been the mainstay of the British nation-the morals of Ohrist and Ohristianity.
Again, the fact of the present preponderance of educational mission work among non-Ohristians finds reasonable support in the opportunity which schools for heathen children afford to inculcate in the most susceptible of minds the vital truths of Ohristianity, and in the attending results of such work in the matter of actual conversions of many who received their first Ohristian impressions in village schools. The higher educational institutions, on the other hand, have exerted the largest influence among the educated classes, a large percentage of the first generation of influential Indian Ohristians having been won through the colleges and schools carried on mainly for nOIl- Ohristians.
The educational masses will continue to be most largely won by the educated and educational classes, while the influence of educated converts upon illiterate or poorly educated non-Ohristians will be relatively greater, other things being equal, than that of the unlettered converts, since men of intelligence are always revered in India even by the lowest classes, provided their disposition is sympathetic. These seem to me to be the main arguments in behalf of the present predominating status of educational missions in India.
Inasmuch as evangelism is the object and essence of all missionary service, the occasion for its existence as a department of missions needs no argument in its defense save to emphasize its larger expansion.
Medical Work Medical mission work in India now occupies an increasingly prominent place in the missionary agencies of that country. There are now two hundred and sixty-five foreign medical missionaries, having under their care three hundred and thirteen hospitals and dispensaries, and treating annually upward of two million of patients.
As a field, India is perhaps less suitable, in some respects, for the extensive development of medical mission work that some fields (for example, Ohina), since the government of India has developed so large and efficient a civil medical service. This service is, however, still confined mainly to the great cities and larger towns, while in the villages the percentage of people who die unattended in sickness is still very large. Ninety per cent. of the people of India live in villages, and there are still 566,000 villages with a population of 500 or less, and thou- sands of large villagos and towns, without a resident educated physi- cian. Even in the City of Calcutta, the best-supplied city in India with physicians, three out of every five die unattended by physicians.
Medical mission work in the village districts of India is still capable of wide-spread extension, while the social conditions among women in the cities make medical work for women a crying need in the cities as well as in the villages.
The establishment and expansion of medical mission work in I!ldia is justifiable on the following grounds: 1. Its Christlike character, and its usefulness in demonstrating the practical character of the Christian religion.
2. It disarms prejudice and remove,~ hostility. 3. It makes possible other forms of missionary work. 4. It relieves a large amount of physical suffering, otherwise unrelieved and uncared for. 5. It is the means of bringing large numbers of people within the direct hearing of the Gospel. Conditions calling for the exercise of these functions still prevail throughout the village districts of India, and to some extent in the cities.
Industrial Work Industrial missions in India have developed by leaps and bounds in the past few years. The occasion for the expansion of this department of the missionary enterprise maybe said to be: 1. 'fhe large number of destitute children left on the hands of the various missions, to whom these children look for support. and fitting for. life's duties. 2. The necessity in many districts of providing a means of livelihood to many of the converts, to whom employment is not available among their own non-Christian communities. 3. The development of a selfsupporting native Church, which becomes possible only so far as the Christian community is independent of mission funds for its maintenance and material support.
This work calls for an increasing number of men who, while not specially fitted for other forms of mission service, might become efficient specialists in this department, and thus indirectly very materially aid in the evangelization of India.
With regard to the possible harm that might result from the undue development of one form of mission work over another, it is difficult to appreciate what might be the real harm of almost any conceivable expansion in India of either educational, medical, or industrial, since the need for all is so stupendous as compared with supply in Christian countries, even admitting that the need for evangelistic work is stilI greater. The only real injury likely to result from the undesirable
preponderance of anyone department over another would be in the retardation of the ultimate end of all mission work-evangelizationby diverting money and energy from the work of evangelization at a given stage of a mission's development, or by failure to use such money and energy in some form of work most needy and desirable at the time.
The proper balance of departments can only be maintained by the adoption, on the part of the home society, of general principles to govern such questions, plus the judgment of the mission organization on the field in which the control of details of administration should be vested. Viewed from the standpoint of general needs, influence, and opportunity in India, the following would appear to be the relative numerical demand: Among every twenty missionaries, including women, there should be nine for general mission work, three for educational work, three for evangelization and church work, three for medical work, and one for industrial work.
In conclusion, it might be well to inquire if, in view of the past seed-sowing and the present development of station institutions, the time has not come for putting a larger emphasis on purely evangelistic work, for, after all, nothing and nobody can satisfy the hungry soul save an appropriation of Jesus Ohrist and His life, be the seeker educated or illiterate, or some one in need of physical aid.
If evangelistic work is the most £mportant, as we must, after all, concede that it is, the effort ought certainly to be made to make £t the dominating force in all our institutions, whether they be educational, medical, or industrial, at the same time persistently endeavoring to increase the force of men whose whole time can be given to strictly evangelistic work.
CHRIST'S FORCES IN KOREA BY REV. GEORGE HEBER JONES, PH.D., SEOUL, KOREA lIIlssjonary of the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) Korea presents a peculiarly attractive field to Protestant missions because of the ready response it has made to evangelical teaching. Twenty years ago there were twenty thousand Roman Ohristians in Korea and no evangelical Ohristians. To-day there are fifty-five thousand in the Roman Ohurch and fifty thousand in the evangelical churches in this country. In other words, the growth of evangelical missions has overtaken that of the Roman missions in Korea. This, as far as my knowledge goes, is an unparalleled fact in the history of missions to-day.
The permanent factor contributing to this remarkable condition of affairs is to be found in the Koreans themselves, who are more attracted to the evangelical form of belief than to the Roman Oatholic. In explanation of this my observance is that one of the peculiar weaknesses of Romanism in Korea is its denial of the Holy Scriptures to the rank and file of its members. The Korean people are a scholarly people, and have been taught by Confucianism to place great value upon the classics. One of the great works of evangelical missions in Korea has been the emphasizing of the fact that Christianity has in the Holy Scriptures its great classic which stands out by itself, different from secondary works of comment and exegesis. It is only under evangelical Christianity that the Koreans can secure the foundation and fountain-head of Christian teaching. In the fore front of the agencies working at the presen t time for the Christianization of. Korea I would put tlte Bible Society'fI work. It is an agency of the first order and hig}lest value, addressing itself to the tranalation and distribution of the Holy Scripture. It has laid a foundation of the only permanent and satisfactory kind, and to the work it has done must be credited not a small share of the present marvelous success of missions in Korea.
Tlte evangelistic work in Korea has been a pronounced feature of our history there because of the splendid loyalty and unceasing activity of the native converts themselves. The regenerative force of Christianity in the individual lives of the converts has assumed the character of a propulsive force, thrusting them out as witnesses to their Lord and constraining them to become laborers in God's great harvest-field here. There is no question as to the permanent and complete evangelization of Korea through native agencies. The great problem in connection with them is their training for this work and the education of the native Church. The present force of missionaries in Korea finds itself occupied beyond its powers with the great duties of preserving the purity of Christian dogma, administering discipline, and directing the energy of the splendid native Church that is growing up there. The opportunity of history confronts the Christian Church to-day in Korea, and if an adequate reinforcement could be made to the forces there, there is no doubt of the acceleration of the final triumph of Christ in that empire.
'l'he present is a transition period in the educational work in Korea. The government has not yet succeeded in establishing a working system in public schools. If we can emphasizH this agency in Korea to-day ~e might be able to formulate and mold the eventual form of education in the empire so as to deliver it from pagan survivals, atheistic modifications, and rationalistic trammels. Two million youth, as well as four million children, present a field that is at· tractive beyond description. The work, especially in our day-schools among the younger people, has been peculiarly successful and fruitful, for all these children come under Christian auspices, and one of the encouraging characteristics of the average Korean congregation is the large number of children that are found in all of the services.
Korea is distinguished in the history of Chinese Asia as a fountainhead of medical learning. Its drugs have been sought for far and wide, and its teachings have been in other days honored in both China and Japan; but it has had little besides superstition and the insane fancies of error to offer men. Along medical lines its teachings too often have found expression in crazy antics, filthy remedies, and obscene practises. Christian medical science introduced into the empire by that honored pioneer, Dr. Horace N. Allen, has to-day a field which is far-reaching in its extent, and an opportunity which will be felt in the life of the nation through all coming time. The great work which confronts medical missions in Korea is that of founding a.n institute for the training of native physicians who will go forth as Christians in the empire.
These three lines of work-evangelistic, educational, and medicalfind an added expression and a reinforcement to all the good of which they are capable in the special work that is being dope under the auspices of Christian tuomen in Korea. Their work has found a ready response at the hands of the Koreans, and wonderful indeed have been its triumphs.
There is a roundedness aud completeness in the organization of these various forces of Christianity in Korea which makes their strength as the strength of ten. No petty rivalries have arisen to mar our peace. The spirit of unity and cooperation has found expression as well in the intermissionary life of the community. It is a delightful thing to be a missionary in Korea, for behold! how good and precious it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
METHODS USED IN THE EVANGELIZATION OF TURKEY BY REV. CHARLES C. TRACY, D.D., MARSOVAN, TURKEY Missionary of the American Board, 1867- The principle, the spirit, and the methods in true evangelization are those of Christ. Why shonld it take us two thousand years to 'Understand the Master's way? Christ's idea is the Kingdom of God, and He taught us to pray "Thy Kingdom come." It goes without saying that we should work in a way most in harmony with the idea and best calculated to advance the Kingdom. The methods of greatest importance are sim pIe.
Preaching.-We must publish the message simply and fervently, as Jesus did, wherever there is opportunity: in the temple, by the sea, on the mountain, in the school, in the market-place, by the fountain, by. the way. Preach it by the circulation of the Scriptures and whatever printed pages can serve as a vehicle for the message. This preaching is vital. Many good people think it is all; it is not, as Jesus himself shows ns.
The School.-Very early in His ministry the Master founded a school, and no other school on earth has ever had such influence as that of the twelve disciples. That school was incomparably the high- est and.. best of the age. Not Gamaliel at Jerusalem, not the inquisi- tive Greeks at Athens, not the practical Romans by the Tiber, had anything to compare with it for breadth, for sound teaching, concern- ing God, and nature, and man. Missionaries who have such a precious thing committed to them should commit it in turn "to faithful men who also shall teach others." They should establish the best schools in the lauds we labor in-the schools that develop the highest man- hood. In them Christ must be Master, and the Kingdom of Heaven the first thing. There are not a few so-called Christian schools with very little of positive Christianity in them, and productive of agnos- ticism. Sound Christian schools, from lowest to highest, should accompany evangelization. Their influence is very penetrating. They are the best radiators. Really the school is the best pulpit to preach from. Even Christ's main agency was His school of disciples. He accomplished more through them than through his personal preaching.
Medical Work.-Christ preached the Gospel of the Kingdom and healed the sick wherever he went. It is amazing that Christians of later ages should so have erred as to. think that, because they were no longer gifted to heal miraculously, therefore they could no more heal at all. The care of the sick, which is mostly ministration, is a natural expression of the spirit of the Gospel, and should accompany its proclamation everywhere. It should not be put in the category of signs and wonders, as if it belonged there alone. The benevolent spirit of the Gospel does more healing now than it did in the days of Christ and His apostles. He himself said: "Greater works than these shall ye do." The propriety of the medical mission no longer needs advocacy; the cOIllmon sense of it, the Divine sense of it, are evident.
Industrial Self-help.-This method should be llsed, as far as practicable, in connection with the training of the young. Foreign support of pupils in mission schools should not even be contemplated where there is any practicable way of avoiding it. It is damaging and dangerous unless used with the greatest caution. Rather than help pupils directly it is better to take twice the pains to help them to help themselves. Yet there are, even now, schools where pupils are taken up, boarded, clothed, educated, and spoiled, at foreign expense. The self-help students are better, brighter, manlier, more efficient and practical, more economical, and al ways more grateful.
These four methods have proved highly successful in the field in which I have labored nearly forty years. They have developed a cluster of churches and communities essentially self-supporting, a college and a girls' seminary, with about two hundred students each, paying a larger proportion of the running expenses than is paid by students in ·even the foremost institutions in the United States, a well-established hospital, and a successful self-help department nearly self-supporting. If called upon to give up one of these four methods, which would it be? Which of the four wheels of a chariot could best be spared?
AFTER THE MASSACRE IN KISHINEF The Helief COlllmittee and some of the relieved leaving the Committee room THE JEWS IN RUSSIA BY REV. SAMUEL H. WILKINSON, LONDON, ENGLAND Superintendent of the Mildmay Mission to the Jews, London A very tyro in the study of prophecy, or at least of God's plans concerning the Israel people, could not fail to connect the present condition and outlook in the Russian Empire with its treatment of the Jews in recent years. – Like as God used ancient Assyria as His saw, axe, and rod to chastise Israel, so He has permitted in our times His still beloved race to be the victim of Russia's oppression; and like as proud Assyria, when God's use of her as an instrument of chastisement was finished, was herself laid low, so is imperial and imperious Russia enduring the bitterest humiliation of her history. Not only the loss of men and money and prestige (another name for national pride) by her military reverses and broken fleets; nor the wild and stupid blunders of her public men, occasioning a general feeling of unrest and di.strust in court and government circles; but, most serious of all, the oncoming tide of forces that will no longer suffer oppression in silence.
The chief element of danger in the popular rising lies in the existence of the secret societies and the Jews themselves, the younger generation of which having in recent years joined in large numbers the army of anarchy.
Any understanding of the problem of the evangelization of the Jews in Russia requires some knowledge of the origin and history of Russia's Jewish population and its present social, religious, and political condition.
The Jew, separate tho he is, receives in a certain degree an imprint from his environment and that of his fathers. His character is molded and modified by the climate and country of his sojourn. Russia's treatment of the Jew has been unique, and a unique type has been evolved.
The Rumanian Jew, tho also the victim of injustice, is different; the Galician, different again. The Russian type, however, largely pre-
THE JEWS IN RUSSIA
60 60 10 45 30 35 dominates in the immigrants into the United States, speedily losing its characteristics when acted upon by the influences of American life.
The Jewish persecutions of Christianized Europe may be said to have begun with the Crusades. The continuity has never been long broken, tho the storm-center has shifted from one continental country to another, and now again to Eastern Europe.
There were two centuries, however, of respite to Jewish residents in Poland. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries large migrations of Jews from Southern Germany into Poland took place, enjoying under that ancient kingdom a mild and enlightened rule. Oppression recommenced in the middle of the seventeenth century, and in the eighteenth the final partition of Poland made the great mass of Polish Jews subjects of the Russian Empire. We can well believe that they formed the portion of the hargain which Russia least appreciated.
This halcyon period had, of course, produced its type also; nor have the succeeding years of harsh rule quite obliterated it. We recognize in the long coat, the talar of the Russian Polish Jew, often bound around with a sash (the classical costume of the Jew, as it has been called), the old caftan of the wealthy Polish squire of olden days.
The condition which beyond others brought the Rm1sian Jew into disfavor, and eventually occasioned the institution of special restrictive laws, lay in the gulf between the Jewish trader and the Russian peas- ant. The latter was bonnd to fall an easy prey to the former. Thus economic reasons and not religious lie at the root of antisemitism. I make bold to say that it is always so, whether antisemitism take the form of Oulturkampf, as in Germany: or a State policy, as in Russia. Jewish writers often represent antisemitism as religious intolerance. I believe, rather, that jealousy of superiority and success, or the neces- sity of self-defense-put it as you will-are the motives operating in antisemitism, tho its champions call attention to, and often seek justification from, racial and religious differences.
Gradually the Pale of Settlement was formed, taking fixity in 1843. This was a zone within which alone Jews had the right of residence. This "Pale" remains still the prison within which Russia's Jewish population is confined. It consists of fifteen provinces or governments-originally Polish-and the kingdom of Poland, the whole embracing nearly all Western Hussia and extending from Riga in the north to Odessa in the south, covering 313,608 square miles, exclusive of Poland. The whole of the territory-i.e., the" pale" and Russian Poland together-contain a population of 36,678,120 by the last census, of which 4,923,949 are Jews.
Oertain classes of Jews are, however, exempt from the compulsion of residence within the Pale. These are: (1) merchants of the first guild (paying about $fiOO a year to their guild); (2) university graduates and higher grade students; (3) the so:called Nicolai soldiers who served twenty-five years; (4) druggists, dentists, surgeons, and midwives; (5) skilled artisans earning their living by their handicraft. It is not very easy for Jews to qualify themselves in the above respects (owing to restrictions on education, to be afterward referred to), nor, when qualified, to secure and retain their legal privileges of residence.
It may be thought that a territory so large as the ·Pale of Settlement provided sufficient scope for a population of 5,000,000 Jews forming less than one in seven of the general population within its limits. That might have been so had not the famous May Laws of 1882 been passed under General Ignatieff. By these laws residence in the Pale was forbidden to any Jew outside of cities, towns, and townlets. This swept a large country population into congested towns, forming, so to speak, a Pale within a Pale, and producing
THE JEWS IN RUSSIA
wide-spread want and misery. This did not, however, apply to Russian Poland.
The restrictions on education began in 1880. In 1882 the Military Academy of Medicine limited its Jewish students to 5 per cent. of the whole. Other iustitutions followed suit, till in 1887 the Minister of Public Education restricted the number of Jewish pupils in general educational establishments to a proportion of 10 per cent. (for those residing in the Pale) of the whole, 5 per cent. (for those residing outside the Pale), and 3 per cent. in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Jewish dwellers in the Pale endure still further disabilities. They may not possess, lease, or deal in land; nor trade in intoxicants; THE FISH-MARKET IN MINSK, JEWISH RUSSIA nor live within fifty versts (about thirty-three miles) of the frontier. For the most part they are shut out from municipal or government offices, from officerships in the army, or from any position in the navy. These restrictions are based on mistrust, and have begotten hatred and produced a grave public danger.
In the words of an able American, Colonel John B. Weber: "The Jew in Russia is an alien in the land of his birth, a subject who bears an undue share of the burdens of government without the privileges of its meanest citizen." 'fhree open and apparent results have followed this senseless and unjust policy. Firstly, popular outbreaks against the Jews, never so serious as since the famous May Laws of 1882. Secondly, the flight of many thousands of emigrants to America, South Africa, and England since the same year. Thirdly, the fact that Jews form a large and by no means the least dangerous element in the present revolution.
A less apparent but equally real result is the baneful influence this policy of restriction has exercised upon the character of the Jews
PRJSO~ERS ON THE MARCH THHOUGH I.UBI~, RUSSIA themselves. Confinement in oyercrowded ghettos and in enforced poverty has deteriorated their physique; the conflict for prosperity against unjust odds has warped their moral sense and developed a precocious skill in fraud, while" truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth." It is only in recent years that Jewesses have largely recruited the immoral classes in the larger towns. Their mental activity, debarred from the higher avenues of education, has run into infidelity and socialism. The effect upon their religious convictions has naturally been to steel their hearts against everything under the name of Christianity.
If any doubt this last statement, let it be remembered that synod and senate are the two wings of the Russian eagle-in other words, that Church and State work together. It is said that prior to the present revolution the Czar was willing to relax certain laws till he was reminded that the Holy Church, of which he is ex officio the head, would suffer. The Orthodox Ohurch welcomes Jews into her fold without delay or difficulty, and their entry releases them at once from every disability which rests upon them otherwise asJews.
But now that we come to the religious question, we must go further than the State-imposed legal restrictions under which the Russian Jew groans, and examine somewhat his own religious system and the influences which obtain among his own people, and which go to control his actions and form his character. There we find a despotism as great, if not gleater, than the Russian government itself. The terror of the poorer Jew in a Russian ghetto, who lives among and gains his living with his Jewish conft'cres, is the Kakal (the Oourt of the Oongregation), which, controlled by the wealthier Jews, interferes in civil, social, as well as religious matters.
Judaism is the religion of the Jews, and it is needless to say that it has ceased to be the religion of Moses; it is no longer Mosaism bu t Rabbinism. With the destruction of Jerusalem the rremple sacrifices
THE JEWS IN RUSSIA
ceased; long ere that the Shekinak glory, symbol of God's presence, disappeared. There is no priesthood, no prophetic voice. It is a re- ligion of law and tradition. Foremost among the literary products of rabbinical tradition is the Talmud, a vast compilation of dicta and legend, which took shape between the fall of Jerusalem and 500 A.D. The four main religious divisions of J uadism are all found among the Jewish population of Russia. The bulk of the Jews in Russia are still orthodox-i.e., faithful to the Talmud and the rabbi. The four divi- sions are as follows: 1. Orthodox JUdaism. 2. Chassidism is a sect of mystics possessing a Cabalistic literature. The founder of Modern Chassidism was Israel Baal Shem Tob(1740-1772). A fictitious but instructive sketch of him appears in Israel Zangwill's "Dreamers of the Ghetto," under the title" The Master of the Name" (page 102). Assessments of the number of Chassidim in Russian and Russian Poland differ, but there are possibly over 400,000. A feature of the sect is the miracle-working rabbi (Zadik), who is treated by his de- votees as a saint and appealed to in all kinds of difficulty or sickness. 3. Modern or ReforTn Judaism is more the product of the West than of Eastern Europe. It is most extreme and established in America. It is semirationalistic, ignores tradition, and in its worship is little better than a social function, since dead ethical precepts have little effect. However, Reform Judaism is found in Russia, tho less pronounced in its revolt from orthodoxy. 4. Km'aism. ':Chis division is numerically small. It was founded by Anan ben David in the eighth cent.ury as a protest against Talmudical tradition and a movement back to the Bible. These people are sometimes called the Protestants among the Jews. In Russia they enjoy civil rights. 'fhey are found in the Crimea, also in Egypt and on the Black Sea. In process of time they have come to have traditions of their own.
As stated, the great mass of Russian Jews are orthodox, and therefore to the bondage of the Russian government is to be added that of the Oourt of the Oongregation, and the strange, enthralling spell of the burdensome enactments which Talmudism inflicts upon them. Taken together, they form a bondage physical, moral, and spiritual.
It is impossible to give here even a brief history of the formation of the Talmud and the other great Jewish commentaries. The position of the Talmudic or orthodox Jew will perhaps be best understood if I quote Dr. John Wilkinson" Rabbinism is Jewish popery, and popery is Ohristian Rabbinism." Dr. Bonar gives in tabular form, as an Appendix to his "Narrative of a Mission to the Jews, " the points of similarity between orthodox Judaism and Roman Oatholicism, constituting a striking parallel. The Word of God, even the Old Testament Scriptures, which it is part of the Jewish creed to believe, are literally made of none effect by their encrustation of Talmudic tradition.
But turning now to the missionary problem, there was another and
a prior difficulty to be faced-viz., the getting at the Russian Jew at all. This difficulty lays in the Russian laws, which prohibit all propagandism-viz., all proselytizing to sects other than the State (Greek) Ohurch. It is necessary to add that the average Russian mind hardly understands any preaching of the Gospel of Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ apart from an effort to win adherents to some particular sect. Hence, Gospel work is forbidden by law, public meetings (except in duly licensed places of worship) are illegal under ordinary circumstances, and most of the avenues by which one might gain the ear of the Jew in Russia are closed by the laws of the country.
Not all avenues are closed, however; there is one exception, viz., the distribution of the Scriptures and of literature which has been passed by the official censor. 'fhis avenue, as I desire now to make clear, has proved a wider one than is implied in this description; for by means of that open door the Mildmay Mission to the Jews has beeu able to open depots, or stores, in various cities for the supply of Scriptures and literature, and to undertake missionary journeys'for the same purpose, possessing in connection therewith the fullest liberty for the witness of the Gospel-not, indeed, in the form of organized meetings with singing and prayer, but in conversations with groups and individuals, which often take the form of addresses to considerable congregations.
This work was commenced in the summer of 1887 in the city of Wilna, a stronghold of Jurlaism.* Subsequently mission depots were established in Berditschew, Bjalestok, and other towns, while long missionary itineraries through centers of Jewish life were undertaken, by means of which during the nearly eighteen years that have elapsed considerably over half a million copies of the New Testament and portions thereof, as well as numerous copies of the Old Testament and countless tracts have been (for the most part freely) circulated in Russian t2rritory, and upward of one hundred towns, large and small, visited by missionaries of the Oross.
Mission depots are now being maintained in Wilna, Warsaw, Minsk, Odessa, and Lublin, and we hope one will shortly be opened in Praga, a large suburb of Warsaw. 'fhere are eight missionaries t employed in carrying on this work, either in daily attendance at one or other of the depots, or in undertaking missionary journeys. The work for the moment is in suspen.se for a few days-at least, during the reign of terror occasioned by the present revolution. The last letters from * Its beginnings are reported in a small book entitled "The Story of the New Testa ment Movement," pnblished by the Mildmay Mission to the Jews' Bookstore, Central HaU, Philpot Street, London, E .• England.
t Their names are: Messrs. Nelom and Salzberg at Wilna, Messrs. Levinski and Joffe at Warsaw, Messrs. Gurland and Rosenberg at Odessa, Mr. Meyersohn at Minsk, and Mr. /Slioerstein at Lublin. The reports of their work are published month by month in the magazme Trusting and Toiling on Israel's Behalf. edited by the writer of this article.
THE JEWS IN RUSSIA
Warsaw speak of shut stores, deserted and unlighted streets, and even peaceful citizens subjected to attacks from the military.
These stores, or depots, are open daily under special permit. By virtue of the permit Scriptures and tracts may be distributed or sold, and their contents explained. This last clause has been the open door for the freest missionary witness. The shop itself and its window of literature are sufficient attraction to the Jews. Some, to be sure, are repelled, but others come, the younger generation especially. Here there is open discussion of Messianic prophecies, of the perso~ and work of the Lord Jesus; the sinner's need and the Savior's welcome are pressed home, and many have been the cases of actual conversion.* So for eighteen years the seed of the Word in print and in word THE BANK SQUARE IN WARSA.W, RUSSIA The Mildmay Mission Bible Depot lathe door on the left has been faithfully sown, amid unusual difficulty and on hard soil: but it has already borne fruit, and is going to bear more. During the progress of this work three great needs have become manifest, even urgent. They are: (1) The purchase and production of good tract matter for Jewish readers, with a view to a much wider distribution, to follow up the countless cases where the Scriptures have gone before. (2) A home or temporary shelter, or hospiz, for Jewish converts, often thrown out of employment and rejected by their friends at a moment's notice, sometimes even in personal peril, and who need a roof and Christian influence until they can earn their own livelihood or even after. (3) A wider extension of the system of mission depots, which have proved and are proving such a valuable opportunity of witness for Christ to the Jews of Russia and Russian Poland.
If it be realized that the true starting-point of missions is the mission to the Jews, we naturally inquire as we look over the world, Where is the greatest number of Jews and where the greatest need? The answer to both these questions is, In Russia. I believe that Jewish Russia is also the place or greatest opportunity along the lines described.
.. On the first day of my arrival in New York last summer, when I found my way to a small Jewish mission on the East Side, the first man I met was a Jew from WHna, brought to Christ in the mission depot there the previous year.
"WHAT MEANETH THIS?"
A LETTER FROM THE SCENES OF REVIVAL IN WALES BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Such is the common question of those who are personal spectators of that remarkable movement now in progress in Wales.
Nothing at all parallel to it has been witnessed in at least a half century. We had read much of the reports of it now found even in the daily press, and through private correspondence; but a week's study of these phenomena, on the ground, and in the very heart of this awakening, has produced far deeper impressions of God's wonder working.
Perhaps the most emphatic feature of the whole movement is that it is so manifestly_ of God. It pertains to the 8upernat1tral. The "bush" is common, but the" fire" is not; and one" turns aside," like Moses, "to see this great sight," and unconsciously removes the shoes of irreverent criticism, feeling that he is on holy ground. There is about this quickening of a whole community something quite out of the ordinary lines; in fact, it is more than extraordinary; it is marked by Divine signs. Even Pharaoh's magicians would say, "This is the finger of God," as do hundreds of observers who are not reverent by habit or spiritual in insight.
For example, the spontaneity of this outburst of revival ardor and fervor puts upon it a peculiar stamp. This fire was not kindled by man; it fell, like that on Carmel, from above, and when and where it was not looked for or prepared for. No doubt there had been individual seeking after God, and supplication for blessing. Not a few, who had mourned the present alarming state of "religion." both the low state of faith and of life, had cried to God: "It is time for Thee, o Lord, to work, for they have made void Thy law." But no fuel had been gathered and no spark had been kindled by man that account for such a sudden, swiftly spreading, and resistless a Harne. The Lord suddenly came to His temple. The natural was set afire by the supernatural, and the beholders stood aside in awe, as they do still, before unmistakable signals of His presenqe and power. Surely it is no accident that, at a time when the snpernatural seems discounted if not denied, there should be such an answer from above to the challenge.
There is also a 80vereignity of grace manifest in this movement. It is the wind of God, blowing where it listeth. Man can neither command nor control it. It blew from a most unexpected quarter, and no one can prophesy its further course. Never have we seen any quickening of spiritual life so independent of ordinary method. Some revivals are overburdened with organization; their method is so manifest and so multiplied that men are prone to exalt the machinery
"WHAT MEANETH THIS?"
and depreciate the motive power. But here there has been absolutely no machinery of organization. There is no proper leader. When any man or woman is conspicuous it is mostly because the newspapers focus attention on some individual; but the same wonder working will be found where no such leader is found. There has been rather a deficiency of preaching, and, in fact, the "clergy," so called, have been conspicuously absent from the movement, not outside of it so much as observers of it-not its originators so much as its participators. It began and has advanced mostly throngh lay agencies.
The democracy of this revival strikes everyone. God has laid hold of the people-of all flesh. The sons and the daughters prophesy. The young men see visions. Servants and handmaids have outpoured on them the Spirit, and they testify. This is a quickening of the common folk through those who belong to themselves. It is not a case of working through the fittest instruments, but through what man would call more unfit; not in chosen vessels of gold and silver, but common pottery of earth, that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us. 'rhe most unlikely things have happened. And so deep do we find this impression that not a few interpret this as the beginning of the latter rain, when, as in the former rain, the Spirit was poured out on all believers, He is now to be outpoured" on alljlesh." However this may be, the stream quitely overflows its ordinary channels and transcends all "clerical" boundaries. It is not from the pulpit so much as from the pew t.hat the revival fires kindle and spread.
There is order in confusion. No one can tell what course a meeting will take. An exhortation, or even a sermon, may at any point be interru pted by song or prayer, and it is not thought of as disorderly 01' something to be checked. The writer was speaking at a convention in Pontypridd, and a simple reference to the overcoming power of Ohrist set the whole audience to singing in Welsh, "March on, 0 conquering Ohrist I" and the" interruption" lasted ten minutes, nor would we have checked it if we could. At another time the speaker was slightly a1tering a familiar chorus to suit his theme-the power of Ohrist to give deliverance from bondage to sin- "I do believe, I will believe That He prevails for me, And, seated on the throne of God, Gives me the victory!"
when again the whole audience took up this new version of the chorus at once of their own accord, and for perhaps fifteen minutes continued to sing it, rising to their feet en masse j and again the speaker waited till this outburst of song subsided before he could complete his address.
Sometimes two or more will begin to speak, or pray, or sing at the same instant, and,_for a moment or two, there are conflicting tides meeting, but one prevails and the rest subside, or, rather, obey the prevailing current, and make it mightier and more voluminous. In no meeting have we yet seen any need of human leadership. At Rhos, where we attended three meetings, the pastor of the church sat quietly at the table before a crowded house, doing nothing but listening. Not a moment passed in silence; there were successive outbursts of song, or prayer, or testimony, but no one was called on. 'rhere was no distinction of age or sex. Young and old, high and low, male and female–all were one in Christ Jesus. One boy of ten or eleven rose and sang a solo, the burden of which was" I have chosen Jesus forever," and as quietly gave place to a woman who first sang and then prayed; and it is quite noticeable how all such solo singing quite uniformly merges into prayer at last.
This revival is very remarkable for its high tide of prayer and song. Prominent as praying is, the singing is even more prevailing. It reminds one of Paul's words to the Ephesians and Colossians as to "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in the heart, and making melody in the heart to the Lord." This, in Ephesians v: 18, 19, he connects with being "filled with the spirit," as, in chapter vi: 18, 19, it is connected with "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." This work in Wales impresses us as conspicuous for this combination of spiritual praying and spiritual singing. In not a few cases the revival has been floated to new districts on waves of song, young people being moved to go to outlying districts on this mission. And the Welsh hymns, embodying such a full Gospel, have been the means of carrying into thousands of hearts the truth ordinarily borne upon the preacher's words. No doubt we have not yet fully waked up to the spiritual power of evangelical psalmody.
The beloved pastor, Frank H. White, gives the following interesting incident: A single verse which hangs on the wall of a nobleman's study in London has a remarkable history, and has, in notable instances, been blessed of God to conversion. It was originally composed by Dr. Valpy, the eminent Greek scholar and author, who, converted late in life, wrote this verse as a confession of faith: " In peace let me resign my breath, And Thy salvation see; My sins deserve eternal death, But Jesus died for me."
Dr. Marsh, visiting Lord Roden, and holding a Bible reading, mentioned Dr. Valpy's conversion, and recited this verse. Lord Roden, particularly struck with the lines, wrote them out, and affixed them to the
wall. Among other visitors at his house were many old army officers, one of whom was General Taylor, who served under Wellington at Waterloo. He had not, at that time, thought much on the subject of religion, and avoidpd all discussion of it. But soon after the paper was hung up he went into the study, and his eyes rested for a few moments upon the verse. Later in the day Lord Roden found the general stand- ing before the paper and intently reading it, and, at another visit, he noticed tbat whenever General Taylor was in the room his eyes rested on that verse. "Why, general," said he, .. you will soon know that verse by heart." "I know it now by beart," replied he, with much feel- ing. A great change came over his spirit and life, and no one intimately acquainted with him could doubt its reality. During two years his let- ters to Lord Roden always concluded by quoting Dr. Valpy's verse. When, at the end of that time, he departed in peace his last words were those he had so learned to love.
A young relative of Lord Roden, an officer in the Crimea, also saw this verse, but turned carelessly away. Some montbs later intelligence was received that he was suffering from pulmonary disease, and was desirous of seeing Lord Roden without delay. As he entered the sickroom the dying man stretched out both hands, at the same time repeating the simple lines: " 'In peace let me resign my breath, And Thy salvation see; My sins deserve eternal death, But Jesus died for me.'
"They have been," he said, "God's message of peace and comfort to my heart in this illness, when brought to my memory, after days of darkness and distress, by the Holy Ghost the Comforter."
This beautiful incident we give in full for the sake of its valuable lesson. It shows how much converting, saving truth may be embodied and conveyed in one short verse, and repeatedly in this visit to Wales the deep conviction has been borne in upon the mind that, however valuable formal discourse may be, the vital truths. of salvation may be and are brought home to the soul, often in a moment, by psalmody and hymnody, pregnant and instinct with Gospel truth and spirit. He who writes such hymns as Oharles Wesley probably, in the long run, serves the Ohurch as nobly as he who preaches sermons like John Wesley. Let us make more of sacred s.ong.
But the crowning proof that this revival is God's own working is its ethical results. Oonfessions of sin are to be heard at every meeting; reconciliations are daily taking place after long alienation; there is restitution for wrong, reparation for injury, payment of debts already outlawed, and a general adjustment of relations that have been far from normal and harmonious. This revival is already a reformation. One factory owner says his workshops have in a fortnight been turned from a gate of hell into a door of heaven, the cursing, drinking, lust, and violence being utterly dis-
placed by prayer and song and soberness and peace. Paul shows in Ephesians V. that the filling of the Spirit will be followed by a new family and social order-husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, coming into new and true relations to each other and to God. And nothing more stamps this Welsh work as of God with His own seal than the unprecedented way in which "envying and strife, confusion and every evil work," disappear before the new spiritual rain from above. Instead of the thorn and brier, come up the fir and myrtle tree-" the planting of the Lord," His own" everlasting sign."
The greatest lesson of all that this work of God is teaching us is that prayer is the omnipotent remedy for all evils that afflict the Church and the world. No human being dares to claim any credit for this work. In tracing the stream, we seem to find countless tributaries which empty into it. When we think we may have found the very fountain, we find other springs elsewhere that have been pouring their streams into the same channel. The fact is that there has been a celestial rain and it has filled many springs. Many have been God's praying ones, and He is the answerer of prayer. " Let us pray," and we shall see greater things than these.
IN SEARCH OF A NEW MISSION STATION SOME THRILLING EXPERIENCES ON A JOURNEY IN CENTRAL AFRICA BY W. H. LESLIE, M.D., MBANZA MANTEKE, KONGO STATE Missionary of the American Baptist Missionary Union About four hundred years ago a powerful tribe called the" Ayacca" or " Mayaka," from the interior, swept over tho Cataract and lower Kongo districts unchecked until they reached the shores of the Atlantic. Even the fortified oity of San Salvador, which had at that time had reached its highest degree of civilization under the Portugese, surrendered before this savage horde. They afterward returned to their own country, in the valley of the Kuangu River. More than twenty years ago Charles E. Ingham, one of our early missionaries, attempted to reach this people, but after covering less than one-third the distance his carriers deserted, and left him with no alternative but to return. Since that time no attempt has been made to reaoh this neglected district, until we started, last August, with a small caravan of ten men and two native evangelists.
Four years ago, while in a district five days east of Mballza Manleke, I met a large caravan bringing the infamous rubber tax to the State post. They had come from the borders of the Mayaka conntry, and were so interested in the Gospel that they begged me to come and make it known among their people. We left home Oil August
IN SEARCH OF A NEW MISSION STATION
18th. The missionary on whose company I had counted found it im· possible to leave his work, so I was compelled to go alone. September 1st found us at Tumba Mani, the State post on the western boundary of the Kuangu District. Wishing to leave the through caravan route to the east, that we might visit the country to the north, we obtained a guide from Kinzamba, the State post two days east of Tumba Mani. At Kinzamba we found a punitive expedition of abont one hundred solc1iersdrawn from all Central Africa. They were in command of a white officer, and were en route for the district of a turbulent Mayaka chief who recently had murdered two State couriers. Warned against entering this chief's territory, we traveled two and half days northeast of Kinzamba, when we reached the most easterly out-station of Kifua, one of onr American Baptist Missionary Union mission centers. Thence returning through the fertile valley of the Mbombo, we passed through numerous small villages, telling the Gospel story to all who would listen. Evenings, after the day's weary march through the burning tropical heat, the Christian carriers gathered about the campfire, and we sang the sweet old Gospel songs. The more fearless villagers drew near into the circle of light, the timid remaining in the outer circle of gloom, but quite near enough to catch every word spoken or sung, and often when our invitations were unheeded the singing lured them from their hiding-places.
All the people among whom we journeyed spoke the name of the Mayaka with fear and awe. Nothing seemed to be known of their
language or customs, altho at times we were within It few hours of their borders, but wonderful stories of their numbers and prowess were told us. An abrupt descent of about one thousand feet brought us again to the main caravan road, which we followed two days to the east. No villages were seen, but numerous well-beaten cross-paths indicated a considerable population in that region which is occupied by a tribe called the Zombos, said to be no less fierce than the Mayakas. A Mayaka chief not long since, wishing one of our missionaries to visit his territory, sent as a pledge of safety his tall hat, the sign of his chieftainship, among the other decorations of which were eleven human ears-grim symbols of his power and glory.
Many towns in this district had been entirely deserted, the people having crossed the Portuguese boundary, a few hours to the south. At one place about forty grass huts, recently deserted, were seen, hideous fetishes solemnly guarding their doors. Some petty palaver with the Kongo State official was responsible for this exodus, the people choosing to be houseless.. homeless, and hungry in preference to the justice (?) they would probably have received. The beginning of the fourth week found ns really on the border of the coveted country, and we camped just beyond the spot where the State couriers had been murdered, freshly cut young trees nsed in blocking the path indicating the place. For several days we had bought no food, owing to the absence of people along our road; so when the guide told us of a Mayaka village only an hour ahead, we sent him with one of the evangelists to purchase needed supplies. Comparative safety exists along the caravan route, but danger awaits the stranger who leaves it in this district. The people were on the alert, having heard of the coming of the punitive expedition; so, as we afterward learned, every path was guarded by armed men secreted in the tall grass and jungle. When the evangelist and guide turneu aside to enter the village, they were surrounded by an angry mob of armed savages, and detained while the women hastily carried what provision they could gather into the large baskets on their backs to places of safety in the jungle, dragging pigs and babies with them in their flight. When the men tried to explain that they were of a peacefu'l expedition en route to explore the territory south of the Portuguese boundary, they were derided and charged with being State spies. They tried to buy food, but it was refused, and they were hurried back to the main path.
All that night we heard the beating of the alarm-drums far and near, calling the warriors to arms to resist the invasion. To retrace our steps would have confirmed their suspicions of us; so we decided to go forward, altho our guide utterly refused to accompany us, and some of our own men were trembling with fear. With orders to march in close file, without sign of fear, we left the State path for the one where the men were hostilely received the night before. All was
IN SEARCH OJj' A NEW MISSION STATION
deathly still; not a sign of human occupation appeared till we turned to cross the ravine, beyond which, hidden among the trees, lay the village of the great chief, when all but naked warriors from behind us called loudly to those before, guarding the village, warning them of our approach. Leaving the carriers, I returned, unarmed, to par- ley with these fellows, while others came thronging up from the ravine, armed with fearful-looking knives, spears, bows and arrows, and guns. I explained to them that I was not a State officer, but a traveler passing through their country to the south. They were first convinced that we were not government people by our not speaking the "pidgin" Fiote used everywhere by State men. To our great delight, these people spoke a dialect so similar to our own that we found no difficulty in communicating one with another. They yolunteered to show us the way, and conducted us to a then deserted village some distance farther on. They sold us some food and gave us much more. We passed on through other villages, encountering the same armed opposition, but usually receiving overtures of peace and friendship before leaving.
After following a path to the southeast some distance, we retraced our steps to the village where we were first received, since the route we wished to follow lay to the southwest. Here we pitched the tent. The women were slowly returning to their deserted homes with their possessions. That night the people gathered and listened most attentively to the Gospel message as told by the native evangelist and myself, and were greatly interested in the wonderful salvation of which they were hearing for the first time. A remarkable degree of confidence in us was manifested by their taking medicine internallya thing we have never known in a Kongo tribe until the white man has been many months, sometimes years, among them. '1'he following morning, after traveling some distance toward the southwest, we came to the village of the great chief Nlele, who received us in a friendly manner, exchanged presents, and afterward took medicine, as also did such of his wives and children as were needing medical attention. He sent guides to take us to the confines of his territory, beyond the Portuguese boundary. This great tribe, ruled over by a number of powerful chiefs, extends at least seven days from north to south. The Kuangu River lay still four days to the east of us, beyond which this tribe extends an unknown distance.
We had just recrossed the Benga River, which divides the Mayaka from the Zombo country, and were climbing its almost perpendicular bank, when an angry mob began to gather at the top, some of whom descended to interrupt our ascent. Many of them were too intoxicated to listen to reason, and declared that we were" Bula Matadi" (Kongo government) come to enslave them and carry off their goats and pigs. Already they were hindering the heavily loaded carriers, so the evan-
gelists and myself pushed on ahead to clear the way. On our reaching the top the storm burst in all its fury; we were in the midst of a howling mob of about two hundred demoniacal savages. To tr:r to talk with them was like talking to a tornado; onr voices were utterly lost in the uproar. They tried to turn us back, but we persisted in going ahead; so they crowded us from the path, compelling us to pnsh through the tall grass to a point beyond the town. After having held the mob at bay till the carriers had passed, the evangelists and myself found ourselves isolated and forcibly detained.' But for the bravery of two of their number who made a way for us, literally dragging us by the wrists through the infuriated crowd, we do not know what might have occurred. They said that the Portuguese government had advised them that they were at liberty to kill "Bula Matadi" men if they came to their villages.
Messengers hurried ahead by another road, alarming all the villages that lay in front of us; so we were driven from village to village, until evening, when, utterly worn out with the weary march of more than ten hours, we were seeking a quiet spot for the camp, hoping for rest after the nerve-racking experiences of the day, when another large town vomited forth its mob of drunken savages, more bent on plunder than those met earlier in the day. I had personally to wrest my gun from the hands of the stalwart young chief who was taking it from a carrier; he struck me, but gave up the gun. I had several times to rescue our one precious bale of trade cloth, the only thing that stood between us and starvation. They harassed the caravan on every side; the carriers, weak and weary after the long, hard day, were beaten with crnel blows. When they began to fall and lose their load,s, I gave the order to halt, pilethe loads in a heap, and surround the same. I then insisted that the chief withdraw his men, in order that we might talk the palaver, which he did. Unable to come to a satisfactory understanding, he and his advisers withdrew to summon the adjacent villages. Realizing that darkness would add to the confusion, the carriers were hastily despatched off for fire-wood, and we had a great fire blazing when in greater numbers they began to return. On the one side was our little band, on the other glared a savage horde. Humanely speaking, our chances seemed rather small; but the presence of the Ohrist was very real, and we knew we could trust the outcome to Him. After a time a fine-looking boy of about seventeen came with two older men and stood near us, joining with the crowd in their taunts and threats. As we sat unmoved in the midst of this danger, "writing up" the day's experiences, the boy's heart seemed drawn to us, and he came and discussed the situation, and became convinced of our harmlessness. He then tried to convince the crowd Of the same, but his voice was drowned in the howl of derision that greeted his efforts. We then learned that he was the son of the great' Zombo chief, Saka. At the
IN S~ARCH OF A NEW MISSION STATION
command of a leader who stood near us with a drawn blade (a long, cruel-looking kuife), the crowd fell back, enlarging the circle sufficiently to admit the presentation of all guns. The chief's son spoke: " Sika! Vonda! (Shoot! Kill!) The white man has no fear! See, he laughs at you! Kill the white man! Then kill me-me, the son of the great chief, Saka!" 1 sat smiling back at the fierce glare of a hundred eyes, glittering behind the gUllS, but feeling quite serious, and wondered which of them would first discharge its charge of small stones and iron scraps at me and where it would strike, and almost imagining the pain as one fellow, foaming with rage, came a step THE MAYALA COMMI'rI'EE GIVING A. RECEPTION TO DR. LESLUC nearer, with his gun aimed at my chest, his right hand making the gripping motion of pulling the trigger. Several times it seemed as tho the end had come, but something restrained.
Afterward there came a lull in the storm, and we had our regular evening service. The singing brought quiet, after which we read and expounded a passage from Luke, prayed, then sang again. It was nearing midnight, and many of the mob had left, after assuring us that there was no way of escape; so we lay down utterly exhausted, some to sleep for a few hours, others of us to toss and turn, starting up at every strange sound. I was aroused shortly after four o'clock by the chief~s son, who, with some other men, had stayed to guard us through the remainder of the night. They had promised to put us on the through caravan route the next morning. The carriers tried to get away before the crowd should gather, but before I had swallowed a cup of coffee they had again surrounded us, and were still in a very
ugly humor. One rather venerable old chief came to me and said, in no very peaceable manner, that white men were not allowed to pass that way, and insisted that I should return. Finally, when we stood out for .continuing our journey, he said that they had a law that if a stranger came into their country he must give them a handful of powder and a few bullets-a pledge that he would never return, and if he did they were at liberty to kill him. As the pledge demanded was not forthcoming, the chief's son took :the powder-horn from his belt and a few round pebbles from his wallet, and gave them to the old man; but in spite of his receiving them, the crowd blocked the path, and still sought to plunder the caravan. With the help of a few of the more friendly, we protected the caravan and forced our way slowly along the path until at last we left the mob behind us. Our young protector and one of his men accompanied us an hour or two till we came to a deserted market, beyond which they could not be induced to go. Giving them as large a present as we could afford, we were pressing forward alone when challenged by two sentries, who hurried forward to alarm the towns in front. We soon found ourselves in the midst of another mob more furious than the last. Ooming up close to us, they threw sand and dirt into our faces with such force that we were almost blinded. They beat and ill-treated the carriers until they staggered along, half insensible under their loads. No overtures of peace would they accept, and all further progress seemed quite impossible and our liberty at an end. Just when things seemed most hopeless a native trader from Makala, the post of the Portugese resident, six days distant, came up and addressed us in Portugese. One of our men understood a little of that language, and in it explained to him our difficulty. (His explanation could have been made very much better in their own language, but diplomacy preferred the foreign tongue, and it gave the trader an interest in us, so that soon he was advocating our cause, and so far prevailed that the mob agreed to allow us to return unmolested.) B.ut we refused to retrace our steps, which further infuriated them; they seemed determined to kill us. We sat down on our loads and waited for their wrath to vent itself upon our devoted heads or else cool down, while the native trader and the evangelists had further conference with the chiefs. Finally some consented to our being allowed to pass, and again we forced our way through opposing forces. Once when four men stood shoulder to shoulder across our path, with guns raised and fingers tightening on the trigger, and vowing if we sought to pass them they would instantly kill us, their savage, determined faces made it look as tho they would probably do as they said, my boy, lfavambu, ran in front of me to protect me from their gunso I wished to photograph some of these mobs, but the carriers begged me not to attempt it, so I desisted. This was the last armed opposition that we met; but so great had been the
A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MODERN JAPAN
nerve strain that the beating of a drum, the firing of a gun, or any unusual noise in the villages through which we passed, brought back the anxious looks to the faces of the men, and great was our relief when, five days later, we reached the English Baptist Mission Station at Kibokolo.
From Kibokolo we made another effort to penetrate the Mayaka country, this time at a point three or four days to the south of that section which we had already visited, but only one-haH of my carriers could be induced to make the attempt. Other carriers were obtained in the neighborhood, but when ready to start the chiefs of that district forbade their taking the white man into that region, fearing that it might disturb their rubber trade. We had seen many caravans daily going in to trade for root rubber, which is very abundant in that section. Each man carried under his arm a fetish to help him drive a sharp bargain, also to protect him from" the terror by night and the arrow that ftieth by day." This edict left us no alternative but to return to Bauza Manteke and await the next dry season (for already the rains had begun), when we hope to return to the Mayaka country with an that is necessary for the opening of a permanent work among that people.
One more week and we were at home, thin, tattered, ana torn, having tramped over six hundred mountain miles, but "not much the worse for wear." The carriers were sure that they would never again have seen home and families but for the Heavenly Father's protecting care.
A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MODERN JAPAN WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE VIEWS OF LAFCADIO HEARN AND OTHERS BY REV. GEORGE E. ALBREOHT. D.D. Formerly Missionary of the American Board at Kyoto Not a few tourists, charmed by the natural beauties of Japan and by the winsomeness of her people, declare Christian missions among such a gifted and accomplished people unnecessary. Some writers, both Japanese and European or American, maintain that the West is more a source of danger than of benefit to the Mikado's empire. It is claimed that Japan has within itself, in its history, its art, its religions, its national spirit, all it needs for its best development. They say that the Christian religion is not necessary, and tp.at it is, moreover, not adapted to the Japanese.
Many people, no doubt, have underestimated .Japan. A yellow skin has been taken as a badge of inferiority; a Mongolian could not possibly be the equal of a Caucasian. Japan, as a non-Christian nation, was" heathen," with all the opprobrium usually attached to this word.
Such an estimate certainly did injustice to Japan, as it does to a great portion of the Ohinese. Japan had a highly developed civiliza- tion long before coming in contact with Western nations. It has always had artist.s, scholars, statesmen, saints, worthy to stand side by side with the great of Western nations. There is no need for under- .estimating this people in order to find a right and sufficient motive for aiding them with the Gospel of Ohrist.
The fundamental difference between Eastern and Western civiliza- tion lies in the estimate of the individual. It is no doubt true that individualism has been carried to an extreme in the West, but in the East the individual has been buried in the community. Lafcadio Hearn, in his" Japan: An Interpretation," shows very strikingly how the whole life of Japan is based upon the principle of communalism. The individual is sacrificed to the family or to the clan. The son is obliged to marry the woman provided for him to perpetuate the family name and the family cult. Personal choice does not enter into consideration. Ooncubinage and frequent divorces have been the result. Woman has had no rights-" throughout her entire life she has been in tutalage." Most minute sumptuary laws formerly regulated almost every detail of life. No individual freedom existed, per~onality was suppressed, the people were cast into one and the same mold, a uniform type of character was established.
This communalism, with its related sacrifice of the individual, is breaking down since Japan has been drawn into competition with the West. In spite of all its frugality and industry and skill, Japan is handicapped in all industrial competition with America and Europe. As Lafcadio Hearn truly says, if the future of Japan could depend upon the high courage of her people, there would be no cause for alarm, but more than that is needed for industrial competition." It must depend upon the intelligent freedom of the individual," and to secure this" she will have to strive against the power of her phantom past."
Right here is the opportunity for Ohristian missions to influence the present development of Japan. This transition from the communalism of her past to a wholesome individualism is fraught with danger. The old restraints are giving way, the old systems are disintegrating. In the place of family production, with its beautiful relations between master and workmen, has come the factory, with its accompanying tenement life. Labor is bought as a commodity in the open market, and the misery, especially of women and children, laboring for a pittance of five, and even three, cents a day, cans for the attention of both the legislator and the Ohristian reformer. Among the small farmers also, even in the remote country districts, there is much suffering and latent dissatisfaction. In some districts he is in danger of being crowded out by the larger landowner. The ten-
dency of the people to crowd into the large cities brings problems similar to those in Western Gountries. Socialism is gaining ground, and has had to feel the restraining hand of the government.
It is useless to mourn over the passing away of the former patriar- chal system. It no doubt had its advantages and charms, but no system that reduces man to little more than a machiue, that sup- presses personality, and hinders the free development and the free ac- tion, within certain limits, of the individual, can abide. Man is not m&.de for servitude, even of the most benevolent form. The Japanese, no less than his Anglo-Saxon brother, must work out his noblest man- hood in the midst of the antagonistic forces of modern life. It is the work of the Church of Christ, on the one hand, to inspire him with the truest ideal, and to aid him in an ever-closer approach to it, and, on the other hand, to restrain the forces of selfishness that would prey npon him, and would use him as a tool, not as a brother. And the Church of Christ must likewise aim constantly at the bringing in of the ideal state of society, the Kiugdom of God. Both the individual and the community must be in the mind of the Christian reformer. Missionary work in Japan includes in its sphere the sociological problems confronting the people.
There is no inherent or inherited force in the Japanese nation that can solve this problem. The people, no doubt, have been trained for ages in submission, but to endure the hardships arising from the new situation is not to solve the difficulty. It also remains to be seen to what degree the long-suffering and sacrifice of the people will extend under the new regime of greater freedom. The aristocracy of wealth will hardly call forth the unquestioning submission and loyalty which every Japanese was wont to give to the ruling classes.
It is true, the former patriarchal system "required the duty of kindness from the master" toward his depeHdants, but practise and precept certainly diverge greatly in these latter years. Buddhism, with its doctrine of pity, has not touched the heart of the people. ~he cruelty of the driver toward his overloaded draught-horse is of the same kind with the complacent indifference with which spectators stand by while a coolie makes fruitless efforts to drag his heavy load across some hard place. Where life had no value, so that not infrequently the samurai tested his blade on the necks of his peasants, satisfied only if the head rolled off at the first stroke, it is not strange that the employer, under the new system, has regard only for the amount of profit he can squeeze out of his employees.
A new principle, a new force is needed for the regulation of the new relations that have arisen. The consciousness of his accountability to God, and the acknowledgment of his employee as his brother-man, will not only curb the rapaciousness of the modern employer, but will prove a sufficient safeguard against the serious
industrial danger which threatens Japan. N0t every missionary can be, nor need be, a sociologist; but modern missions have a broader scope than the snatching of individuals out of the stream that bears down to destruction. They are to stem the downward current, and turn it upward toward Ohrist and God.
With the passing of old Japan the old religious standards have passed away. Here too a new force is needed. It is the fashion with some Japanese writers, like Prof. J. Nitobe and Mr. K. Okakura, and with not a few men high in official positions, to represent the Japanese spirit of loyalty (Bushido), the ancient precepts, or spirit, of knighthood, as sufficient for all the ethical and religious needs of modern Japan. Mr. Okakura finds the entire cause for the awakening of Japan aud for its modern progress in three schools of thought: the Kogaku, or School of Olassical Learning; the Oyomian School of Practical Philosophy, and the Historical School, reviving in the minds of the samurai the former glory of the Mikado.
It would be unfair to deny to these schools, or tendencies of thought, or to B1tshido, a real force in shaping the mind and the whole life of the Japanese nation. But only self-glorifying nationalism can deny that it was the contact with the West, both in its beneficial and in its detrimental aspect, that called forth into action the latent thought, or sentiment, of Japan. Without the coming of the West those schools of thought would have remained comparatively barren of results. Oertainly they did not produce what Japan needed most: the freedom and the uevelopment of the individual. Without this • new conception the Japan of to-day conld not be.
Bushido likewise contains many noble elements. No one has pictured them more charmingly attractive than Professor Nitobe in his dainty little booklet" Bushido, the Soul of Japan," and in his contribution to Mr. Stead's massive volume" Japan by the Japanese." But a gentle breath of critical consideration disperses his idealrepresentation as the south wind scatters the delicate blossoms of Yoshino or Arashiyama. The real BushidJ was far different, and its defects are apparent. It knew nothing of humility, that foundation of all truly noble character, while it put no check upon the ruthlessness that sacrificed whole families to the whim of a ruler, nor did anything to bridle the erotic passion of the warrior, that led him often to the most shameful indulgences. Truth for truth's sake was not known, the Oonfucian maxim that the injured and the injurer" can not live under the canopy of heaven" was made a sacred obligation, large classes of persons were ranked as outside the pale of humanity, counted officially with the numerals applied to animals. The loyalty, the patriotism, the dauntless courage, the progressiveness of the Yamato-darnaskii deserve admiration; but Bushido, always defective in its ethics, certainly" lacks in the requirements of a twentieth century ethical code." It has an .
BOW TO INTEREST CHILDREN IN MISSIONS
"unmistakable taint of feudalism and barbarism," the fearless admission of Professor Ukita and other Ohristian Japanese. The statement of the military correspondent of the London Times, that it incorporates" all the greatest teachings of Ohristianity," certainly betrays a marvelous ignorance of both Buslddo and Ohristianity. Surely no one could imagine the thirteenth chapter of First Oorinthians to be b~otten of the spirit of Bushido.
Modern Japan has a gigantic task to perform-the modernizing of its national life. For the political problems involved the sagacity of its leaders and the unfaltering, all-consuming devotion of its every subject will probably always suffice. For the salvation of the Japanese men and women and for the solution of these industrial and ethical problems it needs a new force. Some of the foremost Japanese leaders recognize this. That new force, which old Japan did not know, is the spirit and power of Ohrist. God, the Supreme Ruler and Father of all; man, made in His image, endowed with Godlike capacities, free to mold his own destiny-these are the fundamental truths which Japan must accept, which must become living forces in the empire. All that is best in the life of old Japan, including its" ancient obligation to the family, the community, and the government," which the late Lafcadio Hearn claims as insurmountable obstacles to the spread of Ohristianity, will find their place in this new Ohristian life. Its old defects removed, or at least greatly lessened, its old virtues enobled, its whole life filled and animated with the spirit of Ohrist, Japan will fulfil its God-given mission to be the Light of the East. t/ HOW TO INTEREST CHILDREN IN MISSIONS SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THE MISSION BAND LEADERS BY MISS KATHARINE R. CROWELL As one scans the long list of missionaries who as boys and girls gave themselves to the cause of missions, and are now doing splendid work on the field, one wonders whether the Mission Bands and Junior Societies of to-day, with their increase of knowledge and improved methods, will show results at all in proportion.
Probably they will in the number who will go out as missionaries. Oertainly they will in the army of warm supporters of the work at home. By making real to the minds of boys and girls the countries erstwhile known as "hE!athen," and the joys and sorrows of the people who live in them, the Mission Band Leader awakens a sympathetic interest, which, ever deepening through the years, shall help to hold to its proper place the study and love of Ohristian missions.
Many are the ways by which the boys and girls of these far-away lands are made to live before the eyes of the boys and girls at home-
by maps and pictures, curios and stories; by travel clubs and question matches; by games sometime~, for the wise leader knows that the deepest earnestness may go hand in hand with the most bubbling merriment; she even plans for a little fun now and then, for the brighter the meeting the longer will it be held in memory.
Everyone who has anything to do with children knows that the best way to interest them in any subject is to give them something to do for it. This never dismays a good leader; it is, on the contrary, her delight to give them things to do-or would be-but, alas! for her, her children are in school, and" doing" to such an extent that they, their mothers, and their teachers are already bordering upon a state of ner- vous collapse. When the leader asks for the hour of the meeting- once or twice a month-with a little extra time for the "doing," she hears in reply: "His lessons"; "her French"; "he must spend that particular hour in the fresh air"; "her music"; "her dancing-class, . you know." The leader does know. She also knows the deep and lasting benefit to be had from her mission band hour, so she perse- veres, and in time-tho she sometimes fears that it may not be until eternity-has her reward.
Some Attractive Plans The missionary career begins with the OradIe Rolls and the Baby Bands, made up of the tiniest tots-too tiny oftentimes to know of their membership. They pay their" dues," however, being guided by father's or mother's hand to the wee mite-chests. Of course, in these early days the Band is a means of grace, principally, to the father arid mother, but the little people gradually take in the lessons of unselfish- ness and interest in others, and when they have reached maturity they can not remember the day when they did not belong to a Mission Band.
From the Oradle Roll they move on to the Missionary Kindergarten and to the Junior Society, or Mission Band, or Brigade, or Club. Somewhere along in these latter days occurs the metamorphosis from "Ohildren" to "Young People." The day and hour of its arrival can not be foretold with exactness, but it is sure to come, and when it comes the leader is well aware of it.
Generally speaking, the next move into the Senior Society is a wise one, altho in some cases much is lost by it, for under the right kind of a leader more may be gained in missionary experience as the oldest members of a Mission Band than under a poorer leader as the youngest members of a Senior Society.
The Mission Band Leader generally has under her training boys or girls from nine to fifteen years of age. For them a year's study of some one country gives perhaps the best results. "A year's study," however, may mean fifty-two sessions or eight, according to whether every Sunday afternoon is at their disposal, or the missionary season
HOW TO INTEREST CHILDREN IN MISSIONS
comprises one meeting a month from October to May. The fewer the meetings the more careful must be the planning.
Suppose that a Band has a membership of forty, and is limited to eight meetings. 'l'hen there may be five E'tanding committees, with a different chairman for each of the eight meetings. These committees include: (1) Music (five members). (2) Bible-readings (three members). (3) Decoration and Souvenirs (five members). (4) Refreshments (five members). (5) Program, including committees on Papers, Maps, Pictures, Curios, and Mottoes (three members in each = 15).
'rhese committees include thirty-three members, leaving seven for an Emergency Oommittee, who may be called on for any extra service or may constitute an absentee squad.
Suppose that Japan is the subject to be studied. Oommittee No.1 will practise hymns for the devotional exercises, will give as a solo the Japanese lullaby, and in concert the Japanese National Hymn. Oommittee No. 2 will get from every member Bible verses with which they have been familiar as long as they can remember. From them the committee will, perhaps, make an acrostic upon "The Redemption of Ohrist," which is to be the foundation truth of the coming Ohristian Ohurch in Japan. (This concrete example of texts-known to them from babyhood, which thousands of Japanese boys and girls have never heard-is better than the vague statement that the Bible is unknown.) Oommittee No.3 will decorate the room with flowers or otherwise, and provide, for souvenirs, little flags (red 'disk on white ground), or paper umbrellas or fans. Oommittee No. 4 will furnish refreshments (Japanese or plain American) for the social half-hour which follows the meeting. Oommittee No.5 will arrange programs, which should include at various times map-talk, papers, discussions, recitations, tableaux, to be carried out by members of the committee or of the Emergency Committee. A" picture gallery" may be arranged, a "loan collection" of curious secured, and appropriate mottoes prepared–e.g., Verbeck's" I like to work silently." For this purpose gummed letters can be bought, thus saving the precious time. Before and behinG, around and underneath every committee stands the Band Leader, ready to suggest, aid, and encourage, always remembering the value to each member of thus "taking part," but never forgetting that the meeting, a8 a meeting, is to be kept up to highwater mark: the Standard being borne ahead, while the ranks come up to the Standard.
"Rather hanlon the leader:J" Well, yes, perhaps so, if she looks at it in that way. But she doesn't. She thinks, rather, of the resultant enthusiasm of the Band, for every member is "doing," and doing her best every time. Do not misunderstand and do not forget that the boys and girls are in school! The leader does not forget it. She remembers it even in her sleep-the reiterations of the mothers during her waking hours insure that; but here is where her careful thinking and planning tell. Not one of the forty members has more to do than she can do easily-if only her interest is at white heat.
When the year is over the Band will know something about the country studied: they will know that the boys and girls there are boys and girls of like passions with themselves, and very much like them, save that they are not so happy. And if Oommittee No.2 has done its work well, it will be seen why they are less happy, and the Band will feel, as they never have before, that having themselves freely received, it is their great gladness to freely give, for nowadays the leader says with her Band: "We JOYFULLY receive the Word of Ohrist, bidding His people go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations."
Another Way That is one way. But sometimes the leader strives not for detailed knowledge of one country, but a comprehensive look at many. For this, perhaps, nothing is quite so good as a Travel Olub. There are many ways to conduct it. For the younger children it is made realistic by means of excursion tickets, parlor-cars with porter and conductor, ocean steamers (made of chairs), etc. The older boys and girls naturally think these devices suitable only for "kids," but greatly enjoy a personally conducted tour upon more self-respecting lines; as, for instance, when half the membership, with the leader as a guide, "travels" in Ohina, keeping note-books, bringing home curios, and arranging the room for the meeting to represent a time of special interest-as, the" .Feast of Lanterns," or a street in a Ohinese city, giving every possible typical sight. At this meeting they t.ell their experiences, being all the while exposed to a merciless" quiz," which they had expected, for while they" traveled," the other half "stayed at home," quietly reading up for the quiz.
The leader wants her Band to know something of the devotion and heroism of missionaries, and in a "biographical year" they learn this, and more, for somehow in studying these inspiring lives, which are like a tonic to their own characters, they come to have a deep compassion for those to whom the missionary's life was given. There is endless variety in the methods of this biographical study, and there is no surer way "to interest boys and girls in missions"; only, to be successful, the leader herself must be on fire. The study then becomes of absorbing interest, and is, perhaps, of all others, the
most likely to lead to the consecration of one's life to the mission field.
The leader of to-day is happy in having as coadjutors in her work bright and attractive missionary periodicals, and she counts it among her privileges that she may help to foster in her boys and girls a love for the children's paper, which will make natural and necessary the reading of the" grown-ups '-' when the time comes. Therefore, for one year she transmutes her program committee into an editorial staff. "Leading articles," "associated press despatches," "personals," " anecdotes," " poetry," "book notices," .. reviews," are all to be "edited"; also, critics and judges are to be appointed. The source of supply is their own magazine, but it is understood that other missionary periodicals of their church may also be tapped. One item from the daily press having a missionary connection is asked for from each member.
At the meeting the various members of the staff tell or read what has been collected from the magazine for their departments. The critics pronounce upon the completeness, or otherwise, of their articles. The judges assign an award of " honorary mention" to the best" current events" item, and also to the best solution of puzzles when the magazin{' contains them.
Fascinating Missionary Books One ,hing more is essential. Her boys and girls must come to a realization of the fact that of all reading the reading of missionary books is the most fascinating.
But how shall they realize it? By reading the books, of course! But delight in this reading being an acquired taste (boys and girls seem not to have been born with it), how shall she help them to acquire it? Many people like to solve puzzles, and to some it adds zest to receive a prize for correct solutions.
So the leader makes some puzzles, and on a day finds gathered about the long-drawn-out extension table in the church parlor sixteen girls from her Band, none being over fourteen years of age. On the table are missionary books galore and the puzzles, answers to which will be found in the aforesaid books.
Time: 2: 30 P.M. Prize: a new book for the Band Library. The books are vigorously attacked. There is a common" pool" for ideas, and the glimmer of an answer which one girl finds may light up the question for another. Sometimes, as the searching of books goes on, the whole story suddenly stands revealed as in a flashlight. Excitement waxes. The leader stands by longing to help, but nobly resisting the temptation, for the prize has been offered upon the terms "No help." She has seen that necessary books, and none that are unneccessary, are taken from the library. That is all-llo! she does tell
them when they are" hot," and, perhaps, when they are very" cold." Now and then, by a suggestive question or two, she sharpens their wits, and she encourages them all the time, but she tells them-not a thing.
So it goes on; pages are eagerly turned, delightful discoveries are made now and again, until, when the time comes for closing, every puzzle has been conquered, every question answered-save one. "Who called slavery the heart-disease of Africa?" Who? Who? WHO? But shall the ship go down in full sight of the harbor? Never! So some valorous ones remain. The answer is found in " Tropical Africa," and the prize is won.
One afternoon of pleasurable puzzle-guessing or conundrum-solving does not immediately produce sixteen fully fledged lovers of missionary literature any more than one swallow makes a summer. But when one sees an unmistakable swallow, one does not doubt that summer is on its way; and the leader does not doubt, either.
Time and space forbid mention of the varied uses of map and picture and question; for Band Leaders are born, not made, and the born leader does not tire, nor does fertility of invention forsake her.
The leader also trains her boys and girls in giving money for the work of missions. There are still some Bands who" raise money for missions" by ways good and bad. But fairs, suppers, and" entertainments" seem to be dying out. Let none drop a tear for their passing! Happy is that church that knows them not, and there are churches where one would almost look for the walls to fall if the "money-changers" gained an entrance.
The best leaders to-day encourage their Bands in earning, saving, or paying regularly and proportionately from an allowance for missions, believing that better is the (possible) little that a systematic Band gives than many dollars and fairs therewith.
In the donation of the money the leader uses, as stepping-stones to the larger giving of the future, "special objects," of a kind which appeal to the warm sympathies of children-kindergartens, children's hospitals, orphanages, 8re some of these. She thinks of them as stepping-stones only, and aims so to bring before her boys and girls the whole grand missionary enterprise, as a whole, that the very grandeur of it shall inspire them to give of their money to the point of sacrifice, for anything less would be unworthy. To accomplish this she helps them to love" missions" with all thp,ir hearts. Later they will see that in the golden cord that binds the whole round earth about the throne of God there are three strands, which we call" local," "home," and" foreign" missions, and that this means that to some of them will come the call of Christ to work for Him at home; some will hear Him calling to service in hard places of their own country; while others will go to lands far away.
THE SOUTH AFRICA GENERAL MISSION
REV. ANDRlf.W :MURRAY, BIS WIFE, AND DAUGHTERS Dr. Murray is the famouB author of many devotional books. He Is pastor of a Dutch church in Wl'.1l1ngton, founder of a college) and found er of the South Africa General Mts81on. Mrs. Murray dJed recently THE SOUTH AFRICA GENERAL MISSION BY W. SPENCER WALTON, DIRECTOR Thousands of God's children all over the world are to-day prais- ing God for blessing received at the Keswick Conventions for the deepening of the spirituallife. Eternity alone will reveal what God has wrought in the lives of many through the ministry of His consecrated servants, who, at these conventions, minister to SOllls the precious things of Christ. .- My first visit to that convention was when the late saintly Canon Battersby last presided. Sitting next me at breakfast in the vicarage was one at that time little known in England, tho well known in South Africa-Rev. Andrew Murray, whose books, " Abide in Christ"
and "With Christ," etc., were just beginning to wield their mighty influence. A friendship commenced at that table which ripened and deepened. The invitation given there to come to South Africa was God's seed planted by His servant, and eventually brInging into life onr present mission.
In the autumn of 1887, at a missionary convention, Mrs. Osborne (now Mrs. Howe), from South Africa, had come to speak. On the last evening meeting, as I entered the door of the hall, a letter on the floor attracted my attention; it was addressed to me, and from Mrs.
Osborne, asking would I take this ajl God's call to visit South Africa?
Some months of deep exercise of Boul followed. 'rhe matter was laid before Mr. Hudson Taylor and Mr. Reginald Radcliffe, and much prayer went up to the Throne. One evening I cried to God to reveal unmistakably His mind. rraking a book from the mantel-piece, I read:
o Lord, I am like a little child, knowing neither, the beginning nor ending of my way; but Thou being a wonderful Counsellor, I think it only my wisdom to he advised and ruled by Thee. 0 show me, then, always Thy ways in all things even in the least, that I may never miss to do Thy work in due season and due order. Make me such a faithful stewOlrd as not to go an inch from Thy will, but on all occasions to act and suffer according to Thy good pleasure.-BoGATZKY.
A great rest filled my souL I now knew I had God's mind about South Africa. Some words of Rev. C. G. Moore came to my mind with fresh power-co When you know that God has called you unto SPENCER WALTON CROSSING TBE KOSI RIVER, BRITISH AMATONGALAND fellowship with Himself about work for Him, go forward." Money began to come in for my fare, and 011 June 15th I sailed for South Africa in the good steamer Athenian.
'rhe Cape Town ministers held a meeting of welcome, and arrangements for a month's meetings in Cape Town were soon made. Beginning in the small Y. M. C. A. Hall, we soon had to move to the large Metropolitan Wesleyan Church, and" signs following" convinced us of God's presence and power. Hundreds of souls were saved, backsliders restored, while God's children were led unto the rest of faith and the fulness of the Spirit. 'I.'he large exhibition buildings were taken, but hundreds were still turned away. The revival continued through the colony, missions being held at Wynberg, Simon's Town, Stellenbosch (principally for the students), Wellington (the home of Andrew Murray), Robertson, Worcester, 'rouse River, Kimberley, and
A ZULU CHIEF A.ND HIS COUNCILORS Grahamstown. In all these placetl we rejoiced over the mighty works of God.
Mrs. Osborne and Mr. Howe, who had been carrying on a quiet but fruitful work among the sailors in Oape Town and soldiers in Wyn- berg, offered to transfer this to me, after consultation with Mr. Andrew Murray, who strongly advocated the founding; of an interdenomina- tional mission, promising to be the president. I sailed on October 17th for England to interest the British Ohristians in the work.
With a map of South Africa before me, and all the information that I could obtain, I marked out untouched, unevangelized districts as spheres where we could build without building on another's foun- dation-Swazieland especially attracting attention, a country in which God has allowed us to open four stations and to see a real work.
Information, facts, South African needs, etc., carefully condensed in a booklet, were, in March, 1889, laid before such friends as Mr. T.
B. Miller, Mr. A. A. Head, Mr. H. W. Maynard, Mr. A. Day, and H. W. Fry, merchants in London, and that evening, in a city office, after prayer, the mission was launched, and named "The Oape Geu- eral Mission." • It was wonderful how money came in at this time from friends, and, in some cases, from those I had never met. The Ohristian press took up the mission, and invitations came in to visit centers before sailing again. Oape 'l'own was reached on September 5th, and a few days after, at Mr. Andrew Murray's home, plans were discussed, arrangements made, and our first South African convention held.
Now we have over one hundred missionaries in the field, besides a Bcore of native evangelists. In Swazieland we have four mission sta-
tions and many bright native Christians. In Pondoland we have three mission stations. In Tembuland and Bovanaland we have also three mission stations. In Basutoland we have three native evangelists working with the French Protestant missionaries there. In Durban, Natal, we have two native churches and three schools. Mission stations at Dumisa and Ingogo. Indian school at Phamix, for we have fifty-six thousand imported Indians in Natal. In Zululand two mis· sion stations have been planted, while in British Amatongalalld we have opened two first mission stations in that country. Further north, in Gazaland, we have another station, and even another on the great river, Zambezi. Never in the history of the mission has God so graciously blessed the efforts of our missionaries. Mail after mail brings the news of heathen souls coming out of that intense darkness into the glorious light of the Gospel.
In Johannesburg we have our headquarters in South Africa, the mission hall and offices being a center of activity. Our b?ok-rooms there, native and Europeon, are largely patronized, the sale of native Bibles and texts being about ten thousand annually, besides hundreds of Dutch and English, and up-to-date religious literature. Thus, God has developed this small beginning into a large mission, and extended the work from Cape Town to the Zambesi.
A KIS8IONARY AND I!rs SCHOOL AT 1LU'KTA, TOlI'GALAlID
THEN AND NOW IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE
THEN AND NOW IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE BY REV. JOSEPH K. GREENE, D.D., CONSTANTINOPLE Missionary of the American Board, 1859- With the devoted and eminent missionaries who inaugurated the evangelical work in Turkey, and with many others who have been prominent in carrying the work forward, I have been associated in work, therefore I venture some contrasts between the "then" and 'I now."
Of the men missionaries whom I have known, and at present recall, forty-one have passed to their heavenly reward since I came to Turkey. These include every missionary who labored during the first period of twenty years-the period of seed-sowing. Of native pastors, beloved, with whom I have been associated happily, thirteen "rest from their labors, and their works do follow them."
My fields 'of labor have been: Bardezag, to June 1859; Nicomedia, to June 1862; Broosa, to June 1868; Monisa, 1871-72; Constantinople, 1872 to 1884, as editor of three missionary weekly papers and three illustrated monthly papers; and from 1886 to the present time, as city missionary in Constantinople. Three times in forty-six years I have been permitted to visit the home land-namely, in 1868, 1884, and 1894, and on the occasion of each visit I was enabled to give my whole time to visiting the churches and associations, especially in the Western states of the country.
The remarkable progress of the evangelical work in European Turkey and Asia Minor since 1859 is shown by the following figures: 1859 1902 Pastors, preachers, teachers, helpers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 1,003 Churches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 136 14,901 Church-members …………… '.' . .. .. . .. …. . …… 1,277 52,746 Adherents (estimated) …… .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. . … 7,000 411,450 Average congregations (estimated) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,000 8 2 Oolleges for young men……………………….. . 30 Oolleges for young women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . 405 22,106 Boarding and high schools for boys and girls. . . . . . . 2 32,610 Common schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 98,999 Total pupils…………………………………… 2,742 Sunday-school pupils (estimated). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5.000 Native contributors (estimated)………………… 10,000 The colleges are: Robert College, Constantinople; Anatolia College, Marsovan; Central Turkey College, Aintab; Eophrates College, Harpoot; Saint Paul's Institute, Tarsus; Apostolic Institute, Konia; International College, Smyrna; Collegiate and Theological Institute, Samako; American College for Girls at Constantinople, and the College for Girls at Marash.
The total does not inClude Robert College nor the schools at Tarsus and Konia, which tho one in aim with us, have been independent institu tions.
In a review of the past forty-six years, in spite of many lost oppor~
tunities, I see special cause for rejoicing. In many places the children and grandchildren of the early Protestants have come to take the place of their parents in witnessing for Christ. There are now in Turkey not a few evangelical churches, so long accustomed to govern and sustain themselves that they would survive, even if there were no missionaries in the land. We have four model translations of the Bible, made by missionaries, with the aid of native scholars. 'fhe missionaries in 'furkey have now that distinct lead in the work of higher education in the principal cities of the land. In educational lines, and in the change of the religious views, the general influence of the evangelical work is felt throughout Turkey.
We rejoice that we have, at last, the governmental permit to erect in Pera, the European quarter of Constantinople, a house of worship for the Evangelical Armenian Church (the first in the land), organized fifty-nine years ago. We are now waiting, with prayer and hope, for a like permit to erect in Stamboul a house of worship for the second church, organized more than fifty years ago. With two respectable meeting-houses, with services in English in the two colleges, and with eight regular Sabbath services in Armenian, Greek, and Turkish, we shall be prepared to make a more fitting public witness for Christ in this great city.
There are three things which are desperately needed, and for which we constantly pray: The deepening of the religious life of missionaries; a quickening of religious zeal among native Protestants; an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon a multitude of persons, who, tho enlightened, have not surrendered themselves to Christ.
If permitted to witness these tokens of the Heavenly Father's favor, I could gladly say: "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace."
THE WORK IN COCANADA, INDIA BY REV. H. F. LA FLAMME Missionary of the Canadian Baptist Society of Ontario and Quebec, 1887- The district of Cocanada is situated on the Godavery, twelve of whose mouths empty into the sea. It comprises an area of 296 square miles, and a population of nearly 214,000, distributed in one hundred and six towns, the thriving seaport town of Cocanada being the capital, with a population of 50,000. This is an increase of nearly 8,000 within the last ten years-nearly 33,000 in Cocanada itself in a decade. We have 106 villages in our field. The Gospel is only in forty of these villages, leaving the remainder, sixty-six, without any help.
The division of the population by sexes gives 105,245 males and 108,513 females; by religions, 207,852 Hindus, 4,993 Mohammedans,
1905J WORK IN COCANADA, INDIA
and 1,406 Ohristians, of whom about three hundred and fifty belong to the Oanadian Baptist Mission. About 4,600 English papers and magazines have been sent here from the book-room in connection with the post-office crusade. Papers have been sold as far away as Baluchistan, and our city preaching has been so interesting that rain did not hinder nor disperse the people. A circus wagon passing with a band took only a few boys and a naked ascetic, rolling in the dust, holding aloft a new-born babe in a basket, followed by his wife, beat- ing a drum and singing the beggars' song. At the magic-lantern ver- sion of the Gospel for the ladies of caste, twelve women and eighteen children were present. Mrs. Woodburne chaperoned me, as I was the only man allowed to be present. The leading gentleman of the town invited me, a mark of great confidence-the highest compliment ever paid me in India.
Our periodical, The Ravi, is one of the three weekly papers published in the South India vernaculars. If the experience of the older papers is any guide, it may take our periodical ten years from the foup.ding to attain self-support. Even in Ohristian countries the necessity for such a paper has been emphasized by experiment. If Ohristian newspapers are desirable in Ohristian lands, where the public opinion and the moral standards are largely Ohristian, surely in a land like India, where the mental condition of the vast population is in a state of flux under the influence of a scientific Western education penetrated with Ohristian ideas, not always recognized as such, it is very important that the newspaper, the most powerful factor in molding this plastic mass before it hardens into a new set of convictions, should be guided by the maxims of the Sermon on the Mount, permeated with the spirit of Him who taught the true fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man, and who contributed to the world the four unique virtues of love, purity, forgiveness, and humility as no other ever did or could. Those maxims, these gifts, and spirits the Ohristian is attempting, be it ever so humbly, to realize and perpetuate.
The papers that come by mail, if fresh, are first put on file in the reading-room. This has been renovated during the year with funds provided by the native Ohristians as a memorial to the founder of the mission, Thomas Gabriel, an ex-telegraph master, who gave up his government post with the prospect of a pension, to work for the salvation of his fellows. The papers and magazines now on file there number forty-seven.
Bundles of papers are sent down to the book-room to be given away to bonafide purchasers, thus preventing the absorption of the papers by the bazaar dealers for wrapping-paper. Many of them are distributed in our street preaching, and through the Ohristian Endeavor Society. The papers by box have come in such large numbers that it is
impossible to use a fraction of them here, so I have sent out two- hundred and fifty post-cards to all missionaries and Christian work- ers in this part of India, offering them in one rupee bundles, so as to COV{lr the cost of the freight.
The books have added two hundred and eighty volumes to the free circulating library, which now numbers on its catalogue five hundred and twenty-five volumes. But there are not that many on the shelves, for each book that is given unconditionally is priced so low as to barely cover the cost of freight and handling, and go at once from the book-room to enrich the meager library of some struggling student, or a young man who is starting life with a great desire to read, but with a salary of one or two pounds a month, and a number dependent on him for support. These men, clerks, lawyers, students, government servants, school-teachers, and accountants, Hindu, Mohammedan, and Christian, Telngu, Eurasian, and Anglo-Indian, all join in sincere gratitude to the kind donors of these good books and papers.
We secured Scriptures in Tdngn and English for distribution in our fields in connection with Lord Radstock's plan, by which class in Eng- land give to class in India (postmen to postmen, police to police), in commemoration of t.he late queen.
With a band of four preachers, a roll of fine Sunday-school pic- tures on the Life of Christ, and a few Scripture portions among the pictures, and tracts, we have gone through the streets of the city, and, taking our stands at eight different centers, we have preached regu- larly morning after morning to the crowds of from fifty to three hun- hundred. We will open the picture role, fling it to the breeze at the end of a long bamboo, and tell through the strects the version of the life of Ohrist. One of us would take the explanation, and would thus hold the people from one to two hours.
The widowed mother of the two Brahman converts went to see them after an interval of five year!!, and sat down with her two Ohristian sons, whom she has been bound by her caste rules to consider as dead. She seemed quite pleased with it. Two ascetics, both speaking good English, one of them almost naked, the other with a huge brass collar with five star-points for the sacred fire, came to visit us. I had talks with both of them.
Among the number recently baptized, there are two sons of our late pastor, Jonathan Burder, who are now in the Home for Lepers." Under the peculiar circumstances the Ohurch authorized their elder brother, Josiah, the head master of one of the caste girls' sehools here, to administer the ordinance. This he did very impressively, before a large congregation in the baptistry near the church. With the baptism of these lads the last of that family have been gathered into the visible Ohurch of God. Their membership is with the leper church.
A NOTABLE WEEK FOR THE L. M. S
A NOTABLE WEEK FOR THE LONDON MISSION- ARY SOCIETY The formal occupation of its new mission house by the London Missionary Society was the occasion of a missionary conference of great interest and importance, beginning February 6th and continuing until February 9th. The Conference was attended by 605 ministers and 997 lay delegates from different parts of Great Britain and Ireland. The meetings seem to have been full of inspiration, and the general moral drawn from the Conference after its close was: "We must not wait for the building of another new mission house before calling the next Conference. "
The new building is at No. 16 New Bridge Street. It is a handsome structure on the corner of Tudor Street, and is considerably larger than is now required for the society. Parts of it will be rented for commercial uses until such time as natural growth shall make the whole building necessary for missionary purposes.
The first meeting in the new structure was a meeting for prayer and thanksgiving-at which, by the way, a gift to the society was announced of $50,000 from a single individual, whose name is not to be divulged. At the formal opening, among other representatives of the two other centenarians of the strictly foreign missionary societies of England (the Baptist Missionary Society and the Church Missionary Society) delivered addresses of cordial congratulation and fraternal good-will. Mr. Baynes, the Secretary of the Baptist Society, dwelt on the solid basis of fraternal feeling between missionary societies in the common treasure, where the hearts of all are centered. In this connection one of his sentences rang out clear and strong an appeal to the conscience of every Christian on both sides of the ocean: "If we belong to Jesus Christ, this foreign mission enterprise is not optional or permissive-it is absolute, peremptory. We must be missionary, as Livingstone wrote in almost the last letter before his death, or be faithless to the Lord who died for us."
Bishop Ingham, who represented the Church Missionary Society, dwelt upon the thought of the essential oneness of all the missionary bodies-differences of administration, but the same Spirit; differences of operation, but the same Lord. He showed in a striking way how denominational differences may work together for good. The heathen or Mohammedan people, seeing among the Protestant bodies one name, one book, one spirit, and at the same time different methods of publishing that name, find an evidence of reality and of truth and of freedom from collusion that goes very far indeed to convince their subtle minds. There is a truth here which is worth bearing in mind when discussing the question whether organic union among the missionary bodies would not be fruitful of greater results.
The sermon preached by Dr. R. F. Horton in the City Temple, on the evening of February 6th, was an appeal to adopt Christ's view of missions and live accordingly. He chose the words "Come," "Abide," "Go," as the text of his sermon. His thesis was that without Coming to Christ there can be no Abiding, and without Abiding in Him there can be no Going for Him or with Him, and that, on the other hand, without Going there can be no Coming and no Abiding. "Can we say that we have come to Him, can we say that we abide in Him, and
yet put aside the great commission, 'Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature' ? "
The three words imply action. "I came to Jesus and He gave me rest, because He gave me pardon and cleansing, and made me a child of God. But when I came because He told me to come, I heard Him say, 'Come and take my yoke upon you,' and I heard Him say 'Come, and I will make you a fisher of men.' And when I came, the question had to be faced whether I intended to abide in Him, because it appeared that if I did not abide in Him I should be like a withered branch that is cut off and bears no fruit. As Bushnell put it, to abide is an act.
. Weare to abide in Christ, we are not to bask in Him. 'If any man keep My 'commandments he shall abide in Me.' So then I began to see that abiding means obedience, and the gift of the Spirit results from obedience. And obedience meant' Go,' for there is the command.
If I go not, then I abide not; and if I abide not, I am not in Him. He is going; if I go not, I am not with Him, I fall out of Him. To come, and to abide, and not to go; to come and to abide and not be concerned with that which is His chief concern upon earth-to win the world to Him-it is not possible. If I attempt it, a blight falls upon my life, the Spirit, grieved, departs, the lamp is extinguished, the salt has lost its savor.
It is a great thing to corne to Christ; it is a great thing to abide in Him, but from His point of view the object of our coming and of our abiding is that we should GO."
Dr. Horton pointed out that the missionary is, after all, the normal Christian, and after illustrating the point by the lives of Carey, Henry, Martyn, and John Williams, he illustrated how those at home can be at the front: the ministers by leading their people into living contact with what is happening in the field-not urging the people to take missionary magazines, but every minister becoming a missionary maga- zine himself. The Sunday-school teacher can be at the front in t.his missionary sense by bringing out the missionary bearing of each pas- sage of Scripture. The plain, every-day Christian, who is neither minister nor Sunday-school teacher, he comforted by telling the story of John Williams' conversion. He was a careless apprentice, a boy of seventeen, when his employer's wife saw him going to a saloon one evening, spoke kindly to him, and persuaded him to go to prayer- meeting instead. John Williams was converted that night. "Did not that good woman go that night to the uttermost ends of the earth?
Why, the conversion of the South Seas was in that woman's word! "
The interest of the meetings was sustained to the end. Discussion was had upon policy, upon the situation, and upon future plans, and all who came to the Conference went home feeling that they had been in a sacred and solemn gathering which had opened their souls to feel missions more than ever before. One of the speakers made use of an expression which describes the missionary situation in other places than among the constituency of the London Missionary Society. "We have prayed, God has answered, and we have been afraid at his answer I'
The task is not too great for us. It is we who have not been great enough for the task. In such a case the words of Dr. Horton apply the world around: "The Church sends her tiny army to the front, and then proceeds to think of something else. That is the cause of failure."
Let us hope that the London Society may find a new epoch beginning from this notable Conference.
TWENTY YEARS' MISSIONARY WORK IN KOREA
TWENTY YEARS' MISSIONARY WORK IN KOREA * BY REV. H. G. UNDERWOOD, D.D., SEOUL, KOREA Missionary of the Presbyterian Church (North), 1884- Thirty years ago Korea was, in truth, the Hermit Nation, with all doors tight closed against all outsiders. Twenty-eight years ago she was induced to open intercourse with her near neighbor, and on February 26, 1876, she concluded a treaty with Japan. But still, with a tenaciousness of purpose that we cannot but admire, she held out against all the blandishments of Westerners six whole years longer till May 22, 1882, when the first treaty with a Western power, with the United States of America, was signed.
The Church had beeR long asking for an open door. Her prayers had been long and insistent, yet with what faith may be judged from the fact that when the answer came she was not ready. She, however, began to prepare to enter in 1884. The Methodist Church sent Dr. R. S. McClay to look over the field in June of that year, and took steps to find the men, and Rev. H. G. Appenzeller and Dr. Scranton arrived in Korea in the spring of 1885. The Presbyterian Church at the same time was searchiag for the men, and in June of 1884 appointed Dr. J. W. Heron, and in July the writer; and in August cabled to Dr. H. N. Allen, then in Shanghai, to proceed to Korea, where he arrived on September 20, 1884.
Twenty years ago, almost as it were but yesterday, marked the arrival of the first Protestant missionary with the intention of settling in the land; and truly, as we gaze over the field to-day, we will all say, "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes; blessed be the Lord God."
How vague indeed were our first impressionsI What strange things we expected to see! We well knew that the old Korean law had been, not simply death to all foreigners, but death to all Koreans found guilty of harboring foreigners. The awful persecutions of the Romanist Chr~stians in the sixties were prominent in our thoughts. The previous failure of persistent efforts made by all powers, especially by France and America, could not be forgotten. In 1884, after my appointment, when introduced to the Secretary of the London Missionary Society, his first exclamation, when my destination was mentioned, was "Korea, Korea, that's the place where we sent a man twenty years ago and never heard from him again," referring to the devoted Mr. Thompson, who had taken passage on the ill-fated Sherman as a means of reaching his destination, and had perished just outside of Pyeng Yang. Of course we knew that a treaty now existed which promised us certain rights, but we were told that treaties would not change the people, that it was the people who heretofore had kept Korea shut, and that a small minority in the government had succeeded in overriding the majority of the people in securing the passage of these treaties. We were freely told that we were taking our lives in our hands, and urged by not a few to refrain from starting on such a foolhardy errand. We expected to find a savage people, hostile to everything foreign, and, of course, especially so to the foreigner.
Naturally, on our appointment to Korea, we studied the history of * Condensed from The Korea Field from an address delivered at the Missionary Confer- ence in Seoul, September 22, 1004.
missions in other fields in preparation for our work. We learned how Judson had worked year after year, and almost decade after decade, in what came to be called the Lone Star Mission, without a single convert, until the church he rep,'esented was about to withdraw the mission. We saw how the missionaries to China had been called to plod tediously along without any fruits for almost half a century. We read how, even in Japan, they had to wait nearly ten years before they baptized their first convert, twelve years before they organized their first church, with even then only six Christians. And we naturally expected that we, too, would be called upon to spend a goodly number of years in simply mining and sapping, in laying the foundations, in preparing the ground, and conversions were not to be expected for a long period of years. Before leaving New York I was talked to privately by the Executive Committee of the Board, and urged not to be downhearted over long waiting for results, for, given a land like Korea, many years would intervene before they could be expected.
We found a gentle, friendly, warm-hearted, open-handed, generous people, who wanted, almost wherever we went, to treat us as favored guests from afar. We found a people patient and long suffering, who would carry the endurance of hardships almost to a fault, and yet to whom, when once tried too far, when once roused, the old instincts of savagery seemed to return with increased force, like the bursting of pentup waters (and, as some of us have seen, a Korean mob is like wild beasts in ferocity and savagery). We found a people deeply ignorant from a Western point of view, yet from an Oriental standpoint educated and having a fair degree of culture. Their lack of knowledge of natural science had left them a prey to innumerable superstitions, so that they were unable to discern between the true and the false. We found the people wholly heathen, giving their adherence to one or other of three religions, and ofttimes to all three, yet with no real faith, no hope for the present or future, and no religious leaders and teachers to whom they could look.
We found, however, ready to hand, a Chinese Christian literature, for which there was, tho limited, considerable use, and it proved of much service. We found a few tracts and translations from the hands of Messrs. Ross and MacIntyre, of Manchuria, that were of considerable use in the north. We found a few Christians from Mukden, who had been traveling and preaching and winning a way for the Gospel, a little handful of John the Baptists who had already done not a little seedsowing. We found already established a Roman Catholic Church, which in its one hundred years of existence had had a history religiously glorious, but politically and practically prejudicial to our work. We found also a people ready to listen to the Gospel, willing and eager to purchase books. In Koyang, in the spring of 1888, when Mr. Appenzeller, in company with the speaker, offered the Gospel of Mark for sale, the books were demanded so fast that we had to close our packs and stop the sales for the sake of saving some for the remainder of the trip. A year later, in Song Do, in two days we sold more than a pony load of books which we had thought sufficient for a three months' trip, and sent back for more. I do not mean to say these books were purchased because they were Christian, but the fact that the natives were willing to buy, in spite of their being Christian, revealed quite plainly the open door that God had placed before His messengers in Korea.
TWENTY YEARS' MISSIONARY WORK IN KOREA
One of the first things to be done was to win the favor of the govern- ment as far as possible, so that obstacles should not be unnecessarily placed in our way; but this, without the favor of the people, would be of but little use, and ~onsequently, while endeavoring to win the former, we strove still more for the latter. Under the guidance of Providence, both of these were early accomplished through the labors of the medical missionaries. Dr. Allen's work for Min Yang Ik, the establishment of the Royal Korean Hospital as a recognition of it, and the subsequent services of Drs. Allen, Heron, Scranton, and Mrs. Bunker in the palace, hospitals, and dispensaries, soon won the first place in the hearts of the people for our missionaries.
At the start the results of foreign surgery a.nd medicine, altho of the simplest, were so remarkable as to seem miraculous. Missionary work among the cholera sufferers in 1886 and 1894 also did not a little to break down even the most antiforeign prejudices. Then, too, while mistakes were made, and at times we lost temper and patience with exasperating Koreans, yet our general attitude toward them and the manifested reason for our coming gradually won for us a place in their hearts, and to no small degree was this done and has it been held by the gentle influence of our women and our little children. Especially under God has this been the case with our little ones, who in numberless instances have won a hearing which would otherwise have been withheld.
Then, too, a new and difficult language had to be conquered, and language helps prepared. In this work the French had been foremost. English helps were early prepared by Mr. Scott in 1888, by the speaker in 1889, followed by Mrs. Baird's" Fifty Helps" and Dr. Gale's'Dictionary and" Grammatical Forms" in 1894. Bible translations were early begun, and a tentative version of the Gospel of Mark was published in 1887. A Christian litE'rature had to be prepared, and early the Korean Religious Tract Society was organized. Hymns had to be translated and the natives taught to sing.
The training of native workers was one of the most important duties which stared us in the face, for we well knew that the winning of Korea must be through the work of the natives. Doubting the advisability of employing young converts to carryon this work, we early hit upon the expedient of making each convert. a worker while leaving him to abide in the calling wherein he was found, and thus we have endeavored to raise up a Church of working Christians.
Schools were needed, and the first year saw the beginnings of boys' and girls' schools in both missions, and for these, of course, school-books had to be prepared.
In addition to this, there were endless problems to be solved and what seemed almost insurmountable difficulties to be overcome, nearly all familiar to many of you, and many of them as yet unsolved or only partially so: What are we to do to prevent rice Christians and frauds? How are we to strike the happy mean between too great caution on the one hand and too great rashness on the other? How far is it best to render free medical service? How shall we deal with applicants for baptism? How are we to train, remunerate, and manage helpers? How to carryon our work with no money? How to differentiate between men and women's itinerating? How to get books printed when there was no press and no Korean type? How shall we elevate the Korean, and teach him at the same time to keep his place? How best can we protect from
unjust persecution without using influence unduly and harmfully? How shall we keep the natives out of harmful political complications, and yet not interfere with individual liberty ? How are we to interest, feed, and guide a rapidly increasing body of infant believers.? How to organize and direct churches and work? How to manage the concubine and marriage question? The drink question? Sabbath difficulties? Ancestral worship? Romanist interferences? and a host of other questions, most of which are still left for us to solve. But the main question, and that which includes all others, is how most speedily and most successfully shall we establish in Korea a self-supporting, self-propagating, self-governing Church of Christ?
Medical work opened the door, and it has naturally ever since held a prominent place in Korean missions. But the effort has always been to make it medical evangelism, and I think I am safe in saying that the missionary doctors in Korea take a greater delight in the evangelistic results of their work than in the medical. There are at present here over twenty practising missionary physicians, who are carrying on their work in three foreign-built, fully equipped hospitals, and numerous native built hospitals and dispensaries. These may be termed, perhaps, makeshifts for hospitals, but in them work is done that would reflect credit on the best hospitals of Europe and America. In almost a dozen cities this work is going on for both men and women; as time will permit, medical itinerating trips are taken, and on an average over fifty thousand patients are treated annually. To all of these the Gospel is preached, and the good, both physical and spiritual, that these institutions are accomplishing, and the share they are taking in the uplifting of Korea, are incalculable.
As was noted above, school work was early begun. But with the missions in Korea the aim of their schools has not been so much to use them as evangelistic agencies, but rather to provide a Christian education for the children of Christians. With this aim in view there are scattered over Korea already more than one hundred primary schools, most of which are supported entirely by the native churches. Three academies for higher education, two in Seoul and one in Pyeng Yang, besides several boarding-schools for girls, have already been established. Professional work has already been begun also in medicine and theology. In this nation, which thirty years ago was a hermit nation, we have a hold to-day upon the young which augurs well for the future.
From a literary standpoint, no little has been accomplished. Christian newspapers have been established, tracts and religious books have been prepared, some text-books for our schools and medical books are ready, but many more are still needed; and this year the Board of Bible Translators completed its work on the New Testament, and are now pushing on with the Old. For the first printing it was necessary to go to Japan, and even to have the type made; now we have a fully equipped mission press, ready annually to turn out by the millions its leaves for the healing of the nation.
Some VISible Results In the winter of 1885 the Rev. H. G. Appenzeller invited all the missionaries in Korea to a watch-night service-less than a dozen men and women all told. At that little meeting, as we gathered around our Father's footstool, the burden of prayer was that we might have souls as seals to our ministry during the coming year. Most of us had been in
TWENTY YEARS' MISSIONARY WORK IN KOREA
Korea not a year, and for what were we asking? – Were we not asking too much of God? These were the questions that passed through our minds even when we were on our knees. We didn't have much faith that night; but oh, how we wrestled in prayer for souls! On July 11, 1886, we baptized our first convert in the parlor of Dr. Heron's home, and about a month later it was my privilege to assist Mr. Appenzeller in the baptism of the second convert at his home.
In the winter of 1886 we had another watch-night service, and at this meeting the first prayer that was offered was that we might have a score of souls during the year upon which we were just entering. Again we almost thought we were asking too much of God. "But the love of God is broader than the measure of man's mind, and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind." Before the end of the year there were over a score of members in the two churches. Before the close of 1888 the numbers were more than doubled. And when I was in America on my first furlough we were able to report over one hundred Christians in the two Protestant churches then working in Korea. No mission field since apostolic days had been so wonderfully blessed.
With a knowledge of the openness of the country and of the people, when on furlough.in 1891 and 1892, as I pled for reinforcements, I told of the prospects that were before the Church if she would but enter Korea at once. I had never began to dream of even the merest beginnings of the wonderful showers of blessing God had in store for Korea. The work has been blessed ten and twenty fold more bounteously than any mortal had ever thought.
Consider for a moment the past year alone, and the figures are not complete. There were received into full communion last year, by all the Protestant churches working in Korea, more than 2,400 souls. This would be an average of over 200 a month-50 a week. Truly the Lord is adding unto' Himself daily such as shall be saved. "This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes."
Now, to sum up for the whole Church work, there are in Korea to-day over sixty missionaries, who have under their care 820 and more partially organized churches, some of these of large membership. In these churches there are 16,233 communicants, 11,003 catechumens, with a total of over 40,000 adherents, or men and women that call themselves Christian. This is, indeed, the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things."
Lastly, let us consider the vision of the future, promised and justified by our review of the past. It seems to me that I can see plainly before me to-day a new Korea, a nation emancipated, completely emancipated, politically, intellectually, spiritually, from the thraldom of misrule, ignorance, and superstition-a Christian Korea. I see in the future schools, Christian in teaching, in teachers, in esprit du corps, in every town and village, with academies and higher schools in all the larger cities, a medical college and school for nurses, and in ever city in the land selfsupporting hospitals; an effective corps of native women evangelists, Bible readers, and deaconesses, ministering to the suffering and bringing light and cheer to the dying; here and there all over the land institutions of mercy, giving practical illustration of the love of Cltrist. I have a vision of Christian homes, Christian villages, Christian rulers, and Christian government; and, guiding, controlling, influencing it all I
see an organized Church with a competent, well-trained, thoroughly consecrated native ministry, a united non-sectarian Church of Christ, where there are neither Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Jews, nor Greeks, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free, circumcised, nor uncircumcised, but CHRIST IS ALL IN ALL. I see this nation reaching out strong, glad arms of influence to China on the one hand and to Japan on the other, softening the prejudice and conservatism of the one, and steadying the faith of the other; and thus, Korea with a hand in that of either sister, the three join the great circle of Christian nations who praise the Lamb forever and ever, and hail Jesus King of kings aud Lord of lords. And we, if not here, from there shall see it all, and as we gaze in wonder and rapture, shall repeat" This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things, and blessed be His holy name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with His glory." And all the hosts of heaven shall respond" Amen and amen."
NOTES OF A MISSIONARY IN BASUTOLAND * BY REV. BARTHELEMY PASCAL, OF THE PARIS MISSIDNARY SOCIETY It was in December, 1900. Htanding upon a rock which we had just split in order to get stone for the construction of the chapel, we were looking for the one hundreth time upon one of those beautiful African sunsets over the majestic chain of the Mahuti Mountains. Some one called my name. I hastened down the side of the mountain, and saw on one of the lower ridges one of our neighbors, the son of the chief of the Batlokwa, old Lakonjela, formerly feared, even by the Basutos, for his warlike ardor. "Come quick," he said; and, without explaining, he turned and ran down the hill. I followed him as far as his home. There I found, sitting with several women, two old men, and between them ihe little blind daughter of the chief, whom we knew well. She was holding the old men by the hands. She said in her sad little voice: "I wanted to hear some hymns sung about Jesus, and I said to myself that since my two old grandfathers were with me, they ought to hear too. They didn't want so come, but I took them by the hands, and I rum holding them fast. Now begin." So we sang several hymns, and then prayed. One of the old men, when we were coming away, wishing to shake my hand, furtively brushed away a tear. It was the first step for some of these people toward our regular religious meetings.
Ma-Nhalla, the grandmother of this little child, learned to know God in a manner no less unexpected. One day she was led by curiosity to one of our meetings when there were baptisms and the Lord's Supper was administered. After she returned to her home at the village she was silent and downcast. She said she was not feeling well, without being able to describe her trouble. "My heart is black "-this was all that they could get her to say. Her husban i, the chief of the Batlokwa, had a consultation with his doctors.
"It is a spirit that has possessed her." "It is not." " It is."
• Translated from the Journal des Mission.• Evangeliques, February, 1905, for the JIbs SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD by the Bureau of Missions. .. It can not be," replied the chief, "because a spirit always demands beer and meat, and Ma-Nhalla has never expressed a desire to have such a feast."
Leaving his doctors out of the question. he proceeded, that same evening, to kneel by the side of his wife and to pray with her, for he had learned prayers in the days of his boyhood. He did this morning and evening for several weeks. Then one day he bought a catechism, and, as during his boyhood he had learned to read, he taught his wife every day a new paragraph of this book. After preparing her in this way, he brought her, one fine morning, to the mission, saying: "I can not go on because I would have to go with her. I bring my wife to-you. so that you can receive her into the class. She thirsts for God.'; This was the beginning. Later, Ma-Nhalla became one of the most faithful members of the Sebapala Ohurch.
I said to the chief: "Kathokan, why will you not come with her if the road is good? "
',' It is a good road, but it is narrow, and I can not get through with my six wives, and I can uot separate from them. Oh! I know God will give me strength if I ask Him, but I do not want to ask Him because He answers. You know me," he said, "you know what a heavy drinker I was, and you also know, because the whole world is talking about it, that I have given up beer forever. One day, or/rather, one evening, having drunk too much, I quarreled with one of my subjects, who was also drunk, and he knocked me down. It was a great humiliation. My counselors told me to make him to pay a fine-one of his oxen. I could not agree with them, and I went into my hut, called Ma-Nhalla, and together we asked God to give me strength to give up beer. He heard the prayer, and since then I have not drunk. You see He hears, and because I do not want to leave my six wives I do not like to talk to Him about it." And the old chief died in this condition toward the end of 1900.
The way in which an out-station comes to be formed is interesting. A daily complaint heard from the mouths of the Basutos, living some fifteen or twenty miles from any place of worship, is something as follows: "Hello, father! we live just like the gazelles. When will you begin to remember that we are men and give us an evangelist?" The chief generally presents himself as an interpreter of what he calls "the tears of the people." Some fine day he will again come and establish himself at the station. "Hello, there! when are our fathers going to think about us? See here, your sheep have the mange, and you do not send anyone to wash them; they are thirsty, and nobody comes to show them to the spring; they are growing thin and need salt, but they have nothing to lick except salty earth, which will make them swell up and burst."
" All right; your fathers have seen your tears, and the Oonference has authorized me to comfort you. Are you ready?"
"Yes; we have got a hut for you, and some day we hope there will be a better one. It is a very nice place, with a spring of water, which bubbles up close by."
"Very good; Wednesday we will be there." Accordingly we go, attended by two or three evangelists and two or three delegates of the Oonference. The chief has called together his people, and a meeting is held. First. there is a prayer, then an explanation i… made, and an introduction of the future evangelist. " That is what we
want," sa,ys the chief, and he expresses his gratitude, beginning, of course, with the fathers who live in Paris.
The bravest men of the crowd then remark that they hope that this evangelist will bring nothing but blessings, and that he will not bother them too much about their pagan customs. The future evangelist, who, in his humility, had compared himself with a scarecrow which they set up in the fields to frighten away birds that would eat the grain, now feels that it is his duty to get on his feet again, and he tells them that under the old rags of the scarecrow they will find, if occasion arises, a lively boy, who will not be at all afraid to shoot stones a,t the birds with his catapult if it is necessary. Let him that has ears hear.
Then there is singing and there is praying, and the meeting sepa- rates, in order to gather together again a little farther on around a great native dish, from which arises the curling steam of an immense piece of meat.
This is about the way things went in 1892, for instance, at the new out-station of Mafina. The evangelist went there with his family, at the beginning having no one at the church service but a single old woman, and no one in the catechumen's class but one young girl, and she was his own sister. One day he had the grief to lose one of his children. Not a single man could be found among the natives whom he was trying to evangelize, who would consent to help him dig the grave-not from hatred, but from simple superstition. He actually had to have Christian young men sent to him, who lived fifteen miles away, in order to help him render the last offices to his child.
Nevertheless, the soil was stirred in every direction as time went on.
Ground which is sown in tea.rs can not smother the life of the seed which is swelling within its bosom. One day a man gave himself to God, moved by a reason apparently childish. He had met a great serpent, and, hav- ing killed it, he still pounded and pounded to crush its head. Then, as he went on his way, he remembered what the evangelist had read one day in the book of Genesis, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; and he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Then he said to himself: "Why, that is true; and if the whites are enemies to the serpent, just as we are, it is because their heart is made just like ours, and they have exactly the same needs as we. I will go and see the evangelist." Another happened to be overtaken by a snow-storm in 1002, and was forced to pass the night under a great rock, which formed a sort of shelter. It was a terrible night. After several hours he aroused himself, and found that he was completely shut in by deep snow. The place where he was seemed to him no longer a shelter, but a tomb. With his staff he succeeded in piercing the thick snow, and he could see that the sun was shining brilliantly outside. A bird came in through this opening and fell at his feet. This gave the man new courage, and, without knowing how, he came to his knees and cried to God in his anguish. When at last he was able to get out of that place, his first visit was to the evangelist. He carried a dish of Indian corn as a token of gratitude for his deliverance, and, better than this, he carried a heart decided to follow Jesus Christ.
In 1903, ten years after it was first opened, this out-station had some thirty church-members, all grown up out of paganism, and in that year we received at one time by baptism fourteen persons more. At the same time we consecrated a little temporary chapel, built by the Christians themselves at great cost of labor. The evangelist, with the light of ~oy upon his face, was saying, "Well, God lives, and He knows how to brmg the dead to life. God lives /" and he had never heard how Luther got control over the troubles of his heart by scratching with a penknife on his table the single word, "VIVIT I" (He lives I)
EDITORIALS
EDITORIALS SHARING THE CROSS Even the non-ritualistic churches have felt the influence of the lenten season, now gloriously consummated in the Eastertide. There is a propriety in walking softly in the remembered days of our ~avior's death as in such sacred anniversaries in our domestic life. But what about the other days? Is there to be no sacrifice, no remembrance of the shadows, no holy seriousness in all the days? What about the days at hand?
It is true that our Lord suffered once for all in the sacrifice of the cross, and there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. We have our High Priest, and He has made the offering. But how about His work that is now going forward in the world? How about the self-denial and self-giving of His followers, who have taken upon themselves lowliness and meager support and bitter warfare against such odds as many of us little imagine in the purlieus of heathenism, where the very atmosphere is poisonous to the body, and much more poisonous to the mind and soul?
Does not this call for a continuance of the lenten spirit? Most certainly it does. Shall we who remain at home allow our own comrades at the front to bear all the hardships, and not be ready to enter with them into the way of self-denial?
Count Inouye, one of the nobles of Japan, came last autumn to his seventieth birthday. It had been his custom to celebrate his birthday with a garden fHe in his beautiful grounds at Azaba. This year he informed his friends that he could give them no celebration. When they insisted on coming together, about one hundred of them, to do him honor, he provided no collation and none of the customary entertainments. Speaking to them, he said: "In consideration of the hardships our countrymen are undergoing in the field, I have felt precluded from inviting my friends to join me in the autumn cup of kindness. I have devoted all. the cost of this entertainment to comforts for the Port Arthur besiegers." Is it surprising that instantly more than ten thousand yen were subscribed for the comfort of the soldiers?
We have our army investing mightier fortresses than Port Arthurfortresses of caste, fortresses of lust, fortresses of covetousness, fortresses of ignorance, fortresses of proud and haughty unbelief. They are attacking heroically, indomitably, successfully. Shall the Christians at home be giving themselves to luxuries and pleasures and idle delights? Is there not It cross for all to share? There most certainly is. We should be all one, at the front, at home. We may inspire those at the front with our self-denial at home. When they feel this thrill, when the Church, together at home and abroad, takes up this task of repelling the aggressions of the evil forces of this world, it will be irresistible.
GOD'S GOLD The contribution by Mr. John D. Rockefeller of $100,000 to the American Board has raised an outcry of penetrating force which bids fair to acquire considerable volume. Ministers in Boston and the vicinity have protested against the acceptance of this money for missionary uses. The reasons given are: (a) that Mr. Rockefeller stands at the head of the Standard Oil Company, which is under recent and formidable indictments for methods "morally iniquitous and socially destructive"; (b)
that, therefore, acceptance or the gift exposes the Board to the charge of ignoring the" moral issues involved"; and (c) that the acceptance of such a gift involves the constituents of the Board in a relation implying honor to the donor.
We would not take anything from the proper force of this protest. It is the impulsive outcry of men who are both honest and tender- hearted, against dishonest business methods and callous violations of the second greatest commandment of the new covenant. We are bound to ask, however, whether it meets a real need. Remember that it is not dealing with the question of soliciting gifts, but receiving them. Noth- ing is said about solicitation-a far more dubious ground.
Is it true chat receipt of a contribution to a missionary fund brings the administrators of the fund into the relation of paying honor to the giver? Have we not here a failure to note the profound difference, as regards relations to the giver, between the Ulan who takes a gift for him- self and the man who takes charge of a gift merely as a trustee? Let us not class the officers and members of our missionary societies in the same category with grafters or even with restaurant waiters.
Moreover, is it not an assumption to declare that the acceptance of money for God's uses" involves a moral issue" when the money is paid into the treasure-chest of our Lord by a bad man? If this is true, the Rockefeller case does not stand by itself. Every dollar thrown upon the plate must be scrutinized. and its J:edigree searched out by the administrators of church and benevolent funds.
The practise of our Lord is to the point here. When Jesus Christ sent out his first missionaries He gave them instructions which in those days implied the support of the mission by gifts from men of all character~. Rich men cast their gifts into the treasury, but Jesus gave no hint of revulsion from the act as staining God's treasure-chest with pharisaism or other crimes. The source of the gift did not affect Him, but the niggardliness of the rich giver did. His lesson was not that the money of the bad rich man should be thrown out of God's treasury, but that more of it should have been thrown in. When men, notorious for grinding the faces of the poor, gave Him dinners, others protested. But He did not change His course. He rebuked the short-sightedness which could not see that publicans and sinners are worth saving, and are not proper subjects for a boycott declared by servants of God. When He was teaching men who give money for God's uses the bearing of their own sins upon the act, He told them to go and redress the wrong that tainted their benevolences. But their wrong-doing had no effect in His eyes upon the substance of the gift. That was to remain before the altar in -any case.
Let us not lay upon the shoulders of our brethren of the missionary societies any burden that our Master did not impose, and that they will not be able to bear, if they are to attend to any other matters whatever than to see that holy people only give money to support missions.
A truth constantly enforced upon us is that riches· belong to God, and that a rich man, "will he nill he," can never be more than a steward of what belongs to God. "The silver is miue and the gold is mine," saith J-ehovah of Hosts. We either believe this, or we do not. If we believe it, when any man, whosoever he be, gives money to God, we are forced to rejoice that God has received back His own, to be used at last for holy and Godly purposes.
EDITORIALS
MONEY FOR EDUCATION IN THE ORIENT One effect of controversy over the gift of Mr. Rockefeller will be, for a time at least, to discourage wealthy men from giving largely to religious objects. The dispute will confirm some careful givers, too, in a prevalent but pernicious idea that secular benevolences, as compared with those usually classed as religious, are a safer investment.
This is a risky time to touch upon needs in missions at home and abroad which clamor for attention. One of the assumptions of the attack upon the American Board for taking Mr. Rockefeller's money is that its officers have been blinded by needs in the mission field to the extent of letting money relief bribe their consciences. Nevertheless, braving the dangers of speech at such a time, we must say what we had in mind before discussion of the Rockefeller gift became hot. This gift, if received, is one whose permanent influence will be beneficent, and that to a degree impossible to forecast or even adequately to suggest. It is generally admitted that endowment of universities and colleges in the home land is a perpetuation of influences of enormous importance to the nation. But men do not know that the colleges of the mission field are doing a work of international importance because they are preparing a bridge between Orient and Occident, and of far-reaching beneficence because they are free from taint of foolish philosophies which sterilize instruction in the purely Oriental universities.
As with the colleges, so with the publishing establishments of missions in non-Christian lands. There is neither stimUlating nor even safe general literature in those lands. The general literature issued by such societies as the S. D. K. in China and the Christian Literature Society in India, and by some of the more important mission presses in India, China, Japan, and Turkey is an educating force that counts for progress as well, being read far beyond the limits of any Ohristian community. . It is time for all almoners of wealth in America to see this point. By endowing colleges and general publishing houses in the mission fields they may shape the future of nations; for these establishments are forming young men who are some day to lead in the councils of their people. Furthermore, the mere fact of such disinterested munificence is an education to wealthy Orientals on the uses of money. It deeply undermines the Asiatic idea that the only possible use of wealth is as an instrument of selfishness-of ambition, of ostentation, of debauchery, with an occasional work of merit like a temple or a fountain put up as an anchor to windward worth trying.
We hope that many who have great possessions will take in hand the endowment of these important educational enterprises of the mission field.
THE NEW LITERATURE IN CHINA The educated and official class in Ohina will play an important part in shaping the results of the strange awakening lately seen in the great empire. Now these educated men seem to turn to the West for knowledge. They think on the question, What has made Ohristendom great? Missionaries have told them that Christ has done it. Others tell t,hem that Ohrist had nothing to do with it. These thinking men are investigating. They do not learn much about Ohristian principle, for they do
not read the colloquial language of the masses, which is the medium of a great part of the missionary teaching. They regard the classic literary language as the only channel through which worthy knowledge can reach them. Missionaries in general are not at home in the classic language, but writers of materialistic literature are. So a great flood of quasi-scientific, materialistic literature in the classic literary Chinese has been one of the facts of Chinese history during the last two or three years. This quasi-scientific literature threatens to possess the souls of the educated men who shape public opinion. The ordinary preaching missionary can do little to check its partisan sway, for, as a general thing, he does not know the language in which it is written. Books of general literature written from a Christian standpoint and in the classic-literary style are a pressing need of the times in China. To-day all the official class in the eighteen provinces eagerly read such books_ To-morrow they may have read up all that have been published, and, no new ones being put out, the anti-Christian books of science may therefore be expected to gain the day. This will end the present opportunity for getting Christian ideas into the minds of the governing classes.
Meanwhile there is a great call for men to save souls by preaching in the colloquial. It is only natural that the missions hesitate, even if they have men who have thoroughly mastered the classic-literary language to set them apart for the indirect evangelization that can not be expected to make immediate return in bapti!'ms. Out of some three thousand missionaries, men and women, in China the number can be counted on the fingers who are giving time and thought to influencing the makers of public opinion through general ~iterature of Christian quality. Three of these missionaries, Allen, Sadler, and Cornaby, are editors of Chinese newspapers of great influence. But the time and the opportunity for such work is slipping by.
We make these remarks for the sake of calling attention to the work of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chinese. The" S. D. K.," as this society is called, has done a great work. It now has the ear of all provincial potentates in China; it has won almost all governors to friendliness to missionaries. But through lack of funds it has published during six months no new books in Chinese. And the opportunity to win the day against materialism among the educated classes is slipping away, and will not return again.
In this hour of crisis the Church everywhe.e should open its eyes "to see the forest as well as individual shrubs in the forest." It should find support to offer to this effort to produce a national Chinese literature. That S. D. K. Society needs our prayers-and it needs some share, also, of our gold.
MISSIONARY EXHIBITS A need exists for a special periodical devoted to keeping tab on the new things worth seeing· in New York. Last year, when so many classes were studying missions in China, a suitable exhibit of articles illustrating Chinese life would have attracted many visitors. The China studies have come to an end. but it is not too late to take a look at the household furniture, the workmen's tools, the dresses, shoes, hats, and robes of children alld grown people, the queer kitchen utensils and queerer provisions of the storeroom, and the things queerer yet found
EDITORIALS
in druggists' stores and in the temples of that strange country. All these things are to be seen in the new Ohinese Hall in the Ethnological Section of the American Museum of Natural History, Seventy-seventh Street and Oolumbus Avenue, Manhattan. A broad-minded gentleman provided the museum with the means, and his generous purpose has been admirably carried out in the large and valuable collection which fills the great hall. Any interested in the study of Chinese life who are within reach of New York will find that this one hall alone repays the trouble of a visit. Adjoining the Ohinese Hall are collections illustrating life in different countries in South America, which are also very interesting.
The Bureau of Missions has now completed arrangements with the' Ethnological Section of the museum by which the Ecumenical Oonference exhibit of life in the mission fields will be given suitable space as soon as the articles can be classified, labeled, and the collection somewhat enlarged. The museum will place in its books of information for visitors notes about the missionary societies whose fields are illustrated in the exhibit, so that students of missions can readily identify the particular section they most desire to see. Later, when the work of classification has far enough advanced for intelligent action, portable exhibits from the different missionary lands will be kept packed in boxes, which the Bureau of Missions will be able to loan to missionary conferences of any of the denominations without other cost than that of transportation. Due notice will be given as soon as the collections representing the different countries become available for this purpose. This arrangement will prove economical, and by the use of a little foresight by those who apply for the exhibits, it will be found quite practicable. Since the articles are to be cared for at the museum by a staff of experienced men, there is no danger of the whole enterprise suddenly falling to pieces at any time. The Bureau of Missions pays the museum quite a sum for this service, and there is now opportunity for liberal-minded persons to benefit the whole cause of missions by supplementary gifts especially designated to enlarge the permanent exhibit as well as the scope of the portable exhibits which are to be loaned.
THE GREAT AWAKENINGS AT HOME AND ABROAD The Spirit of God is not limited by time, race, or social conditions, but only by unbelief or disobedience. Recently the good news of the increasing signs of spiritual life has been flashing from many quarters of the globe. The news of the revival in Wales is followed by word of an awakening in Burma; a revival in Oolorado, and also in Bulgaria; again in Oalifornia, and in Jaro, the Philippine Islands; then an awakening in Pittsburgh, and another in Oentral Africa; another in Schenectady, and one in Oentral India; likewise in Kentucky and in Madagascar. Truly we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Ohrist, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the American, the Welsh, and also to the African or Asiatic.
BOOKS FOR THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY THE BLUE BOOK OF MISSIONS FOR 1905. auguration of King Edward VII. Edited by Rev. H. O. Dwight. 16mo,242 pp. $1.00, net. Funk & Wagnalls Co. He gives his impressions of Euro- The Bureau of Missions, in a pean things and ways in a most invariety of ways, is rapidly justifying its existence, and making a large teresting and uniq ue manner. The place for itself in the missionary descriptions are picturesque in the thought and activity of the time. And a notable part of its planning extreme, but Ham Mukasa continand endeavor is found in a "Blue Book" designed to appear annu- ually laments his inability to find ally. An experiment in a small way was made last year, but the language in which to express what present volume constitutes a much more extensive undertaking. It is he sees. He labors under the same nothing less than a veritable mine of missionary information. Three difficulty as is found in expressing general divisions are made of the matters included. First comes Divine truth in human language. "The Fields," in which is viewed the evangelizing work in the vari- Ham Mukasa begs his readers not ous continents and islands; facts to think him a liar because he are given as to area, population, religions, societies at work, the seems to tell such wonderful tales nnmber of workers, converts, etc. Part second presents facts relating as when he describes the size of to the "Missionary Societies," including names, headquarters, offi- British steamers, the distance Britcers, fields, publications, income, converts, etc. Part three is en- ish cannon can fire heavy shot, the titIed " Miscellaneous Notes," and gives a table of important events revelations of the microscope, the in missionary history, trainingschools, recent books, with several feats of English conjurors, etc. pages setting forth the activity of the Roman Catholic Church, etc. His names for various things are Nowhere else is it possible to find striking-Parliament, "the Palasuch an array of facts, in so small a,compass, to be had at such slight ver House"; a picture gallery, the cost. Being in an annual publication, the facts presented are almost "house of remembrance"; the certain to be up to date. channel steamer which went" like UGANDA'S KATIKERO IN ENGLAND. By his a galloping horse," etc. secretary, Ham Mukasa, Translated and edited by Rev. Ernest Miller, M,A. Svo. There is a touch of hllmor in the Illustrated. 108, 6d, net. Hutchinson & narrative and a tone of refine- Co., London. 1904. ment. Mukasa mentions casually With Ham Mukasa's help, we "see ourselves as others see us." having morning prayer with the The author is a Christian who accompanied the Uganda Prime Min- Prime Minister, and shows a knowlister to England to attend the in- edge of the Bible which would put many of us to shame. The author is shocked at European dances and some pictures in European galler- ies. On the whole, however, he admires the English for their kind- ness and bravery.
The book gives an excellent idea of the type of intelligent Christian produced by the Gospel of Christ in Uganda.
JAPAN FOR JUNIORS. A companion pamph- let to ." China for Juniors." By Miss Katharme R. Crowell. 20 cents. The Woman's Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, New York.
This is an attractive illustrated study for children, with suggestive programs and other hints for lead- ers. It can be used in Sunday- schools and junior societies to good purpose. The country, the history, the present condition, boy and girl life, religion, and missions are all briefly described in 64 pages.
1905J GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE AMERICA much: It is to strengthen the educational and evangelical part of Outlook for ,There are 9,204,531 the work that the society now the Freedmen negroes i nth e appeals for a larger endowment.
United States, in- The Utah During the last cluding Porto Rico and Hawaii. Gospel Mission three years this Nine-tenths of them live in the South-one-third of its population. efficient we a p 0 n Seventy-seven per cent. work on against Mormonism has been 746,000 farms, of which 21 per cent. wielded by Rev. J. D. Nutting and are absolutely, and 4 per cent. par- his assistants, at a total cost of tially, owned by negroes. There $23,000 from the beginning. Gos- are 21,000 negro carpenters, 20,000 pel wagons are in use, with devoted barhers, and nearly as many doc- men receiving no salary, traveling tors, 16,000 min is t e r s, 15,000 up and down through Utah and masons, 12,000 dressmakers, 10,000 Idaho, winter and summer alike, engineers and firemen, 5,000 shoe- carrying the message of deliver- makers, 4,000 musicians, 2,000 ac- ance from Mormonism and salva- tors and showmen, and 1,000 law- tion from sin. Up to January 1, yers. Since 1890 negro illiteracy 1905, they had traveled about 5,400 has sunk from 57 to 44.5 per cent. miles in the wagons, in a district extending 550 by 250 miles, making Y.M.C.A. The American about 56,000 family calls in 382 set- Work for Young Men's tlements, holding 307 Gospel meet- Students Christian Associa- ings, with about 37,000 people pres- tions have now 721 ent, and carefully using nearly 4,000,000 pages (about 2 tons) of student organizations. Of these literature specially prepared for the 51 are in theological colleges, 3 in purpose. About 270 of the 382 law colleges, 65 in medical and den- places were entirely destitute of tal colleges, 309 in university or art Christian work; scores of them colleges, 125 in technological, mili- never had had a Christian service tary and naval colleges, and 168 in befor3, tho settled forty or fifty academies, and other preparatory years. schools. The total membership of professors and students is over 17,- How Rev. J. P. William- 000, and there are not less than 160,000 young men and boys in in- Heathenism is son writes in the stitutions where organizations are found. Passing Away Assembly Herald: Large Sums The American Bap- Among the .. Among the Da- Wanted for tis t Missionary Baptist Missions Union, through its Sioux kota Indians there officers and com- are 27 Presbyterian mittees, is endeavoring to raise an endowment fund of $500,000 for churches and the twenty-eighth is its work in foreign lands. Onehalf of this sum has already been to be organized in a. few days. In given or pledged. Thus far the union has invested less than $100,- these churches are a little over 1,500 000 in permanent funds for it'> missionary work, while other denom- communicants, and there are about inations have four and five times as as many more non-colnnlUnicant members. As there are 25,000 Dakota Indians in the United States, nearly 1 in 8 of them is a Presbyterian. There are about two-thirds as many Congregation- alists, about twice at> many EpilO-
copaliana, and about twice as many dren to attend, and afterward the Catholics. So we see that more stoning of her house. A second, than half the Dakotas have been a daughter of parents who were baptized in the name of the Triune faithful to Christ, through great God. Seventy years ago there was persecution, spent her vacation not a church among them. They 'lending a hand.' She organized were all polytheistic pagans. One a missionary society of village who knew what they were could women, and taught a number of see the signs of pagan worship them to read and write. Another, about every tepee: it might be a little eight-year-old, was found to the medicine sack tied to a stake be surreptitiously teaching a serbehind the tepee, or it might be a vant to write, the servant being yard of broadcloth adorned with the mother of a family." ribbons floating from the top of a flagpole as a sacrifice to a deity." An Episcopal The Board of Mis- Mission in sions of the Protes- A Flood A Berlin despatch Panama tant Episcopal of Stundists reports, on the au- Church reports that Coming thority of a news- the canal zone at Panama has been paper of that city, put under the care of the presiding bishop, with power to appoint an that 200,000 Russian Stundists are episcopal commissary, and with preparing to emigrate to Canada. instructions to arrange with the The Stundists are a Russian relig- Bishop of Honduras to send a misious community originating, it is sionary there. Bishop Satterlee said, about the year 1860. They has been appointed commissary. are distinctly Protestant and evan- It is not thought expedient to gelical, and as such, of course, out- transfer the jurisdiction at present side the pale of the orthodox Greek to the American Church, but the Church. Their views and prac- board made provision for an additises, we believe, coincide to a .::;on- tional missionary in the canal zone, siderable extent with those of Bap- who is to be nominated by the tists. For a long period after 1870 board, but appointed by the Bishop the Russian Stundists were harshly of Honduras, under whose superpersecuted by the government, but vision he will work. they remained faithful to their convictions, and are said to have EUROPE increased considerably in numbers. Of recent years little has been heard Mr. Eugene This year, as for regarding the community, but from their resolution to emigrate it may Stock's Sermon three years past, be inferred that they are still the objects of government ill-will. Topics a 1'1' an gem e n t s Mexican Girls A Puebla, Mexico, were made by Rev. as Missionaries missionary writes J. E. Padfield, the organizing sec- in Woman's j}fissionm'y Friend: "The girls have retary for the diocese of London, returned from a vacation whose watchwork was 'Activity.' One for a series of missionary sermons told of her efforts to establish a Sunday-school of village children. at St. Michael's, Cornhill, from 1.15 She had ~uccess for two Sundays, and then came opposition: the re- to 1.45, on the first 5 vVednesdays fusal of parents to allow their chil- in Lent. This year Mr. Eugene Stock was the preacher. His theme was thus announced; "Don't support foreign missions J Why not?" (1) Because charity begins at home. (2) Because the non-Christian people don't want our religion. (3) Because mission-
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
aries are troublesome and extrava- Halle Mission in Tranquebar.
gant. (4) Because missions do no Altho the society ceased to exist good. (5) Because the converts are when in 1847 its church bui~dings a bad lot. These Lenten addresses and other interests were handed are specially intended for business over to the Leipzig Society, yet the men. anniversary deserves to be cele- The Welsh During November, brated. The Danish-Halle Mission Revivaland December, and was the first evangelical mission in Bible Sales January the orders the proper sense of the word, and Ziegenbalg, Schwartz, and Fabri- for Scriptures re- cius, as well as many others of its ceived at the Bible House from missionaries, have laid the founda- Wales were between three and four tions of the now flourishing work times as large as those for the cor- among the Tamils. In Germany, responding months of 1903, and Denmark, and India the bicentethis demand shows no signs of nary is to be celebrated, and Pastor falling off. The following extracts Raeder, of Riga, has been requested from letters which accompanied to write the complete history of orders testify to the influence of the society. England and America the revival. One bookseller ought also to remember the jubilee, writes: "No trouble now to sell for it was the influence of the Dan- Bibles; the trouble is to get them." ish-Halle Mission which opened for Another bookseller w r i t e s : Oarey the way into India, under "Please send these on at once. God. When his own "countrymen Great demand for Bibles now the forbade him entrance, he found an revival is doing such havoc (!) in open door in Serampur, a Danish our midst." A third bookseller colony. And the man who received writes: "I find an increased de- Oary gladly and made his activity mand for Bibles and religious liter- possible was the Danish gove~nor, ature since the revival-wave "burst Brie, a disciple of the great Ohrisover Oymru." Yet another writes: tian, Frederick Schwartz, of Tan- "The greater part of the Bibles jore. The Leipzig Society proposes are ordered by Saturday. The de- to start the collection of a jubilee mand is by revivalist people."- fund as soon as its own large deficit Bible Society Gleanings. has been paid.
What Gifts The cost of sup- to a Hospital porting a bed in a The Cause It is said that of Wtll Do O. M. S. hospital is of Russia's Russia's immense $50 a year in India,. Failure population, 0 n I y Persia, Palestine, or Egypt; $25 in 5,484,594, or about Ohina, Japan, or Africa. Por a gift of $1,000 a $50 bed may be 25 per cent. of her children of school named in perpetuity, and a $25 age, are at school, while Japan has one for half that sum. Recently, under instruction 5,351,502, or 87 within a single month, no less than per cent. Russia, with all her ter- 20 beds were allotted in 14 hos- ritoryand all her boasted resources, pitals. spends but about $12,000,000 annu- ally on primary education, while Bicentenary In November, 1905, Japan, with one-third the popula- of the two centuries will tion, spends for the same purpose Danish-Halle have passed since nearly $16,000,000. These figures Mission Bartholomew Zieg- speak volumes for the intellectual enbalg and Henrik advance of Japan as compared with Pliitschan founded the Danish- Russia, the more so as it is but a
generation since Japan began the men of divers nationalities and difwork of education on modern ferent forms of religion-Greek lines. Armenian, and Protestant-and Hope for Amid so much that have everywhere been struck with the Stundists is depressing in the the marvelous way in which a cer- social and reli…,ious tain uniform type, direct, simple condition of Russia, where the honest, and lofty in tone, has beer:. priesthood are in close league with the tyrannical bureaucrats, it is impressed upon them. Sume had cheering to note one promising more of it, some lens. But all had sign, in the greater freedom ac- it to a certain degree, and it is diacorded to the evangelical reform- metrically opposite to the type proers and Stundists. Greater tolera- duced by growth under the ordinary tion is being allowed to them than ever before. Letters have reached conditions of Turkish life. Berlin stating that the Stundist preachers have begun an era of re- ASIA newed activity, and are busy traveling and teaching in areas abso- ,V. From Damascus E. Curtis writes lutely closed to them for the last ten years. The police take no no- to Mecca in the Chicago Reetice of them. In cases where men and women have been charged with by Rail! m'd-Herald: "A offenses against the "Orthodox" faith, they have been acquitted, or private letter just nominal fines only inflicted on them. 'VhethE'r this marks a real reGeived from Damascus states that change of policy, or is merely a respite owing to the disturbed condi- the line has been completed and tion of the country, the good seed is certainly being sown, and it can laid with American rails for 220 not be sown in vain.-The Chris- miles south of that city, and that tIan. 2,000 soldiers are now engaged in Robert College The number of stu- and Its Work dents in this insti- extending the grade, which has tution was 320 last been completed to the town of year, of whom one-half were Greeks, and the others chiefly Ar- Maan, near the ancient city of menians and Bulgarians, and representing in all no less than 14 Petra. Cars are running daily to races. For two years permission has been sought in vain fur the Amman, 35 miles east of Jericho, construction of a science hall, a gymnasium, and two residences for under the management of the teachers. What the college has done and is doing may be inferred Frenchmen who operate the railfrom the following testimony of a Scotch antiquarian explorer in Asia road from Beirut to Damascus. It Minor: is expected that a regular service I have corne in contact with men educated in Robert College in wide- of one train a day each way will be ly separate parts of the country, established to Maan within a few weeks, and that the Turks will soon have all-rail connections between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
" In the meantime a branch road is being built, also with American rails, from the beautiful town of HaIfa, under the shadow of Mount Carmel, in Palestine, to the tQwn of Leraa, the metropolis of the H auran Valley, and thence to Mezerib, where it will connect with the trunk line from Damascus to Mecca.
Three thousand men are employed on that line, which is to be com- pleted and in working order by the 1st of June next. Cargoes of Amer- ican rails from the steel trust are landed at Haifa every week or two, and future pilgrims to Mecca will be carried in American cars."
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Some of the Rev. F. G. Coan Lady Curzon, and others, have Drawbacks to writes home, soon promptly taken steps to relieve the Life in Persia after his return to survivors in Simla, Sultanpur, Urumia: Dharltmsala, Mandi, Kangra, and In Russia the trains were crowd- other places which suffered most ed on accoun!; of the soldiers and severely. officers who were going to the war, so that we had hard work to secure An Afghan The son of a Moaccommodations. I realize, as Robber hammedan Afghan never before, what a great descent one makes in coming from the West Convei'ted robber chief has to the East, especially to Persia. recently left his Even in Russia civilization is more than 100 years behind America, and father's castle, crossed the frontier, as we finally reached the end of the and made public profession of faith railway at the foot of Mt. Ararat, in Christ at the C. M. S. mission in and descended to the Russia post the bigoted Mohammedan city of with the worn-out horses, shabby Peshawar. He has done this at the vehicles, and dirty post houses, we imminent risk of being shot by his realized and appreciated more the comforts left behind. Then when angry father, and he is himself still we came to Persia, and left all sem- little more than a half-tamed savblance of roads behind, and com- age, liable to lose control of himmitted ourselves to the care of two self when anything stirs his wrath. dirty, wicked Persian drivers, who Yet there he is to-day trying hard seemed to see how far they could to be humble, gentle, and Christrun risks in driving without actu- like. He is, therefore, within reach ally killing us; who never stopped of the prayers of Christians. for a bad place, but dashed through it, and nearly killed their horses by The Plague Mr. Dalgetty, of the driving off bridges repeatedly, we Rampant Scotch Presbytefelt that we had reached the limit. in India rian mission, writes Mrs. Coan went to bed for a week from sheer nervous exhaustion, and I was well used up for days.
from the village dis· Missionaries Disastrous earth- :;rict of Sialkot, in the Punjab, that Killed in an quakes s h 0 0 k for several months there have been Earthquake north e rn India scores of deaths around the mission about April 4th, daily. The wail of widows and or- and resulted in great loss of life. phans is constantly in our ears.
Full particulars have not yet been One whole Christian community received, but it is known that thou- was wiped out within three days.
sands of natives and some Euro- One teacher, a gipsy convert, died peans lost their lives. Dharamsala as he was being carried home. In and Kangra"::"'two cities devastated one village of 500 people the aver- -are stations of the Church Mis- age daily mortality for a week sionary Society of England, and it is was 20.
most probable that their buildings From Miraj Mission, of the Amer- were destroyed, many native Chris- ican Presbyterians in Bombay Pres- tians killed or injured, and some idency, also comes sad tidings of missionaries lost their lives. Word plague among the Kookoo Wali has been received that no American Lok tribe. They thought that the missionaries were injured, but that plague had been sent by their six Rev. H. F. Rowlands (C. M. S.) and goddesses, and tried to propitiate Mrs. Daeuble (C. E. Z. M. S.), of them by sacrificing six goats. Sev- Kangra, and Rev. H. Lorbeer, of eral women rushed up and down in a the German Lutheran Mission, frenzie and wallowed in the blood, Ghazipur, were killed. Lord and after which they spent the night in
dancing and deviltry. Is there any 5O,oeO inquirers, at a very low esti- hope for such, other than salvation mate, whom we can not baptize be- through Christ? cause we have not workers trained to care for the applicants for bap- Is This a It will mean much tism who desire to become Chris- Real Cure to medical missions tians. Was there ever anything for Leprosy? if the new serum more wonderful in church history i' Thirty-five dollars a year will put "Leprolin," which a man and his wife in trailJ.ing to has been introduced recently as a become pastor-teachers, and we remedy for leprosy, proves effect- have hundreds we could train from ive. At Peruha Asylum, in Bengal, among our Christians if we had where there are 600 inmates under the money to support them. the care of "The Mission to Lepers in India and the East," three cases A Spiritual The Bishop of Mathus treated are declared by the Revolution in dras (C. M. S.) redeputy sanitary commissioner of the district to be "to all intents South India ports a remarkable and purposes completely cured." movement of the In round numbers about half a million of our fellow creatures in people of the Telugu districts to- India and China suffer from this ward Christianity. Many inquiterrible scourge, which has been rers in past years who hesitated to well described as a living death. ask for baptism have now made up In the interests of the vast army of their minds to do so. The work of sufferers we most earnestly hope many years seems suddenly to be and pray that this new treatment bearing fruit this year. Altogether may prove a success. about 1,160 people, chiefly Malas, have become catechumens since Methodism in Bishop War n e, January, 1904, in these villages. North India after holding the So that, in the whole district, about 1,600 catechumens were admitted North India and the last year, in addition to about 500 Northwest India Conferences, who were admitted before. Four writes that both were seasons of hundred catechumens were bappeculiar interest. There have been tized last year. In the whole of increases in practically every direc- the Raghavapuram district, which tion. In the North India Confer- comprises an area of about 1,200 ence during the year just closed square miles, there are at the presthere were 3,466 baptisms, and in ent time 2,500 baptized Christians the Northwest India Conference, and about 2,000 catechumens. It 9,111 baptisms. There was also an seems very probable that, within a increase in the Christian com- few years, the whole of the Malas munity in the North India Confer- and Madigas in the district, _numence of 2,355, and in the Northwest bering about 9,000, will have been India Conference of 7,911, a total converted to Christianity. increase in the Christian community of 10,266. The Christian Hindu Women Howmuchitmeans community of the North India Conference is now 47,619, and of the in that in India a Northwest India Conference, 72,222, or a grand total of 129,841 in the Conference! congress of women, Christian community of these two conferences. " Beyond that," says by women and for Bishop Warne, ., there are within the bounds of these two conferences women, can be held, like the one which recently assembled in Cal- cutta. As the Indian Witness informs us: The Indian Mirror sees in the
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
part women have taken in the con- The Worth of The Forman Chris- a Chr:stian tian College at Lagress the most significant note of College hore reports a prosperous yea r. the whole occasion. The editor Its new building, erected by funds fittingly places emphasis upon the supplied partly by the British gov- ernment, and partly from the fees influence of the mothers of a race. of students, is a valuable addition to its plant. Much attention has ","Ve Hindus," he says, "have fall- been given during the year to Bible stady, which is always attended en from our high position because with religious exercises. There have been cheering evidences that we have ignored this deep, eternal the Spirit of God has been present to bless the lessons of truth. The truth, which once lay at the base total college enrolment was 396; of this number 187 were Hindus, 139 of our social ahd national life." Mohammedans, 38 Christians, 37 Sikhs, with 4 other unclassified. He believes that signs are not want- The Furman Christian College Monthly is a magazine of 32 pages, ing of a return to those ancient which has b'een in circulation only a year, with about 300 subscribers. ideals. He rejoices in the fact that An addition of 200 to the list of all the ladies who spoke on the resolutions in the conference were Hindus, and also Mahratis. The speaking, it will be remembered, was at a meeting of ladies-the Bharat Mahila Samaj, or, the In- dian Ladies' Association-when Hindu, Parsee, Mohammedan, and also a few European ladies met and discussed matters of moment and of interest. The songs, addresses, and papers were in Hindi, Mahrati, and Gujarati. Among other things was a resolution expressing the joy of Indian women at the recovery of Lady Curzon. '
Indian Social The people of India subscribers w()uld make it entire- Reform the III s e I v e s are ly self-supporting. – Ass e m b l Y Movement moving for some Herald.
radical reforms in present social customs. At a re- The Gospel A small missionary cent" National Social Conference" in the Jungle magazine com e s an Indian speaker urged the fol- from the remote lowing as necessary reforms: (1) center of India. Its title is Jungle female education, (2) abolition of Jottings, and it tells of the inter- infant marriage, (3) widow re- esting mission to aborigines of that marriage, (4) abolition of polyg- great country. The Balaghat Mis- amy, (5) removal of caste divi- sion is unattached and unsectarian, sions, (6) intermarriage between and seeks to evangelize the Gonds, sub-castes, (7) interdining, (8) Balgas, and other tribes. The freedom of travel and sea-voyages, Gonds are a semiwiId people.
(9) raising the positions of the Their ancestry dates from far-off castes called low, (10) temperance, days, but during turmoils they fled (11) the regulation of public chari- to the hills for safety, and there ties. The greater number of these made their homes. It is comput- evils come from difficulties arising ed that there are 2,000,000 Gonds, from the caste system, or difficul- who live chiefly in forest huts of ties in connection with the status the crudest kind, and in semisav- of women. These are two great agery. In 1893 Mr. John Lampard problems, the solution of which conceived the idea of living among will solve m,ost of the various social these neglected tribes, with a view evils. The only real remedy that to helping them. Great success has has proved effective, however, is followed his devoted efforts. Al- that offered in the Gospel of ready a community of 100 souls is Christ. established, and an orphanage,
with 120 children and an industrial kot, and in the course of a long lecfarm, are doing good work. At present there are 7 English and ture he expressed himself as folseveral native workers. The greatest economy is observed, as is at- lows: tested by the fact thaI; the entire maintenance of each missionary is My advent in this age is not less than £50 per annum.-Rmn's meant for the reformation of the Horn. Mohammedans only, but Almighty God has willed to bring about Mrs. Besant's To the friends of through me a regeneration of three .. Gospel" Ohristian missions great nations-viz., Hindus, Mo- for India in India, especially hammadans, and Ohristians. As to English-speak- for the last two I am the Promised Messiah, so for the first I have been ing women, ODe of the most offen- sent as an Avatar. It is more than sive and pitiable spectacles on twenty years since I announced earth is that of Mrs. Besant, living that as I have appeared in the in Benares, a professed Hindu the- character of Ohrist, Son of Mary, osophist, and laying her gifts, in- to purify the earth of the injustice, fluence, and heritage in the Ohris- iniquity, and sins which prevail tian Ohurch all at the feet of nppn it. I come likewise in the paganism. The" Oentral Hindu character of Raja Krishna, the Oollege" at Benares, with over 500 greatest Avatar of the Hindu religstudents, owes a great part of its ion, and spiritually I am the same abundance of wealth to Mrs. Be- man. I do not say this of my own santo She induced rich Hindus to accord, hut t,he mighty God, who is establish scholarships, and the the Lord of earth and heaven, has Maharajah to give ample lands. A revealed this to me, not on one octemple to the Hindu goddess of casion, hut repeatedly, that I am learning is built in the inclosure; Kldshna for the Hindus, and the over the portal is an image of the Promised Messiah for the Mohamelephant-headed Ganesh, and de- medans and the Ohristians. votion to Krishna is inculcated. In this violently anti-Ohristian col- Unfortunately, such bold hlaslege the English language and Western physical science are phemy wins some followers. taught by English professors of both sexes, who, in many cases, The "Yellow 'Vhile Occidentals give their services freely.-Assembly Herald. Peril " vs. the are much exercised A False Messiah The Mirza of Qad- the "White over the evil re- in India ian, who some time agoannouncedhim- Peril" sults which may self as the promised Messiah, having follow the influx of failed to induce Ohristians and Moslems to acknowledge his claims, the hosts of Eastern Asia, the has how given out to Hindus that he is their leader as Rajah Krishna, Ohinese and Japanese on their part the greatest avatar of the Hindu religion. His latest announcement are pondering as to the "White must have surprised even the most credulous of his followers. The Peril and how to meet it." In par- Mirza recently paid a visit to Sial- ticular the methods 0(' our cartoon- ists are adopted by the press, and foreign nations are represented as "wild heasts about to devour Ohina. In the north is the Russian bear, in the center is the English bulldog, in the southeast is the American eagle, while in the south is the French frog. Around For- mosa is a lasso thrown out by Japan, and around Shantung is a link representing a German sau- sage. Foreign railways, mining and other syndicates, are like spider webs designed first to en- tangle so as finally to absorb Ohina."
GENERAL MISSIONARY' INTELLIGENCE
Cheering News James Stark, of the water. With the water he washed out the nicotine from the interior from China China Inland Mis- of the pipe, and forthwith pro- sion, reports many ceeded to give the patient table- spoonful doses of the disgusting indications of progress, among washings. After this the man sunk which are the abandonment of very rapidly, notwithstanding that idolatry by a large number of peo- a live pigeon was divided in two, and the two halves laid over the ple. In Hunan, the once prover- man's stomach. In our opinion the bially anti-Christian province, man died not of cholera, but of there are hundreds of families who nicotine poisoning.
have' destroyed their idols, while in Two Omens Two foremost facts Shan-si whole villages have given of Good in mark the oppor- up idol worship. Tho the destruc- China tunity in China at tion of idols does not necessarily the present hour: prove that a spiritual change has one fact, the ferment of ideas, old taken place, it is a breaking with literary landmarks swept away and the past, involving a disregard of Western books and methods rush- time-honored superstitions, which ing in; the other fact is a new ap- calls for the exercise of much cour- proachableness on the part of edu- age. Perhaps a greater test to the cated and high-class people toward Chinese is the destruction of ances- missionaries as representatives of tral taLlets, which almost invaria- Western learning. The student of bly results in persecution. In spite history is obliged to correlate these of consequences, a considerable facts with the witness borne by the number of these have been burned, martyrs of 1900, and the settle- or otherwise destroyed, by other ment with the nations at Peking.
than those who have been received Any student of the Bible can lift into the Church. up his eyes and see that •• God is "Medicine" as The following in- marching on" in the Far East, and Administered stance from the re- this is a great hour for missions.
in China port of Drs. Graham Every missionary in China may and Stooke, of well long for new and large en- Ichang, illustrates forcibly the need duement of the Spirit's power to for medical missions: meet this opportunity, and every 'Ve had the opportunity of seeing the method of treatment adopt- missionary's friend may ask it for ed by a native quack. A man was seized with unmistakable cholera, him.-Woman's lVorkfor Woman. and his relatives, refusing our proffered assistance, called in a native What One A convert of the doctor. He first cal.!ed for some Chinese Berlin Missionary native cash and gave some to the man to Slick. A patient with true Christian Did Society is employed cholera is said to be able to dis- as helper to Supersolve these bronze coins in his mouth; this man, however, could intendent Voskamp, at King-tshi, not do so. Then the doctor took North China. Mr. Voskamp had two of the cash, and with them been presented with a large and vigorously scored the patient's ab- valuable piece of land at King·tshi domen until the skin peeled off. by an influential and rich heathen. Then as another method of abdom- Dshu, the convert, wanted to build inal counter-irritation a lighted a chapel for missionary purposes candle was placed over the umbil- upon the property, but lack ofnecesicus and allowed to burn down until sary funds forced Mr. Voskamp to the surrounding skin was blistered. deny the request. Then Dshu went But the patient was no better, so out and collected money from the doctor called for the man's Christian and heathen Chinese, entobacco pipe and a kettle of hot
gaged a few day-laborers, and, leading article in a popular Shang- trusting in the Lord, commenced to hai daily lately urged the forma- build. He was bricklayer and car- tion of charitable institutions on a penter, laboring from early in the more genuine basis than that he- morning till late at night, yet never neath the existing charities of failing to proclaim the Gospel to Ohina. the crowds which he drew on mar- ket-days by singingOhristian songs .. A Christian Hecently a gradn- to the tunes which he played on Man Greatly ate of the Anglo- his old melodeon. vVhen Mr. Vos- P!'eferred" Ohinese Oollege at kamp came to visit him a few months later he found to his sur- Foochow, China, prise an almost completed chapel, was invited to go to Ohingsiu to which had been started without his teach in a school established by tile knowledge. Dshu was putting in officials of that place. A clause in a window-frame, and seemed to be the letter of invitation was to the glad that the work had progressed effect that if he could not accept thus far. Soon after the chapel the position they desired him to was finished and opened in solemn get them a good teacher-" a Chrismanner, five Ohinese, the fruit of tian man" greatly preferred. An- Dshu's spiritual labors, being bap- other student of the Anglo-Chinese tized on the day of dedication. College was invited to teach Eng- The chapel is free of debt, and lish in a mandarin's family. This heathen as well as Ohristian Ohi- student, who was a grandson of nese have been greatly influenced the first ordained Chinese Methodby the steadfast" energetic labors ist preacher, agreed to accept on of Dshu. Thus the way for en- condition that he could teach the larged missionary activity is mandarin's children Christianity opened. and could follow his own convic- tions in the matter of Sabbath ob- Spread of Oolleges have now servance. He was accepted, and Western been founded in 15 finds that the whole family are will- Education of the provincifl,l ing to hear him talk of Christ.- in China capitals, and pri- World-wide Missions.
mary and second- How Two An article appeared ary schools, mechanical schools, agricultural colleges, and police Mandarins in the North China and military schools are springing up on (J.very hand. Akin to this is Regard Daily News in Nothe wide diffusion of translations of vVestern literature, and the Missionaries vember last, entigrowing power and authority of the native. press. A few years ago tled " A Chinese there were only 7 newspapers, but now there are 157 daily, weekly, Appreciation of Missionary Efand monthly journals, in which public questions are discussed with fort." The writer quotes at length courage and independence. Not long since a provincial editor gave from two documents drawn up by a paragraph of statistics concerning Ohristian progress in India, the prefectori&l and country manheading it with the wOl'ds: "Christ flourishing exceedingly"; while a darins in the Anhui province, con- cerning a missionary to whom they would give honor. One mandarin writes: During the past few years, when- ever I have interviewed the gen- . try and scholars, the merchants and the people generally in the country around, they all, with- out exception, have spoken of his goodness in a most spontaneous fashion. And I have been even
GENERAL MI33IONARY INTELLIGENCE
more glad to note the manner in has never seen an audience listenwhich he has aroused the latent ing to a lecture. sensibilities of the populace to sim- 7. The spirit of chivalry is not ilarityof feeling and a recognition his, he does not recognize the qual- of the essential unity of principles, ity of woman. • . . so that the barriers of East and 8. He has no know ledge of The- West have been forgotten, and a ism, and his mind is a blank in re- valuable contribution has been se- gard to all high religious q uescured toward cordial international tions_ . . • relations generally. 9. He does not know that he is provincial and that he is ignorant. Anothermandarin writes of this 10. It does not dawn upon him missionary: that he is bigoted, pedantic, and conceited. He has lived here for twenty years, and managed matters so A Notable One hundred and well that there has been no enmity Ingathering eighteen converts between the populace and the baptized at have recently been Hanyang, Central Church. Indeed, the whole prefecture unites as one in his praise-a fact so well known that I need not China. In writing of this ingath- relate it. He has been preeminent ering, Rev. J. R. Adams says: in his proclamation of religion, both in its details and in its perme- It was a happy occasion when ating principles. the church welcomed the new con- verts, and took the Lord's Supper Such expressions of regard are with them. Twenty~one of the made not only in China, but in al- new lllenlbers are women. Some most every land to which our mis- very touching scenes were witsionaries have gone. Sooner or nessed. One man whose wife and later they are welcomed and their daughters are members has been kept waiting four years because he work approved. All the force they had been an opium-smoker. He use is the force of truth; the con- wept for joy. Most of these people straint ·they employ is the con- have been waiting over a year, and straint of love and good works. each has passed a searching exam- ination before the deacons and the pastor. Some have come through What the Robert E. Lewis, much tribulation; one man went Average in his baok "The home to find that his house had Chinese Does Educational Con- been robbed of all he possessed during his absence. There are Not Know qnest of the Far some wealthy people coming in and East," names these a few of the literary class, but the 10 things concerning which the majority are tradesmen, farmers, average Chinese is in densest igno- boatmen, artisans, and one is the ranee: captain of a large sailing junk on the Yangtse; his ship anchored at 1. The geography of the world a place where there was a Plyand even of China is a terra incog- mouth Brethren meeting. They nito to him. were interested in him, and asked 2. He has heard only rumors that him to be baptized, but he said: the earth is round and that it re- " No, I heard the Gospel first at the volves about the sun. 3. His knowledge of the earth, its Baptist mission at Hanyang, and I am going to be baptized there origin, its geology, etc., is fanciful with my wife."-Baptist Missionuntruth, leading him to all kinds of ary Magazine.
superstitions. Missionary A letter from Rev. 4. His chemistry is alchemy. Activity in George Douglas, of 5. A modern laboratory, a tele- scope, a proposition in Euclid or Manchuria Manchuria, say s even in fractions, a pump or an t hat throughout the province over 200 Christians engine, he has probably never so already have been baptized since much as heard of.
6. He has no thought of ever "speaking in public," probably he war began, and all over a great in-
gathering is looked for as soon as 22 single women, 14 of Whom the war is over. Those who are are cared for by the Woman's passing through a time of crisis at Board, are scattered in 11 stations. The American Board ha:; 48 orhome have something to learn from dained native pastors under its care, with 41 evangelists, and 26 these Manchurian children in the Bible women-a total native force faith, and their bearing in this of 115. Seventy-eight Congrega- tional churches, known as the crisis. Kumi-ai, (Linked Together), have a membership of 10,693, the number Japanese Mr. George Kennan of men being greater than that of Officials is writing a series women, and 91 Sunday-schools, as Bible of articles for The with 3,015 pupils. The native Colporteurs Outlook upon "The Japanese gave nearly $25,000 for Story of Port Ar- Christian work in 1903. There is a theological school with 22 pupils, a thur," and this is one thing he saw: college for young men, and another for young women, 5 boarding- In an unpretentious wooden schools for girls, 4 kindergartens, building near the entrance to the and a training-school for kinderpier we "made the acquaintance of garten teachers. Major Fusei, local chief of military The Changes In 1871-2 eight mistransportation, and were intro- of a Generation sionaries joined the duced by him to half a dozen other in Japan m iss ion oft h e officers who were going with us as American Boardfar as Dalny, on their way to Messrs. Gulick, Davis, Berry, Gor- Liaoyang. I noticed with interest, don, and their wives. The country on a table in the major's office, a had only recently been opened to outsiders after years of seclusion, large pile of St. John's Gospels, in and the people looked at mission- Japanese and English, which were aries, as at all other foreigners, with intended, apparently, for distribu- mingled suspicion, fear, and hatred. As late as 1884 the members of the tion among soldiers going to the Kyoto station received a letter adfront. Inasmuch as Christianity dressed" To the four American bar- barians, Davis, Gordon, Learned, is not the dominant religious faith and Greene." It was signed by of Japan, the cooperation of the "Patriots in the City of Peace, be- lievers in Shinto," and closed as government in the distribution of follows: "I speak to you who have St. John's Gospels among its sol- come with words which are sweet in the mouth but a sword in the diers struck me as a noteworthy heart, bad priests, American barevidence of enlightenment and barians, four robbers. You have come from a far country with the toleration. One would not find a evil religion of Christ, and as slaves local chief of transportation in Rus- of the robber Neesima. With bad sia supplying soldiers with New teaching you are gradually deceiv- ing the people; but we know your Testaments, and still less with the hearts, and hence we shall soon, sacred books of the Buddhists. with swords, inflict the punishment The czar holds up before his regiments miracle-working portraits of madonnas and saints, and invites the men to bare their heads and fall on their knees in adoration, while he himself sits on horseback in a military cap; but he does not fur- nish his troops wiih sacred literature. Books have a tendency to "excite the mind," while miracle- working ikons encourage a feeling of dependence and submission, and are, therefore, among the strongest bulwarks of the throne.
The American The mission of the Board in Japan American Board in Japan has now 12 stations with 71 workers, 2 of whom are physicians. Twenty-six are ordained missionaries, and all but 3 of these are married. The
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
of Heaven upon you. • • • Those strike the Nile at Berber, but some who brought Buddhism to Japan distance farther south, at the juncin ancient times were killed. In tion of the Nile with the Atbara. the same way you must be killed. From that point about 30 miles of But we do not wish to defile the track have been laid to the eastsoil of Japan with your abominable ward, and near Suakin, on the Red blood. Hence, take your families Sea, a large force is cutting the roadand go quickly."-Life and Light. bed through the coast mountains. The length of the road will not be Japanese In the midst of the great. The caravan route from Sua- Superstition bravery of the Jap- kin to Berber is very crooked, and measures only about 250 miles; the anese soldier it is railroad will be shorter. The caraalmost pathetic to see his supersti- van route has been of great importion. About an hour's traveling tance to the Sudan. Before the Mahfrom Hiroshima brings us to the dis t war from 20,000 to 30,000 camels beautiful island of Miyajima, one annually crossed between Berber of the three principal sceneries in and Suakin, but only the most Japan. A number of old temples valuable articles, such as ostrich are scattered all over this island. feathers, gold·dust, precious gums, Looking into some of these temples and ivory could bear the cost of thousands of wooden rice-spoons camel transportation. Now the with names written on may be seen Sudan is looking forward to the hanging all around the walls_ These export of cotton and grain. Freight spoons, brought by the Japanese rates by the long rail and water soldiers and offered to the temples route to the Mediterranean are before he goes to the front, makes high. Coal for the railroad up the him believe himself to be "bullet Nile costs $10 a ton at Wady HaIfa, proof." Also the Japanese women the starting-point of the road. By are active, tho in the midst of su river and rail from Khartum to perstition. Evidently lacking faith Alexandria is 1,300 miles, to Suakin in the protecting power of the many it will be about 450 miles. When gods in the temples, they believe the road is finished the Sudan will the soldier is safe if he wears a owe another great debt to England. sash or a piece of cloth, with 1,000 – United Pr·esbyterian. stitches sewn in it by 1,000 different women. The chief aim of many Roman Catholic January 18th, at is therefore to secure as many Missionaries for a service held in thousand stitched cloths as possible. Carrying their cloth, thread, the Kongo St. Gudule Catheand needle, women may be met dral, B I' U sse 1s, everywhere accosting every woman she meets to help her make up the with the highest functionaries of 1,000 needed stitches by putting in the Kongo Free State present, and one stitch. a great array of ecclesiastics add- ing to the dignity of the occasion, 7 AFRICA English Homan Catholic mission- aries were solemnly set apart and New Railroad The railroad from commisioned for work in Africa. in the Sudan the Red Sea to Ber- Says the Baptist Missionary He1'- ald: ber on the Nile, which was begun many years ago After the ceremony in the catheas a military necessity and aban- dral, the 7 priests, in their black doned because of interferences by cassocks and red girdles, attended the Mahdist forces, is again in proc- a reception by his majesty the essof construction. It will not now King of the Belgians. He spoke
with each of them, and in taking Christ iii! not known. Their chief leave, said: "Go, and may God text-book is the Bible; their favor- keep you. Remember me some- ite doctrine, "saved by grace," is times in your prayers." The the theme of many a sermon. They Father Superior, Martin O'Grady, are fOlld of music, and many a time replied at once: "Not sometimes, when on tour with the missionary but always, your majesty." After the Christian hymns, sung around this farewell the priests were en- the evening camp-fire, have brought tertained at a banquet. The next an audience to hear the Gospel.- day they sailed on a steamer from Baptist Missionary Magazine. Antwerp. The State has decided not to give them a definite mission Y. P. S. C. E. One of the most at present. The English fathers on the Kongo flourishing Y. P. S. will be settled at the chief centers, Boma, Matadi, Leopoldville, Nou- C. E.'s in Central ville, An vel'S, or Coquilhatville. Africa, writes a correspondent on They will be for the time cures of the Kongo, is the society which the native villages at those points. meets at the Baptist Missionary Society's mission station at Yak- According to the latest report is- usu, near Stanley Falls, more than sued by the Governor-General of 1,300 miles up the Kongo. Started the Kongo Free State, the number by the Rev. W. H. Stapleton some of Roman Catholic priests and nuns twenty months ago, with a mem- engaged in that coun!;ry is 400. bership of 6, it has now 170 active They have erected, since 1885, 641 members. The meetings are so churches and chapels, while fur- popular that the bell, which is rung ther accommodation has been pro- for the ordinary services, is never vided in 523 small houses used oc- needed. Toward the time of meet- casionally as chapels. Three sec- ing the people begin to file in from ondary schools have been opened, the town toward the chapel, numand there are 75 elementary and bering from 200 to 350, while the 440 preparatory schools. The total attendance of members averages Catholic population is estimated at upward of 90 per cent. One of the 72,382. The different missions are missionaries always presides, but divided into two vicariats and the chief part of the service is taken prefectures apostolic. These fig- by the members. The society has ures have been supplied by the raised £15 during the past nine Romish authorities. months, £1 being sent in aid of the fund being raised by the Baptist Education Educational work Endeavorers in England for the purchase of a new steamer for the on the Kongo in the Kongo Mis- Kongo mission and the rest spent in the maintenance of village out- sion, beyond that schools. During the past six months 28 of its members have been bapof the most elementary character, tized on confession of faith, and upward of 20 others meet weekly in has been chiefly that of Bible train- a class preparatory to baptism.
ing for the native preachers. Even The Zulu This mission of the Mission in American Board is this need has not been adequately Trouble beset now a day s met as yet, but plans are now under with sore trials and discouragements, and these origiconsideration" looking toward the nating not with the natives, but essablishment of a central training- school for all the lower Kongo dis- trict. It is probable that this will be located at Banza Manteke, since by location and influence it is the natural center for 'such a school, and broad foundations have already been laid in t,he present classes for preachers. Our native preachers in Africa are a band of noble men; they know what it is to endure hardness, and are zealous in reach- ing out to the distant regions where
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
with the British authorities. 1. ISLANDS OF THE SEA Until recently native pastors could perform the marriage ceremony, Conversions Early in 1901, 13,000 but can do so no longer. 2. Onethird of the population resides on Among the Visayan peasants land held like our Indian reservations, and it is ruled that no church Filipino Peasants indicated their deor school can remain upon such land unless a white missionary sire to accept Christ resides in each locality. 3. A tax of $15 is imposed on each house- as their Savior, and to follow Him holder, seriously affecting the entire population connected with 12 in baptism. Persistent persecuprincipal stations, and making it practically impossible to support tions followed, and during the sumthe native pastors, teachers, and church work, where hitherto from mer of 1902 came a scourge of $5,000 to $6,000 have annually been cholera, which the ignorant masses raised. attributed to the Protestants. Dur- The Paris The report of the Society in French Protestant ing these critical times public ser- Madagascar mission in this vices were interrupted, but, for the great African island is at hand, and we give the follow- most part, these peasants remained ing statistics of its work for 1904: "There are 12 European mission- loyal to their Lord. They frearies, 63 evangelists, and 516 churches, with over 9,000 members. quently sent delegates to the ser- The Protestant population numbers 111,900, and the average at- vices at Jaro, many miles away, to tendance in the congregations is 30,586. There were 466 added to express their Christian greeting, to the churches the past year, and the catechumens number 846. There assure their brethren in Christ that are 155 Protestant schools, with 12 European and 541 native teachers. they were true to their Christian The pupils number 8,008." vows, and to seek new light. Rev.
C. W. Briggs, of the American Baptist Missionary Union, now writes: I have had the great privilege of baptizing more than 1,000 disciples, most of whom have been Prot- estants for three or four years, and given abundant proof that the Gos- pel meant much to them. . . . The great movement among the peasants in Panay, in 1901, is now a greater and more significant reality than it was then. The only reason why we have not 10,000 or 15,noo baptized believers in that district to-day is that onr forces here have never been sufficient to enable us to reach the people, baptize them, and arrange for their further in- struction.
Work Among There are now over MISCELLANEOUS Indians at 100,000 East In- Durban dians in Natal, 15,- Stick-to.it A missionary writ- 000 of whom are in Missionaries ing about new mis- Much Needed sionaries and the Durban, and the number is increasing every month. :111'. and Mrs. great need of them, Tomlinson, of the South Africa etc., says that in conferring with General Mission. have been work- a brother who is thinking of going ing among them foJ[' about two he "laid special emphasis on the months. Three languages are re- need of missionaries who would quired to reach them, and caste stick, if possible." He further rules make mission work still more writes: "We have had so many difficult. failures that I tremble every time a man is appointed, for every fail-
ure is not only an expense, but ceptional. It has been a creative hurts our work as well." These and dominant force in the denomiwise words from a most earnest nation. He has proved himself a missionary we quote to say a few prince among preachers; he is things. Yes, we do need men who among the foremost of great miscan stick. The great and success- sionaries of modern times. He ful men in this world, others as well as missionaries, have not been holds by the strength of his perthose who had no trials, hardships, sonality the place of leadership disasters, perils, and difficulties, among the forces of militant Chrisbut, having them, have stuck. Take tianity, He is the Gladstone of the lives of Paul, Carey, Judson, the Kingdom of Heaven upon Moffatt, Livingstone, Paton, Yates, earth. His long and aggressive Graves, and scores of others who service as a missionary has given have succeeded. They learned to him the vision and courage of a labor and to wait-to stand and prophet of God. Few men have stick while others became discour- keener insight or saner judgment aged and disheartened, and left the front line -Foreign JJfissionary concerning the relationship of J01J,rnal. great movements, and are better able to discern beforehand the When is a Episcopal Bishop Heathen Fit Brent, of the Phil- trend of world-wide events and the for Baptism? ippines, is a man of point where opportunities meet than he. Tempered by experience, ideas which he is not afraid to put to the test. He just in discrimination, loyal to conis not. either, too much bound down viction, alert in mind, tender and by convention or tradition. He sympathetic in heart. he stands has arrived at pretty much the among us to-day as the embodisame conclusion that some men of experience in India have regarding ment of unfaltering devotion, of those who apply for baptism. but ideal manhood and ripened characyet are not always up to the standard. In the circumstances pre- ter. vailing there, he holds that a rigid examination of candidates is not OBITUARY desirable. He says: "It seemed to me as tho one had to fall back upon Rev. News comes from the example of the earliest missionaries. as depicted in the Acts of the Richard Winsor. India of the death Apostles. All that one could ask for under the circumstances was of India of the Rev. Richard the desire for the apostolic message, instruction coming after- Winsor, of Sirur, ward."-Indian Witness. who was recently decorated with a Rev. William Tho contrary to Ashmore custom, it is yet gold medal, "Kaiser-i-Hind," for highly proper his efficient services in connection sometimes to tell the truth concerning eminent servants of Christ with industrial work. His labors while they are yet ali ve; as also the Standard has of this Baptist were incessant, and since the fammissionary in connection with his eightieth birthday, saying this ine he was untiring in devising among the rest: plans for the permanent benefit of His life has been more than ex- the orphans, whom our readers sup- ported. He was a pioneer in indus- trial education, striving indefatig- ably to give the youths under his care efficient training. The people of India had in him a valuable friend and Christ a faithful ser- vant. Mr. Winsor was for 35 years connected with the Marathi mis- sion of the American Board.
NOTICE The International Missionary Union will hold its twenty-second annual meeting, June 7 to 14, 1905, at Clifton Springs, N. Y. All who have been on the foreign field, are under appointment, or are now connected with missionary boards, are invited to correspond with Rev. C. C. Thayer, M.D., Clifton Springs, N. Y., or Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., 177 Pearl St., Roch- ester, N. Y.
The Missionary Review of the World — October 1896
WILLIAM E. DODGE, ONE OF THE PROMOTERS OF MISSIONS
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIX. No. lO.-Old &ritls.-OOTOBER.-VOL. IX. No. 1O.-New Series.
WILLIAM E. DODGE, ONE OF THE PROMOTERS OF MISSIONS. * BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
When David fought with the Amalekites and recovered all that they had carned away after the burning of Ziklag,he made emphatic a memorable rule which manifestly has a typical bearing, as it is more than once referred to, both before and afterward:t ".As his part that goeth down to the battle, so his part that tarrieth by tlte stuff: they shall part alike."
This is known as " Hannington's.l~l;xt," from the prominence which the martyr bishop of Uganda gave to it in his missionary addresses and correspondence; and the principle it enunciates is really fundamental. Nothing is more necessary to an army, engaged in a campaign in an enemy's country, than to keep open the line of communication with the base of supplies. Somebody must stay by the stuff, while others go to the front, and see that ammunition and provision of all sorts are furnished in abundance, for the connection between the troops on the field and their supporters in the rear must be kept open, as manifestly one of the conditions of successful warfare-a condition as indispensable as to have soldiers to face the foe.
The merchant prince to whose career we now advert was a very conspicuous example of the friends and promoters of missions, showing how a man, without directly engaging in missionary work himself, is vitally related to the whole cause of missions, and inseparable alike from its successes and its rewards.
Mr. Dodge had a heredity which was consistent with his own career. The first of the American family of Dodge, traceable back to 1629, was a promoter of schools and churches, and bore also the name of William; and the family history, all the way through, shows mingled piety and patriotism, intelligent service of both Church and State, in war and peace.
• American !reformers. Edited by Carlos Martyn. Funk & WagnaJlB. Memorials of Willlam E. Dodge, by D. Stuart Dodge.
t Compare Numbers 81 : Zi; Joshua 22 : 8 ; Psalm 68 : 12. Punctuality, hospitality, love of books, love of man, fidelity to promise, conscientiousness, benevolence, large-minded and large-hearted service to humanity, have for centuries been family traits. Who shall dare to say that there is nothing in " blood" ?
William Earl Dodge was a native of Hartford, Conn., and born in 1805, so that at the time of his death, in 1883, he was nearly seventyeight years of age. It is always important to know what are the early influences which shape a man's future; for we are all of us molded largely by our environment, even tho it be principally by the heroic resistance which it compels to unfavorable and hindering influences. In Mr. Dodge's case the surroundings were helpful. He was brought up in an atmosphere which was at once full of the oxygen of business training and the perfume of Christian faith. He was marked by a mind that was alert and a body that was active; he craved knowledge, he yearned for occupation, and he loved animals, and so he was disposed to intelligence, industry, and affection.
At his queenly mother's knee he learned his first lessons of faith and prayer, and both alphabets, the literal and the spiritual. Her mental equipoise, her emotional tenderness, her Christian devotion, her sanctified common sense, left lasting impress on the plastic clay of his child-character. His father helped to form studious habits, to direct his courses of reading, and to inculcate ideas of unselfishness and service to humanity in the lad, whose future neither parent had forecast enough to predict; and his uncle by marriage, the remarkable man whose brain was thought by Professor Bush to be the only adequate explanation of the brilliant meteoric display of 1837-Dr. Samuel H. Cox-had somewhat to do in inspiring the boy's better nature, for he resided at Dr. Cox's home for a time while at school in Mendham, N. J.
Before William was fully thirteen he was summoned by his father to the great metropolis, henceforth to be so closely linked with his name and fame, and school life was exchanged abruptly for a clerkship in a drygoods house. He so commended himself to his employers that at the end of his first year's work he received a watch as a token of their regarda significant token, for William E. Dodge was always a man who was up to time. For a while financial straits, which drove the family to Connecticut, changed William's home and occupation; and at Bozrahville he was permitted for the first time to " start in business" for himself, stocking a showcase in his father's country store, and, tho not yet fifteen, buying and selling on his own account, and learning how to adapt himself to his customers. A year or two pass, and this same boy William has shown enough capacity and sagacity to be truRted to go to New York regularly as the purchasing agent of the business. Meanwhile the boy's Christian character and activity were finding in the humble New England village a congenial clime, for a revival turned the cotton-mill, of which his father also bad charge, int.o a place of prayer, and the business of the factory was conducted on Christian principles. The latent lessons of his earliest boyhood now changed into patent conduct and character, and one night, in 1821, he asked for prayers in his own behalf at the village prayer service, in which his sister Mary and a dozen others joined him in the new step of confession. From the time when, in 1822, he publicly united with God's people, not yet seventeen years old, he never for a day flagged in his devotion to Christ or his activities for the welfare and salvation of the race. What a privilege to have had an uninterrupted career of sixty years, in which to lay up treasures in heaven by faithful and prayerful service to God and man!
In the year 1825 William E. Dodge again came 1;0 New York, where, in 1827, he hung out his sign at 213 Pearl Street, beginning business in a small way, in partnership with a son of a former customer. One of his earliest acts in business was characteristically courteous and sagacious ; he invited two young Connecticut peddlers to avail themselves of the empty room in his store, as a depot of supplies and purchases, and he made of them, as he made of so many more by like treatment, attached friends and permanent patrons.
Enough has been written perhaps to hint the preparations Mr. Dodge had for his life of successful service, and we may now turn to the forms of service themselves whereby he became such an eminent promoter of missions in the supreme sense.
For example, he saw from the dawn of his manhood that the Sundayschool is the nursery of the Church, and one of the most efficient methods of evangelizing society. and he was for twoscore years personally and actively identified with it. In his day Sunday-schools had two sessions a Sabbath, and he was found at both; and while yet a mere lad he had brought in his own class from the street. After being for years a teacher, he was for thirty-five years a superintendent; and in this, as all other work, he was willing to lay fonndations, actually clothing boys who could not otherwise come to the school, and in one case having the boy change his clothes every Sunday at his own house to prevent a drunken father selling them at a drinkshop. More than this, he visited scholars at their homes, even when a superintendent, holding himself responsible for them all, and not leaving the work even to individual teachers. Of course the man that thus emphasized Sunday-schools was found in the front rank of every movement that looked toward their multiplication and greater efficiency. The American Sunday-School Union and New York Sunday-School Teachers' Association, etc., found in him a man, whose ti.me and strength, whose voice and purse, they might at all times count on and command.
He felt also that association is one of the most important factors in both forming and feeding virtuous and pious manhood. His heart especially yearned over young men, whose social and religious character he desired to mold in the matrix of Christian morality. Hence we find him one of the founders of the Mercantile Library of New York, and for years its truslee or treasurer-an institution inlended to prevent young men from being drawn into vicious associations and pleasures, by supplying to them a reading-room and helpful companionships; also among the founders of the New York Young Men's Bible Society, the members of which acted as lay missionaries, in colportage, and other benevolent visitation. The social links he thus formed for others proved a life-long blessing to himself, for life friendships were here initiated. In his life-war against drink we find him giving aid in forming juvenile societies, Bands of Hope, cold-water armies, and surrounding young and old alike with the safeguards of association. In fact, there is scarce a philanthropic or benevolent organization with which in some form he was not linked. The New York City Mission, the American Tract Society, the American Bible Society-of these he was director or manager, and never refused either money or time when needful, for he held that no man has a right to do by proxy what he can do in persen, and hence he never satisfied his conscience by purchasing a substitute.
Mr. Dodge owed to his marriage, more than to anyone other event of his eventful life, his power for God and good, for his wife proved both his counterpart and his cooperator in every noblest form of activity. Marriage makes or mars a man more than any other one fact of his history ; next, perl:!aps, to personal self-dedication to God, personal commitment of the man and woman to each other is the critical act and fact of a lifetime. Hence, the shame of careless, not to say unworthy, marriage bonds, and the imperalive need of not only care, but prayer, that one may trust to no guidance this side of Him, who alone reads character and knows the eternal fitness of parties to become " one flesh" and one spirit. To have a worldly, frivolous, vain, fashionable, extravagant, and unsympathetic wife is as near a wreckage as any human ship can ever encounter ; whereas many a man will never know in this world how much of capacity to do good and sagacity in doing good he owes to her whose kingdom comes not with observation, but who, like her Master, irradiates all his home life and heart life with her serene and holy light.
Mr. Dodge married for love, but with sound sense and Christian prudence. He sought and found the sterling virtues which grow more lustrous as the romantic attraction wears away. Melissa Phelps had from the age of twelve been a professing disciple of Christ, and had chosen to lose her life that she might find in service the harvest of a buried and sacrificed selfishness. What a blessing from God, when a young man with such character and aims enters into indissoluble partnership with a maiden who has already learned that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and who has found already that every Christian is to live by dying, keep by losing, gather by scattering! Henceforth the life of William E. Dodge is a twin life; nay, rather shall we not say that in the mathematics of such a marriagQ, one and one make-oNE ~ In 1828 this young man of twenty-three now starts on what is virtually a new career: he has another half to make him complete as a promoter of missions. Mr. Martyn well quotes Congreve : " Thy wife's a constellation of virtues . She's the moon; And thou art the man i' the moon I"
It would not comport with our present purpose to follow the roads whereby Mr. Dodge reached the goal of his large wealth, by the sagacious purchase of lumber districts, and. the development of the coal and iron mines of Pennsylvania, and the copper mines of Lake Superior, by his courageous and energetic pressing of railroad-building, which made all this vegetable and mineral wealth accessible j but it is quite essential to note in passing lhat he carefully read and studied all matters pertaining to his business schemes, and knew what he was doing j and it is as important to observe that, when the panic of 1837, for instance, like an earthquake, involved multitudes of adventurous traders in ruin, the house of which Mr. Dodge was a partner safely bore the shock. Their business integrity and economy and sagacity both held their customers and prevented careless burdens of debt which they could not carry in the crisis.
This biography is so fascinating that we are in danger of unduly elongating this sketch, giving too much prominence, perhaps, to the incidental features of a career which our object is mainly to present in its great outlines as furthering all missionary enterprise at home and abroad. Still, as we are contemplating a merchant prince, we must note the steps by which he mounted to his throne of influence in the commercial world.
A so-called accident, which was really a divine incident, and which both exhibited and developed William's calmness of judgment and readiness of resource, made Mr. Phelps and his son-in-law partners in the great metal importing house with which their joint names are even yet connected j and in 1833 Phelps, Dodge & Co. hung out their sign on Cliff Street. Mr. Phelps fitly succeeded those who had previously molded Mr. Dodge's early manhood, for in body and mind he was a large man, a Christian from his youth, with a model wife and family, a man of great business foresight and daring, yet of gracious temper and benevolent habits. In him young Dodge found a sage, with far-reaching vision and mature experience. with courage to inspire and calmness to restrain j and from the first this partnership was a prophecy of success, which events never disappointed. Here was a firm in which there were three persons, Phelps, Dodge, and Daniel James, another son·in-law j but there were three other partners not so often mentioned by name-" capital, capacity, and experience. ') But all this had availed nothing for true and Christian service to humanity, had there not been three other silent partners in that firm-conscience, benevolence; and consecration. This man, William E. Dodge, abode in his calling with God. His counting-house was sacred and not secular, a place for coworking with God, where he practised the presence of God. Legitimate business and not gambling, stewardship unto God and not practical atheism in money-making, habitual and systematic beneficence and not the monstrous selfishness of hoarding or indulgent spendingthese were the principles of that business house. And the results are apparent: First, in the Christian character impressed on trade j and, secondly, in the naturalness and perpetual courtesy with which appeals for help were considered, weiglled, and either dismissed as unworthy or cheerfully responded to, as a matter both of duty and privilege.
If we were asked to analyze Mr. Dodge'S character as a man of affairs, we should say that five things strike us most, namely: information, adaptation, organization, concentration, and administration. He kept himself in the current of affairs, thus not only familiar with them, but borne along by them. He sought to adjust himself to his place, work, and sphere, so as to be able readily and rapidly without friction to move about in his calling j he did everything by system, so that every duty had its time and pivot in life's machinery j and he trained himself for administering his trusts by cultivating and directing his native faculty for executive action, and concentrating his attention on his life work.
Few of us study to assimilate ourselves to others who are not on our level or in our line. Chalmers could sit on the box of a stage-coach and make the driver think for the time that he was supremely interested in horses, and so drew the driver to hear him preach the Gospel. Mr. Dodge's geniality and congeniality drew to him the driver on a coach, the stoker on a steamship, the bootblack on the corner, as naturally as the merchant on change, 01' the neighbor on the avenue. 'When he fell asleep, what man had a wider circle of loving friends?
He did not find in business, on the one hand, and benevolence, on the other, a division of his attention, for these two were not different life aims pulling in opposite directions, but, like a splendidly matched team of horses, pulling together, they drew to one and the same great goal. Business was the yoke-fellow of benevolence, and benevolence was the spur and stjmulus to business. While we are confident that llis main purpose was not set on wealth, he, no doubt, aimed to be rich j but money meant with him power to accomplish vast good, multiplication of himself by proxy, the presence of his gifts where he himself never went, and the survival of his influence indefinitely after his own death. Absolutely honest in all his dealings, and, believing with Chesterfield that" despatch is the soul of business," he united to integrity and punctuality the supreme grace of an intelligent personal generosity and philanthropy.
He was a punctilious Sabbath-keeper, and to some in these lax days would be thought extreme, but he was consistent and conscientious. He held to 1he need of a rest-day for man as man, and did not forget that even in a sinless Eden the day of rest was instituted. His religious life was all-pervasive, however, and not limited to Sabbath hours. Even in his speeches at the Union League Club there was a seriousness of tone and a reverent recognition of Divine sovereignty which was in strange con- trast with his surroundings, but eminently consistent with his uniform hab- its of life.
His personal activities were marvelous, in number, scope, variety, and versatility.
His pockets were " a tract repository"-a way of exercising influence that has no written history; and the whole man was at God's service. When President Grant undertook to conciliate the Red Indian by just dealing, Mr. Dodge became one of the commiRsioners, and he gave time, which was more valuable than money and could far less easily be given. But in settling this question it was time and thought that outweighed any amount of money: gold could not heal the open sore of our republic. In 1869 he personally went on a tour of inspection thirty days beyond the post-office frontiers, and laid the basis of friendly rela- tions with our Indian wards. For five years this merchant prince gave his help to this board, saving no one knows how many dollars and lives. Likewise, when Russian Christians felt the red right hand of persecution in the Baltic provinces, Mr. Dodge was one of the Evangelical Alliance· delegates who petitioned the Czar for their relief. Again, he acted with the Committee of Seventy to purge New York of the Tweed" ring," was chairman of the New York Branch of the Christian Commission, and a cooperator with the Sanitary Commission, etc.
To a very early period likewise we trace his identity with the cause of abolishing the traffic and use of strong drink. In the temperance reform he was a pioneer, daring to champion it when it cost something to antagonize universal customs and popular prejudices. He cousented to be sneered at as a fanatic, to be threatened by those who traded in human sobriety and grew rich on men's ruin, and ·to risk mercantile loss for the sake of the truth. When, in 1844, he visited Britain, on his arrival at Cork he called with his wife on Father Mathew, drove out with him to the Ursuline Convent, and, confident in his piety as well as philanthropy, urged him to visit America, which he did in 1849. Even amid the temptations of Washington, when as a Representative he exercised abounding hospitality, he banished all intoxicants from his banquet board, tho even total abstainers often yield to the universal custom of furnishing wines to the capital's distinguished guests.
We are prepared to find such a man promoting revivals, and himself, head and heart, engaged in them. Wheu Charles G. Finney came to New York, now nearly seventy years ago, Mr. Dodge was ready to further the work whereby all the city was moved; and to the day of his death any effort that was put forth to reach the unsaved, from the rising to the setting sun, could reckon on this man to be closely identified with it. From boyhood he had been deeply interested in a world's evangelization. His charity began at home, but did not stay there. No estimate of William E. Dodge can be complete which leaves out ?f view his double service by tongue and pen. As to the tongue, what was there of all the various forms of effort which looks to man's best good for which he had not a willing contribution of voice ~ Were municipal affairs corrupt? Hear him thunder out his remonstrance, and exhort fellow-merchants to guard the ballot-box and attend the primary meetings that determine for whom ballots are to be cast. Was a poor church in Baltimore in need of help ~ He delivers a lecture for its benefit. His voice was clear and his enunciation good, and his manner simple, sensible, and effective. His speeches in Congress are a model of patriotism and prudence, charity and courtesy, and the number and variety and utility of his various occasional speeches is surprising for a man who had never a college education and never made oratory a study. He had something to say and said it, with a single aim, to promote trnth and virtue and piety.
His pen was that of a ready writer j and as anyone can see by his signature, his writing had the supreme excellence of being readable. He formed an easy, legible, flowing hand, and he always used letter-writing as one of the foremost agencies in service to men. What volumes those letters, if they conld now be gathered, would present, and what varieties of topics they treated! What was there that was needed in the way of caution and counsel, of consolation and comfort that his pen did not convey! He valued an opportunity of putting a prop under a tempted young man more than a chance of securing a bargain in goods j and he never gave up the imperial scepter of the pen to the cold mechanism of stenographic clerks and typewriters. The sacredness of the confessional was not more inviolable than some of his correspondence. He reminded us of Charles H. Spurgeon, whose letters and postcards were seeds of the kingdom sown over the wide world. His pen exhibited its usefulness in many unobtrusive ways, as when, to the fly-leaf of " Wayland's Letters to the Ministry," which he distributed among expectant ministers of the Word, he attached a personal letter of counsel, at once paternal and fraternal, full of wisdom and graciousness.
When the awful trumpet of war sounded in 1861 Mr. Dodge was, with his partners, among the earliest and largest subscribers to the expenses of the struggle to preserve the republic, and whenever a new need arose a new subscription followed. He who gave a son to the army, and would have gone himself to the front had he been conscious of a call to that duty, kept up the open line of communication at heavy cost. When the great distress in the Lancashire cotton mills resulted from the blockade of the Southern ports, Mr. Dodge started the movement to forward Rupplies of money and food and clothing to the suffering operatives, himself acting as chairman of the Committee of Relief.
GOSPEL WORK IN PERSIA
GOSPEL WORK IN PERSIA.
BY REV. SAMUEL G. WILSON, TABRIZ, PERSIA.
In considering the condition of Gospel work in Persia, the state of religious Jiberty and the prospects concerning it come foremost to the mind. Would that there was a more favorable outlook for toleration! Islam is inherently intolerant, and the leaders of Islam in Persia-the mollahs-are gaining a higher position and increased power. The people are willingly submissive to them as interpreters of the law and religious guides. They are an educated and. wealthy class. Many of them have large landed property, are the recipients of government grauts and large legacies from the people. The settlement of estates and of civil suits is in their hands, aud fees and fines, together with the khums, or fifth of each inheritance, go to the mollahs. The real allegiance of the people is to their Mujtihids, and not to the Shah. Many events have shown this of late years. It was strikingly illustrated lately in the mourning for the death of the Chief Mujtihid of Tabriz and for Shah Nasr-i-Din. For the former the bazaars were closed three days, and services of mourning, continuing through several weeks, were held in many mosques and houses. Feasts were given in the mosques in his honor. Government officials, through fear of the people and the mollahs, joined in the mourning, and even the Armenians thought it discreet to close their schools and to send a sum of money to one of the mosques for a tozia or mourning service. A public crier went through the bazaars and proclaimed that the Armenians were holding service for the rest of the Mujtihid's soul. Whether in sincerity or dissimilation, the whole city joined in revering the dead Mujtihid. When the Shah was assassinated, no signs of mourning were visible, and no memorial services were held in Tabriz. Many Persians expressed their satisfaction. Rejoicings for the accession of the new Shah occupied the attention of all. The city was illuminated in an unprecedented manner. One official, who had invited some guests to celebrate the jubilee of Nasr-i-Din Shah, held the feast on the appointed day, telling his guests to rejoice instead on account of the accession of Muzaffir-i-Din. The Mujtihid was mourned for more than the Shah. It is likely that the power of the mollahs will increase during the present reign, as Muzaffir-i- Din is inclined to consult them and lean upon them for guidance.
Mollahs maintain their influence over the people by instructing them in the schools and mosques, and impressing them with the truth of the Shi~h faith. At Friday prayers, in the Fast of Ramazan and the mourning of Muharram the inculcation of religious doctrine is pursued, until the people are well informed regarding the precepts and traditions of Islam and are inspired with its intolerant spirit.
Gospel work among Mohammedans shows little change. The law of death to the apostate is at all times liable to be enforced. The martyrdom of Mirza Ibrahim, contrary to expectations, has had a depressing effect on the work among Mohammedans in Azerbijan. Inquirers have drawn back, shrinking from drinking the same cup. Some of them say that to forego wealth, position, and even life is a greater cross than they can take up. The workers, too, have felt the need of exercising greater caution than before. The baptism of a Persian woman in Ispahan, in 1894, was the occasion of riotous demonstrations. A/atva or decree was given by a Mujtihid to kill the missionary who was the means of her conversion. The woman was seized, but her life was spared, and she is coofined in the harem of the prince-governor, where she was lately seen by the ladies of the mission. It is a cause for thanksgiving that she has been permitted to live.
In view of the situation missionaries are in a quandary as to their duty. Some believe in aggressive work for Mohammedans in spite of government prohibitions, while others advocate continuing to give special attention to non-Mohammedan races until Providence opens up the door more effectually. The Church Mission at Ispahan seems lately to be working aggressively. Of its work Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall writes in the Ohurch Missionary Intelligencer (June, 1896) : "Six persons have recently been baptized in J ulfa alone, after very careful and long-continued instruction, and these are working quietly among their friends and relatives. These converts estimate the number of secret believers in that neighborhood alone at many thousands. The same is more or less the case throughout the couutry. Belief in Christ as the one Savior of the world is spreading rapidly. Considerable numbers attend the Sunday services and Bible classes, held in connection with the various missions, and all over the country there are candidates for baptism. The writer of the present article has had some experience of religious work in India and other countries, but nowhere has he witnessed anything approaching the interest in the Gospel now shown in many parts of Persia." I do not think anyone would write of the population of Northwest Persia with the same degree of sanguineness, but everywhere there is freedom for discussion. The Persians are remarkably free in the use of their tongues on every subject (except their harems). They speak evil of dignitaries without let or hindrance. Tirades against the mollahs and sentiments disloyal to the Shah are uttered even in public without fear. In like manner religious discussion is indulged in with little restraint. There is opportunity for the presentation of the Gospel to indIvidual Mohammedans, and slight objection is raised until Rome one accepts the truth.
What the influence of the Babis will be toward solving the problem of religious liberty is not yet evident. Their position is complicated by their political aspirations, and by their former attempt (1852) to assassinate the Shah Nasr-i-Din. Rumor persistently connects them with his final taking off on May 1st, 1896. Altho their severe persecutions have been largely caused by political reasons, their steadfastness and martyr- doms have sprung from their religious beliefs. Notwithstanding the death, or, as they phrase it, ascension, of their Divine incarnation, Mirza Husain Ali, Baha'uUah (the light of God), on May 16th, 1892, in exile at Accho. they continue to hold together and in some places to increase. Information is most contradictory as to their character and numbcrs. I am assured that their inner circle practice a community of wives, and approve of assassination as a means of freeing themselves from enemies. Their numbers are often stated at from 500,000 to 1,000,000. If so, the New Dispensation is already firmly established, and can claim a tenth or twelfth of the Mohammedans of Persia. 'fhey are struggling for religious liberty, and the inflnence of so large a body must weaken the resisting power of Shiahism. Tho bent on achieving their own trinmph, they profess great friendship for Christians, and are earnest students of the Bible to find proofs for their own revelation. Their belief in the divinity of Jesus and of Baha is a strong doctrinal link with Christianity. Some of the best converts to Christianity have been from this new religion. One of these lately said to me: "There are many who are convinced that the best and only true religion is Protestantism. They admire the con- duct of the Protestants, and refer to it as an example in contrast with their own actions. "
The work of the Bible societies continues to be one of the best agencies for the diffusion of the truth in Persia. The sales of Scriptures are not as large as in many countries. The total number circulated during the past ten years is estimated at 60,000. The report of the British and Foreign Bible Society says: "What have these 60,000 copies done for Persia ~ Have they in any way helped to bring one sinner to Christ ~ Yes, not only one, but a very large number. 1. There are many of whom we have heard, and some whom we have met and know personally, who are real and true Christians. 2. There are hundreds of men who, while accepting the truth as it is in Jesus, and believmg in the doctrines of the Christian religion, are afraid openly to confess their faith. 3. There are thousands who have got a glimpse of the truth and become anxious in- quirers, and who are' not far from the kingdom of God.' 4. Thousands there are who at one time were bitter enemies of the Gospel, trying to hinder the work in every possible way, but whose hearts have been softo ened. People who knew nothing of the Bible or Christianity will be seen now discussing these topics in order to find out the truth." Another report of the same society says: "Some, and I think the majority, of the most interesting cases are the result of the study of the Word of God alone, without comment or word from any man. For instance, a sheikh of an Arab village paid us a visit at the beginning of 1889. He told me that about ten years before he had received an Arabic Bible. He studied it, and after a while, being the mollah of the village, he began to read it to his people. I asked him if he had read the whole of it, and he said, 'Praise God, I have !' By this means he had been brought to some knowledge of the Word of God and of the way of salvation. He asked me to visit him in his village, but not being able to do so, I S'ent two of the native brethren. They found that the sheikh had read the Bible to the people assembled in his house. 'rhey preached the Gospel to large gatherings of Moslem villagers. The sheikh seemed, like many others, to believe in Christ with the heart, but not to be ready to confess Him before men. "
The story of the conversion of the colporteur in charge of the Bible depot at Tabfiz illustrates the illuminating power of the printed page. Aga Mateos was a rich merchant and a devout Gregorian Armenian, much given to reading the Prayer-book and the Fathers, faithful in his attendance on the church services and the donor of a picture which still hangs in the church at Tabriz. He met with financial losses, and went to the Bible for consolation. He was surprised at its contents. One day he had the Bible open before him when a friend entered and said, "Put up that book and corne to walk with me. If you read the Bible you will become a Protestant." Aga Mateos replied, " There is no danger of that," and went on reading. He began with Genesis. Day by day he read. By the time he had reached Isaiah his eyes were opened. He saw how Christ was magnified above all, how the prophets and saints were sinners and unworthy to be mediators. When he reached the Gospels, so great was his eager interest, that he read each Gospel through in a single night. When he had finished the epistles he was a firmly convinced Protestant, and he has never since wavered. God thus magnifies His Word.
The agent of the American Bible Society for North Persia, the Rev. W. L. Whipple, after sixteen years in the superintendence of this work, has just withdrawn from it for the education of his children. He leaves a memorial behind him by the gift of his residence in Tabriz to the mission for a woman's hospital and dispensary.
Gospel work among the Oriental churches in Persia shows little change. Among the Armenians the past year has been one of increasing friendship and enlarged opportunity. The sympathy of America for the suffering Armenians in Turkey, and the devotion of the missionaries there to their relief have taken from the hearts of many the old roots of bitterness. There does not appear any quickening of spiritual aspirations and longings, such as we so much desire to see. Religious feelings are callous, and but a cold response is given to appeals to the conscience. The thoughts of the people are engrossed in the pursuit of gain, and in the discussion of the wrongs and prospects of their race in Turkey and Russia. Personal religion is rarely a matter of personal concern. The conviction prevails in the minds of the Armenians that they are safe through the rites of the Church, and the doctrines of regeneration and conversion are neither taught nor understood among them. Missionaries sometimes have a feeling of disappointment that so few are converted as the result of so much labor, and that Protestant churches are not built up more rapidly. There are, indeed, other results which are encouraging. The gradual progress of enlightenment, the popular approval of evangelical truth, the apologetic attitude of the mass of the Armenians with reference to their doctrines and ceremonies, the expressions of desire for the educa- tion and improvement of the clergy for the translation of the Church books into the modern tongue and for a reformed church show that the leaven of evangelical truth has wrought among them. Many cling to the Gregorian Church as the representative of their national life, and hope for reforms from within. Yet the patriotic laymen and priests tell us that not a rite or a doctrine must now be touched or changed in the old organi- zation Jest the national unity be disturbed, not until the aspirations of the race are attained. With hope of religious reformation so indefinitely deferred, we cannot do else than continue to invite and urge the members of the Gregorian Church to come out and enter into the light of evangeli- cal faith and worship.
The work most effective in the past, among the Armenians, has been education, especially in boarding-schools. During the year advance has been made in the occupation of some villages lying between Ramadan and Ispahan. A change of method has been inaugurated in the Salmas field, which for eleven years has had an organized station. The rising of water in the subsoil of Raftdewan occasioned the fall of some houses, and endangered others. This led to the consideration of the future of the station, as to whether houses should be rented or built in some other village of the plain or the station remove to some other center or disbanded. It was finally decided to withdraw the missionaries to Tabriz and Urumia, and to work the field with well. qualified native agents.
Among the Nestorians in Urumia evangelical truth has taken deep root, but it is also encountering many difficulties. Among this people is presented a curiolls spectacle of missions contending with each other. To the older missions-Catholic and American Presbyterian-have been added the mission of the Archbishop of Canterbury, a Lutheran, and several efforts intermittently supported from Sweden, Norway, and England. The latest scheme is one in cooperation with our Presbyterian mission. It is inaugurated by the Industrial Missions Aid Society, composed of a number of Christian capitalists of England, who will find capital for industries connected with evangelical missions. It proposes to " take the business management off the hands of the missionaries, leaving them free for spiritual work, and to provide work and the means of livelihood for converts whose coming out for Christ entails the loss of their means of living." First, they send back to Persia two young men (Nestorians) who ha'e learned trades. They are sending an outfit for a carpenter's shop, an engineer's shop, with portable engines and all tools and machinery requisite to train apprentices.
This society proposes also to place on Lake U rumia one or more steamers and develop the trade all around the lake. The plan also includes the erection of an electric railway around the lake and to different cities in its neighborhood. A Christian capitalist has intimated a desire to give the steamer. The industrial part of this scheme is feasible, but unfortunately the plan for steamers and railways will meet with insuperable difficulties. Industrial work is very profitable for the Nestorians. Many of their youth are now going to Russia and America for lack of profitable means of livelihood. Those who have been educated and have a spirit of progress have no outlet for their activity. It is better that they should become good artisans than educated and unemployed scholars. This new scheme will be in cooperation with the industrial school connected with the Urumia College. Mr. E. T. Allen, who has had cbarge of it, is now in Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, perfecting himself for this work.
The work among the evangelical churches in Urumia shows advance during the year, especially in self-support. The debt of the Presbyterian Board rendered a reduction of the appropriations necessary. Many of the congregations have responded to the call for larger gifts, and raised their contributions 50, and in some cases 100 per cent.
The Swedish Mission which was for a few years established at Tabriz with evangelists at Urumia, Ramadan, and other points has heen transferred to Chinese Turkestan. Their mission in Persia was begun primarily with the idea of preparing young men from Russia and the Caucasus to return to their own country as evangelists. This was found impracticable, and as it was not necessary for two evangelical missions to occupy the same territory, a friendly arrangement was made in accordance with the principles of missionary comity, wher.eby they withdraw their missionaries and our mission took over such of their native agents as they desired. Others accompanied them to their new field. Among the latter were a Nestorian and three or more Mohammedan converts. One of them has been stationed at Bokhara, and another at Samarcand, in Russian territory, while others have gone with the Swedish Mission into Chinese territory. One of these converted Mohammedans was from Turkey, and was at one timtJ a pupil in the Tabriz Memorial Training School. Re is pictured by Mr. Morrison (agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, who has made a tour to that province) as sitting in the Hindi Serai of Kashgar, on the edge of the great Kobi desert, a case of Scriptures behind him, in front of him a desk, and on it a manuscript of the Gospels, which he is translating into the language of the people. The Gospel of Matthew has already been finished. It is very interesting to note the beginning of the introdnction of Christianity again into China from its western border, and especially the going there of Nestorians and other Christians from Persia, as in olden times.
The region occupied by the Swedish Mission includes the fertile oases of Kashgar, Yarkand, and Kohtar. It lies across the Thian Shan Mountains from Russia, and tho subject to China is occupied chiefly by Tartar
THE STAR·WORSHIPERS OF MESOPOTAMIA
Mohammedans. The principles of religious liberty, which prevail in the Chinese Empire, will be a shield for their work. The language of the people is very similar to the Tartar or Turki used by us in Persia. Mr. Hogberg, formerly of Tabriz, is the pioneer of the mission. The plan of the mission is evangelistic, and in close contact with the natives. Indeed, two of the ladies of the mission have, I believe, married Asiatic converts. It will be interest.ing to see 1he development of this experiment. The British and Foreign Bible Society is also trying to open up a work for Bible distribution in those provinces. Thus the Trans-Siberian Railway is already being made a highway for the advance of Christ's kingdom.
By the autumn of 1897 it is expected that a branch of the Transcaucasian Hailway will be extended to Erivan, thus bringing Persia two days nearer to America.
THE STAR-WORSHIPERS OF MESOPOTAMIA.* BY REV. S. M. ZWEMER, F.R.G.S., BUSRAH, ARABIA.
In the towns along the lower Euphrates and Tigris, especially itt Amara, Sook es Shiookh, Busrah, and Mohammerah, there dwell an interesting people variously known as Sabeans, Nasoreans, or St. John Christians. They call themselves Mandaee (Mandalans), and altho only numbering four or five thousand, they yet have always been and remain entirely distinct from the Jews, Moslems, and Christians among whom they have dwelt for centuries. Their origin is lost in obscurity, altho it is traced 'ill! a measure 1hrough the maze of their religion to ancient Chaldea.
Certain it iF! 1hat at the time when Islam arose the Sabeans were a strong sect. The Koran recognizes them as distinct from idola1ers, and places them with Jews and Christians as "people of the book" (Surahs 22 : 17 j 2 : 59; 5 : 73) : "Verily, those who believe and those who are Jews, and the Sabeans and the Christians, whosoever believes in God and the last day, and does what is right, there is no fear for them nor shall they grieve." In the English Bible the name Sabeans is perplexing, and, altho applied to three different tribes or peoples, none of these are any way related to the present sect in Mesopotamia. Sabeans, according to Gesenius, should be T8a~ian8, from tsa.both, the host of heaven-i.e., the supposed objects of their worship. Noldeke and others say it comes from a root, 8ubba, to wash, baptize, and refers to the manner of their worship. Gibbon is perhaps correct when he states the origin of their other name thus: "A slight infusion of the Gospel had transformed the .. Bibljography: NOldeke's "Mandaische Grammatik," HaIle, 1875; Captain Prideaux's .. Sketch of a SaOOan Grammar," TraUB. Bib. Arch. Soc., vol. v. ; Ain.worth's "Enphrates Expedition," 2 vols., 1888; Encyciopredia Britannica, vol. xv., pp. 470; Dr. W. Brandt's" Mandaische Schriften," 1895; "A Prayer.Meeting of the Star-Worshipers" (London Standard, Oc- Wber 11lth, 1894) ; V. Cuinet'… La Turqnie d'Asle," 1894. last remnant of the Chaldean polytheists into the Christians of St. John at Bussora." And yet the present Sabeans, although giving peculiar honor to John the Baptist, can in no sense be called Christians. Nor are they related, except indirectly, to any of the Judreo-Christian h&resies of the early Church, such as, e.g., the Remero-baptists.
Isolated by creed, cult, and a language of their own, they love their isolation, and do not intermarry with strangers. Nearly all of them follow one of three trades: they raise the finest dairy produce of Mesopotamia; they build a peculiar kind of light canoes called Mashhoof; and for the rest are silversmiths. No traveler visits their villages without carrying away specimens of their beautiful inlaid work, black metal on silver and 46.NO ~< ~~~O gold; rings, thimbles, bracelets, ~~~..s.~ armlets, and ornaments of all kinds. A peaceful people are they; indus- ~~ ~t.!L D<J0 o,Jo trious, tho mostly poor, and living in harmony with their neighbors, they seldom afford trouble to their ~~~ -'10 d4.S-~ Turkish rulers. Both men and women have a remarkably fine phy- ""~~ J~~ <)(1J sique; tall, of dark complexion, good features, and with long black: . <.A-1e <.~~ ~O beards, some of them are typical patriarchs-even as we imagine <.~ ~cf.v4f. <vo Abraham appeared when he left their present country for Haran. On ordinary days their dress does not distinguish them from Moslems or Jews, but on feast days they wear only white. Their women go about unveiled, and have a more masculine A PASSAGlI FBOM THlI SACRlID BOOK OF THlI cast of features than Moslem women; MANDlEANB. they are also rather taller.
The two great things, however, that distinguish the Sabeans are their language and their religion. Naturally the bazaar-talk of all the river country is Arabic; aU Sabeans speak it, and a goodly proportion read and wrile it; but beside this they have a household language of their own, the langnage of their sacred books, which is called Mandaitic. So closely related to Syriac that it might be called a dialect, it yet has its own peculiar alphabet characters, resembling the older Palmyrene, and is not fully intelligible to the Syriac·speaking Christians from Mosul. Wright says it resembles most Nabathean and the langnage of the Babylonian Talmud. The oldest manuscripts in this dialect date from the sixteenth century, and are in European libraries. At present only the priests can read and write Mandaitic, but they refuse to teach those outside of their faith even the first lesson. The illustration given was copied for me by one of the priests at Busrah. A recently publilihed translation of th6ir sacred writings into German contains only one fourth of the" great book"
of the Mandreans. What is this great book 1 What does it teach? And what do these St. John Christians, falsely so called, really believe?
Altho meeting Sabeans for the past four years, and being their guest on frequent journeys up and down the rivers, I found no satisfactory answer to these questions from their own lips. They turn to the North Star whcn they pray, and "baptize" every Sunday-these were the sole articles of faith that one could learn. Books gave fragmentary and conflicting statements, all hinging around these two plain facts. According to one account they were gross idolaters j another classed them with Christians.
Light dawned from an unexpected quarter. An anonymous article ap- peared in the London Standard, entitled" A Prayer-Meeting of the Star- Worshipers." Whoever wrote it must be perfectly acquainted with their religious mysteries, or be one of themselves! -When I translated it to a company of Sabeans at Amara,. they were dumbfounded. Who had dared to expose all their secret ceremonies and beliefs to public "iew? Let me quote one paragraph only of this account, every minute particular of which the Sabeans assure me is true : " Toward midnight the Star-worshipers, men and women, come slowly down to the Miahkna by the river-side. Each enters the tiny wattled hnt by the southern wall, disrobes and bathes in the circular reservoir.
On emerging from the water each one robes him or herself in the rasta- that is, the ceremonial white garment, crosses to the open space in front of the door of the tabernacle, and seats himself upon the ground, saluting those present with the customary' Sood Havilakh' (' blessing be upon thee '), and receiving the usual reply, ' .Asaootah de hai havilakh'
(' blessing of the Living One be upon thee '). The sacred book, Sidra Rabba, is laid upon the altar folded back where the liturgy of the living is divided from the ritual of the dead. The high-priest takes one of the two live pigeons handed to him, extends his hands toward the Polar Star, upon which he fixes his eyes, and lets the bird fiy, calling aloud: 'Bahmo d'hai rabba mshabba zivo kadmayah Elaha. Edmen Nafshi Eprah' (' In the name of the Living One, blessed be the primitive light, the ancient light, the Divinity self-created '). [Then] the reading being in progress, they prepare the Peto Elayat or high mystery, as they term their communion. One kindles a charcoal-fire in the earthen- ware stove by the side of the altar, and the other grinds small some of the barley brought by the deacon. He then expresses some oil from the sesame seed, and mixing the barley meal and oil, prepares a mass of dough which he kneads and separates into small cakes the size of a two- shilling piece. These are quickly thrust into the oven and baked. The fourtn deacon now takes the pigeon left in the cage, cuts its throat quickly with a very sharp knife, taking care that no blood is lost. The little cakes are then brought to him by his colleagues, and still holding the dying pigeon, he strains its neck over them in such a way that four small drops fall on each to form a cross. Amid the continued reading of the liturgy the cakes are carried around to the worshipers by the priests, who themselves pop them directly into the mouths of the members with the words, , Marked be thou with the mark of the Living One.' The four deacons inside the Mishkna walk ronnd to the rear of the altar and dig a little hole in which the body of the dead pigeon is then buried."
What a mosaic of ceremonies ! No wonder that Professor Kessler calls Mandreism a most striking example of religious syncretism. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity engrafted on one old Chaldean trunk. Gnosticism, star-worship, baptisms, love-feast, sacrifice, and Ornithomancy in one confusion. And yet there is a method in it, and a system of dogma lies behind the mysteries of their cult. Sabeanism is a book-religion.
Among the large collection of their sacred writings the Sidra Rabba, or Great Book, holds the first place. It contains over five hundred large quarto pages of text, divided into two parts, a " right" and a " left.hand" testament. From this mass of diffuse and obRcure material one can dig out the elements of a system of cosmogony, and on this is based all their ritual and ceremony.
First of all things was Pera RaMa, the great abyss. With him " Shining Ether" and the" Spirit of Glory" (Mana RaMa) form a primal triad. From the last named, who is the king of light, emanates Yardena RaMa, the great Jordan. Mana RaMa called into being the first of the reons, Primal Life, Hayye kadema. He is really the chief god of the Sabeans, and everyone of their prayers begins by invoking him. From him proceed secondary emanations, Yushamim, "Jehovah of heaven," and Manda Hayye, " messenger of life" (the mediator of their system and whence their name). Yushamim was punished for attempting to raise himself above Primal Light, and now rules the world of inferior light. Manda still rests in the bosom of Primal Light, and had a series of incarnations, beginning with Abel (Hibil) and Seth, and ending with John the Baptist! Beside all these there is yet a third life, called 'Atika, the demiurge, who created the bodies of Adam and Eve, but could not make them stand upright.
The underworld has its score of rlliers-Zarfay, Za1·tanay, Hag, Mag, Gaf, Gafan, Anatan, and Kin, with hells and vestibules in plenteous confusion. Hibil descends here and obtains victories for Manda, and compels them to divulge the hidden name of darkness. From the fourth vestibule he carries away the female devil Ruha, daughter of Kin. This Ruha, Kessler affirms, is really an anti.Christian parody of the Holy Spirit. By her own son, Ur, Ruka becomes mother of the planets and signs of the zodiac. These are the source of all evil in the world, and control the sins of mankind. But the sky itself is an ocean of water, pure and clear, -the abode of Light. The central sun is the Polar Star, with jeweled crown standing before the door of Abathur. The Mandroans consider all the Old Testament saints. except Abel and Seth, false prophets. True religion was professed by the ancient Egyp- tians, who were their ancestors. Another false prophet was Yishu Mashiha (Jesus Christ), who was, in fact, an incarnation of the planet Mercury. John the Baptist, an incarnation of Hibil, appeared forty-two years before Christ, and by mistake baptized Him also. More than two hun- dred years after this time there came into the world sixty thousand saints from Pharaoh's host, and took the place of the Mandroans who had been extirpated. Their high-priest then had his residence at Damascus. The last false prophet was Mohammed, but he was kept from harming them, and during the reign of the Abbasides they had four hundred places of worship in Babylonia.
The Mandroan priesthood has three grades-Shkanda, or deacons, Farmida, or disciples, and a Ganzivra, or high-priest. The late Ganzivra of the Sabeans was Sheikh Yahya, at Soak es Shiookh j their present head is called Sheikh Sahn, and is now imprisoned at Busrah on charge of fomenting the late rebellion of the Arab tribes near Kurna.
The Sabeans observe six great feasts besides the weekly Sabbath (Sunday). One of the feasts celebrates the victory of Abel in the world of darkness, another the drowning of Pharaoh's army, but the chief feast is that of baptism. On it, called Pantsha, all Sabeans are baptized by sprinlcling three times a day for five days; and this is compulsory. The Sunday baptisms of immersion in running water are, however, largely voluntary, and therefore meritorious; these latter closely correspond to the Moslem ritual of purifications, and take place after touching a dead body, etc. The moral code of the Sabeans is that of the Old Testament in nearly every particular. Polygamy is allowed, but not often indulged in. They do not circumcise, and have no holy places or churches, except those built for a feast night at the river-side. They are friendly to Christians of all sectR, and love to give the impression that because they honor the Baptist they are more closely related to us than to the Jews or Moslems. Some time ago their small community at Nasariyeh asked for a school, but the project fell through. They occasionally purchase Arabic Scriptures from our colporteurs, and are most interested in Genesis and John's Gospel. But we have not yet met with anyone among them who seriously inquired the way of life through Jesus Christ. Some years ago their community at Busrah and Mohammerah was aided financially (by the queen, they say) through the kind offices of the British Consul, and ever since they have not ceased to think themselves worthy of a repetition of this high favor.
Their numbers have even during the past decade steadily decreased, and yet so closely do they cling to their ancient faith, that i1; seems the Mandalan system will only die when the last star-worshiper is carried to his grave in the palm orchards of the river country.
THE RUSSIAN STUNDIST!I
THE RUSSIAN STUNDISTS.-I.* THEIR ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND PERSECUTION.
BY PROFESSOR G. GODET-TRANSLATED BY MRS. D. L. PIERSON.
The era of religious persecution is not passed. Not only iu Armenia and China do Christians suffer for their beliefs, but under a government that calls itself Christian-in holy Russia, and in the holy atmosphere of the "Holy Synod" of the Russian Church. The world at large has but an imperfect knowledge of these persecutions. If they were known more widely and more in detail, we are persuaded that the public would be so stirred that the Russian Government could no longer ignore or permit what now goes on in that empire. It is evident that the Stundists are misrepresented to the Emperor to be a political and social organization dangerous to the State, and not, as they really are, an inoffensive religious sect. It is also evident that the most horrible deeds of persecution are carefully hidden from him, and that he has but a remote idea of the sufferings which some of his most faithful subjects have undergone. The petitions that the persecuted ones have tried to send to him, thanks to the Russian police, have never been allowed to reach their destination. It is useless to think of making any external attempt in their favor. What was gained by the interventions of the Evangelical Alliance in behalf of the Baltic provinces during the reigns of the two preceding emperors ~ Nothing-even worse than nothing-an aggravation of the evil!t Anything that looks like an interference from an outsider in the national affairs of Russia only irritates the government, and threatens to injure rather than aid the cause of the oppressed.
The Origin and Oharacter of Stundism.-The Stundists, about 250,000 in number, ara scattered throughout the south of Russia.! About 1868 the newspapers spoke for the first time of the Stundists, and of the activity of Pastor Charles Bonekemper, who was settled for a year at Rohrbach, near Odessa. It was he who gave the first decided impulse to the movement; but its beginning was still earlier. In 1823 John Bonekemper, of Wupperthal (the father of Charles Bonekemper), having been sent by the * This article is a translation of a little pamphlet by ProfeBBor G. Godet, of Neuchiltel, Switzer'
land. The French pamphlet is itself in part a compilation of facts from English and other public&'- tions. Among other books on the Stundists are "The Stundlsts ;" •• A Short History of the Stnndist.;"" A Highway of Souow," by Hesba Stretton; and "Nadya, a Tale of the Steppes," by Norris.
t Recently, however (by order of the Emperor no doubt), the Minister of the Interior was informed that he might discontinue the "exceptional methods taken for protecting the Orthodox Church" in the Baltic provinces. This means, probably, the end of persecutions for the Lutherans in these + provinces-but what of the Stundists ? They are found largely in the provinces of Bessarabla, Kherson, Kursk, Poltava, Kharkov, Taurida, Don Cossacks, Astrakhan, and in Caucasla. A line drawn from Warsaw through Orel to Astrakhan would nearly mark the northern limit of Stundism. church at Basle to the south of Russia, settled in 1824 at Rohrbach, as pastor of one of the German settlements there in the reign of Catherine II. In these colonies the residents preserved the custom of the" Stunden," or " hour" meetings for prayer and Bible study long practised in Wllrtem- berg. Bonekemper took part freely in these exercises, in which the Rus- sians, not understanding German, were unable to join. In 1858 a peasant named Onishenko, from the village of Osnowa, near the port of Nikolayev, began to attend these meetings, and was led to Christ. He immediately set about telling others, and formed similar little prayer-meetings in the neighboring villages. Thus was Stundism born, and it made rapid prog- ress, especially after the liberation of the serfs (1861). This emancipation caused the peasants to travel about in search of work, and thus those who had heard the Gospel spread it abroad from town to town. Freedom also inspired these peasants with a desire for an education. This was a powerful stimulus to a movement which was really but a return to the study of the Bible-the book which had been closed to the masses of the people. Itinerant preachers traveied through the villages gathering together groups of listeners eager for the truth. ·In 1864 appeared for the first time a pocket edition of the New Testament in Russian, and the new converts bought it with joy.
From its start the characteristic traits of the adherents of Stundism were absolute abstinence from intoxicants, assiduous study of the Scriptures, and the cultivation of a fraternal ChristIan spirit. They had no idea at first of withdrawing from the Orthodox Church. They even went to the priests asking counsel and light. The priests, too ignorant to give this, but not too blind to see that the movement as it gained strength and knowledge would be sure to attack the abuses and superstitions of the Church, quickly assumed a hostile attitude toward the new tendencies, and appealed to secular force to suppress the heresy. It was about 1870, when the Stundists numbered about 70,000, that the first oppressive measures were taken. As they increased the time came when this systematic implacable persecution no longer aimed at repressing them, but at exterminating them altogether.
Before recounting the leading phases of this persecution, it will not be out of the way to trace rapidly the principles of this movement, which many have thought held more to the letter than to the spirit of the Gospel. Few people have a really clear idea of the fundamental beliefs and organization of the Stundists. They are often represented to be a fanatical sect of ignorant iconoclasts, advocating a social reform which is but the embodiment of the principles of communism, and consequently a sect dangerous not only to the Church, whose errors and superstitions they attack, but also to the State which they seek to undermine. Therefore some say that Russia has a right to suppress them. It is in this light, no doubt, that the Emperor and many people both in Russia and elsewhere regard the matter. No idea is more foreign to the truth. We do not say that error has not crept ~nto their precepts, or that they have always had that wisdom and moderation becoming to Christians. But remember that a few years ago they were ignorant peasants, for the most part unable to read or write. Hunted by the police, they have not been able to enjoy the benefits of regular organized instruction. It is rather then a source of wonder that these simple people, living by themselves, should have kept so closely to the truth of the Gospels, and that great errors should not have gained footing among them. One is compelled to admire their faith and their heroism, and no less the healthy character of their moral and religious life, which forcibly recalls that of the early Christians.
" They live," writes Dalton, " very peaceably with each other. The religious sentiment, so strong in the Russian peasant, finds in the Word of God the guidance it seeks. They strengthen themselves' and direct their lives according to the teachings of the Scripture, often interpreting them in the strictest manner; for these noble men lack instructors, but they themselves are generally a striking proof that the Bible enlightens even the most ignorant, provided only that they search in earnest for Jesus in the GospeL"
One cannot find a Stundist who does not faithfully read the New Testament and consider it a revelation from God; this is the first article of his creed. Often he carries it with him to his work, and in his recreation hour, instead of passing the time in drinking as before, he devotes himself to reading. He holds that all who sincerely believe may understand without the aid of the Church or of priests.
The faith of the Stundists is, in a general way, that of all evangeIica1 Protestants, but they have no recognized confession of faith. Altho one in essentials, they differ somewhat in doctrine and practice-e.g., regarding the sacraments. The majority hold to adult baptism, and consider the Lord's Supper simply a memorial feast. A small number reject these ordinances altogether-a reaction from the materialistic religion of the Orthodox Church, which they condemn with one accord. The worship of " icons" or images of Christ, the Virgin, and the saints, which has so large a place in the religious life of the Russian people, is their especial horror, and herein lies one of the greatest reasons for the persecutions to which they are subjected. Perhaps their zeal sometimes has lacked discretion; if so, they have paid dearly for it. The Russian penal code inflicts from eight months'to three years'imprisonment for any word spoken against the " icons," and banishment to Siberia for the crime of destroying them. But the Stundists have acted according to their consciences, and who of us is ready to cast the first stone ~ Moreover, they detest the sacerdotal power which ignorant, avaricious, and often intemperate priests have abused so much. Universal priesthood is one of their dearest doctrines. Reconciled to God by the sacrifice on the cross, they have no longer need of any earthly mediator, and each father is priest in his own household. Nevertheless, however much despised, the orthodox priest never suffers the loss of his immense power, and when anyone refuses him the fees which it is his custom to charge, the retaliations are'terrible.
The Russian calendar has no less than a hundred and three holy uays, which frequently are times of debauch and disoruer; but the Stundists, steady workingmen, only observe a few of them. They have absolutely parted company with laziness and drunkenness, of which the Russian peasant is an habitual slave. Their villages and their homes have an appearance of neatness, order, and prosperity, which is in striking contrast with the orthodox villages and communities. Their farms and those of the German colonists are the best cultivated in Southern Ru~sia, and by their labor and industry many have reached comfortable circumstances and almost become rich. Their family life is pure, a strict moral discipline holding sway among them. Mothers and children no longer tremble at the brutal authority of the father of the family. The young are instructed as well as their circumstances permit, and in each home by the side of the New Testament may be found books and pamphlets which bear testimony to a higher degree of culture than is possessed by their neighbors. It is the Scriptures alone that the Stundists search for truth; there, too, they find rules for every-day life, and they faithfully put them into practice. Thus they strive to realize among themselves the fraternity which marked the primitive Church. They have been called communists and anarchists, but this is base calumny. * They are peaceable citizens, very loyal to their sovereign, whom they pray for with great fervor. t It is true that they seem to believe that the present social system is not in accordance with God's idQas; that the soil belongs to all, not to a few, and ought to be equally divided; that each should cultivate his land with intelligence, and be ready to embrace the ideas of modern progress, but that they should not regard the revenue as belonging solely to themselves, but as given in trust, for them to provide for the needs of their poorer neighbors. Interpreting certain precepts of the Bible literally, they especially condemn usury, which is a very common evil in Russia, and war. These principles are very different from those of anarchy or even of communism.
Lastly, the Stundists are quiet, honest, industrious people, who do not refuse to fulfil any of their duties as citizens. It is the opposition of the priests which has forced them to break away altogether from the Church, in which, until they had the "'.ord of God, they always found sufficient • People carelessly use the term StundistB for all those who have gone out from the established church, and thus they confouud the Stundists with other sects which exiBt in Russia, and attribute to them their extravagant and immoral practices.
t It is pretended that the Stnndist movement had a political origin. The Stnndists are represent- ed as rebels, lacking patriotism, and in sympathy with Germany. "There is positively no anti. Rnssian tendency," writes a well-informed Russian, "among the Stundists. They neither refuse to go Into the army nor to pay their taxes. It is just a slander of the clergy without foundation,"
All those who have the most intimate knowledge are of one accord on the subject of the loyalty ot the Stundists. satisfaction for their religious needs. They have thus been led into forming for themselves as much of an organization as the many legal shackles have permitted them to form.
Organization and Form of WOTship.-The highest office of this very elementary organization is that of elders or presbyters, who are chosen by the communities, and are, as far as possible, men of age and experience. Their principal duty is to lead the public services, and to preside at marriages and funerals. They need not have oratorical talent or decp theological learning, but they must be well versed in the Scriptures and be able to explain them. Each elder has supervision over one or two communities, often over a whole district. They visit the villages of their district where their brethren are scattered, and take charge of the funds which are given them for the sick and needy. One important duty is to confer frequently with the presbyters of other districts, and also to act as intermediaries between the brethren who are imprisoned or exiled and their families. We can see how much tact and prudence it requires on their part not to excite the suspicions of the police.
Next in importance to the elders are the deacons, who are generaIIy younger men full of zeal, but at the same time men of discretion. The deacons have charge of the Sabbath..schools, and preside at the regular services in the abs~nce of the presbyter. They keep the records of births, marriages, and deaths, and attend to the meting out of assistance to the aged and sick.
The elders and deacons do not form a clergy distinct from the people. * They work for their living just as their brethren do, usually tilling the soil. They receive 110 salaries, simply their traveling expenses when they make trips in behalf of their congregations. In the beginning the Stundists thought to have more of an organization, with lists of the members regularly recorded and periodical meetings of the elders and deacons, a common treasury, etc.; but all these features, which give unity and cohesion to a movement, were broken up by persecution. Eve~y movement of their leaders was watched, and as soon as their plans were known by the priests or the police, measures were taken to thwart them. If they attemptJd to appoint an elder or deacon, he was immediately ordered by the civil authorities to another district, and not even permitted to remain there any length of time. Often the lists containing the names of the members were seized by the police, aud being thus in their power, we know the treatment which, at a moment's notice, they could be forced to undergo.
But despite these difficulties, the movement has preserved a remarkable unity. Some inevitable divisions have occurred, which nothing but the existence of one recognized head would have been able to prevent. The different congregations keep in communication as well as possible with each other. The head men exchange visits as often as they can, and keep .. The elders uSUlIlly receive the laying on of hands, but not alway. ; for the persecutions of late bave been so bitter, that I10Ile of these fIlnctions could be regularly administered. up frequent and regular correspondence. Just as at the time of the first persecutions of the Church, so now these letters are passed from hand to band, from village to village, and from province to province- until they become worn and almost illegible. One of these letters, addressed to the Church at T–, a little village of the province of Kiev, begins thus: "To the well-beloved in Christ, brothers and sisters of the church at T–, salutation.•, Then follows the exhortation : " Take care, brethren, that your church, which for ten years has made its voice heard like a trumpet, be not silenced now." In another letter, addressed to the church at P–, the brethren are exhorted: "Gird up your loins in view of the great conflict, for the enemy rejoices over your feebleness. Take care that your elders are men of good repute, and do not forget the poor and the oppressed when you assemble about the Lord's table."
Let us penetrate into the interior of one of these communities. They have no special building for their services. " Poverty, simplicity, and austerity distinguish the meeting-places of the Stundists." They meet in the house of some peasant, in a room scrupulously neat, which on Sabbath morning is cleared in haste of its beds, furniture, and provisions. On the whitewashed walls hang two or three Scripture texts, on the earthen floor rude benches and chairs are placed. At the end of the room stands a little table, covered with a white cloth, and a chair for the preacher. On the table rest a Bible and a collection of hymns, many of which are from the English.
Reading and explanation of some New Testament passage occupies the principal place in the service, but singing also plays a large part. The " little Russians" have a highly developed musical sense. All strangers who attend the meetings of the Stundists are struck with the beauty of their songs. Many of their original hymns are very remarkable. The Stundists kneel in prayer and pray much. They pray often for the Emperor ; their prayers are long, and frequently accompanied by tears, and are characterized, above all, by great humility, while they use their hymns to express their joy in Christ.
Here is a description given by an eye-witness of one of their assemblies: "They salute each other with hand-shakes and embraces, the men kissing the men and the women the women. Then they sit down, the men on one side, the women on the other. The elder takes his place at the table and gives out a chant. He then reads and explains a chapter in the Bible, and gives an opportunity for anyone else to add a word of explanation. Women are not permitted to teacb, but following 1 Cor. 11 : 5, they 1U'e permitted to pray in meeting. After several hymns and prayers, the elder closes the service with a sermon. "
Tbey celebrate the Lord's Supper as do the -Protestant churches of the West. It is customary for the Stundists to linger after service and exchange news itnd read letters from their friends in prison or exile.
A Stuudist marriage is celebrated in the following manner: On the
BIBLE MOTIVES IN MISSIONS
date selected the friends gather at the house of the groom, w,here the parents of the young couple present them to the elder, telling him of their desire to be joined in marriage. The elder calls the young people before him, and thus addresses the bride-elect : , , Young woman, is it your own free will and desire that you be united by marriage to this young man, or are your parents or anyone else forcing the union upon you f' The young woman responds: "It is my own free choice."
" And do you love this young man ~" " I do." " And do you wish to love and take care of him when he is old and ill ~" "I do." The elder asks the same questions of the fiance, then the assembly sing a canticle, which is only a simple and appropriate prayer for the wedded pair. The elder tells them to embrace and to join hands; this ends the ceremony. It is hardly necessary to say that marriages thus solemnized are legally null. The only legal marriages are those performed by the orthodox priests in the Orthodox Church. About the end of 1865 the German Baptists in the south of Russia were joined by some men of prominence, like Kapustinski, of Kiev, and by Trophime Khlistoun,* a man whose saintly life preached as loudly as his words. This strengthening of their ranks and increase of their zeal and their attitude toward the Orthodox Church have had a great influence on the Russian Stundists. To-day almost all the Stundists hold the beliefs of the Baptists, and in the sonth of Russia Baptist and Stundist are practically synonymous terms.
(To be concluded.) BIBLE MOTIVES IN MISSIONS.
BY REV. T. T. EATON, D.D., LL.D., LOUISVILLE, KY.
Many of us believe that a good sbare of the loss of interest in foreign missions is due to the World's Parliament of Religions. No one who read the reports of this parliament and the editorial comments thereon can doubt that the impression made by the press was unfriendly to missions. For example, a leading editorial in one of our largest dailies laid emphasis on the" erroneous impression" that mission boards and preachers had made on the minds of the people. These Hindus were really fine gentlemen, well dressed and educated, and thus the claim of the preachers that non-Christian people were all savages was unfounded. The idea of sending the Gospel to such fine gentlemen was ridiculed. In 80 far as men had the idea that all heathen are savages, to whom the Gospel should .. Khlistonn was ba.nished in 1893 to" desolate region in Caneasis, where he has suffered mneh misery. Kapustinski, banished likewise, seven or eight yesrs ago, perished in exile. be sent to civilize them, in so far did such reports and editorials chill their missionary zeal, and make them think that, after all, the well.dressed Orientals already possessed all the Gospel offered them, and led them to cease their mission contributions. I have myself had personal arguments with several business men, who, because of the reports of the Parliament of Religions, declared that they" would never give another cent to foreign missions." In so far, howel-er, as men had the idea that the Gospel is to save people from sin, rather than to civilize them from savagery, in so far they were not affected by such newspaper utterances. '
That it was possible for the Parliament of Religions thus to injure the cause of missions shows that it had not been made to rest on the right basis in the minds of large numbers of people. Too much emphasis has been laid on the temporal advantages of missions, too little on the spir- itual. A civilized heathen needs the Gospel DO less than a savage heathen.
Bunyan's immortal allegory owes its greatness to its truth, which does not pass away, since it is faithful to human nature, which is not changed by the passing years. The path to the celestial city was narrow and difficult, and the pilgrims could make but slow progress therein. There was a path, just over the stile, running through a green and pleasant meadow, a smoother path along which progress could be made more rapidly j and it ran so nearly parallel to the king's highway, they had no doubt it would lead them to the celestial city. If they found it deviated too much from the right direction, it would be easy to cut across to the way in which they were commanded to go. The result of their trying the smoother path is well known.
In every good work men get impatient of God's methods, and the greater their zeal the greater the temptation to try the meadow path.
Sometimes they get impatient with their brethren, who, refusing to cross the stile, go on along the appointed path. Therefore we have need to look carefully into the roll the king has given the pilgrims for their guid- ance. This is true in all good works, especially in the work of saving souls. The reason for the decline in interest in foreign missions is that we have been trying the meadow path, and some have been locked up in the Castle of Despair. The narrow way leads over the Hill Difficulty, but it does not lead to the Castle of Despair. Only when we walk in God's way can we look for God's blessing.
There can be no improvement on the methods of infinite wisdom, and progress can be made more rapidly along the narrow way than in the beautiful and easy meadow path. Let us remember also that the motives for giving money and the effect the methods of giving have upon Chris- tians are far more important than the aIDount of money to be raised. It is hard for those who have to raise money for missions to realize this fundamental truth.
What then are the proper motives for giving to missions ~ I men- tioned, first, love to God, which desires His glory. "Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God," is thod command of the Holy Spirit. Love to God is the highest of all motives, the first and greatest commandment. The Westminster Catechism is right on this point, man's chief end is " to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." The glory of God is the purpose of our lives. Jesus says: "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
The second motive is like unto the first, gratitude to Christ for dying to save us. Were there no command on the subject, this motive should lead every renewed soul to do his utmost to win souls to the Savior. This motive animated Paul and the apostles as they rejoiced in being counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. In view of what He has done for us, it were base ingratitude not to strive to bring the world to Him to crown Him" Lord of aU," who wore a crown of thorns for us ; to live for Him who died for us.
The third motive is love to man. This rests on love to God. "We love Him becanse He first loved us," and we love our fellows because He first loved them. 'Ve are to love men not because they are lovely, but because God loves them. I had an only brother who died when a boy and far from home. One of the last things he said was, " Tell the folks at home to be good to my dog." It was a miserable cur and always in the way; but the love of the dead sanctified the dog in onr eyes. No more was he regarded as in the way; no place was too good for him to lie, nothing was too good for him to have that he could enjoy, and no service human beings could render to a dog was not rendered to that miserable cur, for the sake of the dead. However base and unworthy men may be, we are to love them because God loves them, and we are to see in every man material for a star in the Redeemer's crown, and a means whereby God may be glorified. And we will care no less for a man without God, because his body is well clad and his mind well trained. Our love to Christ should hallow in our eyes all for whom He died.
The fourth motive is obedience to Christ. The command is clear and plain: "Go disciple all nations, baptizing them, ,. etc. And" Go" includes sending; for "How can they preach except they be sent ?" We must obey our marching orders, as the Iron Duke well said. When the Pharisees stopped the healed man carrying home his bed on the Sabbath from the pool of Bethesda, and demanded why he thus violated the Sabbath, his one reply was, " He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed and walk." Whatever He that made us whole commands, let us do.
These four motives, then, and those that are corollaries to them, but no more. Whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil, and doeth evil. But it may be said that people will not give from these motives, and we must use others-is that true g No Christian will admit that such motives do not influence him more than any others. The Master said, " If ye love Me, ye will keep My words." In dealing with those who are not influenced by these motives, what is needed is, not to take a collection for missions, but to preach "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." But Christians are not influenced by these motives as they should be. So often have they been appealed to by other motives that their consciences have been dulled.
The physical hardships of the heathen should never be made prominent as a reason for sending them the Gospel. There are hardships amonll Christians. What would be a great hardship to one of us would be none at all to a Chinaman, for exampie. Dr. Hayes exhibited a picture of a native "belle" who, he said, had thirty years' dirt caked on her never washed face. That would have been torture to a cleanly person, while she was not in the least disturbed by it. We should consider the sin of the heathen, and remember that only by the blood of Christ can they be cleansed. They are helpless of themselves, a hopeless eternity lies just before them, only one Savior has been provided in whom they must believe or perish, and "how can they believe on Him of whom they have not heard ~"
Neither should people be urged to give to missions because of the value of missionary labor to commerce. At a recent professedly missionary meeting the great stress was laid on the material resources of Mexicowhat crops could be raised by a proper system of irrigation and cultivation, what mineral wealth could be developed, etc. The Bible never appeals to any such motive. Paul did not go into Macedonia in order to dev~lop the resources of that country or to increase its commerce with Palestine, but in answer to the cry of need-" Come over and help us." To hear some mission talk, one would be led to think we worshiped mam. mono How often and with what complacency has it been told that before the missionaries went to the Fiji Islands their trade with other lands was nothing, while now it has run up into millions yearly ~ Oh, mammon ! mammon!! Such motives injure us, lower our characters, dim our vision of God, so that money takes the place in our thoughts which God's glory ought to occupy. Here is one of the worst evils in this materialistic age.
Deep conviction for sin is necessary before one can feel that love to God and to man which will make him delight in working to save his fellows. Whatever minimizes sin miaimizes God's mercy to guilty men. If sin be a little thing, an imperfection, a wrong development, then it is a matter of small consequence that the heathen are sinners. With shallow views of sin always go low views of God. He is no longer the aU-holy One who will by no means clear the guilty, but He is a weak and indulgent parent. There is no longer a throne in the universe, but only a rocking-chair, from which a doting Father sings lullabies to all. Hence we are led to think that God will be pleased if we please ourselves, and spend un ourselves aU that has been entrusted to our stewardship. If we decide to have a good time according to our pleasure, without troubling
THE MALABAR SYRIANS
ourselves with disagreeable things, no douht God will make up to us and to the heathen for our failure. To be sure, this contradicts the Bible, but we must not be " Bibliolaters," we must modify our views of the inspiration and authority of the Bible so as to fit our flabby theology, and to suit the " new conditions" about us. This rocking-chair Father will not deal strictIy with us, aud His holiness, justice, and truth must not be allowed to stand in the way of the pleasure of His creatures. Such are the views that follow minimizing sin, and those who hold such views can be persuaded to give to missions only by harrowing stories of suffering, or by appeals to their vanity, their covetousness, or their palates.
Back to the Bible, therefore, back to the Bible! Along this one line lie all the promises of God. Along this line all the triumphs of the faith have been won. When we obey God we are guided by in%nite wisdom, when we go our own way, foHowing our "Christian consciousness," we are guided by our own folly. Infinite wisdom has made no mistake anq no omission. The Bible is the one infallible and all-sufficient rule of faith practice. Its one purpose is to turn men to righteousness, and it will not do to say its teachings are inadequate for this purpose, and other motives and methods must be used.
THE MALABAR SYRIANS-A FORGOTTEN CHAPTER IN INDIAN MISSIONS.
:BY REV. JOHN RUTHBRFURD, LEWES, ENGLAND.
We find traces of the working of God's hand where we little expect it. In Central China the Nestorians had their missions, which for a time were largely successful; and the Malabar coast has to this day its settlements of natives belonging to the Syrian Church, or, as they often call themselves, the Christians of St. Thomas. God's providence has watched over them, or they would certainly have succumbed to their difficulties; for they have been hemmed in by heathenism and under subjection in civil affairs to none but pagan rulers. Had there been no guiding Divine hand, the Syrian Church in India could never have beeu preserved throughout so many centuries.
The earliest Christian settlements in South India are probably the seven churches which are traditionally said to have been founded by the apostle Thomas.
When they first came in contact with European voyagers they were Nestorian in doctrine, and had been so for a thousand years or more. It was only in 1665, when the Romanists prevented their communicating with the Nestorian patriarch, that they became subject to the patriarch of Antioch, who is monophYRite in doctrine.
In 1502 Vasco de Gama, the discoverer of the sea route to India, was a second time sent out by the King of Portugal. On his arrival a deputation of native Christians from Cranganore went to meet him with gifts. They informed him that they numbered thirty thousand, and that they kept themselves apart from their heathen neighbors as a special community. The following year, 1503, the Rajah of Cochin gave the Portuguese a piece of ground on which to build a fort, and this place soon afterward became a stronghold of the Romish religious orders in India.
Certain relics of St. Thomas are said to be in existence, imd the miracles attributed to these relics are worthy of the most flourishing age of medieval superstition. One of these was to the effect that when the Indian bishops annually approached the apostle's shrine to present their offerings, he opened his hand and graciously received these, provided they were presented by orthodox believers, while he sternly withdrew his closed palm from all heretics! When many other absurd and degrading stories abounded, no wonder that the Christian community which delighted in such things gradually wasted away, till its influence on surrounding heathenism became a vanishing quantity.
There are historical notices carrying back the antiquity of the Malabar Christians to a very ancient date ; but they possess two documents of the highest antiquity, which prove how very far back we must go to the time of their arrival in India. These documents are engraved plates of copper, supposed to be a thousand years old. One of these, written in Tamil, conveys a grant of land to a merchant who is supposed to have belonged to the Manichean sect. The other is written in Tamil-Malayalim, and also conveys a piece of land to a community connected with a church called Tarisa-paIIi, or Tarisa Church. These ancient documents show that in those remote times the Syrian Christians were a recognized community, to whom certain rights were accorded.
Unfortunately the intercourse of the Roman Catholic Church with the Syrian Christians is a long story of cruel persecution, in which the secular arm was invoked for the purpose of forcibly compelling submission to Rome, with the alternative of much suffering and sometimes even of death. Mar ~·talla, one of the Syrian bishops, was first imprisoned at Goa, and then burned as a heretic in, 1654. In 1700 another of their metrans or bishops, Mar Simon, fell into their hands, and was detained at Pondicherry in irons till his death. When the Portuguese had been ousted from Cochin by the Dutch there came relief from persecution in that locality ; but the Syrians continued greatly destitute of books, of pastors, and of instruction, and their moral and spiritual tone was lowered through their intercourse with the Jesuits. The native rulers, too, were despotic and merciless, and things were altogether at a low ebb when, in 1795, Cochin surrendered to the British.
Without going further into the question of antiquity, suffice it to say that at the Council of Nice, 325 A.D., a bishop named John signed the decrees then passed as " Metropolitan of Persia and of Great India ;" and about the year 200 A.D. Pantrenus, who then presided over a college in Alexandria, is said to have himself gone to India and labored there; this he did in response to a message from certain Christians in India who de- sired further i1lstruction. The detail of what he may have done is un- known, as his writings are lost.
What a strange conflict is that of the Christian Church-internal strife, outward persecution! We have it all in miniature in the Syrian Church in India. Though it was from the beginning a Nestorian Church, yet for the last two centuries it has been under Jacobite rule. About the year 1663 the Jacobite patriarch sent Mar Gregory to India, and he being accepted by these Malabar Christians, they were quietly incorporated with the Jacobites, a party dogmatically antagonistic to the Nestorians. Mar Greg- ory openly proclaimed that both the Pope and Nestorius were heretics.
The members of the Syrian Church in Malabar are now all connected with the Jacobite party.
Very strangely, there still survive Christian Manichees among th8 Syrian Christians of India. Their traditions allege that in the third cen- tury a certain sorcerer called Manikavachakar arrived on the east coast of India and deceived and perverted many Christians by his wiles, after which he came round to Travancore, where he continued his labors and succeed- ed in perverting eight families to !fanicheism. The descendants of those families were formed into a settlement and were called Manigramakar- that is, the people of the village of Manes-and the remnant of those peo- ple are still known by the same name.
The Mohammedans, too, since the time of their appearing in India, have sadly vexed and oppressed the Syrian Christians. .
Very little is known of the Syrian Church in India during the Middle Ages. It is said that the English King Alfred the Great sent messengers to visit the shrine of the Apostle Thomas in India. A Dominican friar named J ordanus, who went on a mission from Persia, visited QuiIon, in South India, about the year 1324, and .lohn de MarignoIli, or John of Florence, returning from a mission to China, visited South India on his way-this was in 1346 or 1347 ; he resided in Quilon upward of a year.
He says: "After some harvest of souls-for there are a few Christians there-I proceeded to Ceylon." Cadamustus, the Venetian, set out for a voyage to the East in 1493, and visited Calicut. He says that city was in- habited by Indian Christians, and that he there saw churches with bells.
He further says: "The Christians ride on elephants, believe Christ w~s born of the Virgin Mary, and never sinned; that He was crucified by the Jews, died, and was buried at Jerusalem. They know, indeed, that the Pope lives in Rome, but have no other knowledge of the Holy Roman Church; are somewhat educated, and can wrpte their own tongue. "
When the Portuguese arrived in India for the purposes of trade alid conquest, two of the native Christians of Cranganore waited upon Peter Cabral, asking him to convey them to Europe. They said that they used no images, but only the simple cross in their churches; and that they possessed many copies of the Sacred Scriptures, and commentaries on them, from which their priests taught the people. 'This was in 1500.
One of these two Hindus was " Joseph the Indian," aud in a small book of his travels these details. are given regarding the Syrian Church. Inside their churches, he said, there were no images ; they had priests, deacons, and sub-deacons; they used unleavened bread in the communion; the people received the Lord's Supper three times a year; they knew nothing of extreme unction, and buried their dead with religious rites.
In 1504 four Nestorian ecclesiastics wrote to their patriarch: ",There are here nearly thirty thousand families of Christians of the same faith as ourselves, and they pray to the Lord that He may preserve you in safety. And now they have begun to erect other churches. They live in the midst of plenty, and are gentle and peaceable in their dispositions. Blessed be God !"
Gouvea, an Augustinian friar, has recorded in detail the visitation of a Portuguese ecclesiastic, Archbishop Menezes, in 1599. Gouvea, speaking of the Syrians, condemns their adherence to Nestorianism and their refusal to call Mary the mother of God. He says that they did not allow image worship, and only acknowledged three sacraments-baptism, the eucharist, and holy orders; that they knew nothing of confirmation and extreme unction, and detested the sacrament of penance.
Archbishop Menezes was a most energetic agent in bringing many of . the Syrian congregations to submit to Rome. He brought about this result, both by visitation of the congregations and by holding a synod which afterward became famous, the Synod of U diamparur. It was held in June, 1599, and was a " packed" synod, most subservient to his wishes. This he brought about by holding more than one ordination of priests, who were present as members of the synod, and of course did exactly as he ordered. Without doubt certain good decrees were enacted, but the evil outweighed the good. Among other changes effected by the synod's decrees, there were these : The Syrian Christians were commanded to adore the images of Christ ; they were now taught that it was " pious to believe that Mary was conceived without original sin ;" all Syriac books were to be delivered up to the Jesuits within two months; and the whole diocese was made" to submit itself to the Holy, Upright, Just, and Necessary Court of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in these parts established." The synod condemned a book of homilies used in the Syrian Church, because therein it was stated" that the holy eucharist is only the image of Christ, and is distinguished from Him as an image is from a true man ; and that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ is not there nor anywhere else but in heaven." The doctrine of transubstantiation was introduced, and the cup was to be taken entirely from the laity. The Malabar Christians had known nothing of masses for the dead, but the synod introduced this a,lso. Compulsory auricular confession and extreme unction were also unknown in the native. churches, but both of these Romish practices were forcibly enjoined " on pain of mortal sin." Celibacy was enjoined, and to make this doubly sure the synod suspended all married priests.
The Jesuit missionaries continued to hold sway in this part of India for more than fifty years, until there occurred the great rupture with Rome, which took place in 1653 under Bishop Garcia.
The Syrians did not feel comfortable under the new regime. The enforced celibacy of the clergy, the introduction of images, and the attempt to supersede the Syriac language by the Latin in the services of the Church were very offensive to them, as also were the pride and intolerance which the Jesuits showed to all who would not conform to their orders.
In 1653 Mar Ignatius, a Syrian bishop, arrived from Antioch. The Portuguese seized him at Mylapur, where he had landed j then, after a term of imprisonment, they delivered him to the Inquisition at Goa, where he was condemned as a heretic and committed to the flames in 1654. In order to avoid the odium of this deed, the Jesuits asserted that the bishop had been drowned at sea! The Syrian communities were now so alienated in sympathy from their Jesuit rulers that they formally threw off allegiance to the Roman bishop Garcia, and declared Archdeacon Thomas, a native Syrian Christian, to be now their bishop. Afterward, when the Dutch had destroyed the power of Portugal in Malabar, the Syrian Church obtained from Syria the usual episcopal ordination.
Seeing how the sympathies of the native Syrian Chnrch were alienated from the Jesuits, it was thought at Rome that it would be advisable to send a new mission, consisting of certain Carmelite priests j and this accordingly was done. After the arrival of the Carmelite bishop and monks there were many quarrels between these missionaries and the Jesuits, whom they partly superseded. The Dutch, who had now ousted the Portuguese, looked with much disfavor upon the Syrians; and while forbidding European ecclesiastics to reside in the Dutch territories in India, they confirmed the Carmelites in their position, as these monks now had a bishop who was a native Indian. Bishop Joseph, of the Carmelites, before leaving Cochin, consecrated this native bishop. 'rhe Dutch chaplain was assured by Bishop Joseph in a personal interview that the Syrians were" persuaded that the very essence of Christianity consists in three particulars diametrically opposed to the articles of Lnther and Calvin-namely, the adoration of images and the crucifix, fasting and prayers, and masses for the souls in purgatory." We see how successful the Romish missionaries had been; their steady work, continued now through several generations, had leavened the Syrian Church with the essentials of Romanism.
There was much confusion occasioned by the struggles of the Jesuits and Carmelites on the one hand, and part of the Syrian Church on the other. The testimony of the native Christians themselves is as follows: " The above-mentioned two orders trouble our Church and bring dishonor upon her; they seize our priests, and, by confining them closely, cause their death ; their servants also maim them in their bodies. If our Metran deposes a priest from his office, then their Metran immediately reinstates him; if our Metran pronounces the Maharon" (curse of excommunication), "then theirs absoTves. Certain of their priests, when visiting some of our churches, openly and privately transgressed the seventh commandment, and committed sundry other crimes. On this account the heathen look upon us with scorn and contempt. "
About 1727 some of the early Danish missionaries to Southeastern India were brought into contact with the Syrian Church in Malabar. Messrs. Kolhoff and Horst, missionaries at Tanjore, made inquiries, and, as the result of their inquiry, came to the finding that the Syrian clergy were divided into two sects directly opposite to each other-Nestorians and Eutychians ; that they had been Romanized in many particulars; that they were very ignorant, and at the same time dogmatic in their own opinions about ritual; that they knew only enough of the Syriac language to go through their liturgical service; and that through caste pride they had hardly any intercourse with those of an inferior caste, whereby they incapacitated themselves for the propagation of the Gospel. For these reasons the Tanjore missionaries concluded that they could not then hope for any union between themselves and the Syrian Christians.
Paoli, one of the Roman ecclesiastics, gives us much information. Of the natives, he says that they dragged the Christians by force to take part in the lewd dances held in honor of the idol Sheva ; and also that the law against the killing of cows was no dead letter. He had often known men condemned to death on this charge; and that on one occasion five men were executed for the killing of a single cow near Callurcada.
Regarding the state of the Romish congregations, he admits that many of the so-called converts from heathenism had no higher motives than to gain a lawsuit or to gain some other temporal advantage. In 1780 and 1781 he claims to have" confirmed" no fewer than twenty thousand persons. The Bible, either in whole or part, he says, he did not distribute -and this of set purpose. Of church discipline, he says that if the offender is too poor to be fined, "a large wooden cross is placed on his shoulders while he is kneeling at the church door; a human skull is put into his hand, and in that manner he is made to creep round the church; or he is sent to Malleatur, where he must do penance at the foot of the holy cross which is said to have been erected there by St. Thomas himself. Women must bear a death's head or a wax candle. When the penance is over, the bishop, missionary, or priest gives the offender absolution in the presence of the whole congregation by means of a whip or rod, that the scandal which he brought on his Christian brethren may thereby be removed."
Of his own clergy, Paoli says: "Had these native priests sufficient learning, were they in any degree acquainted with their duty, and did they know how to procure from the pagans the least respect, they might certainly be fit to be entrusted with the care of Christian congregations j bllt, unfortunately, they are strangers to these qualities, live like the irrational animals, and by these means are the cause that their parishes are converted into dens of thieves."
In 1790 a terrible event occurred to these Syrian and Romo-Syrian churches. Tippoo Saib invaded parts of Travancore and Cochin, devastating the territory and inflicting vast cruelties on the people; both heathen and Christian. Some ten thousand Malabar Christians are estimated to have lost their lives in these invasions. Twenty-six of the Roman churches and three or four of the ancient Syrian were destroyed by Tippoo. It is thought to be the recollection of the atrocities of that time that kept Southern India true to the British Government in the Mutiny of 1857.
Cochin having been captured by the British in 1795, the way was opened up for obtaining more accurate information regarding the Malabar Christians and for awakening sympathy on their behalf, and various methods were soon employed for their temporal and spiritual good. Attention was directed to the subject in the beginning of the century through the publication of Dr. C. Buchanan's "Christian Researches," and much sympathy was enlisted in behalf of those ancient Syrian churches. Since that time the Church of England has carried on mission work among them.
"After the almost unbroken heathenism and Mohammedanism of Bengal, one cannot be surprised that a man of Buchanan's enthusiastic temperament was at times carried away, when he came among these native Christians, who claimed nothing short of an apostolic origin for their church, which had survived the revolutions of well-nigh two thousand years and the violent persecutions of heathenism and Romanism. To have been in any way useful in helping to raise and revivify such an interesting Christian community was an honor that could fall to the lot of few men; and to be the first in so noble an undertaking might well tempt a flowing pen to run occasionally in a somewhat romantic strain."
In 1816 missionaries arrived in Travancore, sent by the Church Missionary Society, and were cordially received by the Syrians. Their work did much to purify and to consolidate this ancient Christian church.
The fair promises of reformation held out by the Syrian Church were unfortunately not realized. Superstition and venerated abuses carried the day. Very great gentleness and forbearance were shown on the part of the Church Missionary Society; and in 1835 Bishop Wilson, of Calcutta, paid a visit to Uottayam, and was most conciliatory in his endeavors to adjust any differences or difficulties; but notwithstanding all these efforts, the reactionary party among the Syrians succeeded in bringing about a complete rupture between the missionaries and the ecclesiastical authorities of the Syrian Church. The missionaries handed over their college buildings to the Syrians; and in 1838 a new college was erected in Cottayam under the direction of the Church Missionary Society. In this institution many young men of the native Syrian Church have been trained, and some of them have proved to be of much value in mission work in connection with the English Church. In 1842 a large new church was also opened at Cottayam by the missionaries.
The Church Missionary Society, repulsed in their patient efforts to work alongside the Syrian Church, could do nothing else-unless they were to withdraw altogether-than accept the alternative of continuing to do the best work it could for the Syrians by preaching the Gospel to all who would receive it. And this work, happily, has been successful.
A view of the internal working of one of these Malabar churches shows us how vexing is their refusal to accept the kindly help toward reformation offered them by the English missionaries. Take, for instance, the church at Puthupally, near Cottayam. The building presents an imposing appearance. The eight or ten priests used to be supporters of a lucrative but demoralizing feast held every year in honor of St. George. The heathen flocked to it with offerings of fowls, and the pilgrims were entertained with plays and other exhibitions. This feast maintained its evil character so lately as 1863. Miracles were said to be performed here in the shape of the curing of diseases; and those who supposed themselves benefited, or who hoped to be so, presented small silver models of the arm or leg or other part of the body which had been diseased. At the church at Palaiya there is a large community of priests, and in this neighborhood every respectable family who can afford it is accustomed to devote one of its members to the priesthood j and so the land is overstocked with ecclesiastics who have nothing to do, and who just vegetate like tlie plants of the earth on which they lounge about.
The work of the Church Missionary Society has gone quietly on, notwithstanding all difficulties and discouragements j and through the churches and schools which they planted converts have been gained whose growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ gives ns cause to hope that they will be a race better than their fathers, and that through their efforts very much will be done to win South India for Christ.
Already has the work of the missionaries been of a most beneficial character; it has been altogether friendly toward the Syrian Church j and since it began the Syrians have both increased numerically and have progressed in education, wealth, energy, and enterprise j and many of them have improved socially and morally, and have been provoked unto love and good works.
We cannot end this paper without commending the Syrian Church of Malabar to the interest and love and prayers of all who desire the growth of the spiritual kingdom of the Divine Redeemer, and who pray that the churches of the East may be revived by the Holy Ghost and aroused to trim their lamps and watch and wait for the coming of the Bridegroom.
MOHAMMEDAN WORSHIP
MOHAMMEDAN WORSHIP.* BY RICHARD DAVEY.
Mahomet, rightly dreading idolatry, so prevalent in Mecca in his day, wisely ordained that the interiors of lhe mosques or places of prayer should be destitute of all representations of human or animal life. The early mosques were plainly whitewashed, and were not even ornamented by verses from the Koran. In the course of time, certain pious califs expended vast sums on the construction of mosques, and many of them became monuments of architectural magnificence into which the richest materials were introduced. But their interiors, however splendidly adorned wilh marble columns, stained-glass windows and glorious carpets, are as nude as an English town hall when cleared of its proper complement of chairs and tables. The only furniture of a mosque is the mihrib, a sort of niche indicating the direction in which Mecca lies, the mimber or pulpit, and in some of the Imperial mosques a maafil-i-humayum or private pew for the Sultan, and a little gallery called a maafil for the chanters. Two gigantic wax candles in gold, in silver, or brass candlesticks, stand on either side of the mihrib, and are only lighted during Ramazan. Most of the mosques are embellished with elaborate inscriptions in Arabian or Turkish characters quoting verses from th~ Koran. In some of the mosques, notably those at Brussa, there is a large fountain under the central dome. This does not serve, however, for ablutions, but simply as an ornamenl;. It is a popular error to say that people are obliged, as a sign of respect, to take off their shoes before entering a mosque. This is done simply because the floors of the mosques are covered either with mats or carpets which must be kept scrupulously clean, because the faithfnl touch them with their foreheads constantly during their devotions. If you wear overshoes,you need only remove them, and boldly enter the mosque in your boots. Another popular error connected with the mosques is the idea that Christians must not be admitted into them. This is absolutely opposed to the teaching of the Koran, which declares that any man or woman may enter a mosque, be their religion what it may. Indeed, in the earlier period of the history of Islam it was considered an excellent method of converting unbelievers to invite them to attend the services. Since Turkey and the East generally have become the happy huntingground of tourists, the Imams have conceived the idea that, by charging the Giaour for permission to enter the mosques, they may turn an honest penny to their own advantage. There are, however, mosques held to be so sacred, on account of the relics they contain, that the mere presence of a Giaour would pollute them. Otherwise the exclusion of infidels from the mosque is contrary to the teaching of the Prophet.
The ceremonies of the " howling dervishes" are thus described: " The first person to begin the office is the sheik, who wears a vivid crimson robe and squats down in front of the mihrib, on either side of which burn two small braziers, occasionally fed with incense. Then the musicians assemble and sit in a circle; at the other end of the room, against the wall, a number of members of the congregation and dervishes .. An extract from an article in the Fortnightly Review, reprinted from the Literary Di(ll8t.i
MOHAMMEDAN DEGRADATION OF WOMAN
arrange themselves in a row. Then the ceremonies commence. The musicians bang away on the cymbals and tambourines, and begin to cry out as loud as they can' Allah Ekber, Allah Ekber !' The devotees who loll up against the wall also begin to roar in cadence and rhythm, keeping the measure with their feet, and swaying their bodies to and fro. Louder and louder they cry until their excitement rises to literal frenzy. Their eyes seem to start out of their heads, their mouths foam, and in about an hour after the exercises are begun, several of them tumble on to the floor rolling in epileptic fits. When the excitement is at its height, several mad men and women are brought in and laid gently before the sheik, who tramples on them very lightly with both his feet. On one occasion I saw a poor woman, who was evidently dangerously mad, catch hold of the sheik's legs and almost pull him down. She was removed immediately with great difficulty by no less than four men. :Meanwhile the howling continued more deafeJting than ever. Little children were brought in and laid down to receive the pressure of the holy foot. A spruce young officer prostrated himself and was similarly treated. By this time the dervishes at the upper end of the room had lost all control of themselves. '1'he cymbals twanged and crashed, the tambourines and drums were banged with tremendous force, and the whole frantic congregation was screaming as if possessed, 'Allah Ekber, Allah Ekber!' As a grand finale to this scene of wild ~xcitement, a little and very officious dervish made his appearance carrying a brass dish containing a sharp knife, a live snake, and a small red-hot poker, which he presented to the sheik, who, holding the dish in his hands, advanced to the upper part of the chamber, and actually stabbed one young epileptic with the knife from cheek to cheek; another frantically Reized upon the snake and began to bite it, but nobody seemed inclined to touch the red-hot poker, for that remained unused on the dish to the end."
MOHAMMEDAN DEGRADATION OF W OMAN.-When we think of the part played by women in the Christian religious world j when we remember how women have come to the front in every progressive movement; when we think of their place in art, in literature, and in society; when we note how in Christian nations women are honored and protected-then we begin to realize that some immense power must have entered the society where women were once secluded, degraded, and oppressed. Exactly the opposite of all this is witnessed in the whole Mohammedan world. This alone accounts for the decadent history of the faith which Mohammed planted. A religion which perpetuates the degradation of woman is doomed, and it is dying. This is one reason for the condition of Turkey and of Persia. Society in these lands is paralyzed by the absence of any sentiment in favor of the elevation of the female part of the community. The Koran, which contains so many noble inculcations, yet fatally brands woman with the stamp of complete inferiority. In doing this it sinks morality, purity, and society itself under a deadly weight. Some curious Englishmen and a few eccentric Americans some time ago tried to make themselves famous by importing Mohammedanism into England and the United States. The attempt at a new sensation was a complete failure. The world has no place for a new faith of that sort.-The Ohristian Oommonwealth, London.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND OONDUOTED BY BEV. J. T. GRAOEY, D.D.
The Power of the Gospel from Personal in Christ with an element of decay so Observation in India. un-Christlike as the caste system. Therefore, these largely passed away. BY REV. H. F. LAFLAMME, CANADA BAP- But the impression left by those early TIST MISSION, L"iDIA. tho nominal successes in the eighteenth A young Braman, 8. Bachelor of Arts century determined the whole bent ot of Madras University, once spoke of our missionary effort and ambition in India mission work as follows: "Sir, I per· for some time in the succeeding cen- ceive that in your successful mission tury, and decided the policy as that of work you devote your energy to the the educational method which strives outcastes rather than in striving to win to affect the mind of the subtle and the higher castes through establishing metaphysical Braman and other higher missions schools, and colleges. In this castes, rather than the evangelistic you imitate your Divine Master. When method which strives after all alike.
He founded His religion He did not be- But the great revival that swept over gin with the proud and haughty Phari· . the Ongole field in 1878 and the mag· see, filled with prejudices so deep seat· nificent successes in that mission chang- ed as to be impossible of eradication; ed the entire missionary policy of India.
but He chose the simple, unlettered fish· This prominently emphasized the Di- ermen of Galilee, and on their unsophis- vine order, which seems to be to reach ticated minds He stamped His message the rich and noble through the despised for aU mankind. He wrote on blanks, and rejected. Dr. Gordon very aptly ex· that the word might be clear and legi· pressed the reason for this order of work· ble to all. So in this land you have ing as follows: "The most virile and practically passed over Us Pharisaic uncorrupted manhood is often found Bramans, filled with our preconceived among the wild and outcaste tribes of notions of religion, our own systems of heathen. Once subdued by the Gospel, philosophy and conceits in learning, and they in turn become subduers, aggressive have delivered your message to the un· and irrepressible evangelists. Therefore learned and unprejudiced outcastes. the directest way for the Gospel to reach They will hand it on to others, without upward is for it to strike downward."
bias, and will be found much safer me· This truth is illustrated forcibly by diums for its preservation and transmis- Lakshmaya, the converted grass-cut- sion than any higher caste. You also ter, a poor, despised outcaste, sometimes illustrate the great natural law that, if asleep, sometimes awake, always drunk.
one wishes to lift all the books in a pile, His daily home·coming was generally one must lift the lowest. So, sir, if you followed by beating his wife, drivinl{ convert the outcastes, if you are sue· her and the terrified children from the cessful in elevating them, all other high- house, smashing the pots and simple er castes up to the Bramans must come furniture, and then falling on the mud up with them." floor of his little hut or into the tilth of The earliest Protestant missionaries the yard, and there sleeping like a hog.
to South India were successful among The Gospel message reached his dull caste people, gathering in large num- ear, and the energizing power of the bers, and with them the deep.set preju. love of Christ touched his drink·sodden dices and customs that a more or less heart. Lakshrnaya was converted. He superficial knowledge of the saving rose early, cut grass all morning- power of Christ scarcely altered, much as much as he could formerly cut in a less eradicated. lio church could exist whole day-sold it at 110011 to the viIlage landhohlers and high-caste men, "God from heaven put it in my then preached Christ in the afternoons heart." said the convert. "He has and evenings. He was most fearless in changed me, the poor drunkard, and his testimony. and showed Christ to has given me a new heart. He can high and low alike. His first experi· change you and can fill you with humilence in witnessing to the Bramans was ity instead of pride; with truth instead remarkable. lIe had put down his bun- of lies, and with love instead of hate." dle of grass in the spot indicated by the high-caste purchaser. He had possessed With that manful testimony he goes himself of the copper coins thrown his way. And from that time forward down from a distance in the dust for his changed life commands an undis· him, in the fear that any closer ap- turbed hearing among them. He fearproach much more, contact, might lessly exposed his life in testimony bring ceremonial defilement, and was for Christ. In a short time he had about to retire in obedience to the arro- won thirteen of his fellows to a savgant order to begone, when the happy ing knowledge of Christ. It might thought came to him in the fulness of be said of him and of many other his new joy in Christ to tell these Bra- similar humble followers of the Lord mans. At first they were amazed at his as was said of Peter and John by impertinent presumption; but when the rulers and elders and scribes at Jeruthey realized that this filthy outcaste, salem: "When they saw the boldness this blatant, drunken fool, was attempt- of Peter and John and perceived that ing to teach the twice-born sons of the they were unlearned and ignorant men, great Brahm the way of holiness, their they marveled; and they took knowlanger passes even the bounds of caste edge of them, that they' had been with prejudice and ceremonial prudence. Jesus" (Acts 4 : 18). They rush at him with uplifted sticks to beat respect and sense into a fellow However marked the change in the seemingly devoid of both. But, to their life of the individual convert, nothing astonishment, instead of fieeing terror- so strikingly impresses one with the struck at the mere possibility of invok- transforming power of the Gospel as ing the Bramans' curse, as well as their renewed communities engaged in the blows, the man stands his ground, turns exercise of some public function conhis naked shoulders to them, and in- nected with their new-found religious vites their violence with neither an ap- hope. An additional emphasis is laid proach to fear or defiance. Overcome upon this by contrasting these newly with wonder at his courage, they pause made Christians with what they formerfor a solution of this strange metamor- ly were, or with their fellows still phosis. The converted drunkard con- wrapped in their old superstitions and tinues his broken message, and closes engaged in some rite or festival of a rewith those fearless words of Stephen: ligious nature. Many such contrasts " Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not are constantly repeated before the eyes in houses made with hands; as saith the of the missionary in heathen lands. To prophet, The heaven is My throne, convey some faint conception of the reand the earth the footstool of My feet : ligious antithesis thus presented considwhat manner of house will ye build er the following pictures: first, of a me? saith the Lord; or what is the Hindu low-caste festival, and then of place of My rest? Did not My hand one of the simple annual gatherings of make all these things P Ye stilI-necked the Christians, most of them converts in heart and ears, ye do always resist from the outcaste classes in India. the Holy Ghost." In addition to the principal and gen- "Where did you learn such wis- erally popular deities of the Hindu Pandom 2" asked one of the Bmmans. theon there are innumerable local gods worshiped throughout all India. Scarce- ly a village, and, indeed, scarcely a household in India is without its own of the transition from light to darkness tutelary divinity which is peculiar to -an unusual commotion rises above thQ that community. Such a goddess-for ordinary noises of the village. When the most popular are females, and re- all preparations are completed, the pro- ceive the general appellation of " moth- cession breaks through the main en- er"-is adopted as the village deity be- trance to the village and is ushered into cause more active, watchful, and force· . the open plain in a flood of light from ful than the plt,asure-Ioving male. She many torches. Its approach is herald- is believed to be the protectress of chil- ed and headed by a troop of almost dren, the preventer of small-pox and naked drummers, their dark and .oily cholera, and the patron of all enterprises bodies glistening in the torchlight as consigned to her care by a special vow they spring about in mad eftorts at invoking her aid. The village to which a contortionist's accompaniment with reference is to be made is an abandoned every limb and member of the body to seaport, now composed mainly of fish- the wild and rapid music of the drums ermen's hnts, with some few houses of and the discordant blare of half a dozen Ii better stamp belonging to men who trumpets and long horns. One more are the faded remnants of better and supple than the others accompanies his bygone days of commercial prosperity drumming with somersaults forward and prominence. Our missionary party and back, never for a moment, not even occupied a disused warehouse near the when in mid:air, interrupting his noisy surf line of the seacoast, presented to contribution by drum and voice to the our mission by a well-disposed merchant general uproar. Men leading goats and in a distant town. A sand plain lies be- sheep, boys and women carrying hens tween the old warehouse and the vil- and cocks, little girls and .old women lage. In the center of this plain is the with brass platters loaded with flour, temple of the village goddess. This is grain, fruits, and paints, poised upon no larger than a small bake-oven in this their heads, make up the motley follow- land might be, and, like it, is built of ing. Every living thing with vocal masonry even to the roof. The image capabilities contributes a not insignifi- of the goddess consists of a simple cant offering to the volume of noise- stick, not two feet in length, and rough- by no means to be despised as a recog- hewn to some remote resemblance nized essential in the worship of their of the female form. She lies upon the gods. The long procession three times summit of an ant-hill, and has recently encircles the temple, then masses in received fresh daubs of yellow ochre, front to celebrate the sacrifices and pay red lead, and oil. The hot season is the accumulated vows of the past well advanced, for it is late in April. twelvemonth. The goats and sheep are The sun shines down through cloudless led to the altar. Before it they are skies upon the burning sands of the sea- placed with necks outstretched by the shore. The season is not propitious for leading cord. Then a brawny fellow fishing. wielding a sickle-shaped ax with one Taking advantage of the forced idle- stroke severs the bleating head from ness, the fishermen, at the instigation the trembling trunk. In rapid succes- of the village priest, have detel·mined sion scores are thus slaughtered. All the date of the annual festival of the about, the cocks and hens are being be- goddess. On this day all vows made headed. Incense is burned at the foot to win her favor, propitiate her anger, of the goddess in the shrine, where all or invoke her blessing must be paid on the offerings are displayed, a little of pain of fearsome and calamitous visita- each being left in the temple, the rest tions. Soon after nightfall-for no twi- being retained to provide the night's light intervenes to break the abruptness feast. The mingled smells from smoking torches; from human breaths fetid appear, wending their way from all with tobacco, garlic and toddy-the points of the compa.,s in little bands, intoxicating drink of the country; from which. as they draw nearer the common hundreds of unwashed bodies steaming center, unite and swell the larger with perspiration in the suffocating choruses. On they come across the heat and from the blood of the victims, naked rice .fields, through the empty now clotting ankle deep at the altar's watercourses, over the tank bund, and foot, make breathing difficult and spread into full view from the church. All a sickening faintness over us. The ap- are well dressed, neat, and tidy. Men pearance of many of the people, now and women, with the children, are all excited by strong drink and religious on their way to the house of God, sing- fervor, is wild in the extreme. The ing as they come the sweet songs of drummers and leaders seem like demons Zion, the psalms of ascent of the Telu- let loose in fantastic frolic. The noise, gu Christians. They sing as with one the blood, the nauseous smells, the un- voice, much as Israel must have sung canny sights, suggest the gaping mouth in their journeyings to and from the of the great abyss. Overcome with an great annual festivals-for these Telugu intense and weakening disgust we re- Christians, like them, are coming in to treat to our homes, and in the privacy one of their annual meetings of the of our bedrooms pray-for sleep is im- Colais Association, from the neighbor- possible after such a vision-that the ing Christian Villages. There are fifteen Sun of Righteousness may arise with churches with a membership scattered healing in His wings and shine upon over one hundred villages. The Gunam- these sin-sick Bouls. All through that apudi church, in which they meet, is night of prayer thete comes from the their banner church. The church build- village near by the sounds of drunken ing rises in bold prominence above all revelry, of fearful blasphemies, and of surrounding buildings, the high ma- gross and debasing idol worship. For son-work walls and substantial tile roof in as many houses as there were sacri- presenting a bold contrast to the thatch fices made that night is being held an roofs and mud walls of the villagers'
orgy of lustful and filthy indulgence, homes. This place of worship is a con- known only in lands where confidence crete expression of the people's love for and faith are" in the shedding of the Christ. The building represents their blood of bulls and of goats" to take sacrifice in liberal gifts. Three broth- away sin, and where He is unknown ers led the list with a SUbscription of who, "when He had offered one sacri- $400. That would be a generous offer- fice for sins, forever sat down on the ing even in this land of plenty, but right hand of God." magnificent in a land where day labor Now consider this other picture. commands only six cents in the man A bell rings gladly. It is a church and three cents in the woman. The bell in a land of heathen darkness. The general liberality in poverty of the rank bell is tolling for morning worship. It and file of Christians is indicated by the is a Sabbath morning in a land where fact that the several hundreds remain- the groan of labor never ceases, where ing members have been enabled to give the toil of living finds no respite in a $100 additional. The balance of the day of quiet. As the bell rings forth total $1500 is made up by missionary across the fields a far-off echo seems to donations and a small debt, the prospec- come back. And yet there is no echo, tive contribution of posterity.
for tho the music of the bell has long Within the church walls are repre- since died away, this note grows strong- sented all the activities of a complete er and louder, till the full melody of church organization-the public preach- song breaks upon the ear. The singers ing of the Word, the celebration of the ordinances, the meetings for prayer, preach Christ where Christ was not the Sunday.school, the regular meetings known. for the transaction of church business, and the conference or experience meet- Mark God's blessing on a church with ing-by some termed the love feast. that spirit. Enter with the worshipers The pastor renders unremunerated ser- as they gather in this peculiar meeting vice, being one of the three brothers of the churches. See the five hundred mentioned above as liberal givers. In worshipers bowed in reverent silence order that the oversight of the church as the man of God leads in prayer. may not Buffer during his frequent Hear them as they rise to sing with the absences on extended missionary tours heart and with the understanding. Mark among the surrounding heathen vil· their intelligent interest and the kindly lages, an assistant pastor has been en- joy of response to the thought unfolded gaged by the church. In addition to by the preacher. Note their offerings these, a day-school is in operation with- in coin and kind during the collection. in the building-the teachers' salaries When the service concludes see the litand other incidental expenses being met tle knots of earnest converts gathered in part by the church-members and in here and there in the spacious building. part by the State. The church satisfies They are examining the candidates for all three of the cardinal tenets of a per- baptism. Then the pastor leads down fect New Testament organization in a score or more into the waters of the being self-supporting, and, therefore, little lake and baptizes them in the likeself-governing. They administer their ness of the death and resurrection of own discipline, elect their own mem- the Lord Jesus Christ. That churchbers, and govern their own movements. membership now numbers close on 580. Some time since they refused seventy Twenty-five years ago they were idolaapplicants for membership who were ters engaged in the gross and degrad. recalcitrants from another mission, on ing orgies indicated above. Now they the ground that they did not pay their are changed men; they worship God, debts and were therefore unfit for ad- the Spirit, in spirit and in truth. They mission. The third essential of the hallow the Sabbath Day. They revere New Testament church found in the the name of Christ. They are decided Gunamapudi organization, a most un- temperance advocates. They are incommon distinguishing feature, is the tensely foreign missionary in their fact that they are self-propagating. spirit. even to the point of great self- They have not only a membership dis- sacrifice. However, in the place of that tributed in many different villages, in man sent forth God sends another as each of which an independent church capable for their school. They are thus will one day develop, but they support amply blessed at home. In response to a missionary of their own. the earnest appeals for Christ in that great heathen town, in a few months' The call came to send a representa- time some twenty-five are gathered into tive up to a neighboring town of fifteen their church-membership. God blesses or twenty thousand souls, of whom them abroad. none know Christ. The Gunamapudi people selected their best man, the prin- Marvel of marvels I Omnipotence of cipal of their day-school, an intelligent, might I God's blessed transforming and highly educated, capable, and fervent renewing Gospel is manifested in these young man, and setting him apart, sent believers in apostolic power. We are him forth, and now contribute to his constrained to cry out as we regard this support. He was the one man besides band of believers and remember the pit their pastor they could least afford to from which they have been digged, lose; he was the one man chosen by ~'The Gospel is the power of God unto them all to go out from among tbem to salvation to everyone that believeth." Amen. Adva.nce in Korea. in Korell had doublcd its membership in one year. The annual meeting, when BY REV. GEORGE HEBER JONES, SEOUL, returns for the last year (1895–96) will be KOREA. in, is still to be held; but from news to A general impression seems to pre- hand there is every indication of a gain vail in the Church that the great war of 50 or 60 per cent., and a possibility between Japan and China over Korea, that again we may double our mem- the very disturbed condition of the bers.
country itself, and the recent interven- Little has been heard in the home tion by Russia have seriously interfered church of Wansan,.the northeast port, with our work in Korea, and that little where Dr. McGill has been laboring can be done there along missionary lines most successfully for four years. In a until the present undetermined political letter dated June 20th, 1896, to the writ- status is finally settled. er, Dr. McGill says of the infant church Such is far from being the case. at Wansan: Since July 23d, 1894, when a new order " Dr. Scranton was here and baptized of things was inaugurated for Korea by 19 persons and admitted 4 to full mem- the capture of the royal palace by the bership. We have had over 60 in our Japanese at the point of :the bayonet, Sunday meeting, but about 40 or 50 is the attitude of each successive ministry the rule. We have a number of whole has been one of official non-interference, families attending, and a dozen of wom- while the "officious" or personal atti- en or more. One of the members got.
tude of thebigh ministers in notable indi- into prison for debt, an1 the members vidual cases, and on some occasions even raised over 8 yen to get him out-a re- as a body, has been that of extending markable sign of brotherly love for a recognition to the missionaries and their Korean. We have over one hundred work as an important bctor in the ref- probationers. I am very busy building, ormation of the country. When chol- and also visiting the sick, having treat- era was raging in Seoul the Government ed 2500 patients this year, and my re- placed a large appropriation from the ceipts for the three months now ending public funds at the disposal of a com- will amount to 225 yen. "
mission of missionary physicians and Dr. Scranton, as superintendent, finds committed to them the Government himself at the head of an exceedingly measures for the suppression of the busy and overworked body of men, and scourge. When the Government school cries loudly for a reinforcement of six was crowded with pupils the Ministry new men. Brothers Appenzeller and of Education made a contract with our Bunker have more than 130 young men mission school at Seoul for the educa- and boys under their charge in the col- tion of such students as the king might lege. Brother Hulbert, in charge of appoint, to the number of 200, these our press at Seoul, is working day and students to be subject to the Christian night, turning out thousands of Chris- regimen in force in the school. When tian books and tracts, which are already the ministers of State, on behalf of the being felt as a regenerating force intel- king, gave a great banquet last October lectuallyand morally. Dr. Busteed is to celebrate the Declaration of Inde- redeeming the bright promise of the be- pendence from China, all the missiona- ginning of his missionary career as a ries at Seoul and Chemulpo were in- successful physician of the bodies and vited. souls of men. Dr. Folwell has in- At the present time the returns :in trenched himself in Pyang Yang, the immortal souls saved are cheering the strategic center of North Korea, taking hearts of the workers. Only three or over the work which the sainted Hall four years ago the church at home was bequeathed to the mission as a sacred ~laqd~ned by the report that the Church and desirable heritage. And Mr. Noble is probably, at this writing, near- Writing only a few days previous to ing Korea to take up the work so dear this from Dr. Scranton, Mr. Appenzeller to his heart. says: Like his brethren, Dr. Scranton is " Russia at present is not doing any- doing the work of two men. He writes thing except to further the independence from Seoul under dateof June 29th, 1896: of the country. Her hand does not ap- " At Chang-chin Nai I baptized (re- pear. Our opportunities are now much cently) 9 adults and received 17 into full greater than they were before the war.
membership. At Yong-in (a new place, This morning we had 88 Koreans who and never before reported) I baptized 6 are students of English present at pray- adults and 4 children. Wehaveagood ers, besides OVer 50 boys who are tak- work begun there. Next winter it will ing Chinese in the school. Every Sun- show up well. I suspect that from 100 day morning our chapel is so full at to 200 will come out for the Lord. Sev- divine service that we have to utilize eral years ago I baptized a man whom the hall. This afternoon we received we know as Pak No-in (Old Man Pak). 50 volumes of history and other books I did so, as Bishop Thoburn does, on as a grant to the library from the Min- one full presentation of the Gospel. It istry of Education. Bunker and I have is the only case in which I have attempt- had a year of unparalleled success. The ed this. He has been a most sincere Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and devoted Christian ever since. while Acting Minister of Education vis- Through his preaching-and he never ited us one morning, occupied a seat on rests-a doctor in Yong-in was reached the platform during prayers, and after- who has used all his immense influence ward addressed the school. He is not with the people for Christ. With books a Christian, but, having spent several and preaching this doctor has reached a years at Washington, he knows what thousand or more people, and a great Christianity teaches and has his boy in harvest lies before us. To-day I was our school.
to have gone south ten miles to a place "We never had the opportunities for where your man Chung, from Kang- work we are having at this moment. I wha, has started a small work, but was have put up a new book-store at Chong- prevented by the rain. " no, and on June 8th invited foreigners Then follows an account of how, at and native~ to be present at the open- three different points, our Korean breth- ing. Both classes came. After I told ren are inaugurating plans to build the object of the store, Mr. Choi chapels. Returning to the work in the (one of the local preachers and an offi- capital, Dr. Scranton thus speaks of cial of the Government) felt moved to the work under his personal care aR a speak to the crowd gathered in the pastor: street. He made a good address. Street .. At Sang-dong, since I came back preaching! Of his own accord I More from Wonsan, I baptized 29 adults and than this: last Sunday evening, after 9 chlldren, received 38 into full connec- the communion, the brethren volun- tion, and have taken 22 new names on teered their help to hold these street- probation. In fact, all this has oc- preaching services at the book-store for curred within the last two :and a half one week. Five P.M. is the hour. This, months. Work and opportunities for to my mind, is the right kind of an work were never better. It is exactly opening of the book-store. The fact in Korea as Bishop Thoburn represents that these schoolmen, who, as you know, the matter for India. Our trouble is were somewhat averse to this kind of not to gather the people, but to train work, volunteered, is in itself a signifi- them after reaching them. I have more cant thing. God is at work in our work than I can well attend to. It is midst. The people have begun to glorious work. " think, and it is impossible fQr them to go back to ante-bellum somnolence and 7279. The number of houses swept death. away and damaged by the wave, 1367.
" At the end of the war our college The population of the region was 48,- was the only missionary institution 990 ; the number of killed, 3366, and ready to enter the magnificent field thus the number of wounded, 726. The opened. Weare now recognized as a officials at the capital furnished each center for coining ideas. During the one of the committee with a map of the audience to which the king graciously devastated region and an official letter invited me, His lIajesty of his own ac- addressed to the Government, directing cord took special pains to thank me them to aid us in every way in our work for the work done, and bade me go on. of investigation and distribution of reo 'We are here to stay, and in this forma- lief. They also sent a telegram to the tive period of the nation's history it railroad station nearest the first town would be wrong for us to hesitate to that we were to visit, ordering jinrik- move right ahead. We believe in Ko- shas to be at the station.
rea. We believe she must have the When we reached there we did not Gospel. The truth we preach alone find the jinrikshas that had been: or- can save her. We are doing our full dered for us, so .we engaged four men duty, and we look to the Church to sus- to take us from the railroad station to tain llS in doing it. Shizukawa, a town on the seacoast that "In conclusion, let me say that at had been partially destroyed by the Chong.no, the site of our book-store wave. We had not rode more than a and the scene of this crucifixion of the mile before we met the jinrikshas OI- pride of schoolmen, there stood within dered for us by the officials in Sendai.
the memory of the living tablets in- We changed jinrikshas and rode on to scribed with insults to foreigners and a a small village, where we stopped for bloodthirsty threat against Christian- lunch. After we had lunched, the jin- ity. " riksha men came for their pay, and we were surprised to learn that they would not go on any farther. They said that The Tidal Wave in Japan. they had been instructed to bring us from the railroad station to that village, B~ REV. WHITING S. WORDEN, M.D., and they would not go on to Shizuka- YOKOHAMA, JAPAN. wa. Here was a difficulty. It was afternoon and it began to rain, and we The foreigners of Yokohama wished must reach Shizukawa by evening.
to aid the sufferers from the tidal wave After consultation together we decided of June 15th, which devastated the to start off on foot and leave our bag· northeast coast of the island of Hondo. gage at the house where we had lunch- Funds were raised, and a committee of ed. It was a bold expedient. but it three was appointed to visit the devas- • worked well. We had not gone more tated region and distribute:relief among than a mile before we were overtaken the sufferers. Rev. A. A. Bennett, by a policeman, and after he fully un- Rev. J. G. Cleveland, and myself were derstood the case he promised to send chosen as the committee. We left the baggage and jinrikshas on after us.
Yokohama on June 25th and fflached These overtook us after we had gone Sendai on the 26th. Sendai is the capi- five or six miles. We then came to a tal of Miyagi Province. We went to deep river, which we crossed by ferry- the capital, and received the foJ1owing boat. and then we began to climb the statistics of the calamity for the prov- mountain that lay between us and the ince of Miyagi only: seacoast.
Before the tidal wave the number of We reached the top of the mountain hOllses in the devastated re~~Q~ was ~QS~ !.?~fore dark, passed through the tunnel, and stopped at a tea·house for great earthquake of 1891, especially the refreshments on the other side. The roofs of the houses lying on the earth, descent from the top of the mountain their supports having been washed from to Shizukawa was quickly made; the under them. The next village we came road was excellent. It reflects great to was Hosoura. This village extend- credit on the Japanese Government to ed from the seashore up two valleys be- have constructed such a good road over tween high mountains in the form of a this mountain, with a tunnel to save the Y. All the houses were destroyed and steepest climb at the summit. When washed away by the wave. On one we arrived at Shizukawa the rain was branch of the Y the water had been falling fast, the hotel was full, and we forced up fully a quarter of a mile from found entertainment in a private house. the seaslxore, destroying acres of rice The sensations I felt were peculiar in- fields. Rere we heard a sad and touch- deed as I listened to the acconnt of the ing story. A man who had' gone up great wave coming into the land and the side of the mountain overlooking washing away so many homes. The the village on the nigbt of the calamity dogs barked and yelped all night, so saw the people come out of their houses that it was difficult to sleep, and we and go on top of the roofs with their were glad when the morning sun shone lanterns at the first intimation of dan- upon us. After breakfast we walked ger. From hiE position on the moun- out to see what damage had been done tain he could see the people and hear to the town. All the houses near the their voices, and in another moment the seashore had been washed away. Some wave burst in, all the lights were ex- houses had been floated inland. The tinguished, and the sound of the destruction at the place had been com· voices was hushed forever.
paratively slight, owing, perhaps, to The next place we came to was lsa- the fact that an island which lies just tomai. Here 60 houses had been de- olf the coast protected this place from stroyed, 52 were killed, 20 wounded, the fury of the wave. We visited the and 9 horses lost. There were a large hospital here which is under the direc· number of soldiers and coolies at work tion of the Red Cross. There have clearing away the debris, and fires were been 92 patients, 8 of whom died. The burning here and there to get rid of the cases include bruises, simple and com· rubbish, and the air was full of smoke.
pound fractures and dislocation, pneu- The smell emanating from these de- monia, pleurisy and catarrhs from ex- stroyed villages was not sanitary. and posure. The hospital is well equipped, now and then we could detect the odor having 7 physicians and 4 nurses in at- of burning flesh. The houses here tendance. were of much more substantial appear- We lunched, and having secured a ance than any we had before seen in pack·horse for our baggage, pushed on that region. Temporary houses and our journey on foot. We soon came to huts had been built to shelter the sur- the place where the village of Shimizu- vivors. The scenes all along reminded hama had been. This was a village of me so much of the sights all over the 60 houses lying near the water on the earthquake region, except that here coast, with mountains around on all water was the destructive agent, while sides except toward the sea. All the in the other case fire and shaking of the houses except one were destroyed. One earth did the damage.
hundred and eighty persons were killed. We learned that many bodies are Here and there were the thatched roofs being dug out of the sand on the shore, of the houses straddling the earth like and that many are washed up from the huge saddles, and under some of them sea daily. We reached a pretty village were numbers of the survivors. The called Tsuya, far away from the sea, scenes here resemble those after the at nightfall, where we secured a good room at the hotel and enjoyed a. quiet measured value to the International rest. Missionary Union, the program of We left our comfortable quarters at whose last three annual meetings he Tsuya the morning of June 29th. The prepared, taxing the remnant of his first place we came to was Osawa. vigor to the uttermost. We will hope Here had been a little hamlet in a rocky to present a much fuller sketch of his gorge on either side of a stream that life and missionary work In the near flowed into the sea a few rods from the future. l'rlrs. Belden needs not to be road. The bridge had been washed assured of our personal sympathy at away and all the houses destroyed. A this hour.
temple standing a hundred yards from the sea was carried away. The waves here reached fully thirty feet in height. Rev. J. E. Scott, of Mutra, India, Here and there we observed the smoke says: of burning thatch and rubbish. Many bodies were consumed in these fires. "Eight years ago there were only The conformation of the seashore had about 11,ODO Christians connected with much to do with the destructiveness of the whole of the Methodist Mission in the wave. The next town visited was India. Now there are more than 100,- Oya, the whole of which, except a few 000. ..lnd many more could be baptizhouses on high ground, was destroyed. ed were it not for the fact that there are At Kisenmuma we met Miss Mead, mis- not pastors and teachers enough to take sionary of the Baptist Board, helping care of them. These people, it is true, in the hospital, from the lower castes, and many of them are very poor, so poor that the average pay of workmen is only about six cents per day. Yet the people show Death of Rev, William H. Belden, their earnestness by giving out of their poverty toward the support of pastors The death of Rev. William H. Bel- and teachers who have been appointed den, at Clifton Springs, N. Y., on July over them. I have seen some of their 31st, will be the occasion of sorrow to giving, when the people brought vari- a very wide circle of friends in the for- ous kinds of grain, and even eggs and eign missionary field. His association sucking pigs to be sold for the support with the International Missionary of the work. And the converts have Union, of which for some years he suffered persecution. A few have been was secretary, made him well known killed, some have been beaten, many in almost all the missionary fields of all have been turned outol home and hare American churches. His zeal for mis- suffered worldly loss, yet not one has sionaryadvance was unexcelled and is gone back. Many good workers have rarely equaled. His labors for the Si- been raised up from among these peo- multaneous missionary meetings of his ple. I sent out a converted cook, who own church in New Jersey were emi- has been the means of leading many to nently successful. He represented the Christ. And even a poor ignorant man, Presbyterian Board in the great MIs- who could only playa broken fiddle, has sionary Conference in London, the In- brought many to Christ. So the work ternational Missionary Union also charg- is going on. God is blessing it. The ing him and ]Irs. Belden with being greatest need is more preachers and their delegates to the same body. His teachers. But $30 will support a preach- pure literary taste, his critical scholar- er for a year ; $12 will keep a boy in ship, his profound spirituality, his ur- school and feed and clothe him for a uanity and frankness, and his executive year. I have 4() such boys at school temper and judgment made him of un- and need scholarships.
FmLD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
lII.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
Turkish Empiro,* Persia..t .Ara.bia,+ North Afrioa.§ RUBSia,i Oriental Ohristian- ity,'IT Mohammedanism.** MISSIONS IN TURKEY. Presbyterians, Church of England mis- sionaries, and various independent so- Modern missions in Turkey were be- cieties and individuals. The most fruitgun about 1805 by the colporteurs of ful field for labor was found to be that the British and Foreign Bible Society. among the Oriental churches-Chris- These were followed in 1819 by repre- tian sects that had long since lost their sentatives of the American Board. The vitality and often their morality, by inhabitants of Asiatic Turkey adhere constant contact with the Moslems chiefly to Islam, Judaism, or one of the around them, and by their failure to Oriental sects of Christianity. Work make a practical use of the Word of among the Moslems, openly at least, God. These sects include the Armewas soon found to be impracticable, nians, Greek, Bulgarian, Nestorian, Jacand still proves to be so. Jewish mis- obite, Maronite, and Caldean sectssions are chiefly carried on by Scotch all of them having become more or less removed from apostolic life and doc- * See also pp. 50 (January); 119, 129 (Febru- trine. The first id3a of the missionaries was to reform the churches among ary) ; 161, 198, 204 (March) ; 282,285 (April) ; 38-3 which they labored, but while many (May); 431, 451 (June); 501 (July); 601, 613 welcomed the new light and life, the (Augnst) ; 685 (September) ; 776 (present i"sue). opposition of the ecclesiastical leaders New Boola: .. Constantinople," E. A. Grosve- and their persecution of converts soon nor; "The Rule of the Turk," F. D. Greene; necessitated the formation of an inde- .. Turkey and the Armeniau Atrocities," E. A. pendent evangelical church. The work :Bliss. Recent Articles: "The Sultan of Tnr- in Asiatic Turkey has been carried on key," Review of Review8 (January and Feb- chiefly among the Armenians and ruary); Armenian Massacre," Christian Lt!- Greeks, and has now grown to be large emture Magazine (February); Missionary and flourishing. The recent persecu- Herald (monthly). 'tions have almost put a stop to all prog- ress, and have rendered the outlook t See also p. 729 (present issue). NtWl Boola : dark, if not discouraging. The effect .. Persia and the Persians," S. G. Wilson. Recent of the massacres has been, on the one Articlel: "On Things Persian," Fortnightly Re- hand, to put a stop to the active educavitWJ (June); •• The Li'nd of the Shah," Gode1j'S tional and evangelistic work, and to (July); Church at Home and A/J'I'oad (October). bring to most extreme poverty and dis- tress all Christian sects; on the other :I: See also p.735(present Issue). RecentArticles: hand, these times of trouble have shown to the people among whom they labor, "Egypt and its Frontier," Fortnightly Review and to the whole world, the heroic (April); Mission Field (monthly). character of the missionaries, and has thus opened the hearts of natives on § See also pp. 436,542 (July). Recent Articles : the field for furthe; instruction, and "Female Life in Morocco," Church at Home has loosed the purse-strings of Chrisand Abroad (January); "Morocco," Ohambers' tians at home to help carry on the work. JouNWl (June); "AfricaNorthofthe Equator," Contemporary Review (July); North Africa The American Board is the most im- (monthly). portant agency in the field. Their work covers the whole of Asia Minor I See alsopp.l42 (February); 740 (present issue). New Boob.' "The Empire of tbe Tsars and the Russians," Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu. Recent Articles.' "Russia, Persia and England," Nineteentl~ Century (July); "The Apotheosio of Russia," Blaclcwood'8 (July).
,. Seepp.193(March); 436 (June); 750 (present issue.) ** See also p. 71i8 (present issue). Recent arti- cles: .. Mohammedanism In Paris," Connopolitan (March); "Some Fallacies about Islam," Fortnightly Review (April).
ed Eastern Turkey, toi_ther with of ChristilUl heroism and martyrdom Macedonia and part of Bulgaria. They for the faith which is in Christ Jesus employ 176 American missionaries (116 which the ,world, Christian and non- ordained) and 869 native laborers (100 Christian, will never forget. The time ordained). They occupy 19 stations has not yet come for Christians at home and 306 out-stations. Places where to close their pocket-books and let the stated preaching is carried on number survivors of the Armenian outrages suf- 327; organized churches, 125 ; church- fer alone and unaided; another winter is members, 12,787; and adherents, 33,- fast approaching, and it will be many 787. The educational schools are one a long day before the destitute Chris- of the most important features of the tians will be out of want. As long as work-including all departments, theo- there is a need to be met, whether ma- logical, collegiate, and preparatory, terialor spiritual, let Christians at home there are nearly 20,000 students under cease not to give their prayers and their instruction. Bibles and other books, substance for the furtherance of the papers and leaflets are published and Lord's work.
distributed in large numbers in the PERSIA AND THE PERSIANS. Greek and Turkish languages, and have had almost as wide a usefulness as the In Persia, as in Turkey, work among missionaries themselves. the Moslems is practically prohibited Other American societies at work in by the government, and in consequence the empire are the Bible Society, which attention is chiefly given to the Nesto- publishes Bibles in the Turkish lan- rians and Armenians. The name Nes- guage in Arabic, Armenian, and Greek torian was given to them by their ene- characters; also in the Armenian, Bul- mies as a term of reproach. They garian, Kurdish, and Arabic languages. speak of themselves as Beni-Israel.
The Society of Friends labor in Pales- The Jews residing among them ac- tine, the Presbyterian Church (North) knowledge them as the descendants of occupies Syria and Mesopotamia, the the Ten Tribes, converted (the Jews United Presbyterian Church laboring say apostatized) to Christ, as a nation, in Egypt, the Reformed Presbyterians in the time of Christ and His apostles.
in Syria, Reformed Dutch in Arabia, Their history and descent is unbroken and the Disciples of Christ in Constan- from that time to this. The way they tinople and vicinity. Britiih societies have been preserved in their mountain are the Church Missionary Society in fastnesses, in the prbSence of and sur- Syria and Palestine, Church of Scot- rounded by their enemies, and kept a land in Syria, and the Free Church in separate people, is one of the most mar- Arabia. The British and Foreign Bi- velous and romantic chapters of his- ble Society confines its work chiefly to tory. The first permanent. work was the coast lands. started in Persia in 1871 by the Church Such are the interests of Christianity Missionary Society_ The only other involved in the Turkish problem so far society here is that of the American as statistics will show them. Shall we Presbyterians in the North. The Re- withdraw? With one voice missiona- formed (Dutch) Church has a station at ries on the field, secretaries at home, Busrah, on the border of Persia, for .
and faithful Christians the world over work among the Arabs.
reply, "No I not until the Lord beats The Babi faith is an important ele- a retreat." Unhappily the times of ment in the work of evangelization.
trial and distress do not yet seem to be The Babis are a Mohammedan sect, but passed; the horrors of the past two friendly to Christianity, haTing bor- years can never be described, but they rowed many doctrines from it. Islam have served to exhibit many instances seemS to be losing its hold on Persia. The increase in the saJe of the Scrip. into the Greek Church, and no perse.
tures indicates a growing interest in cution is too severe for those who be· the Gospel. Medical work plays a very come apostate. Active proselyting is important part in the work of evangeli. carried on in the Baltic provinces and zation. People flock to the mission elsewhere, and between bribes and hospitals in large numbers, but often threats many of the people have joined their eagerness for spiritual instruction the Russian Church. Proselyting for is greater than for medical aid. Belief Protestants is not forbidden among in Christ as the only Savior is spreading Jews and others who are not adherents cven among the Moslems, tho oftcn of the Greek faith, but converts are secretly. often sorely persecuted, as has been so The condition of women, as in other abundantly seen in the case of the Moslem lands, is pitiable in the extreme. Stundists. The Baptists in Russia also There is no home lite. Polygamy has continue to suffer deep persecution, to destroyed the Persian morality, if there which has now been added the confisca.
ever was any, and the children grow tion of all religious literature. In spite up accustomed to the language and of the great difficulties under which scenes of a brothel. they labor the work goes on, and they It is still too early to predict the now report a membership of more than effect upon the mission work of the 17,000, with 90 ministers, and the bap- coming of the new Shah to the throne. tisms last year were more than 1200.
He is said to be less enlightened, but The religion of the great majority of more indifferent than his predecessor. the European inhabitants of Russia is, ARABIAN MISSIONS. of course, the Orthodox or Greek Church. The absence of a celibate The work in" the neglected penin- clergy gives it an advantage over the sula" consists chiefly in medical treat- Romish Church, and, until now,little, ment at the mission stations, and in the if any, obstacle has been placed in the sale of the Arabic Scriptures to Jews way of the free circulation of the Holy and Moslems by native helpers. An Scriptures. The monks and the higher interesting example of the way in which clergy are, however, forbidden to mar· the Lord turns apparent misfortune ry, and any advantage which the Greek into blessing is seen in a recent riot in Church possesses over its great rival in Muscat. In a fight between two Arab the matter of doctrine is almost out- chiefs the mission premises were looted weighed by the superstition and idola- and a large supply of Bibles were try which press alike on priest and peo· stolen. These were put up at auction pIe. Strong pressure is now being and sold as foreign books to one of the brought to bear to drive outsiders into Arabs. He, in order not to lose money the bosom of the Orthodox Church, but on his purchase, sent his slaves all over secession is making far greater progress the district, and they sold the copies of than forced conversions. God is, in· the Scriptures to hundreds of lHoslems deed, working mightily in Russia among who could otherwise never have been Jews and Gentiles, in the midst of so reached directly by the missionaries. much sin and wrong. In the case of The work is progressing in the face of the Jewish popUlation the old prejudice many difficulties, climatic, financial, is found to be slowly but surely giving and Satanic. way before the spirit of inquiry, and THE GOSPEL IN RUSSIA. the seed sown in the past is beginning to bear fruit. The outlook for Christian The land of the Tsars is almost as missions is more than hopeful. and. altho much a closed land to the Gospel as are theoretically absolutely forbidden by the Tibet and Afghanistan. N() stone is government, up to the present time left unturned to bring every inhabitant there has been little di1J:l.culty in carry· ing on the work of the British Bible Soci· tach the adherence and cohesion of ety, though tbeworkers have been com· their orthodox neighbors. Their bitpelled to exercise milch tact, patience, terest opponents in the State Church and forbearance. The spiritual harvest cannot deny these many virtues of the is indeed plentiful. Denied the liber- "heretics," nor can they, if they bear ties enjoyed by all civilized people, the truthful evidence, decline to acknowl- Russians thirst for the better liberty of edge the reclaimed lives and material the sons of God. prosperity of the many thousands of ignorant, intemperate, and degraded A clergyman of the Russian Ortho- peasants who have voluntarily adopted dox Church recently wrote to a Mos- the Stundist teaching and copied the cow paper, saying that the rigorously manners and morals of the sectarians. suppressive laws lately promulgated There are no more conscientiously lawagainst the Stundist sectarians are not abiding subjects in the Tsar's dominonly unsuccessful, but would actually ions. appear to have given a renewed impetus both to the open and to the clan- With the exception of part of Turkesdestine spread of the schism; while the best efforts 01. the special missiona- tan, Siberia, * or Asiatic Russia, comries appointed to counteract the teaching of Stundism, and to reattach the prises the whole of Asia lying north of Orthodox apostates to that creed, have the Chinese Empire, Afghanistan, and been absolutely fruitless. The most Persia (area 4,833,496 square milest lamentable feature of this propaganda, larger than Europe). says the clerical writer, is its evident progress among the intelligent class of The greater part of this" land of ex- Russians who have practically aban- ile" consists of monotonous lowlands doned the State Church, or who attend stretching away to the horizon" like a the Church service once or twice a year limitless ocean plain." But toward as a mere habit. It is also to this the east rises a vast tableland, the growing public inclination toward "Great Divide" (i.e., between the Arc- Stundism that the writer attributes the tic and Pacific oceans), connected with difficulty of getting the majority of the which are the Yablonovoi, or" Apple ordinary magistracy to ,convict the Mountains," and other ranges. In the Stundist propagandists, and for the southwest is the famous mining district same reason large employers ignore the of the Little Altai Mountains. legal injunctions laid upon them with regard to the exclusion of Stundist To the north are the extensive Tun· workpeople of both sexes. dra swamps, covered with snow eight months of the year under dull, leaden This writer makes a significant ad- skies, the long nights now and then remission when he candidly avows that a lieved by magnificent Northern Lights. large number of intelligent and edu- The nomadic tribes dwelling here decated people who are gradually adopt- pend on the reindeer for their existence. ing the Stundillt creed would otherwise become freethinkers. Unlike South of the Tundra is a forest zone, many other Russian sectarians, the or Taiga, reaching almost uninterrupt- Stundists, whose religious tenets very edly across the continent. The noted closely resemble those of the Baptists, Siberian pine is conspicuons, and berrydo not proselytize, and hence the police producing bushes are abundant, supauthorities find it difficult to convict plying food for man and beast, quantithem. It is by the force of example ties of berries being preserved for winonly, by their exemplary lives, their ter use. high-toned morality, sobriety, industry, thrift. and honest dealings that they at The water system of Siberia is the most extensive, but least serviceable of * These notes on Siberia are taken from the Reilions B'1/Md. t All Asiatic Russia comprises 6,500,000 square miles. any in the Old World. The Obi, addicted to drink and tobacco; even Yenesei, and Lena, running north with young children may often be seen the Amoor and lesser rivers, cover the smoking Chinese pipes.
country with a network of about 30,000 In Western Siberia the aborigines are miles of navigable waterway. But un- of Finnish race-80yots, Ostiaks, Samo- fortunately all are ice-bound most of yec1cs, and Voguls. The Cassocks hold the year, and only serve as sledge-roads. villages on military tenure, supplying The people are chiefly of Mongol (or man, horse, and uniform, in lieu of rent.
Tartar) descent; but many of the na- The principal races in Russian Tur- tive tribes seem to be dying out or be- kestan are the Uzbeks and the Tadjiks; coming absorbed in the advancing Rus- the former an agricultural, and the lat- sian element. (Population, 8,000,000.) ter a commercial people. High walls Eastern Siberia is largely occupied of sunburnt brick surround the towns, by the Tunguses, of whom it is said: and gardens and vineyards are inter- " Tra,velers are never wearied of extol- spersed among the houses, which are ling their many admirable qualities; of m'ld thatched with reeds.
and there can be no doubt that they Over the steppes northeast of the are one of the very noblest types of Caspian and Aral seas roam the Klrghiz mankind. They are cheerful under hordes. Their square graves, made of the most depressing circumstances, per- the trunks of trees, look at a distance severing, open-hearted, trustworthy, like log-huts. On the borders of Persia modest yet self-reliant, a fearless race and Afghanistan dwell the Turcomans, of hunters, born amid the gloom of shepherds and farmers.
their dense pine-forests, exposed from Siberian towns, which are not popu- the cradle to e~ery danger from wild lous tho covering large spaces of beasts, cold, and hunger. Want and ground, form both trading and military hardships of every kind they endure posts, the mass of their inhabitants with surprising fortitude, and nothing being Russian. Irkutsk is the capital can induce them to take service under of Eastern Siberia, Omsk of Western; the Russians, or quit their solitary Tobolsk, the chief commercial depot, woodlands, where they cheerfully face exchanges the produce of Siberian the long and harsh winters, when the mines, fisheries, and hunting-grounds snow-storm often rages for days to- for manufactured goods. Tomsk is gether." the sole Siberian university; Yakutsk, The Yakuts. of Turkish origin, on the Lena, probably the coldest town dwelling on the banks of the Lena, are on the face of the earth.
the mos~ enerp:etic and versatile of all The religion is nominally that of the Siberian people. This tribe, unlike the Greek Church, but throughout South others, is increasing in numbers. They Siberia, or Russian Central Asia, Mo- are described as "men of iron," and hammedanism prevails, and toward the more inured to cold than perhaps any Chinese frontier Buddhism. The old other people in the world. religion of Siberia was Shamanism, a The Koriaks, belonging to the" Hy- kind of nature-worship, based entirely perborean" group, treat their women on oral tradition. Many of the people, and children very tenderly, but put an tho outwardly Buddhists or Greek end to their weak or aged kindred, Christians, are still at heart Shamanists thinldng it an act of mercy to save -e.g., the Tunguses and Yakuts, who them from linge!·ing death. The Kam- -tho under Russian compUlsion most schadales (aborigines of Kamschatka) of them have been baptized-despise keep their houses scrupulously clean, the rites of the Greek Church as mere but the doors are so low that they have formalities, and are true nature-wor- to be entered on all fours. shipers.
The Buriats on Lake Baikal are much They believe that two principles of good and evil took part in the creation, from which he has lmt recently rethe former making the earth level, and the latter tearing it up in a rage, whence turned, he speaks of" the joyful serthe hills and valleys. It is held that a Supreme Being reigns above all, but vice in having new congregations of too far off to hear prayer, too good to reaZ sinners in every place, and even need supplication; and the circumstances of life are controlled by good in every ward; sometimes also hunand evil spirits, the latter requiring to be propitiated, but not the former. dreds together in the corridor or in the The Samoyedes are idol.worshipers. yard eagerly catching the sound of the Political prisoners are chiefly found in the Transbaikal District, but" whole Gospel, which they have never heard regions of Siberia Ilre simply huge prison regions." Many of the exiles before." All prisoners Who could read are Jews and Stundists. "The Stun- were supplied, grati8, with copies of dists, for sobriety, industry, and godli- the Scriptures_ ness, are the cream of the Tsar's subjects. They send them off to Siberia; To resolute hearts the door into Sibebut they cannot abstract from the Stundist his religious belief, his love of ria stands open. Whole-heartednees God's Word or his love of proclaiming that Word. So pure and undefiled re- invariably wins the day. But" the ligion penetrates into the prisons." There i8 not a 8ingle resident Protes- half-hearted measure in which we evantant missionary in the whole country. But in this, as in other lands where lit- gelize the age deserves and brings failtle personal effort has been made, that ure_ Steam and electricity in religion silent yet most eloquent missionary, the Bible, has found its way and will win; old-fashioned, easy-going brought light iuto many a dark home. The colporteurs of the British and For- methods mean defeat. We have not eign Bible Society during the last year distributed nearly 50,000 copies, and heretofore won the age; let us not put met with universal kindness from the authorities and others. One colporteur all the blame upon the age." had an interview with the State Inspector of Prisons, who greeted him warm- A correspondent from Constantinople ly, thanked the Society, and" fervently writes under date of August 19th: wished that the blessing of God might " Affairs here continue to be most inrest on it and its work in Siberia." He teresting. The Armenian patriarch, said it gave him much pleasure to grant Mgr. MatHios Izmirlian, has at length the colporteur a permit to visit the been forced to resign, and a rascal prisons. named Bartholomew of Broussa has Dr. Baedeker, well known in Sibe- been chosen as locum tenen8 until a new rian prisons as the " good old man, the patriarch can be legally elected. The Anglichanin with the fine gray beard," whole thing was cooked up long ago at has within the last few years preached the palace. and was no snrprise to us. the Gospel to multitudes in these dreary Izmirlian is a true hero and a devoted abodes, journeying across the whole patriot as well as a true Christian, and continent. Describinji his last visit, the nation monrns his loss. A few days after his resignation the local pa- pers stated that he had applied for per- mission to visit Jerusalem, and that the Sultan had graciously granted the re- quest, which means that Izmirlian has been banished to Jerusalem, and the official world is again hoodwinked by the wily Turk. _ • _ "lleports from Asia Minor are en- couraging in almost every case. The government is actually distributing food and clothing to the poor, and is protecting life and property. The de- plorable affair in Van was due to the folly of the Huntchagists. who succeed in getting Armenians killed while they run away themselves. . . .
"The work: of the Red Cross has been excellent, but would have been impossible without the aid of the mis- sionaries,"
EDITORIAl, DEPART!dENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
Rev. A. Benollel a.nd the Jerusalem than of any of the other resiuents here, Mission. they have been so very kind to me.
In May last the editor of this REVIEW Mr. Benolle! impresses me as being a felt himself constrained to set guards very religions man, a thorough student about any direct or indirect endorse· of the Bible. and thoroughly in earnest ment of this brother and his work, in in his work. .He has asked me to drop view of certain published nSf/auIts made in when he expects his Jews to be there upon him by Rev. Selah Merrill and a for religious conversation, and I intend certain Mr. Alley, together with private to do so.' letters from parties whose names we are not quite free now to disclose, but who "As the writer is an Episcopalian. appeared to be responsible parties. and one who would not have written thus had he not satisfied himself that All that was intended was to simply he could do so with perfect truth, his suspend judgment until proper inquiry testimony is the more valuable. could be made. It is now time to say that, after a year spent in diligent in- " Mr. BenoUel writes to me of four vestigation, nothing has been found young J ews-Sephardim-who are now worthy of credence or sustained by any openly attending his Bible class, as dilireliable proof, of all that we have heard gent students of the New Testament, or read against Mr. BenoUe!. He may after having been students of it in not always have been prudent, and his scores for some weeks. He gives the self-vindication under attack was not names of the fathers of two of them. perhaps the wisest course. but nothing and I find that I knew them both well assailing his piety, integrity, or loyalty as men of the highest social standing to Christ has ever been supported by among the Jews; one of them, indeed, any evidence entitled to consideration. is perhaps the most learned rabbi in Jerusalem.
It seems indeed to be a case of personal persecution, prompted by misunder· Turkey, in Oonneotion with the End of "The Times of the Gentiles." standing 01' private dislike. Among other testimonies favorable to Mr. The attention that Turkey awakens BenoUel is a letter too long to be pub- at the present time will give interest to lished, from R. Scott Moncrieff, Esq., the following statement of prophetical the concluding portion of which we dates, gathered chiefly from Mr. J. B.
gladly append: Dimbleby's "New Era at Hand." We " Only last week I received a letter ma.y not agree with: everything con- from a friend who has gone out to Jeru- tained in it, but the subject is deeply salem on behalf of Mrs. Finn's society, interesting.
a man of high Christian character, who " 'l'he times of the Gentiles" are gen- has seen much. of the world on both erally admitted by prophetic students sides of the Atlantic. I had given him to consist of 2520 years, according to letters of introduction to several of my the year.day theory, " a day for a year,"
friends in Jerusalem, and after having as in Ezek. 4 : 6 and Num. 14 : 34. A been there for some weeks, he has writ- prophetic year of 360 days (taking" a ten to me at some length of his impres- day for a year") is 360 years, which, sions of the city. and refers to the Beno- multiplied by seven, makes seven Iiela (to whom I had given him a letter) times-i.e., 2520 years. "Seven times"
as follows: aTe mentioned four times over in Lev.
" , I have seen more of the BenoUels 26 : 18, 21, 24, 28, as the period for which God would punish His rebellious peo- and continued 304 years till 3970, A.M. ple Israel, and the Jews have been suf- Then the Romans conquered the Grefering from the time of the 70 years' cians in 3970, A.M., and continued for captivity, which commenced in 3406, 666 years till 4636, A.M. Thus the four A.M., and will continue for 2520 years kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar's dream from that date, until 5926, A.M., our (Dan. 2) fulfilled exactly 1260 years, the 1928t A.D., the probable commencement half of the 2520 years of " the times of of the millennium. the Gentiles." The Saracens (Turks) then, in 4636 A.M. (our 638 A.D.), took The Gentile times commenced 30 Jerusalem, and have been dominant years before 8406! A.M.-i.e., in 3376! there for more than 1257 years, leaving A.M., when the ruling power was giveu nearly two and three quarter years from to the Gentiles. Nebo-polassar, Nebu- this date (August, 1895) to fill up the chadnezzar's father, became the first second 1260 years. Thus the whole of Babylonian king comprised in the" head the 2520 years, counting from 3376, of gold" (Dan. 2 : 38), and began his A.M., will be completed, so that we may empire, which lasted 90 years, from expect the reign of the Turks in Jeru- 3376i- A.M. to 8466! A.M. The Medo- salem to be overthrown in, or before, Persian kingdom succeeded it in 3466 5896, A.M.-our 1898t A.D. A.M., and lasted 200 years till 3666; A.M., when the Grecian kingdom suc- "The times of the Gentiles" may ceeded the Medo-Persian in 3666, A.M., therefore be tabulated thus: The Babylonian Kingdom (gold) …•……….•.•..• Iasted for 90 years, from 3.'l76J.jl to 3466J.jl A.M. The Medo-Perslan Kingdom (silver)…. …………." " 200 years, from 3466J.jl to 3666'$ A.M. The Grecian, or 3d Kingdom (brass)…….. . . . . • . . . " "304 years, from 3666J1i to 3970J.il A.M. The Roman, or 4th Kingdom (iron) ……………." .. 666 years, from 3970J.jl to 4636J.jl A.M.
5896" .. A Time, Times, and a half" thus fnlfilled…. …." .. 1260 years, from 3376J.jl to 4636}6 A.M. The Saracens (Tnrks) forasimilarperic,d (Rev. 11: 2)." "1260 years, from 4636J.jl to A.M.
The two 1260 years make" the Gentile Times" …••…•…•••. 2520 years, from 3376J1i to 5896Ys A.M. which, added to their commencing date in …………….•..•3376, make the year 5896 A.M.-unr 1898 A.D ….. _…………………….5896 Anno Mundi.
If Mr. Dimbleby is correct, this date peror of Austria, the King of Italy, will usher in tremendously important the Queen Regent of Spaiu, the King changes in this world, both religious of Portugal, the King of Belgium, and and political. The words of the Lord the President of the French Republic Jesus are sure to be fulfilled: "Jerusa- are Roman Catholics; the Emperor of lem shall be trodden down of the Gen- Germany belongs to the Evangelical tiles, until' the times of the Gentiles' Protestant Church; the Queen of Engbe fulfilled" (Luke 21: 24). Turkey land is an Episcopalian; the King of must fall sooner or later, but not later, Denmark and the King of Sweden are it would seem, than about 1898 A.D. Lutherans; the royal family of the As these things are at hand, let Chris- Netherlands belong to the Reformed tians be looking for the fulfilment of Church; the Mikado of Japan is very 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17. We know not now liberal in his respect for both Shintoism "what a day may bring forth !"-Se- and Buddhism; the Emperor of China lected. is a follower of Confucius; the Shah of Persia is a Mohammedan; the Queen The Czar of Russia belongs to the of l'Iadagascar professes the Christian Greek Catholic Church; the Sultan of fait.h of the London Missionary Society; Turkey is a Mohammedan; the Em· the President of the Mexican Republic is a liberal Roman Catholic, as are each found. Not only were these .killed, but of the Presidents of the Spanish·Ameri- terribly mutilated as well. Noses, lips, ears were cut off, not to speak of other can Republics and the President of indignities. Even the Kurdish mule· Brazil; most of the lesser rulers in teer who was with the party was killed, Africa and Asia are Mohammedans; so that no survivor should tell the tale. The horses were found grazing near the King of Siam is a Buddhist; the Presidents of the United States have aU· the spot, and the bodies were brought down on them to the different homes been Protestants. that have been made desolate.
" The remains of the bishop and his The following letter from Re'i'. F. G. nephew were brought to Oroomiah, Coan, of Oroomiah, Persia, already where they will be buried with great ceremony on the Sabbath. 'l'housands printed in the Presbyterian Banner, have been coming all day to look on should be widely read. It refers to the the ghastly remains, and the whole Nesturian nation is greatly and rightly outrageous murder of Bishop Gorial and his suite on Turkish soil, Persian stirred at this most terrible insult and indignity ever offered them on this side. subjects who had gone to Turkey to " When it is considered that the out- visit the bishop'S superior. He writes rage was committed, not against armed men or warriors, not against anyone from Oroomiah, June 28th, as follows: with whom the Kurds might have a " One of the most shocking tragedies, feud, but against an ecclesiastical par- that for parallel in the history of the tv, that even in Turkey and among the Nestorians of Oroomiah has no equal, Kurds would command, ordinarily, re- was enacted last week just across the spect, the crime seems the more atroborder from us, fifteen miles above the cious and uncalled-for. None of those college. A party of fourteen Nesto- killed were even poor, despised Arme- rians, consisting of the Nestorian Bish- nians. All were Nestorians but the op, Mar Gorial, of Oroomiah, and his one Kurd. nephew, three kashas or priests from " The crime had evidently been com- Tergawer, two deacons, Aserfant of mitted on Turkish soil, as the bodies the Partriarch. and attendants, left had been dragged and thrown on to about two weeks ago to make a visit to Persian soil, which at the scene was not the Metropolitan, who lives in Nochee, over a mile away. about two days' journey from here. " The question is, who did it? Could Near the Metropolitan also lives Sheikh the sheikh have ordered it done? Sadick, the 80n of Sheikh ObeiduIla, There are well·founded rumors that a famed for his invasion and attack on terrible massacre, one that will throw Oroomiah fourteen years ago. all preceding ones into the shade, has " Ten days had elapsed from the time taken place in Van and vicinity. As the party left Tergawer, four hours proof of this, early in the week the above us,without any word as to the fate Kurds, who are Persian subjects, were of the party, when an ugly mmor got summoned to the aid of those at Van, abroad of foul play, and searching par- and sent to the Governor of KllOl ask- ties went up to find them. Just over ing permission to join the Kurds of Van t.he border, near the Persian village ot in wiping out the Armenians, as' Jahat '
Rashikan, an awful scene was encoun- or religious war had been proclaimed.
tered. On the grouud lay the bodies The governor referred the matter to of twelve of the fourteen, with thllir the governor here, who referred it to throats cut from ear to ear, stripped of Tabriz. Refugees are already coming all clothing and horribly mutilated. into Van, and much booty is being sold There were signs of a terrible struggle, at that place very cheap. as shown by the trampled snow, mud, .. There is no doubt something ba8 at and number of dagger wounds, also the last happened in Van. It is even re- fact that some had been bound with ported that the English consul has been ropes before they could be overcome. killed and the Russian consul badly Two poor wretches had evidently es· wounded. All th!s the sheikh would capEd and run a short distance, only to ,hear; could he have committed this be shot down, as seen by the bullet fell deed in revenge? It is certainIy in marks in their backs. The rest, de· some way connected with the Van re- fenseless and without arms, had been ports. To-morrow the government cut to pieces with daggers. here is to be seen and urged to take all "Two bodies are missing, as the necessary precautions for the safety of searching party did not dare go far the Christians here.
from the place where the twelve were .. So far all is quiet, but it may be the lull before the storm. Certainly if the year. Now is the season of the awthe Kurds over the border are on the ful 'traffic in girls.' God help us. war-path, disturbances may be looked 'We have failed to secure some we have for near us soon. We rejoice in the earnestly prayed over. One poor creafact that God reigns, and that while ture we hoped to save took her own life earthly powers may be indifferent. not in an hour of awful deapai'. We knelt a hair falls to the ground withot.t His by that dead body and prayed for' help knowledge. " to save others before it is forever too late.
At the Northfield Conference in Au- H Twin babies, a boy and a girl, were gust, it is not too much to say that no born in our Home on Washington's address made a deeper or more spiritual birthday. Fourteen little waifs have impression than those of Rev_ Edger- been born in the Home since two years ton R. Young, whose books, "By ago. Who will send HELP FOR THESE Canoe and Dog Train," "·Wigwams INNOCENT BABIES, or help to SAVE the and Northern Camp-fires," etc., have HARDENED men and women. found so many absorbed readers. After hearing Mr. Young frequently, the im- "Gnd will hold liS responsible for pression grows upon us that he is one what we can do. If you cannot draw of the few really fascinating speakers a hundred-dollar check. can you not on mis.gions, and especially missions make a five-cent sacrifice to buy a little among the Indian tribes. He has re- Testament for the camp work or collect pennies enough for a quart of milk for cently returned from a prolonged tour our baby-waifs? We plead in Christ's in Britain, where he spoke to thou- name for all this great work, whether sands_ His lectures on his" Journey- it be a camp missionary or a cup of ings by Canoe and Dog Train," " The milk. "
Indian Woman as She Was and Is," .. The Indians, their Haunts, their II Ohristmas for Ohrist," Sports, their Homes," etc., would instruct and charm any audience. He is A correspondent from Evanston, Ill., graphic, vivacious, earnest, humorous, suggests that "a movement to secure pathetic, loves the Gospel and loves the adoption by Christian people of the soul of the Indian, and has a rare such an observance of Christmas Day, story to tell, which he tells with great the day when God gave His Son to the simplicity and power_ He may be ad- world, as will not only be more apdressed at Ingleside, Deer Pa:.k, P.O., propriate to that event, but, while be- ing this, will also result in giving im- Toronto, Canada. mediately to the world yet lying in Emma C_ Nason, of Sault Ste. Marie, darkness the glad news o! the salva- tion which Christ came on that day to Mich., who has in charge the work bring.
among the lumbermen there, writes; .. It is proposed that the following form of observance of Christ's natal " In need and in haste we send this day be adopted by the convention, to letter, urging prompt help. We have be advocated by the Volunteers in their thus far held on to the work at every own churches and communities-viz_: point of our mission. The overworked .. That the Christian people of the missionaries have reached almost the world be solicited, as far as possible, to limit of strength, yet we must not gi ve transfer their giving from their relaup. God has shielded us in times of tives and friends to their Lord-i.e., danger, and the winter has been laden that they set aside the money they with blessed results. The crowded would expend for pleasure gifts to their camps will soon break up, dens of sin friends and earthly loved ones under of every kind-brothels, drinking and the ordinary regime of Christmas Day gambling hells-are now preparing at- observance, and make of the monev tractions, and laying every trap to grasp thus set aside a gift unto the Lord in the hard-earned wages of lumbermen_ token of love and devotion and of ap- What shall we do for the souls of these preciation of the matchless gift of God men? Must missionaries sorrowfully to men on that memorable day, the withdraw from the work now while same to be devoted to the carrying out the ambassadors of hell go forth with of Christ's last great commission as yet smilp.s to meet their prey? Help is so grievously neglected. needed now to do the best in our lodg- .. One Christmss season's givings de- ing-rooms, cofl'ee-rooms, and for the voted to this end would mean the im- Gospel ser·vices. The rescue work is mediate provision in hand of all the needed more than at any other time of funds necessary to accomplish the world's evangelization, and that, too, providence of God shall guide our misif none but the Church of Christ alone sionaries on the frontier. Political cau· adopted this form of Christmas o.b- tion on the part of the British authoriservance. ties, and religious bigotry on the part of independent native rulers are the .. What would be a more appropriate chief obstacles with which we have to commemoration of God's great gilt to deal at present. But we earnestly trust the world than for those who have that the medical mission work and the availed themselves of this wonderful circulation of the Bible by efficient colgift and tasted of its blessedness, to portage may en!1ble us ere very long to make this natal day a day of return make some beginning in reaching these giving to Him? unevangelized peoples.
.. Cdn this not be taken up by the " We shall be very thankful for the Student Volunteer Movement under remembrance in prayer of friends in the watch cry, 'Christmas for Christ,' America in this great and difficult underbe by them carried into their own com- taking. munities, and so advocated and proclaimed by them throughout Christen- " P. IRELAND JONES, Secretary." dom as a Christian festival, as that by Christmas of 18116 there will be forth- 1flrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe ought to coming into the Lord's treasury the be reckoned among the foremost prorequisite funds for such a missionary moters of missions, for the grand work crusade as will sweep the world with she did in helping to bring about the the Gospel before the close of the cen- abolition of slavery by the publication tury?" of " Uncle Tom's Cabin." The daugh- ter of Dr. Lyman Beecher and wife of In regard to the appeal for more Professor Stowe, she settled apparently workers to supply the unoccupied fields into a quiet life; but she heard the cry of Central Asia, voiced by Dr. Neve in of the slave, and a message came which she must tell out, as she did in her inour last issue, the Church Missionary imitable story. In four years 313,000 were printed in the States alone, while Society writes: translations were made in many lan- " Our committee recommended that guages. In" The Life-work of the Author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,''' by Dr. A. Neve be granted three months' Florine Thayer McCray, the following leave i~ order to make inquiries as to account is given of the circumstances possible openings for itinerating mis- in which the story of ., Uncle Tom" sionary work from the base of Kashmir was written: "In perusing The Naor Peshawur. Dr. Neve has made an tional ./l}ra, Mrs. Stowe noticed the inci- dent of a slave woman escaping with expedition into Baltistan, and iii propos- her child across the lioating ice of the Ing in September or October to go up river, from Kentucky into Ohio, and it to Hunza Nagyr and other districts. became the first salient point of her We have also been in communication great work, and is seen in the history of Eliza. She began to meditate and with the authorities here and in India dream over a possible story that should as to the possibility of missionary work graphically set forth the bare ugliness and repulsive features of the system of in the neighborhood of Chitral, or in negro slavery. The black husband Kaffiristan or Afghanistan. In both who remained in Kentucky, going back the latter cases we are informed there is and forth on parole, and remaining in no prospect whatever of missionary bondage rather than forfeit his word of honor to his master, suggested the charwork being allowed by the Amir. But acter of Uncle Tom. Once suggested, we have hope that ere very long mis- the scenes of the story began rapidly to sionary work may be possible in the form in her mind, and, as they are neighborhood of Chitral. We are also prone to do in the practical forces of energetiC character, emotions and impurposing to establish a strong medical presSions instantly crystallized into mission a.t Peshawur with a view to reaching the frontier and trans-frontier tribes, and plans are now being arranged with this purpose before us. But for the most part our duty for some time to come seems likely to be pioneering work, looking for opportunities as the ideas and opinions. The whole wonder- and fame as long as Uncle Tom him- ful scheme was defined before the au- self. It was told me, as such things thor of • Uncle Tom's Cabin' put her go, from lip to lip of personal friends pen to paper. She has related that the who take pride in cherishing the sweet- closing scene, the death oC Uncle Tom, est thoughts and facts about those came to her as a material vision while whom they love and revere. During sitting at the Communion one Sunday the latter part of her life l'Irs. Stowe in the little church at Brunswick.· She has been one of those devout Christian was perfectly overcome by it, and believers whose consecration takes high could scarcely restrain the violent emo- forms. She has placed faith in prayer, tion that sprang into tears and shook and given herself to the kind of dedi- her frame. She was carried out of her- cation which exercises and cultivates . self. It was the fire of outraged feel- it. There came a time in her history ing which inspired this memorable When one who was very dear to her work. She hastened home and wrote, seemed about to sink away from the and, her husband being away, she read faith in which she trusted, and to which it aloud to her older children. Her life and sorrow hall taught her to cling burning sentences so tonched their as only those who have Buffered and young hearts that they wept with her, dOUbted and accepted can. This pros- and cried out that slavery was the most pect was a crushing grief to her, and accursed thing in the world. Some she set herself resolutely to avert the days afterward, Professor Stowe, hav- calamity if and while she could. Let- ing returned, was passing through her ter after letter-some of them thirty room, and notiCing many sheets of pages long-found its way from her closely-written paper upon his wife's pen to the foreign town in which Ger- table, he took them up and began to man rationalism was doing its worst read. His casual curiosity soon merged for the soul she loved. She set the full nto interest and deepened into astonish- force of her intellect intelligently to ment. He sought his wife with words work upon this conflict. She read, she of enthusiastic praise, and said, • You reasoned, she wrote, she argued, she can make something out of this.' 'I pleaded. Months passed in a struggle mean to,' was the quiet reply of his whose usefulness seemed a pitiable wife. From this time on, Harriet hope, to be frustrated in the effort. Beecher Stowe was possessed by the Then she laid aside her strong pen, and theme; it dominated all other concerns, turned to her great faith. As the sea- and held her a willing captive until it son of the sacred holiday approached, was done. She said to the writer a she shut herself into her room, seclud· year or two before her death, • I did ing herself from all but God, and not think of doing a great thing, I did prayed as only such a believer-as only not want to be famous. It came upon such a woman-may. As she had set me, and I did as I must, pel'force, wrote the full force of her intellect, so now it out; but I was only as a pen in the she set the full power of her faith, to hands of God. What there is good and work upon her soul's desire. One may powerful in it came from Him. I was not dwell in words upon that sacred merely the instrument. It is strange battle. But the beautiful part of the that He should have chosen me, ham- story, as I have been told it, is, that a pered and bound down as I was with few weeks after this a letter reached feeble health and family cares. But I her, saying: 'At Christmas-time a had to do it.' .. light came to me. I see things differ- ently now. I see my way to accept A beautiful example of the power of the faith of my fathers; and the belief in Christianity, which is everything to prayer is furnished in a recent incident you, has become reasonable and possi- ble to me at last.' .. which Elizabeth Stuart Phelps tells of The Chicago Evangelistic Institute, Mrs. Stowe, whose recent death thus re- closely associated with Mr. Moody, moves one of the striking and heroic lOBeS a grand man and a teacher dearly women of our day from among us : beloved in the departure of Professor " The most beautiful story which I ever heard about Mrs. Stowe I have W. W. White, formerly of Xenia Theo- asked no permission to share with the readers of these papers, and yet I feel logical Seminary, who soon leaves for sure that no one who loves and honors her could refuse it; for I believe that India to give lectures and addresses on if the whole of it were told, it might live to enhance the nobility of her name the Bible to the ten thousand candi- dates for matriculation at the Universltyof Calcutta. Calcutta is one of the turn to the city one man came in from great educational centres. It conta.ins one of the outlying villages, and said about twenty colleges, and about double that he had prayed to God to carl:! for tha.t number of high schools. In these him, and that altho the cholera was in colleges there are about three thousand the houses next to him, there was none students, and in the senior class of the in his dwelling. Another man testified high schools about two thousand more later to the similar preservation in an. who have an acquaintance with Eng. swer to prayer. Another told of how lish. The actual student constituency a few Christians in his village had in Calcutta at anyone time numbers prayed to God, and altho the cholera about five thousand. Of this number visited villages all about them none three thousand are strangers in the came there. 'l'his testimony was retown, not living with parents or duplicated a. dozen times from a dozen friends, but in lodgings. In addition different parts of the province. Who, to the men actually in college, there then, can doubt that what the Koreans are at least fifty thousand English- believed was true-that it was through speaking and non-Christian natives in their faith and prayers that they had Calcutta. Tbe International Commit· been protected from the scourge? tee of the Y. M. C. A. had its attention " Such testimonies made, we ask our· called to this magnificent opening for selves. have we such a simple, child· foreign missionary work by J. Camp- like faith lind sllch perfect assurance bell White, Secretary of the Association as these Koreans ? .
in that city, and by Mr. Mott, who is " About two weeks ago it was my now making a tour of the world in be· privilege to baptize a man who had half of the movement among students taken the cholera in Pyeng Yang, and in colleges and universities. A build- had been carried outside the city wall ing in the heart or the college quarter and there left to die or get well, as the has been secured for $50,000 through case might be. One of our Christians the generosity of Lord Overtoun and -no other would have thOllght of such others in England and America. An a thing-carried the man into a vacant auditorium is being prepared to hold a house next to his own. There he thousand persons. The students of nureed him back to life. He has since Calcutta have already shown a deep become an earnest believer. iuterest in the proj ect. " Our work is most encouraging-in fact it has grown far beyond our ability to look after it properly. Our province Over }Ir. Gladstone's bedstead is hung is some 300 miles long and averages sbout 100 miles wide. Scattered over the motto, " Christian, remcmber what this territory there are sixteen places thou hast to do." where Koreans meet every Sabbath to Contrast with this the public declara· worship God. Everyone of these six- tion of Senator Ingalls, that the Golden teen places is imploring us to come snd teach them more. Besides these Rule and the Ten Commandments had sixteen places where regular worship no place in politics, and that no man is held, there are about thirty villages could succeed in public life along such 'where the people have given us most lines. urgent invitations to visit them.
" We are sadly in Deed of more help. We have asked our Board (Presbyte- Korean Ohristians. rian) for another worker, but we sadly We are in receipt of an interesting Deed two. Do not these forty·six villetter from Rev. Graham Lee, of Pyeng lages plead eloquently to the Church at home?" Yang, Korea, in which he gives some encouraging illustrations of the child· like faith of the native Christians. lIrs. Arthur H. Smith writes: "The Mr. Lee says in part : Holy Spirit seems to be moving on our "During the cholera, wnich raged Shantung Church (North China) as here la.qt summer, these Pyeng Yang never before in a quiet, powerful way, quickening into new life cold and dead Christians grasped the idea that God members and putting a great longing was able and willing to care for them hunger into the hearts of our Chinese if they would pray to Him and trust preachers for more spiritual power. Him implicitly. The testimony which At a little conference three of them had they gave us of God's care over them Was remarkable. Shortly after our rewith Mr. Smith about the baptism of ment that the Emperor of China is now the Holy Spirit, they were full of joy to systematically studying the New Testa- hear there waa a way to gt!t power, and ment, and is at present reading the wished they could build tabernacles Gospel of St. Luke.
and stay there, as one of them said, Among the agents of the China In- where they had learned this good land Mission 32 are laboring at their news." own expense, 87 are supported entirely by friends, and 16 are supported by Dr. D'Erf Wheeler, medical mission- friends in part. One friend supports ary at Jerusalem, says that fifty years 5 missionaries, 3 support 2 each, and ago Jerusalem was simply a large vil· 39 support 1 each. In two cases 2 lage. Tbere were no roads, and there friends support 1 missionary between were no houses decently built. There them.
were then only about 6000 Jews there, who were very poor and downtrodden, The great Indian Rajah M.ontja, it is while now Jerusalem outside the walls said, had but one son, to whose educawaa almost larger than Jerusalem inside tion he gave much time and thought, in the walls, and there were now over order that the boy might be fitted for 88,000 Jews there, and they were still his high place. Among his devices for coming. . the wise training of his son was the Orders came from Constantinople to placing near him an old man whose the Beirut Customs House in Septem- duty was to say to the prince, whenever ber last to allow no books to be shipped, he was enjoying any pleasure keenly, even tho they have the imperial permit, "The day hath but twelve hOUl·S." unless each separate volume is stamped When the lad, on the other hand, was by the Director of Education. As we sick or in trouble, he changed the warnhave 12,000 volumes ready for ship- ing to," The night is but twelve hours ment, our work is virtually and practi- long. "
cally stopped. The Director of Educa- tion has written to the Collector of the "In British India the annual death- Port that these books all have the im- rate among Europeans in the early part perial permit, but he says his new or- of this century was eighty-four to the ders are peremptory. and not a book thousand; but in 1890 it was reduced can go without the disfiguring stamp to sixteen to the thousand. So in the on it. Dutch East Indies, the European death- Mr. Freyer, manager of the Press, rate has been reduced from one hundred prepared at once a telegram on the sub- and seventy to the thousand in 1828 to ject to the United States Minister in sixteen-much less than the native Constantinople, but the Director of death· rate, which in 1892 was twenty- Telegraph refused to send it. three to the thousand. In the basin of The United States Consulate then the Congo the death-rate among white prepared a telegram on the subject, men in 1893 was seventy to the thou- which they thought it unwise to re- sand, but this embIaced many mere ad- fuse. But it is evident that there is a venturers and campaigners. deprived of persistent policy at the Porte to thwart the comforts and conveniences of life.
and cripple all Bible work in the em- In Leopoldville and Boma, white settle- pire as far as possible. ments, where good homes are available H. H. JESSUP, D.D. and fair sanitary conditions, the death- BEIRUT. rate is but thirty-two to the thousand."
If science and Christianity go hand in Professor Headland, of the Peking hand, men may yet be as healthful in University, is authority for the state- Africa as in America.
71:14 G1l:NEBAL MISSIONARY DI'l'ELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDl'rED BY REV. D. L. LEONA.RD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign alleled by our efforts for the evangeli- zation of African and Polynesian races, Periodicals. And, corresponding with the conversion of the Roman Empire, the bishop places BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, our task in evangelizing India and the MASS.
INDIA. other Asiatic countries in which exists – " Bishop Barry," formerly Primate an ancient civilization needing to have of Australia, .. considers that the Church new life infused into it. Here the bish- of England has a threefold mission to op wisely urges that extension in these the world; and he finds an analogy to countries has a different ideal from that this in three phases of the spread of Chris· which suits the growth of the colonial tianity as seen in the history of Chris· Church. 'It cannot and must not aim tendom. The Church, he says, had first at reproduction of the English Church to undertake the task of the conversion itself, with local variation but substan- of the Roman Empire, and this task tial identity. If ever these Eastern was 'not to create, but to regenerate races are to be won to Christ, it will human society,' and' to create a new surely be by the service of men and and diviner unity in the Church Catho- churches of their own blood, and lie.' When this was accomplished, a thought, and character. • .. Our real second task presented itself-the con- work is, not to transplant the full-grown version of the barbarian nations-which English tree, but simply to sow the liv- involved civilization as well as evan- ing seed of Christianity and leave it to gelizatio~. And then a third task was grow.' This is an admirable statement the fostering of Christian national life of a principle enunciated again and in contradistinction to the universal again by the Church Missionary Soci- dominion claimed by the papacy, and ety. The difficulty is, that whenever the accomplishment of this task is best there is a suggestion to put the princi- seen, observes the bishop, in England ple into action, there is sure to be a loud itself. With these three phases of the outcry. The present Archbishop of development of Christendom the bishop Canterbury once said that it was a pity compares the threefold sphere of church that white should be the color of a expansion now. clergyman's dress in officiating in a " Alongside the last of these three he country where it is the color of mourn· puts the growth of our rising and fed- ing; but supposing a C. M. S. mission- erated colonial churches. 'This ex- ary in China took the Archbishop at pansion has not been on the principle his word and discarded the surplice, of absolution on the one side and de- convocation itself would probably put pendence on the other. The ideal of on record its extreme displeasure.
the Roman Church may be spiritual " Altho, however, the bishop distin- empire; ours is free spiritual federa- guishes these three phases of ' ecclesias- tion. It is the desire of th'l Church of tical expansion,' he nevertheless urges England, true to her ancient spirit and that they cannot be separated. 'They traditions, to sit, not as a queen over not only coexist, but ultimately they spiritual dependencies, but as a mother are really one.' The same solidarity is among her daughter churches.' The shown in the healthy influence of Chris- second of the Church's three tasks in tian extension abroad upon Christian past ages, namely. the conversion of the life at home; and again, in the signifi- barbarian races, is, of course, now par- cant fact, upon which the bishop pro-
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
ceeds to enlarge, that the present cen- the way which is marked out in the tury has been simultaneously an era of Savior's words ~ • I thank Thee, 0 Fa- missionary expansion and of develop· ther, Lord of heaven and earth, that ment in the home church. Here he de- Thou hast hid these things from the scribes in eloquent paragraphs the Evan- wise and prudent, and hast revealed gelical Revival, the Oxford Movement, them to babes.' When once the masscs and that third religious influence whose are won for Christianity the leaders motto, says the bishop, is, • The har- soon follow after, as missionary history mony of the natural and the supernatu- confirms by numerous examples."
ral,' and which is commonly called, -" It is probable that there will be with more or less accuracy, • Broad developed in Japan, as in all Christian Church.' The first of these movements countries, two churches, the one evanproduced widespread evangelization; gelical or orthodox, the other liberal; the second, the expansion of church or- the first, moreover, will be very probganization; and the third, the bishop ably divided into several denominathinks, has corrected the crudeness of tions, altho assuredly it would be highly earlier missionary ideas, altho he admits desirable that this evil, inherent, it that it has sometimes tended, • if not to should seem, in Protestantism, might kill, at least to throw over, "the native be spared to the future Evangelic&l hue of resolution," something of " the Church of Japan. The destinies of pale cast of thought.'" "-Ohurch these two churches will be, without Mi8sionary Intelligencer. doubt, identical with what they are in JAPAN. the United States, the only country where the religious sentiment can de- -Pastor SCHILLER, quoted in the velop itself in full liberty. The one Zeitscltrift for Missionskunde, remarks: will be living, prosperous, conquering, " It is beyond all doubt that, sooner or which is the character of all the denomlater, the stream of Japanese national inations which maintain the doctrines development will issue into Christianity. professed from the beginning by the The Japanese feel this themselves, altho universal Church; the other will' painthis does not imply that the individual fully drag on a precarious existence, as who makes this conce~sion acknowl- is done by the Unitarian Church and edges himself bound in conscience to others of the same rationalistic characbecome a Christian. Yet we must not ter. In a word, in Japan also will manbe oversanguine as to speedy results. ifest itself the truth of the word of the The religious interest in the Japan of apostle: "He that hath the Son hath to-day is frightfnlly low-lower among life; he that hath not the Son hath not the cultivated classes than among the' life."-Revue des J'Jil>8ions Oontempomass of the people, who at least show raines.
sign of a religious instinct by adhering -AU8 dem Lanc:e der aufgehenden to the old religious customs. The edu- Sonne (From the Land of the Rising cated, indeed. are, as a rule, more de- Sun). B~l'lin; Druck und Verlag, von A.
pendent on the prevailing current O'f Haack. This is a pamphlet or 31 pages, opinion and its changes than the people. by Pfarrer CARL MUNZINGER, mission- The time when Christianity was the ary of the Protestantischer Verein in vogue, and regarded as an indispensable Japan. It describes in a clear, well- finishing-olI of European culture, is disposed manner, minute witllOut being gone by in Japan; the educated throngs tedious, Japan as to land, people. lan- that used once to fill the Christian guage, customs, religion, State, family, houses of worship have dwindled away, schools, churches. Anyone who reads the theological journals now scarcely it will have Japan, materially and spir- find readers. The missionaries will do itually, clearly set before him. It is well to enter with full consciousness on well worth translating.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
MISCELLANEOUS. .. We plead for an increase of confi- dence right through our missionary -" Altho the heathen, who become work. No Illen ever realize their high. Catholic Christians, commonly rise only est possibilities until they are trusted." from a religion of form to another re- -Ibid. ligion of form, whose contents, however, are infinitely better, yet they for -" Are means lacking for t'1e work the most part experience so much of it of missions? Sound the bell of prayer that cannibalism, infanticide, concu- rather than the bell of the mendicant. " binage, etc., can no longer remain the -Pastor GOSSNER. prevailing rule; morally, therefore, they are extricated from the coarsest of -We notice not unfrequently the their former excesses, and every phil· statement that the Persian Shah, as sucanthropist and Christian must desire cessor of the prophet, is the spiritual that where the Evangelical Church can- and temporal chief of his subjects. not win them they should rather be- This, however, appears to be an error. come Catholic Christians than remain heathen. "-Herr PETRI, in Allegemeine n arises from transferring to the Per- Missiona-Zeitschrift· sian monarch the attributes of the Turk- – " Are the missionaries the agents or ish monarch. The latter, however, is servants (1) of the societies, or are they Caliph Mohammedan Pope, not as king the messengers of the churches? Is of the Turks. but as having, in his anthere a sufficiently close connection be- cestors, obtained from the heirs of the tween the churches at home and their Bagdad caliphs a cession of their claims brethren abroad, for whom they are in his favor. His Turkish and his Mosasked to pray and gi ve? Do not socie- lem, his temporal and his religious, digties sometimes act as a barrier to sepa- nity are distinct and separable. Thus, rate rather than as a link to unite? A when it was determined, in 1876, to great step in advance would be taken depose Abdul·Aziz, it was held necesif the societies not only allowed but en- sary that he should first abdicate the couraged churches to support missiona- caliphate, under the form (tho certainly ries of their own, with whom they might not the reality) of a voluntary act. This be in direct communicatiou."-The left him still sovereign of Turkey; but as he had now lost the sacredness of his akristian, quoted in The Bomhay Guard- person, he was then dethroned outright. The Persians, it is known, are regarded ian. by the Mohammedan world at large as schismatics and heretics. They deny -" Is it true, as some have affirmed, the succession acknowledged by the that missionaries meet for conference Sunnites, and have one of their own, and prayer in India or China, decide whose incumbent, however, is not the upon certain modes of procedure in con- Shah, but resides within the Turkish nection wit.h their work, but are power- territory, and whose religious authority less to act until their proposals have is said to be sometimes as embarrassing been sent to the home committee and to the Persian Government as the papal considered by them? Is it also a fact authority has often been, sometimes for that not unfrequently the home commit- good and sometimes for evil, to the civil tee rejects the proposals of the missiona- governments of Europe. ries, and dictates an entirely different course? .•. The Persians, however heretical, are intense Moslems. Mr. Benjamin de- "If so, we venture to suggest the clares, what l~ certainly not true of the need of a change. . .• The churches Bunnites, at least in most countries, generally would trust the decisions of that no Christian, however exalted his the men doing the work rather than rank, would dare to enter a mosque in those of brethren at home, however Persia if he valued his life. wise and experienced.
ENGLISH NOTES
-" Fear of death," says Dr. KROPF, arms, reaching down to cover the feet: .. encompasses the Caifres their whole they hold them up as they walk. The life long. They cannot endure to hear bishop preached, the archdeacon inter- a word about dying, and run away if preting for him.
anyone speaks of it, or else hide their " Another day we paid a visit to the faces and tremble; even the sight of Namasole, or queen·mother. She is a gray hair inspires them with the fear regular heathen princess, with a grim, of death. This explains Cetewayo's hard face, that made one quite believe embassy to Queen Victoria, to solicit a her capable of all the many acts of remedy against the hair's turning cruelty which they say she has com- gray. "-ZeitBchrijt f'lllr Mi88io1Ulkunde. mitted. She sat in state on an em- broidered Indian rug spread on the -Miss Fineley, writing in the Ohurch ground. holding a large knife in her Missionary Gleaner from Ugands, says: hand, made of copper and brass mixecl, " On Sunday. October 6th, we went to and was most autocratic in the way in our first service in the big church at which she ordered us to stand up and Mengo. What a wonderful church it sit down, that she might get every pos- is I Its size is immense, and all built sible view of us. One could not help of reeds in the same way as our house. contrasting her with the Christian wom- There are over 200 trees in it as pillars en here; the v.ifference is most marked."
to support the roof. When you think that each of those trees took 100 men to drag it up the hill, you get some English Notes. idea of the labor expended on it. It reminds one of the old pictures of the BY JAMES DOUGLAS.
building of Nineveh. Then look at Presbyterian Mi86io1Ul.-So far as can the rows and rows of beams in the roof, be judged at present, the election by which are not beams at all, but bundles the Free Church of Scotland of Dr. Mil- of reeds and grass bound round and ler, of Madras, to be its moderator for round closely together, making a firm the present year has tended to the clear- support, not so heavy as a beam, which ing away of misunderstanding and the the walls could not bear the weight of. increase of the missionary sentiment.
This church is always full. but this It has been felt that uniformity of meth- Sunday it was packed. I shall never od need not be striven for, and that as forget the impression when we went in. there is .. a diversity of administration, It brought tears into one's eyes, the but the same Lord," so there may be a immense sea of black faces and the concurrency of method without same- quiet, reverent behavior. The men sat ness. Such, in effect, seems to be the on one side, the women on the other. summing up of the able editor of the They say there were quite 7000 present Ohurch Missionary Intelligencer. He in the church and in the veranda of the observes: "With Dr. Miller's chief church, where they hear as well as in guiding principle, that educational the church itself. We sat on the work in India is part of God's prepara- women's side. How nice they all tion, long and slow preparation, we looked in their bark cloths; no odd, have no quarrel at all. It embodies a gay colors, as you see at the coast, but grand and indisputable truth. Only wherever the eye turned this universal there is another truth alongside it which terra-cotta color. There is a great va- ought never to be forgotten, but upon riety in the shades of them, the darker which Dr. Miller" (tho we are sure ones being the best and most expensive, he holds it) " has not always laid equal and the cloth itself is always darker on stress; and this is that a Christian edu- one side than the other. They were cationist is also to seek the immediate worn very elegantly, round under the conversion of individual souls."
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Exeter Nall.-The annual missionary band and his relations determined to meeting of the two London presbyteries break her of her Christianity, even if was one of the best ever held. Lord they should kill her. For four years Overtoun presided. Mr. Maclagan, of she never saw a Christian's face, and Swatow, in the course of a speech of for twelve years that poor woman held great interest, observed that" of all the on. During all that time she never for- work carried on under foreign super- got to pray that some day God would vision there was none more fruitful in send a preacher of the Gospel to that the number of converts than the work place. These heathen relations did of the medical missionaries." Mr. Mac- everything in their power to break her lagan spoke hopefully of the native spirit, but she held fast. or, rather, Christians and of the way .he native Jesus Christ stood by her and held her Church was maturing. The congrega- up. One day she felt unusually sore at tion of Yam-tsau was instanced as a heart, and began to wonder how long good example of the methods of work she could hold up. She knelt down in of the native church. There the Gos- her room with her Testament before pel was first preached by a good mis- her, and in her own words she said: sionary of the London Missionary So- , Lord Jesus, my heart is so sore, and I ciety-Mr. Stronach-who, after sowing am all alone, and there is nobody to say the seed and gaining a few natives, was one word of comfort to me. Won't obliged to leave the district. Years you speak one word out of this book to after Mr. Stronach revisited Yam-tsau, comfort my sad heart?' She opened and on seeing what had been done, the book, and the words she read were said, "I had to run away and leave -what? • Peace I leave with you.
you, but God didn't leave you." There My peace I give unto you. Let not was now at that place a congregation your heart be troubled, neither let it be of 100 members, with elders and dea- afraid. ' Her face shone as she told me cons, all of whom were sons of men that it seemed as if the Lord Jesus baptized by the first missionary. Christ was standing beside her, and she Miss Graham, of Chin-chew, next could see His face and hear His voice, spoke. Her address, which was full of saying these words straight into her incident, closed with the following heart. After that she didn't mind what touclling recital: "There was one they did to her. The Son of God came woman who came to the hospital very and stood beside her, as He did in weak and in great suffering, and yet the Nebuchadnezzar's furnace long ago.
peace of God was so stamped on her And the eame miracle was being re- face that she (Miss Graham) knew that peated in many a Chinese village to- she was a Christian before even she day."
spoke to her. Her story was a most touching one. Her blOther, years be- Ohurch _¥:issionary Society.-An ad- fore, had heard the Gospel and came mirable review of the C. M. S. in Hok- home to tell her of the love of Jesus, kaido, Japan, during the past twenty and he and she agreed together that years is supplied by the Rev. W. An- they would be His disciples. They had drews. There are now in that province, a copy of the New Testament and read church buildings, 11 ; schools, 4; hos.
it whenever they could. She was mar- pital, 1 ; native workers, 30; and con- ried not long after, at the age of sixteen, verts, Japanese and Ainu, 1100. Mr.
to a man whom she had never seen, and Andrews sets forth the lessons to be was taken away to a village where the learned from the past thus: 1. Do not people were utter strangers to her, and despise the day of small things. A she was the only Christian in the whole Christian here and another there, tho countrydde. She refused to take any their faith and light seem dull, is a cause part in heathen worship, and her hus- for thanksgiving. 2. Remember that everything must have a beginning; we marked by much fervor of spirit. Sevcannot leap to perfection at once; 3. eral new brethren and sisters have been Then, too, when we think of the pres- designated for the foreign field. The ent outlook here we must bear in mind work in Orissa. India, is especially that we are laboring for the future. being strengthened, the Rev. George Howells, of Regent's Park College, and Kuc7umg.-Dr. J. Rigg, writing con- the Rev. F. W. Jarry, of the Pastor's cerning this district in connection with College, being both appointed to that the recent massacre, says: "It is more sphere. The following are the terms and more impressed upon my mind that of the resolution passed, and which it was expedient that our sisters and claims sympathetic adoption: "That Mr. Stewart should die for the people this meeting calls upon the churches of and the whole nation be saved from the the denomination for more fervent horrors of a rebellion. . . . I can con- prayer, so that reinforcements may be ceive that our people, by their deaths, speedily sent forth in response to the may have saved China, and if so, THEY numerous and pathetic appeals recently KNOW IT. The heathen sentiment in received from the mission field; and that the Kucheng district is, ' You say Jesus such a personal spirit of consecration died for us, but we never saw Him, but to the great missionary enterprise may we have seen Mr. Stewart, and he died thereby be evoked as shall result in the for us; for certainly if he and the requisite resources." others had not been killed we need not have sown any seed this year, for Ohina Inland Misnon.-During 1895 the Vegetarians would not have allowed the number of converts baptized :was us to reap it." 844, which was an increase of 98 on the previous year. There has been also a Wesleyan Missionary Society.-The still larger number of candidates on notes published from the Lagos District probation for baptism as compared with oj Africa are of special interest. In Porto that year, as well as an increase in the Novo tbe work is hard enough to make number of new missionaries. the boldest quail. Still, tho the battle is an uphill one, Goel is giving the vic- THE KINGDOM. tory, for the flock has increased by 56 full members. In Klein Popo the fight -God be merciful unto us and bless seems to be still more accentuated ; and us, And cause His face to shine upon among the foes enumerated are dense us. That Thy way may be known heathenism, cunning Roman Catholi- upon earth, Thy saving health among cism, and sore trials from within. Not- all nations. Let the peoples praise withstanding all, there are new openings Thee, 0 God; Let all the peoples anel an extension of the work. In the praise Thee. Yoruba Interior there is only as yet a preparation tor the sowing. But the -Christ gives life to men, and then ljehn Remo mission is growing apace. says: " As the Father hath sent lIe, In the capital city the young men have even so serid I you." Every Christian erected a temporary house of worship is a missionary. He may have been themselves. Further at Ipern the nursed in the lap of Christendom and church's influence is making itself felt trained in a luxurious religious home, in the town; while in Ago, despite op- or he may have been born a pagan, and position, 60 names have been enrolled "suckled on a creed outworn." It as those who are desirous to know the matters not. If he has been born again, words of Eternal Life. and feels the throb of the Christ-life, he is a missionary sent by the living Christ Baptist Missionary Society. – The to touch dead souls to the newness of meetings held at Portsmouth were Ufe.-G. L. Mackay. -Consider the absolute and unques- 35,000,000: Turkey, 40,000,000; Japan, tioned religious liberty of the time in 40,000,000; and Spain, 27,000,000.
which we live, and in those countries -It has been calculated that missiongoverned by the English-speaking races, aries on the foreign field bring in three and then go back three hundred years, times as many converts as ministers at and endeavor to realize here in England home aided by Christian influence, the condition of John Robinson and his workers, and literature, while the offerlittle flock of religionists asking only to ings of native Christians in mission be allowed to worship God as their churches now amount to upward of needs of conscience and the hunger of $550,000. heart instructed them to pray; for con- science and reason were the underlying -The late Governor Russell was on moral factors then, as now, and from one occasion called to give an address them is slowly evolving all social and on " Practical Success" to a high-school political progress. at the root of which class, and what he had to say was lies the recognition of individual free- summed up in this weighty suggestion: dom and the" equal right of everyman •• Remember that there is one thing bet- to be unhindered by men in the fulfil- ter than making a living-making a ment of his duty to God."-Ex-&cre- life."
tarll Ballard. -Of the Rev. William C. Burns, the -At the annual meeting of the Con- first English Presbyterian missionary to ference of Missionary Associations, held China, it has been said that his life was in London, the Rev. C. E. Brooke ex- far more powerful as an influence than pressed a wish that the word" foreign" as an agency. He was distinctly a should be abolished in connection with sower of the seed which others have missIonary work, and that the whole reaped.
work of the Church, whether at home -A wealthy banker in Hangchow or abroad, should be regarded as mis- offered to give all the money needed for sionary. a good work. The people would not let -Christian England laughed when him. "If lIou give all the 'I1Wneg, lIou Sydney Smith sneered at the" consecrated cobbler" going out on a fool's will have all the blessing." they said. errand to convert the heathen. But Carey was visited on his death-bed by -A missionary at home on furlough the Bishop of India, the head of the Church of England in that land, who writes in the Methodist Review of Mubowed his head and invoked the blessing of the dying missionary. The Brit· llions: .. I have been sorry to find some ish authorities had denied to Carey a preachers who have no missionary books landing-place on his first arrival in Ben- later than the Acts of the Apostles in gal; but when he died, the Government their libraries. But we need to read as dropped all its flags to half-mast, in well the new Acts of the Apostles. We honor of a man who had done more for need to know how God has been, through India than any of her generals. His Holy Spirit and through His ser- vants, working miracles in later days as wonderful as any that are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. We need to know of the open doors that lead to Christless nations; of the highways -Two thirds of the population of the which He has made for His messengers ; globe is under the sway of five rUlers, of the strength which He has given to and this fact greatly simplifies the prob- them in times of need; of the souls that lem of missions. The Emperor of Chi- have been called out of darkness into na governs 400,000,000; Queen Vic- the light and liberty of children of God ; toria, 380,000,000; the Czar, 115,000,- and we need to know and hear of the 000; France, 70,000,000; Germany, ten hundred millions of people who are yet in darkness-that is, the shadow of -Miss Willard said in a recent addeath-and waiting for Christ to come dress: "Twenty-th,ree years ago the in the person of His own with a mes- strains sounded by the temperance sage of light and of love." movement were liS the soft tones of the violin, while the soprano notes of the -Information gathered from the lead- women voiced their heartfelt sympaing officials of 45 railroads, employing thies; but the grand orchestra has been 200,000 men, shows that without excep- augmented by the cornet of science, the tion the companies regard habitual trombones of legislation, and the drum drinking as hurtful to the efficiency of of politics, while the great chorus of the service, and that they forbid the use mighty voices is one of the inspirations of intoxicants to employees while on and aspirations, and to-day the wave of duty. Fourteen of the roads require public sentiment is created with reforms total abstinence from intoxicants for all along the lines of temperance and mumen connected with train service. nicipal betterment."
-" I have a great sorrow," said an -The Ladies' Association of the Engintelligent preacher. "I know the lish Baptist Missionary Society for Ze- Lord Jesus Christ was a white man; nana Work reports" that SUbscriptions yet I could not pray to Him and love and donations reached a higher figure Him as I do if I did not picture him as than in any previous year." The total black and with wool like myself."- amount at the disposal of the society Olive Schreiner. during 1895 was $60,000.
WOMAN'S WORK. -The fifty. eighth annual report of the Church of Scotland Women's Asso- -The World's Women's Christian ciation for Foreign Missions has been Temperance Union is sending forth its issued, and the record is one of steady seventh round-the-world missionary in progress. An opening has been made the person of Miss Clara Parrish. The in Chamba, India, new work has been six who have already gone from this started at Kurseong, a town about thirty country into foreign lands carrying the miles from Darjeeling, and the boardwhite ribbon are well known. The ing-school for Christian Nepali girls at first was Mary C. Leavitt, who spent Darjeeling is proving an interesting eight years in introducing the work into addition to the mission work there. At Europe, Asia, Afr,ica, and Australia. Calcutta and Poona the work among )'[iss Jessie Ackerman followed her, and the girls has been blessed, and interestremained about two years in Australia ing details of baptisms at both these as president of the Union. Her last stations are given. The number of chilvisit as world's missionary was to Ice- dren in the schools in India is about land. Dr. Kate Bushnell and Mrs. 3000, and to these are to be added the Elizabeth W. Andrew went together, children at Blantyre and Domasi in Britand their work in suppressing impu- ish Central Africa, and at Ichang, Chirity in the cantonments of India has al- na. The total income at home and ready been sounded around the globe. abroad was £10,114, and the accounts Next, Alice Freeman Palmer went to balanced on the right side. Africa and spent the greater part of three years in building up the work. -The North Indian Medical School Then Mary Allen West went to Japan, for Christian Women, opened in Octoand was greeted by the homage of well- ber, 1894, for the purpose of training nigh the whole nation. Tho she laid Christian women as medical missionadown her life, the white ribbon work in ries and assistants, shows signs of rapid Japan remains as her last and, in one development. Beginning with only 6 sense, highest memoriaL students in 1894 the number now is 21. This is the only Christian medical school hut $12,500 annually for this work, for womell in North India, and perhaps which equips some 70 students, and it in the whole of India, and some of the is really foreign missionary work on students come from far distances, as far home missionary ground. The college as Calcutta, Central India, and the has a property worth about $35,000 and northwest frontier. All have medical a weekly organ, Le Oitoyen Franco- zenana work in view. Plans and esti- Allwricain, printed in French and Eng- mates have been prepared for a suitable lish, the type for which is set by the stu· building as a wing to the medical dents.
school. The buildings are designed so -The Norwegians are to build a that they may at present be used as a portable church, 40 X 60 feet, in Minhospital to supply the 80 beds reqllired, neapolis and ship it to Madagascar, and eventually. as the school grows, where they are conducting a mission. may give additional dormitories and '1'he old Vikings sent their ships into all lecture-rooms for the students. seas for plunder, but these go for phi- lanthropy.
UNITED STATES. -No one of our missionary societies has suffered more from the hard times -Mr. John D. Rockefeller has given than the Baptist Missionary Union, 276 acres of land, valued at $600,000, which never until lately has had a debt to the city of Cleveland for park pur- of $70,000. Yet a debt of $208,000 was poses. It will be named for him.
-According to the Independent. the incurred two years ago; then the ex- gifts to the starving Armenians are penditures were cut down by the amount some $400,000 from America and $800,- of $109,000, and still further the next 000 from Great Britain. year; and yet the debt has been reo -A report of the Tuskegee Institute, duced only to $16!J,000, and a further Ala., for colored boys and girls, says: reduction of $30,000 is proposed. Mis- .. There are 875 boys and 375 girls in sionaries cannot be sent out, and those the school at an average of eighteen on furlough in this country cannot be and one-half years, none under four. returned.
teen. A boy in the cotton field earns -A new missionary has been sent out 40 cents a day. He graduates from under the auspices of the Americau the school and earns at his trade, or as a Board. '1 his would not be a startling school teacher, $1.50 a day, a gain of announcement in ordinary years, when $1.10 a day, or for a year, say 300 work- from 30 to 50 recruits are sent annually ing days, $330. A girl in the cotton to the front. But, in view of the fact field earns 25 cents a day. When she that it is ten months since one has gone, graduates from the school she can earn the news becomes extraordinary inat sewing $1 a day, a gain of 75 cents a deed. It gives a more vivid idea, too, day over the cotton field, or for one year of how the hard times are affecting our of 300 working days. $225. A gain for beloved foreign missionary society.
the 750 boys and girls in one year of Nor would this modest reenforcement $208,125, or in twenty years more than have been possible unless special provi· $4,000,000. sian had been made.':" Oongregationali8t.
-There are 1,500,000 of French- -In the midst of such general finanspeaking people in the United Stat,es, a cial distress the Alllerican Board is able third of them French Canadians in New to sound one note of joy and thanksgiv- England, and the French·American ing over the receipt of a legacy of $55,- college at Springfield, Mass., aims to 000 from the estate of Mrs. C. L. A. evangelize, enlighten, and Americanize Tank, of Fort Howard, Wis. Of this this New England contingent. It costs sum, $35,000 are for the present needs and endowment of North China Col- can Board missionaries employ about lege, one of t,he most important and 25, and Methodist missions (North) most needy institutions; $5000 are for about the same. the Tank Chapel and Bridgman School at Peking ; $5000 for the Williams Hos- -The Cumberland Presbyterian pital at Pang-chuang; $2500 for the Church is planning to open a mission International Institute for Girls, and in China, having received the pledge of $500 for Euphrates College. The re- $1000 to take a medical student through maining $4500 are to be devoted to gen- a post·graduate course, and enough eral work in papal lands, Mexico and more to pay his first year's salary. the city of Prague being particularly mentioned. -The Salvation Army is about to in· troduce a novel plan in New York. It -At the annual convention of the will send out ambulances at night in Christian Alliance, held at Old Orchard certain districts of the city to pick up Beach, Me., the total offering is report- men who have imbibed too freely. ed as $101,500, of which about one third They will be taken to an army shelter to was in cash, the remainder being jewels sober up. The work is to be conductand every conceivable gift. ed by a branch of the Army called the League of Love.
-The Southern Baptist' Convention EUROPE. sustains missions in Africa, China, Japan, Italy, Mexico, and Brazil, and Great Britain.-A "heathen" vilreports, missionaries, 86; native help· lage has been found in England, with· ers, 110 ; churches, 98 ; members, 3801 ; in a hundred miles of London. It baptisms, 735; contributions from the has about 200 inhabitants. There is field, $5553. a fine old Episcopal church, but the vicar is away for his health; there is -The Missionary Society of the Meth- also a Congregat,ional chapel, but it is odist Episcopal Church is heavily in ar- closed. There is not a Sunday-school rears. While the American Board in the place, and, according to an old started its financial year with a debt of woman, " We're like a lot 0' heathens $115,000, and the Presbyterian Board of here; an' if a boy like that" (pointing Foreign Missions with one of $154,000, to one about ten years of age) .. goo to the debt of the Methodist Board was church, he git a cuff 0' th' hid and sent $220,000. The American Board, by a awaay. He hev' a been. "–Independent. special effort, has cleared off its debt, and the Presbyterian Board has reduced -The youngest son of the Bishop of its debt to about $46,000. The Meth- Durham is giving himself, it is saili, to odist Society feIt that something special the mission field. Three others are almust be d()lle to relieve their financial ready Indian missionaries, and the stress, and appointed Sunday, July fourth will go to Delhi. 26th, as a special debt·paying day, when each church in the denomina- -The annual report of the English tion was to take up a collection. There Baptist Foreign Missionary Society is are more than 12,000 churches in the unusually encouraging. The debt of Methodist Episcopal body. Of these $113,000 with which the year comup to August 9th, 2488, about one fifth, menced is extinguished. The total reported an aggregate sum of $2R,OOO. gross receipts have been $375,000- The others apparently took no notice of "the largest income the society had the day.-Independent. ever received, excluding the Centenary Fund." In addition, a debt of $1800 -Thirty-three different languages and on the Widows' and Orphans' Fund dialects are learned by missionaries of has been turned into a balance in hand the Presbyterian Church; the Ameriof $1200. Sixteen new missionaries of £2500. The Society's Board of Exhave been sent ont during the year. aminers have accepted 15 clergymen Mr. Baynes, the general secretary, re- and 19 laymen for work abroad. The cently presented to Ki~g Leopold, of number of ordained missionaries on the Belgium, a copy of Mr. Holman Bent- society's list includes 11 bishops and ley's" Appendix to the Kongo Gram- 550 clergymen lauoring in Asia, Africa, mar and Vocabulary," which that mis- Australasia, and Amedca ; including 40 sionary had just completed. His Majes- holding chaplaincies in Europe, and 179 ty subsequently expressed his apprecia- natives of Asia and Africa. Thel'e are tion of the valuable services rendered also some 2900 lay teachers and 3200 by Mr. Bentley to the Kongo Free State. students in the colleges. The work of The secretary also received from the the S. P. G. covers 55 dioceses, and is king for the Rev. George Grenfell, an- carried on in 54 languages and dialects. other missionary, the patent of his appointment as a chevalier knight of the -The total number of Irish Pres- Order of the Golden Lion, and the in- byterian missionaries serving in Insignia of the Order set in brilliants, in dia and China were 21 in 1885; in recognition of the valuable services ren- 1896 they are 42, and it is expected dered by Mr. Grenfell in connection that before the year closes they will with the delimitation of the sputhern have increased to 50. The Female Assofrontier of the Kongo kingdom. ciation has been making great efforts to keep as many laborers in the field in -The InteZUgencer (Church Mission- India as the foreign mission of the ary Society) states that" the plan of a Church. They have almost succeeded. particular parish, or missionary union, Their agents have doubled in the ten or family, or individual, supporting an years, and now stand at 14. 'own missionary' in addition to the general contributions to the evangeliza· -The death, in the beginning of tion of the world, is extending beyond June, of the Rev. Daniel Edward reanticipation. Out of a total of 730 mis- moved from his earthly labors one of sionaries on the books (not including the first missionary band sent to the wives) no less than 249 now do not draw Jews by the Church of Scotland-the their personal allowance from the gen- undivided Church in 1841. From 1841eral fund. Of these, 67 are honorary, 95 he labored. first at Jassy, then at 23 are supported by the colonial asso- Lemberg, and finally for forty.four ciations, 40 by parishes or local associa- years at Breslau, having cast in his lot tions, 28 by the Gleaners' Union and its with the Free Church in 1843. He was branches, 31 by other bodies, and 60 by the means of bringing many Jews to private individuals. Out of 80 new the knowledge of Christ. Among his missionaries who are, God willing, sail- first converts was Israel Pick, whose ing for the mission field this year, no meteor-like career attracted so much at· less than 55 up to July 14th had been tention till he disappeared in 1859. His specially provided for, including 5 from latest notable convert was Hermann Australia. Adding 6 who are honorary, Warszawiak, now carrying on work this leaves only 25 not yet taken up on among the Jews of New York. that date." -The Established Church of Scot- -The report of the S. P. G. for 1895 land reports that the European mission announces that its receipts amounted to staff consisted at the close of 1895 of 20 £118,258, of which £81,333 came from ordained missionaries (1 of whom was subscriptions. £11,609 from legacies, also medical), 4 medical missionaries, 7 and £15,648 was contributed to special lay teachers and evangelists (including funds. Compared with last year, the 2 Jady missionaries), 2 engineers, and 1 voluntary offerings show an increase industrial missionary-in all 34, and 21 wives of missionaries, making together – Eva.ngelical Gliiristendom supplies 55 Europeans_ There are upward of some notes of the annual meetings of 300 Christian nati ves in the service of the Protestant societies of France.
the mission, of whom 6 are ministers, 2 The Societe Gentrale d'Evangelisation licentiates, and the rest evangelists, supports 140 agents, has 300 places of teachers, doctors, and assistants in worship, and visits 195 localities. It humbler capacities. The baptisms num- records the conversion of 387 Catholics, bered 968 last year, of which 538 were and the opening of four new stations in the Panjab, 262 in the Eastern Hima· during the year. The Mission Interieure layas, 54 in Calcutta, Madras, and Ar- bas been at work for a quarter of a cen- conam, 84 in Africa, and 30 in China. tury. It conducts evangelistic meet- The Income from all sources was £28,- ings in different districts, leaving to the 328. Deducting £6700 received for care of the nearest churches those gath- school fees and government grants in ered in.
India, and spent there, and £6037 con- -The organization of a German tflbuted to special purposes and so ap- league against the rum traffic in theplied, there remained a net revenue to German colonies is now practically an meet the ordinary needs of the mission accomplished fact. At the annual meetof £15,590. The gross expenditure was ing of the Evangelical African League, £25,732. in Berlin, which the Governor of Kam- -The Scottish Free Church entered erun and the chief of the Colonial De- on the year 1896-97 with 157 missiona- partment bonored with their presence, ries (besides 21 industrial masters, mak- an organizing committee was elected.
ing 178 in all), sent out to 49 central It includes Dr. Christ, of Basel: In- stations in India. South Arabia, Africa, spector Dr. Merensky, of Berlin; Pas- New Hebrides, Syria, Constantinople, tor G. Muller, amI Dr. Zahn. botb of and Budapest. The statistical sum- Bremen. Four experienced deacons mary of results in 1895 showed: Adults and deaconnesses and the material des- baptized. 892, and admitted on profes- tined for the settlement of liberated sion, 267-1159; children baptized, slaves just founded by the league are 1114; candidates for baptism or full on the way to their destination in Usam- communion. 3964 ; students, 2045 ; and bara. A medical missionary will fol- scholars in 6 colleges and 418 schools at low them as soon as his preparations are close of year, 27,922; native Christian completed.
contributions, £2476 : native fees, £20,- ASIA. 927; native communicants, 9017. Rev- enue in Scotland, £66,533 ; and abroad, Islam.-The annual catalog of Rob- £41,638; Women's Society'S income, ert College, Constantinople, bears all £14,102. An anonymous donor has re- the more interesting. because unintencently given £1000 each to the home and tional witness to the benefit reaped the foreign work, and £500 each to the by the Turkish Government from a Jewish mission and the deaconess hos- missionary institution of this character, pital. and hence the value of missions in gen- The Continent.-The Paris Mission- eral. A list is given of all graduates, ary Society, regarding a missionary with their various avocations since ship as absolutely necessary for its graduating, so far as could be ascer- missions in, Tahiti, has opened a sub- tained. Omitting those of the last eight scription to obtain one. The collection years, as too recently graduated for for the ship, however, is to be kept en- their careers to be significant, we find tirely separate from the general funds that of 232 graduates between 1868 !lond of the society, which are not to suffer 1888. 84. or more than one third, have any decrease for that purpose. served the State in cabinet, diplomatic, civil. military, or judicial departments; -The report of the Persia and Bag- 59 (including several of the former dad Mission of the Ohurch Missionary class) are or have been teachers; 16 are Society shows cause for thankfulness physicians, some of them having studied that, amid the disheartening influences medicine in this country.-Evangelist. of the past year, they have been able to -Baron Rothschild is establishing an- carryon their work with encourageother Jewish colony in Palestine-in ment, and but little interruption, The Galilee, not far from Damascus. The headquarters of the mission, which bedistrict selected covers 3000 acres, and gan in the labors of Dr. Bruce in the is watered by numerous springs, which great famine of 1871-72, are at Julfa, practically form one of the sources of the old Armenian suburb of Ispahan. the Jordan. It appears that the Jewish The relief which Dr. Bruce was able to colonists already in Palestine are prose- give to the destitute, and the su,pport cuting agriculture with gratifying sue· and education of the orphan children cess. The red and white wines they thrown on his care, resulted in the forare now bringing into the market are mation of an Armenian Christian consaid to be quite equal to the wines of gregation in Julfa, with a band of well· Europe. instructed workers helping greatly in the evangelization of the Mohammedan -Dr. Sarkis M. Hagopian, an exiled population.
Armenian, has received good news from India.-In 1881 there were about his home in Aintab. All the Protestant 180,000 lIohammednn pupils in the and Gregorian Christians there who schools and colleges of India; in 1895 have been in prison since last Novem- there were 490,000. Yet this rate does ber have been released, as the Turkish not begin to compare with the progress Government could find no charges of the Hindus in education. against them after severe and rigorous examinations. Among the prisoners -A missionary writes : "Every Bud- was the native pastor of the Second dhist school is itself a pleasure to me.
Congregational Church in Aintab, phy- • Let them go on,' said Bishop Cople- sicians of wealthy families, who were ston to me one day; • either they must educated in America, and other promi- teach that the world is round, and then nent citizens. they are bad Buddhists, or that the world is fiat, and then they lose their -A recent writer in an English re- Government grant I' And every Gov· view says that Persia will remain under ernment school is in a sense a centre of Mozaffer-ed-din, as it was under the gov- _light. In one, a Christian teacher has ernment of the late Shah, a nation of allowed my catechist to speak to the highly civilized barbarians, ruled by a schoolboys after school hours, and disbenignant despot. The late Shah was tribute tracts." no idle or vicious despot; he did not smoke, and his diet was of the simplest, -A work of considerable interest to and he was a merciful king. It was he Indian Christians will shortly be brought who did away with the hateful custom out by the Christian Literature Society.
of the Shah presiding in person at exe- It will consist of sketches of the lives cutions. The long struggle that took of more than 40 Indian Ohristians be- place between the late king and an arro- longing to the different provinces. The gant priesthood lasted for many years, following are some of the persons and the Shah succeeded in shaking him- sketehed: Bombay-Rev. Hari Ram- self free of the mollahs, and in reducing chandra Khisti, Rev. Vishnu Bhasker their claims upon the public purse. Karmarkar, Rev. Dr. Seshadri, Mr.
Persia is no longer a priest· ridden Baba Padmanji, Pundita Ramabai.
country.-Church at Home and Abroad. Northern India-Dr. Imam·ud-din, Rev. Jani Ali, Rev. Nehemiah Goreh, suIts of his mission work in China.
Professor Ramchandra. Mad1·as-Rev. During his missionary life he baptized N. Devadasen, Rev. P. Rajahgopllul, 940 adult persons, 46 of whom were be- Mrs. Tabitha Bauboo, Rev. W. T. Sat- tween the ages of fifty and sixty ; 38 thianadhan, Mrs. Anna Satthianadhan, between the ages of sixty and seventy; Krupabari Satthianadhan, Rev. lIf. Rat- 25 between the ages of seventy and namgaru, Rev. Jacob Rama Varma, eighty, and 2 were over eighty years of Rev. Hermann Anandarao Kanudinya. age. Intelligent advocacy of mission Ben.qal-Rev. Dr. Krishna Mohan Ban- schools does not depreciate the impor- erjee, Mr. Ramchandra Bose, M.A., tance of direct preaching of the Gospel, Rev. Mathura Nath Bose, B.A., ,B.L. but cooperates with it just as Sabbath· Portraits of some are also given. This schools do at home.-Ohurch at Home is the first attempt to bring together in and Abroad.
a permanent form the lives of some of -Notwithstanding the troubles in the prominent Indian Christians.- Fuh-kien, over 500 converts were bap- Christian Patriot. tized by the C. M. S. in that province last year. -All girls in India are very fond of pretty and bright-colored dresses. The -" I am persuaded," writes Archdress is simply live yards of muslin. deacon Wolle, "that missionaries and When only three of four years old a lit- foreigners generally can live with greattle girl begins to learn how to wind it er safety than eVer before in the integracefully around the body and over rior of this country. • .• Foo-chow is the shoulder. When she goes into the being moved as it has never been bestreet she slips one end over the head as fore. Our churches und preaching-halls It veil. 11 little short-sleeved jacket is are filled with eager listeners and inthe only other garment she wears. This quirers… , It is the same in many is a very cool and comfortable costume parts of the country. . .. In places for the hot climate. Every family has where for years everything seemed dead a jewel-box full of little" cubby.hoies" and hopeless, hundreds are coming to for each ornament. This is often buried the churches. People are throwing in the mud floor of the woman's inner away their idols, and hundreds of copies apartment. If you want to Bee their of the whole Bible have been purchased jewelry you must make an appointment by the gentry and literary classes… beforehand, so that they can dig it up.
Once in eight days the girls and women _H Never was our work soencouragwash and comb and oil their hair, and lng and so pressing as now," writes have it nicely braided. They also take Mr. Hartwell, of the American Board, off and brighten the jewelry at this in the same district. "The openings time. They would rather starve than in many parts of our .field are such as give up their jewclry, they are so fond we have never seen before." From of it. The poorest people make theirs Shao-wu reports come of a great moveof tin, brass, lead and glass, sealing- ment, and that a number of villages wax and shells.-Over Sea and Land. have professed Christianity.
China.-The argument in behalf of -A conference was recently held in schools, which depreciates the import- Shansi,in which native Christians shared ance of direct preaching of the Gospel, who represented churches gathered by and contends that the only hope of mis- several missionary societies. It was a sions lies in the edncation of children time of peculiar privilege, but one of and not in the vain attempt to secure the missionaries made note as follows: the conversion of adults, finds a strong "One of our greatest difficulties was refutation in the memoranda which the well illustrated. Unless they came from quite the same district, hardly late J. A. Leyenbergel' made of the reany two of the Chinese spoke the same in Japan, and no one knows what dialect. Consonants were interchanged changes the next year or decade may promiscuously, vowels differently pro· bring. Perhaps there will be a revolu- nounced, different sets of phrases used, tion of a non-political character. Per- while nearly every speaker had a broad haps we shall live to see that, in the and thick utterance that made you sus· midst of wars and rumors of wars, the pect that his mouth had been made on Prince of Peace will establish His king- a wrong plan, and that tongue and dom in Japan.-Evangelisches Missions teeth were loose and had got hopelessly Magazin.
jumbled together. I do not think any -There are said to be 11 Japanese one missionary understood all the evangelists laboring among 10,000 of speakers. " their countrymen who are engaged on the sugar plantations of the Hawaiian -The Rev. E. B. Inslee was the Islands. pioneer of the Southern Presbyterian Ohurch in China, and began to preach -A Japanese gentleman, who was in Hangchow, the southern terminus of converted to Christianity in Japan the Grand Canal. There are now 9 mis- through the efforts of an enthusiastic sion stations. Hangchow and Tsing. missionary, has had his religious con- King-pu, at the north end of the line on victions sadly shattered since coming to the canal, are 360 miles apart. this country. Because the missionary -The German Mission of the Roman who accomplished his conversion wore Catholic Church was started some six a silk hat, the Oriental supposed that II years ago in southwestern Shantung, silk hat was always an adjunct to Chris· in the midst of the Presbyterian sta- tianity. When the steamer which tions. The German Bishop Anser man- brought him to America reached San aged to carry his point of putting him- Francisco, it was boarded by a man in self and his work under the protection a silk hat who swore continuously in a of the German Government rather than shocking style. Such language from a continue, as the other missions are, man who was certainly a Christian (for under the French protectorate. When he wore a silk hat) upset the convert's this was decided, the German Govern- belief, and he shortly lapsed into agnos- ment, for the sake of prestige, zealous- ticism.
ly pushed forward all the schemes of -Rev. H. Loomis writes in The Obller Catholic representative. Bishop server that " one of the most unfortu- Anser was nrst received as a consul, nate things for Buddhism that could and later on, through the recommenda- have happened in Japan has been the tion of the German Minister, he was conduct of Viscount Miura, who is a given mandarin rank of the fourth special ,representative of that form of grade, and has succeeded in raising religious belief. His appointment as funds and securing assistants, until now minister to Korea was evidently made there are some 30 German priests. only as a temporary affair, and to satis- ]apan.-Christian influence in Japan fy the great multitude of the Japanese is increasing, and one proof of it is that who are still firm adherents to that sys- a comparatively large number of Chris- tem of faith. Owing to their numerical tians belong to the upper classes. One strength, the government felt obliged to minister, two deputy-ministers, the make some concession to their clamor chief judge of the Supreme Court of for official position and patronage.
Justice, the president, and many mem- That Viscount Miura should plot to bers of the House of Deputies are Chris- murder the Korean queen, and then be tians, and many other men of conse· so unconscious of the heinousness of quence are favorable to Christianity. his crime as to think that it was possi.
There is a great deal of unrest just now ble to condone it, was something that the men who had given him the office came the news of the outbreak of the had not dreamed of." plague in the lake region and on the plateau of the great Masai tribe, and AFRICA. among the herds of Somaliland further.
-A writer from Africa, alluding to north; and for the past few months the the African's fondness for music, says: scourge has been advancing toward the " Nothing is done here without a song. borders of South Africa, The ravages Your boatman sings all day long, keep- have now extended from the upper ing time with his paddles, the woman Niger to the Indian Ocean, and from beating rice beats in time to her voice; the desert of Sahara on the north to your carriers sing to their tread, and the 11atabeleland on the south. The late farmer to his hoe. Joy, grief, pain·-all revolt of the Matabeles is attributed in are shown in spontaneous song. Their part to the loss of their cattle, on which songs are always extempore, and adapt- they depended for subsistence.
ed to present circumstances. The ordi- -Bangala is the finest station of the nary method is for one person to sing a Kongo State on the Upper River. All bar and the whole company to join in a the buildings, even those reserved for responsive chorus, consisting generally the blacks, are made of brick. They of a single syllable, suited in sound and have a wide veranda and are separated meaning to the sentiment. Current by flower gardens, where even the neWevents are described often with great ly imported lilac greets the eye of the accuracy, and they frequently ridicule European traveler. The plantations inthe manners of some king or praise the clude 30 hectares of rice fields, and over virtue of another, acting out the char- 30,000 coffee and cocoa trees. The acter to perfection. " military and missionary colony has al- -North Ajriea says, with reference ready 8 brick houses and 3 brick kilns, to the serious epidemic of cholera pre- each of which contained over 15,000 vailing in Egypt: "Thanks to the en- bricks of snperior quality. The pupils ergy of the sanitary officials, Alexandria number 600, all from the Ubanghi and and Cairo are now comparatively free; Welle River. Some can read and write.
but in the country towns aqd villages -The late Father De Deken gives the more than 6000 persons died in three following account of the arrival at Leoweeks." poldville of 100 pupils from the Bangala colony: "Lieutenant Freitag brings -The Basel Mission on the Gold me about 100 young men formed as our Coast has lost no less than 13 of its mis- colony of Nouvelle-Anvers (New Antsionaries-l0 men and 3 women-dur- werp), and who are going to Boma, ing the past year.
-In consequence of the rapidly in- there to complete their military and re- creasing traffic in spirits in the Yoruba ligious education. As they are passed country, a petition on the subject hus in review by the State Inspector they been drawn up and signed by over 8000 sing' Brabansconne ' with enthusiasm; natives of Abeokuta, while another sim- their obedience is punctual, their piety ilar petition bears 3800 more signatures touching. More than one European from Lagos and the neighborhood. felt the tears come to his eyes when -A fearful epidemic among cattle is they sang their hymns and recited their sweeping over tropical Africa. It was prayers with uplifted arms."-Ibid.
first discovered several years ago by -The German imports into the Trans- the French explorer, Mantei!, who wrote vaal have steadily increased since 1891.
from Kano, in the Sudan, that not one In 1891 aud 1892 they amounted to head of cattle in a thousand had escaped 1,300,000 marks; in 1893, to 3,200,000 jor 500 miles ~lon<g l.J.j~ Ioute. Soon mar~!l i i~ t&94, to nearly 6,000,000 marks; in 1895, to about 7,000,000 twenty years old, and in its earlier years marks. passed through hottest fires of persecu- tion. Last year the number of converts -Mr. Goodenough writes most hope- received was 2921. fully of the present condition of the new church at Johannesburg. It will -The African Tidings publishes a be remembered that a chapel was built letter from a missionary describing a over two years since, and that during mission school at Likoma, which says: the first year a debt of $500 was paid, " The African does not take kindly to besides meeting the current expenses. figures, but our little girls can do fairly On April 1st, 1895, there was a balance long addition and simple multiplication in the treamry of $85. For the year sums. as well as the exercise we digending April 1st, 1896, the receipts of nify by the name of 'mental arithmethe church were a little less than $1200, tic. ' In this latter fingers are brought and came within about $70 of meeting into play, anu, what will amuse you all expenditures. The latter included more-toes I Quite unencumbered by the salary of the nati ve preacher and a shoes, they prove most convenient, and house for him, together with the cost of when a pupil's own set gives out, she a class-room and some furniture for the may be spied eagerly borrowing the chapel. This is a remarkable showing toes of her immediate neighbors to finfor a church composed of Zulus, gath- ish the calculation with! We treat ered so recently in a new place. Mr_ Class 1. to nice copy-books, sent out Goodenough writes of a plan for estab- from England, and they all learn to lishing another station eight miles from write remarkably fast, and in many Johannesburg, at an important railway cases exceedingly well-faster far than and mining center, where already a lit- many English children. So far 'J tle chapel has been secured.-Mi8sion- pens' are not fashionable, but each (],1'y Herald. child has a pen-wiper of her own, which is in constant use; at first, it -The British House of Commons must be owned, somewhat to her teach- er's horror. Tbe pen-wiper is her own voted £3,000,000, by 255 votes against woolly little head, into which the pen is plunged every few minutes, and f75r~tmowthaerdpothrte construction of a railway rubbed vigorously. I now look upon of Mombasa, in the Ind- it as a kind provision of nature, and offer no expostulations. If ink gets ian Ocean near Zanzibar, to the Victoria spilt on the table it is wiped off with their own hands, no one being a penny Nyanza, passing through the protec- the wiser; another advantage of a shiny black skin, which, by the way, torate of Zanzibar, British East Africa, I am getting to admire more than a white one. The little ones and newand Uganda. It is expected that 100 comers write on slates, which they use cuddled UD in their arms, quite disdainmiles will be laid before next April, tho ing the use of a table. . .. Their edu- cation does not go far beyond the' three the railway is to follow the substantial R's,' for they seldom stay at school be- yond the age of thirteen or fourteen, pattern of existing lines in India and when we suddenly look round and find that our little girls of last year have Egypt. It is estimated that the car- shot up into marriageable young wom- en, and off they go to keep house for riage of 3500 tons of freight in three themsel ves."
trains each way per week will pay the working expenses. At present the gov- ernment pays £37,000 per annum for porterage of stores alone from the coast to the Uganda, an item which the rail- way will reduce to £6500. The politi- cal advantage in tending to promote still further the consolidation of British power In Africa is too obvious to need comment.-Montreal Star.
The Uganda mission is less than
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1896
A VIEW OF LAGOS – WEST COAST OF
THE BAPTIST CHURCH AT KAMERUNS, AFRICA. This church is entirely independent and maintains twenty·seven outposts. The bricks were made and the building erected entirely by native Christians. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIX. No. 6.-0ld &riu.-JUNE.-VOL. IX. :lo. 6.-NetII &riu.
THE TWOFOLD RELATION OF THE WORLD KINGDOMS TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.-II.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Human kingdoms have, during the Gospel dispensation, a relation to its propagation. We do not for one moment maintain that any government is to become directly a propagandist of the Christian faith. There is a growing tendency to the separation of Church and State, because separate functions belong to each. If even in a Christian country it is not best to have an Established Church, upheld by the State, surely it is worse to have the Church established by the State in a heathen country. The work of the Church is to extend, promulgate, propagate Christianity, independent of alliances with the kingdoms' of this world and the help of carnal weapons in carrying on her work. Nevertheless, within definite lines and limits, coope1'ation, equally removed from opposition or neutrality on the one hand and from propagandism on the other, belongs to every government that claims in any sense to be Christian. The recognition of Chris_ tianity as a fact and a factor in a true civilization, and of Chrislian principles as the foundation of· common and statute law j the governmental protection extended to its citizens and especially its missionaries j regulative and administrative action such as affects the terms and the tone of treaties j the selection of fit repr,esentatives to stand for Christian peoples in foreign courts and civil service j and various other measures, both legislative and educative-in all these departments a Christian government may negatively avoid hindering, and· positively assist, the Church, in her work of evangelization. The history of the British East India Company and of British rule in India illustrate both the errors to be avoided and the principles of a true cooperation.
Government is not called to interfere in a heathen, pagan, Mohammedan, or papal territory, forcibly to convert the natives to the Christian faith. History inspires little confidence in national conversion. As with the Roman Empire. l~qef Constantine~ a noro.:ina,l 9~f~(;l~i~nity is often only
THE WORLD KINGDOMS AND THE KINGDOM: OF GOD
the exchange of one set of idols and superstitions for another. In a sublime sense Christ's kingdom is not of this world, and courts neither governmental patronage nor carnal weapons. We deprecate compulsory entranco for the Gospel, as when a gunship goes side by side with the peaceful Gospel ship. But it is not asking too much that a so-called Christian nation, such as England or the United States, shall everywhere be known as the protector of its own citizens, the friend of Christian institutions, and the upholder of sobriety, morality, and piety. The flag of a nation whose belt of empire girdles the globe need not bear the cross on its folds, but it .should be the signal and symbol of a true Christian civilization, an enlightened Christian morality. Around the humblest of its subjects it should wrap its folds in the hour of danger, protecting person and property, liberty and life. In the formation of treaties regard may be had to the security of the Christian missionary as well as of the merchant. In sending representatives to foreign courts, why should not men be chosen who will carry with them a high moral and Christian influence as well as the tact of the statesman and the skill of the diplomat! Our government need not go into Turkey to build churches, or colleges, or hospitals j but, when bnilt by consent of the ruling powers, she may insist that they be inviolate. England need not demand of foreign powers an edict of toleration j but when a Ratti Humayun or a Tieutsin treaty is issued, rights are acknowledged of which the British Government may properly demand that converts and their Christian teachers may avail themselves. To be a citizen of Rome ought not to have cast about Paul a protection with which citizenship in the American republic would not invest Dr. Jessup in Syria, or Dr. Lindley in South Africa, or Dr. Jonas King in Athens. Was there any good reason why England should permit Bishop Hannington, when on a peaceful errand, to be murdered in Mwangwa's dominions, without calling the despot of Uganda to account'
I. A Christian government should encourage everywhere a Christian morality. We have seen how, frClm the days of Assyrian supremacy, there had been an increasing tendency toward unity and fraternity, more compact organizal.ion, commercial intercourse, social development, and political alliance-in a word, civilization. But the salt of morality was lacking, and that is a fatal lack. The seven" golden ages" have been, curiously enough, profligate ages. Egypt under the Ptolemies, Athens under Pericles, Rome under Augustus, Italy under Leo X., Russia under Ivan III., England under Elizabeth, France under Louis XIV., were all conspicuous for a high civilization, but also for morai putrefaction and petrifaction.
All history shows that moral corruption and progressive liberty are incompatible. Political development and moral deterioration have never long stood side by side. Since our Lord's adveut, if there has been a coincidence of political and moral progress it has been owing to the fact that the salt has displaced the leaven. There is such a thing as a political con- 8cience. and only so long as it is dominant is even civilization secure of permanence, not to say progress. ,I Slavery has long been regarded as the open sore not only of Africa, but of Rome as well, where single families controlled fifty thousand chattels.
But slavery was and is only a boil that argues bad blood. The evil is deeper; slavery could prevaIl only where the political conscience is par- alyzed, where man either knows not or feels not his duty to his brother man. So of communism and its kindred evils. "The want of a bridge of duty between rich and poor will in time bring any nation to destruc- tion. "
The most startling revelations made in modern times of a decidedly unchristian and iniquitous influence exercised by nominally Christian nations have been those concerning the forcible introduction of opium into China, the licensing of prostitution in India, and the importation of rum into Africa. As to' the last, no greater outrage has ever been committed by an enlightened Christian nation. In 1884 a congress composed of fourteen great powers, Protestant, papal, Greek, and Moslem, met in Ber- lin to create the Congo Free State. And while the chiefs of Southern Africa, like Kahma, not only prohibit traffic in rum, but even forbid its car- riage through their territory, these enlightened powers connive at the in- famous trade in this new territory !
One distillery in Medford, Mass., contracted to furnish 3000 gallons a day for seven years to parties within the Free State, an aggregate amount of 7,665,000 gallons-enough to intoxicate every man, woman, and child in that fifty millions; and that is but one contract! Mr. Hornaday's "Free Rum on the Congo" shows the total shipments of intoxicating drinks to African natives in one year, from five countries, to be nearly ten and a half million gallons; and those five countries are all nominally Christian, and four of them Protestant! And such liquor ! the cheapest, vilest, most poisonous compounds that ever went down the human throat 1 If it had been manufactured in hell it would scarcely have been worse.
II. Christian governments may do much for foreign missions by not practicaIly ignoring Ohristianity. We .have met not a few in England who regard British rule in India as a perpetual warning to all other nations.
An ancient politician seems to have advised that Christ be put to death as a matter of expediency, to avoid a greater calamity to the nation at large.
In his view, it was policy to sacrifice an innocent victim to avoid collision with a stronger enemy that might destroy the Jewish State and Church alike. It is very remarkable that the very ruin his statecraft sought to avert came by the very means used to avert it. The innocent was surren- dered to death, and that death brought destruction at the hands of the.
very Roman power which Caiaphas had sought to appease.
England sought, by ignoring Christianity and upholding caste and Brahmanism, to conciliate the Sepoys. Missionaries had little' 01: no access to the native regiments, and Christians were seldom if ever allowed to remain in the ranks; Hindu and Mohammedan soldiers could not hear the Gospel. Christ was dishonored that the favor of Brahmans and Sepoys might be kept. The miracle-working Gospel suffered repression in India where a few thousands of Englishmen were at the mercy of hundreds of millions, who, if once aroused, could sweep them away in a day. Was another Caiaphas again the counsellor, advising that Christ be crucified afresh in India lest the whole English residency perish? Now mark! God takes those same Sepoys as His hammer to deal a destroying blow at the very parties who, to conciliate them, sacrificed the Christian rehgion! Again the maxim was fulfilled: "Do an evil to avert an evil, and the evil dreaded will become the evil endured." Thoso who look upon the mausoleum at Cawnpore may learn what tender mercies Nana Sahib will show to Christians after centuries of conciliating policy !
III. The British sway in India illustrates the evil of neutral policy in giving a godless education in government schools, from which, to avoid collision with the natives, the Bible was excluded. But a Christian nation cannot be neutral in education ; it is either for Christ or against Himthere is no middle ground. So unscientific is the basis of Hindu theology, that to reach modern science is to overturn it. Take the cosmogony, the geography, the astronomy, taught in the Shasters! The absurd philosophy by which creation is accounted for, by which an eclipse is explained, would not stand an hour under the light of accurate science. But Hindu science and faith are inseparable, both claiming one Divine origin and warrant. Hence, to teach natural philosophy is to undermine moral philosophy and religious faith as the Hindu had been taught it, and, so far as the British government does not permit teaching of the Christian faith, the effect must be to train up a generation of educated sceptics and infidels. It is a startling fact that the young men, thus schooled, have become the most dangerous element in East Indian society. They unlearned the superstitions of the Shasters, but they were taught none of the sublimities of Christian faith; loosed from errors, they were anchored to no certainties; their minds were informed, but their consciences unformed, and they became not only bitter foes of the Gospel, but of British rule, disloyal, disaffected beyond any other natives, and ready for any movement for the overthrow of the very power to which they owed their education. Years before the great mutiny, sagacious Englishmen foresaw that the very policy adopted by Britain to promote the tranquillity and safety of her empire in India, was imperiling it. Atheism and deism spread side by side with hatred to the British name and rule among the very men trained in government schools and employed in government service.
Even heathen men, if they do not recognize the superiority of the Christian religion, recognize consistency in those who represent it. A Persian lad who brought his Persian testament to the school-room, was bidden by his Christian master to take it away as a proscribed book. The father, a Parsee himself, forbade the boy to go longer to the sc1;J,ooll saying, " The man who cares nothing for his own religion will care nothing for ours either !"
Nor must it be forgotten that the government of England lent aid to a system of education which rather favored false religions. At great metro- politan centers, for the sake ot conciliating educated natives, colleges were established to promote the study of the Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian tongues j and of Oriental letters, philosophies, and faiths. And so, under government patronage and at government expense, a learned Orientalism was taught to the privileged youth, with all the defects and follies and falsehoods embraced in those systems-the pantheism, materialism, and sensualism of the Vedas and the Koran were the food on which Hindu and Moslem young men were fed. Krishna, the god of lies, was held up by maulavis and pandits for imitation, while Christian teachers held him up for execration j Mohammed and his black-eyed houris were put before young men as a model of manhood and of heavenly society, while English missionaries were trying to present Christ and a heaven of holiness!
IV. What shall be said of the direct obstacles which Christian England placed in the way of India's evangelization in the impression produced upon the natives by the sordid, immoral, and sometimes cruel character of some of her representatives. The annals of rule, as carried on by Christian nations, largely deserve to be written in blood. Greed of gain and the lusts of the flesh, rapacity, and cruelty have too often been the dominant motives and methods, not of Portuguese only, but of British and American rulers also. Such conduct has so incensed the native mind and so maligned the Christian faith that, as the native chief, Hatuay, would shun even heaven if he had to meet there the Spanish invaders, so the Hindus and North American Indians would find no attraction in a paradise where their Christian oppressors were to have a home.
We see no reason why, in forming treaties, a Christian government should not take a position as such. In 1797 our own country, in its treaty with Tripoli, a nominal dependeucy of the Turkish Empire, actually inserted these audacious words : "The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion!" What an argument that, to put into the mouth of Moslems against all missionary efforts !
There is something magnificently grand in a great ruler of men taking the scepter in the name of God j not formally, as Constantine did in the fourth century, or Charlemagne, when at Christmastide, 800 A.D., he was crowned Christian emperor at Rome, but as Alfred, when he had won back England's liberties, opened his code of laws with the words: "And the Lord spake all these words : I am the Lord thy God," and then follows the Decalogue and the golden rule: "VVbatsoever ye would that men should do to you, that do ye also unto them. "
The English nation for two hundred and fifty years so little saw and felt what God meant by British occupation of India that her rulers long and vehemently fought against India's evangelization. In fact, up to the new charter of 1813, the opposition was open and systematic. Both tongues and pens were arrayed against aU efforts to permeate India with the Gospel, and virulence united with ignorance to carry the day against missions. So absurd lite ~he arguments then used that, as Dr. Duff said, they have become now "like curious fossil relics of antediluvian ages.
When in 1793 certain clauses were proposed in a bill then pending for the renewal of the company's charter, clauses designed to encourage Christian men in going to India to propagate the Christian faith, those clauses were promptly and peremptorily negatived; and a learned prelate in the House of Lords, a defender of 0rthodoxy too, actually argued against any interference " with the religion, the laws, the local customs of the people of India," alleging that there was no obligation resting on Englishmen to attempt the conversion of the natives, even were it possible, which he denied; and that the command to preach the Gospel to all nations did not in this case apply. As late as 1813 Charles Marsh, in the House of Commons, expressed mingled" surprise and horror" at the proposal to send out missionaries " to civilize or convert such a people at the hazard of disturbing or deforming institutions" which hitherto had proven the means designed by Providence to make them virtuous and happy!" Pamphleteers assailed missions as an attempt to overcome the" unconquerable abhorrence of the Christian religion" on the part of the Hindus, while twenty-five years previous the Rajah of Tanjore, for instance, had made a perpetual appropriation of land of the yearly value of $1000 for the support of Christian teachers.
During the early period of British empire in India, not only was Christianity repudiated and treated with contempt, but the government undertook the patronage of the native idolatries and superstitions, chiefly on the ground that it was policy to humor and conciliate the native population. And so we have the ignominious spectacle of a Christian and Protestant nation not only bearing with, but bearing up, the most dangerous and subtle of Oriental heathenisms. The Marquis of Wellesley wrote to the British resident at Lucknow advising a "liberal attention to the religious establishments and charitable foundations of the country," and asking him to furnish a statement of the public endowments of both the Hindu and Mohammedan religions as he might propose to confirm or extend f' Partly from motives of state policy and partly from regard to financial profits, the government allied itself with the temple of Juggernath in Orissa of Bydenath in Birhlim, of Gya in Behar, and the sacred shrine of pilgrims at the junction of the Ganges and the Jumna! Nay, Mr. Lionel Place actually sighs over the desolations of idolatry, the decline of the magnificence of the festivals and processions of the famous pagoda at Conjeveram, and the poverty of the idolatrous " church" which prevents the replacement of the rich ornaments of the idol and garniture of the fane, which the war had stripped from the pagan god and his temple, and urges the government to restore the lost splendor.
This representative of a government bearing, like himself, the name of os Christian, " urges the tImely outlay whIch wIll prevent such decline and even restore ruins. Probably no representative of a Protestant nation ever became so famous, or, rather, infamous, for hls services to idolatry. Mr. Place introduced a new nomenclature. The plgodas became the " estab. lished church;" the temple revenues, " church funds ;" the Brahman keepers of idol shrines, "churchwardens." A spacious garden near a great fane, and a gorgeous head-dress worth $5000 within the fane, were Mr. Place's gifts, and he actually used his position to increase the pomp of heathen festivals and supply furniture and garniture for the shrines of Brahma !
The worn-out wardrobes and cars of the idol god were replaced at government cost; the arsenals furnished ropes for pulling those cars ; temple repairs were sometimes superintended in person by European officers and their hirelings ; the great feasts were paid for out of the public treasury ; Brahmans were hired to pray for rain to idol gods, and servants, dancing girls, and prostitutes were appointed under Government sanction. So long as such things continued, missionary labors were offset by obstacles thus created by a Protestant nation more formidable than any presented by heathenism itself. England was building again as fast as the missionaries destroyed, and made herself doubly a transgressor. And altho now more than fifty years ago direct connection of the Government with Indian idols and idol temples has been severed, it was many years later before the severance was complete; and the sad story still blackens the annals of British rule in India to admonish us how seriously and impiously a Christian government may not only block the wheels of missions, but actually build up as well as prop up false fanes and faiths.
James Clement Ambrose, in Our Day, has recently arraigned Britain for manufacturing the idol, of India! The same ships from Liverpool that land missionaries at Madras, Calcutta; Rangoon, unload, he says, a crate of graven images of wood, stone, and metal, supposed to be of the most approved pattern and the most propitious power. Think of the missionary, toiling to break down idol fanes and banish idol gods on the one hand, and this foremost Protestant nation on the other supplying the images that may be bought for a rupee, and danced about in the full summer moons! Meanwhile Mr. Ambrose reads out another count in his indictInent : England, while she thus consecrates the idolatry of Buddha, desecrates the Christian Sabbath. Such public works as hewing paths through the country, or mending streets in the city, or building lines of railway and telegraph, the agents of the British crown push, without resting on the first day of the week, and native employees are taught that public work carried on by a Christian government calls no halt on God's rest day!
It seems incredible that in so many ways, both direct and indirect, the leading Protestant nation of Europe could have become not only implicated but identified with the East Indian idolatries. While a heathen regent at Travancore set the example of exempting her Christian subjects from compulsory attendance at the heathen temples or any public service of heathenism on the Lord's Day, the representatives of a Christian government were not only collecting revenues from idols shrines, but doing all in their power to nourish the superstition that increased those revenues. In several provinces public officera were retained whose sole duty it was to see that the idol shrines were kept in repair and the idol worship made attractive, and report to the official head of the province.
One of the directors of the East India Company, when, at the India House, he heard the tidings of the Sepoy Mutiny, threw up his hat and shouted" Hurrah 1 Now we shall get rid of the saints." He was reflecting the sentiments of another director before him, who would rather a band of devils landed in India than a band of missionaries. But, as has been aptly said, "Never was prediction more mistaken. Instead of the East India Company getting rid of the saints, the saints got rid of them I"
Both candor and charity, however, demand of us to add that the Government of England has, whether from external pressure or otherwise, in later times passed many measures favorable to the cause of evangelization in India. Not only is universal toleration now extended to all missionary agencies, but obstacles that seemed almost insuperable have been removed. Liberty of conscience has been established. To disinherit a Hindu, rob. bing him of his patrimony simply because of a change of creed, has become an offense punishable at law. The fires of the funeral pyre have been quenched, and the infamous suttee burning is no more. This custom, which may be traced to the fourteenth century B.C., was entrenched in the most radical superstitions of the country. It was believed that not only on the widow herself, but on her dead husband, the self-immolalion of the widow conferred the highest merit, and that .to her, who otherwise would vainly seek entrance into paradise, this flaming door opened the way to a bliss of thirty_five million years. In 1829 Lord William Bentinck, then governor-general, decreed that all aid, assistance, or participation in any act of suttee should be construed and punished as murder. When the excited Brahmans denounced his action as an unwarrantable interference with their religious conscience, and appealed to him whether Englishmen did not teach all men to obey conscience, Lord Bentinck quietly replied, "By all means obey your conscience; but I forewarn you that if your Hindu conscience- compels you to bum innocent widows on a funeral pyre, the Englishman's conscience compels him to hang everyone of you that aids or abets such murder I" This law, at first appHcable only to Bengal, soon extended over all the territories of the East India Company, and wherever possible was incorporated in treaties made with native princes. By similar governmental interference the horrors of infanticide are no more, and in 1863 the last link of connection with idolatrous temples and priests was broken, and State patronage and endowment of heathenism came to an end.
In 1875 Rev. John Wilson, D.D., of Bombay, cataloged and classi· .
fied the horrors and iniquities removed by Government. Let any man look at the catalog and then say that a Christian government can do nothing to remove obstructions to evangelization where it has control. Dr. Wil- son's classification covers ten particulars-viz., murder of parents, murder of children, human sacrifices, voluntary torment, involuntary torment, ex- tortions, legal support of caste, religious intolerance, slavery, and suicide; and each of these particulars includes several subdivisions, making in all thirty-four distinct forms of cruelty and outrage abolished by governmental action.
F?r the outmges committed on American missionaries and citizens and their property in China the United States has no one to blame so much as herself, for her own outrages on the resident Chinese, and her own political course in the violation and annulling of her own treaties with China.
No government can afford to follow that Machiavellian policy which assumes that there is no moral governor above us and no moral Provi- dence, and hence no moral retribution, and need be no moral obliga- tion or political conscience. Sir John Lawrence, when Governor of the Punjaub, grandly said, "Christian things done in a Christian way will never alienate the heathen." The whole history of British occupation in India, now covering nearly three hundred years, has written this lesson in blood and tears, that a Christian nation may carry out even among heathen subjects all really Christian measures, not only without risk, but with every advantage both to its own stability and the welfare and even loyalty of its foreign subjects.
V. A Christian nation may powerfully cooperate with the Church of Christ in facilitating the introduction and distribution oj the Scriptures.
The Mexican War was undertaken no doubt mainly from the greed of ter- ritorial acquisition. Yet it cannot be denied that the Bibles and Testaments carried into Mexico in the knapsacks of American soldiers-and sometimes stained with their blood-thus found their way into that land where papal domination still leaves millions to live and die without ever having seen a copy of the Word of God j and the Bibles, thus flung over the border aR from the point of the bayonet, actually became. not only the seed of in- dividual conversion, but the nucleii of little companies of believers- unconscious Protestants-and the germs of evangelical churches.
England prides herself on her cathedrals, which are also the superb catacombs of her illustrious dead. But no cathedral structure ever com- pared, in point either of massive majesty or glorious symmetry, with that British and Foreign Bible Society which reverses the miracle of Babel and perpetuates the miracle of Pentecost. It is a true missionary socie- ty, whose missionaries never die nor even grow old and decrepit, knowing no infirmity or disease; never embarrass the work by infelicitous mar- riages, fanatical new departures, heretical new theologies, by doing what must be undone or by undoing what has been done ; never apostatize from the faith or even falter in their fidelity. The Word of God calls them " gods" to whom the Word of God came ; and the Scripture cannot be broken. It lifts us to a Divine dignity to be the recipients and repositories of the Holy Scriptures. Why should not a Christian nation further and forward the rapid dissemination of this seed of the kingdom'
VI. Whatever else may be said, certain it is that for a Christian gov- ernment to oppose mi8siona and obstruct their progress is to provoke the just judgments of God.
Human history furnishes more than one ilIustration of the startling warning in Isaiah 60 : 12, " The nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish; yea, those ·nations shall be utterly wasted." The pre- diction originally applied to Israel is capable of a wider historic applica- tion. Many an emperor or sultan or petty chief has fallen under the judg- ment of God at a crisis in the affairs of the kingdom of God. In 1839 the darkest hour came to Turkish missions, and the tyrant Mahmftd ordered all Christian missionaries summarily expelled from the empire. Dr. Goodell quietly said, " The great Sultan of the Universe can change all this." And on July 1st the Sultan died. God blew, and His enemies were scattered. That order for expulsion was not only never enforced, it was never again referred to! In 1851 the King of Siam, the implacable foe of missions, had so prevented the missionaries from getting a foothold that they were awaiting only the arrival of a ship to bear them away. The work whose foundations had been laid thirty years before was about to be abandoned as hopeless when again God interposed, and on April 3d the king died and the choice of the nobles for his ,successor fell upon the one man in all the kingdom who owed his liberal culture and his tolerant temper to the private teaching of a missionary. From that hour Christian missions have found not only forbearance but favor and fostering care in the royal court of Siam.
He who made proud and cruel Babylon His hammer to smite and break other nations, afterward shivered the hammer itself on the awful anvil of His judgment. We may, as a political power, refuse to recogniz6 God in form, to embody in our Constitution or institutions any express recognition of our allegiance to the King of kings ; but there is one fact whose force we cannot escape: it is Christianity that has made us what we are, and given us our place among the nations of the earth. It has modeled all that is best in the basis of the republic, the eternal principles of constitutional liberty. It has laid the granite blocks of individual rights, political equality, and personal liberty. It has set in their place the pillars of common law and statute law upon which rest the very arches of government; it has surmounted them with the successive stories of our institutions, civil, benevolent, and philanthropic ; and it is Christianity which has made it possible to crown this structure with a dome so vast that within its scope there is room for every subject to follow his own conscience in his worship of God. There the structure stands. Whatever may be said by godless men, and to whatever purposes the building may be
RECENT PROGRESg IN CENTRAL AFRICA
perverted, the fact still remains the same that the corner-stone -is laid in the Bible, and but for Christiamty the structure had never been so reared. Our Government, if it openly denies and disowns the obligations we owe to the Christian religion, deserves and risks the removal of the very foundations it disowns. God has more than once taken a nation at its word, as when the Jews assumed the blood of His Son, which has been on them and on their children for fifty generations.
But we owe to Christianity more than a mere recognition-a debt that can be paid only by all proper and lawful endeavors to reconstruct aU other governments upon the basis of the Christian religion, to promote the recognition of God's Fatherhood and man's brotherhood-nay, more, of the Messianie Kingship of Christ. Without merging the State into the Church or leaving the political sphere for the ecclesiastical, a government like that of England or America may act as the handmaid of the Church in displacing the fetish of the pagan, the endless wheel of the Buddhist, the iron ring of the Brahman, the crescent of the Turk, and even the crucifix of the Romanist, by the cross.
RECENT PROGRESS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. * BY C. J. LAFFIN, M.D., F.R.G.S., BATANGA, WEST AFRICA.
The opening of the period under consideration (1870-1895) found a few mission stations scattered along the coast lines of the Dark Continent, planted there as " stepping-stones to the interior." These were manned by a small number of missionaries, the greater part of whose time was taken up trying to solve the problem of how to exist in Africa. These early missionaries accomplished very little that could be tabulated, but on their work the successes of to-day rest. Their work, their lives, their deaths have compelled the Boards, some of them at least, to recognize the fact that God does not hold His laws in abeyance because we are doing His work. They have clearly demonstrated that a missionary in that deadly climate, unless surrounded by suitable sanitary and hygienic conditions, and provided with skilled medical aid, will sicken and die as surely as anyone else will. They have also proven that a thorough knowledge of the country and people, of any given region, is necessary before permanent stations can be founded. This led to the sending out of missionaries versed in medicine, geography, mechanics, languages, ethnology, to.· • .. Recent" dnrlng the past twenty-five years. Practically no progress W88 made before 18'70• .. Central Africa."-Between a line drawn from lS" N. lat. on the W. C088t N. on the E.
C088t, and another line drawn across the continent at 22" S. lat.
Africa outside of these lines is 80 essentially dUfercnt from Central Africa 88 to require, If dis· cussed. a separate paper. etc. The proportion of such workers to theologians is rapidly increasing. It cost much in time, money, and lives to get these 'facts recogpized j but it has been worth all it has cost-yes, worth many times more. Those missions which have recognized these facts are to-day preaching the Gospel to the millions of the far interior, while the others still painfully struggle for existence on the coast.
Political.-Next to the question of health, probably the greatest ob- stacle to be overcome was the political condition. (It must be borne in mind that the Central African, on the whole, did not object to the introduction of Christianity.) Almost the entire country was split up into petty clans and villages. There were a few tribes under one government, and two or three organized nations j but generally a chieftain's or headman's (often improperly called" king's") authority did not extend over more than five to ten square miles, often not more than half a square mile. There were no established laws-for the stranger, and petty wars were constant. Under such conditions travel and often residence were impossible for the missionary.
The different European governments exercised authority on the coast "within reach of the guns of the warships." For the most part this state of affairs has changed. Almost the whole area has been brought under European control. The net result has been very good, especially in the English territories. A missionary with tact, discretion, and a knowl- edge of the people, can, if unarmed, travel almost anywhere he chooses, preaching the Gospel as he goes. Such of the law machinery of civilized countries as is applicable to so new a country has been set in motion, and generally exercises its power to control and protect all. In a few years life, liberty, and property will be as safe in all, as now in reany parts of Central Africa as in America. The degree of protection will vary in different localities, as it does in the United States.
Education.-With the exception of the Mohammedans in the extreme north and northeast of this area, the people were without any literature. The necessity of giving the people the Bible in their own language was recog- nized from the first j but to learn the many unwritten languages and dia- lects, and reduce them to writing, was no small task. The words had to be "picked from between the teeth" of the natives, then by laborious effort a grammar would be worked out, and the work of translating taken up. To-day the Bible, or portions of it have been translated into about one hundred and thirty-five languages and dialects. For sonie years the belief was widespread in America that education was necessary to prepare men to "comprehend the abstract principles of Christianity," . and that raising up schools would draw all men to Christ. So schools of all grades, from the most elementary to colleges, were founded throughout the inission fields. Over two hundred and fifty thousand people have been taught to read God's Word in their own tongue. Not a few have been given a collegiate education, and will compare favorably in this respect with the average missionary. Some twenty-seven periodicals in the native
SERVICE IN A NATIVE AFRICAN CHURCH
RECENT PROGRESS IN CENTRAL AFRICA
tongues have been started. Complete grammars and very good dictionaries have been printed, and no inconsiderable literature has beWl provided in the prinQipallanguages. At the present rate of progress another twentyfive years will see as large a proportion of the people reading and writing as in Spain to-day.
Much attention has been given to the solution of the problem, "What is the best system of education for the Central African as we find him to-day~" While the problem has not yet been solved, much has been learned.. This much has been conclusively shown, that the system which has been developed to meet the needs of the Anglo-Saxon in his present stage of civilization cannot develop the latent powers of the Central African. The tendency now is to give them the Gospel, let that create needs in them as it did in us, then place within their reach the means to meet those needs.
Social.- Whether or not we admit that social progress has kept pace with the advance in other Jines, depends on the standpoint from which we view the question. Certainly they have shown comparatively little desire to " ape the European." But that a great social evolution along natural lines is in progress, is admitted by most, if not all students of Africa, who have had opportunity to m~ke extensive studies of the question on the field.
The homes of the married missionaries, showing forth fruits of the Gospel, have' never failed to compel recognition, and have, next to the preaching the Gospel, been, in God's hands, the greatest uplifting power in Central Africa. Single men on a station where there are no families are invariably the object of suspicion. The present cry for" single men for Africa" is confined almost entirely to " arm-chair missionaries" who have never even visited Africa.
Oommercial prof/ress has kept pace with, if not outrun, all other forms of advance. The volume of trade has increased 4300 per cent, and prom- Ises to keep on increasing. This led to the building of railroads, highways, bridges, steamboats for the inland rivers and lakes, the establishing of telegraph and mail routes, the great increase in the number of coast steamers, their size and speed, and the number of ports of call. Thus one of the great problems, the difficulty of travel and communication, is being rapidly met. In many places one missionary can, on account of the above advances, do as much itinerating as ten could a few years ago, with no increase in expense. Commerce and the Gospel go hand in hand. This may seem a strange statement if we consider the details of commerce, yet the net result proves it to be true.
Medical.-The early missionaries, whose training had been principally theological, naturally were not prepared to deal with the health problems which met them as soon as they arrived on the coast. The result was that they had'to be invalided home or died off in such numbers as to give rise to the question, "Is the evangelization of Africa a possibility?" Later a few medical men were sent out ; the result was so satisfactory that the number was soon increaseil, so that most missions now have at least one physician, and some of the missions endeavor to have a medi. cally train1!d worker at each station. This has led to a decrease in the death-rate-where medical aid is available-of over 100 per cent, and vastly increased the health and efficiency of those workers who remain. The knowledge gained in tropical hygiene and sanitation, and in the prevention and trea~ment of diseases peculiar to Central Africa, has, when applied, very much decreased the expenses of the missions, removing the necessity for such frequent and prolonged visits to ~his country.
I believe that the effects of the climate have done more to prevent the spread of the Gospel in Africa than rum, slavery, polygamy, and all other forces combined. This problem cannot be satisfactorily solved until we have medical men, the best, attached to our boards in this country. It is not reasonable to expect theologians, however learned they may be in their own calling, can satisfactorily deal with this, one of the deepest and most complicated questions before the medical profession to-day.
But, tho the difficulties have been tremendous, the comparatively few physicians on the field, generally with the most scant assistance from their board (one doctor during his first seven years received no supplies other than quinine and a hypodermic needle), have during the past few years more than doubled the efficiency of the workers and very materially lessened the expenses, besides founding hospitals, training native youths in the elements of medicine, surgery, etc., and teaching the people the laws governing contagious and some other diseases with most satisfactory results. Gospel.- When we come to consider the progress of the Gospel we find ourselves unable to tabulate it. While it is comparatively easy to get the figures of church-members and estimate the number of adherents, this does not state a tithe of the actual progress of the spirit of the Gospel. For instance, up to three years ago in the Bule tribe there was constant war between the different villages, no stranger was allowed to pass through or live in their country. To-day missionaries live among them-even the ladies of the mission can travel anywhere there without escort. Strangers pass through the country with impunity. In some districts wars have entirely ceased j in all it has greatly diminished, and will soon be but a memory. The only agencies used to produce this change were preaching the Gospel and healing the sick; yet all that is shown in statistics is, "Inquirers, 11." This is a fair sample of what is going on in hundreds of districts throughout this vast area.
Yet much has been done which can be tabnlated. Churches dot the entire coast lines, extend far up the navigable rivers-over one thousand up the Congo-and around the shores of the great lakes. The kingdom of Uganda is now Christian. Many districts (like Banza Manteke, Lukungu, Blantyre) are now as truly Christian as, say, Delaware or Rhode Island. which are about the same size. A more or less-generally less-perfect knowledge of God's plan of salvation has reached ~bout twenty millions, and will, at the present rate of progress, reach the other one hundred and sixty millions during the next twenty-five years. As the missionaries generally have not insisted on the natives adopting our VIlestern ecclesiastical machinery and church architecture, a large part of the native churches have become self-sustaining and self-governing, giving rise to healthy, vigorous, self-propaga.ting churches. A comparison between them and the home churches would often (not always) be discomforting to the latter. . Hundreds of the Christian men, women, and children have, by their life's blood, testified to the power of Christ to save, often after enduring cruel scourging and mocking. A vigorous native ministry has sprung up. In some places, as on the Niger, they have the entire control of the work. In other places they work with or under the missionaries. As the result of experience, there is a rapidly increasing disposition on the part of the missionaries to turn the entire responsibility over to the natives at the earliest possible date. Several thousand young men are now being trained to more effectively carry the Gospel to their countrymen. Probably no part of the world has yielded such a rich spiritual harvest for the amount of work actually done as Bantu Africa (all south of 2° north).
If we go to Bonny we see a cathedral, seating 1700, taking the place of the temple decked with 10,000 human skulls, which stood there a few years ago. In Rubaga we see the place where thousands yielded up their lives to a despotic king until five years ago taken up by a church seating 4000. In Equatorville, Irebu, and many other places, the shrieks of the dying who were being killed for sacrifice or to be eaten has now given place to the songs of peace and joy. Scores of such illustrations might be quoted. A great transformation is taking place in Africa. If the Church at home will take hold now this generation will not have passed away before the cry of" enough" is heard. There is no time to lose. Africa has awakened from her sleep of centuries. She is looking for guidance.
She will take either Mohammed or Christ, whichever is first presented. Mohammedanism has already got practical control' over the whole of the northern part of this area, and is rapidly advancing south. In the very near future a great and bloody conflict for political and spiritual supremacy will be waged between Islam and Christianity. If this present British expedition up the Nile succeeds in breaking the power of the Mahdi-well, if not, it will mean many dark and cruel years to the Central African Christians.
Tho the various lines of progress have been considered separately, and other important lines have not been mentioned, they are not independent; each helps the other. For instance, the Gospel stops wars and opens the way for commerce, commerce builds roads, etc., and lessens the expense of carrying the Gospel.
The natural order is generally as follows : Geographers * go ahead and find out about the people, the country, and its resources; medical science goes and makes it possible for the white man to live there; the Gospel follows and inaugurates an era of peace; commerce follows; law, first military, then civil, steps in and takes control; education, social reform, etc., come in about the same time. Nearly all the educators, about half the geographers, a large proportion of the statesmen, with a small proportion of the physicians, and other scientists, are also missionaries.
Recent progress in Central Africa has been marvelous. History re- , cords no parallel. Her friends are filled with hope. Much has been done at a great cost in lives and money. Much remains to be done, much money will be spent, and many lives be laid down before the work is done; but let us not unnecessarily sacrifice any more workers by continuing to commit their health and lives to mission secretaries who have had no medical training. Africa's redemption is at hand. Where sin did abound grace does much more abound; and to-day as formerly " the Cross of Christ is the power of God unto everyone that believeth."
.. I UBe the word geographer in place of explorer, as the latter, nnle88 he be also a geographer, con~ tributes very little valuable Information liS the result of his" trips."
NINE CENTURIES OF .BUDDHI8X
NINE CENTURIES OF BUDDHISM.-m.
BY F. B. SHAWB, LADAX, TIBBT.
In the second part of the Buddhist catechism, concerning the doctrine of the Buddha, Subhadra continues: II. 3. Cannot the Buddha redeem us from the consequences of our guilt by his own merit?
Answer. No man can be redeemed by another.
But the Dalai Lama in Lhasa is called " savior," and the people univer- sally ascribe some indefinite redeeming power to him.
II. 182. Is it wrong to commit suicide? Answer. No ; so long as no wrong is done anyone thereby.
Who can determine this? Life is so complicated that a would-be SUicide cannot possibly foresee the ultimate consequences of his action. The Ladaki are here better than their religion, and suicide is universally condemned. A suicide is believed to spend the time between his actual death and the date when he would have died in ordinary course of nature in "Bar~o," a state in which he is exposed to the attacks of terrific demons.
In II. 140 the "ten fetters"-i.e., obstacles to enlightenment, are enumerated. Many are more or less identical with the fundamental rules for conduct, and can therefore be passed over here. But as the third " fetter" is mentioned : The superstition that salvation can be gained by outward religious practices, rites, prayers, sacrifices, worship of relics, pilgrimages, and various other forms and ceremonies.
This is undoubtedly Buddhist theory, and measured by this rule, no Tibetan is unfettered. Prayers and sacrifices will be adverted to shortly i hut quite apart from these, Tibetan Buddhism is nothing else but a mass of outward religious practices. Annually thousands of Tibetans wander weary distances to sacred shrines, which are cll-cumambulated times innu- merable, often on hands and knees, while the most debased use of relics made by ignorant Roman Catholics is paralleled in Tibet. The ex-king .of Ladak was last year engaged with his whole family in a four months'
pilgrimage to the KaUas Mountains. Annually the whole Buddhist popu- lation of Leh circumambulates all the shrines, prayer-walls, etc., in the valley, a march of about ten miles; and an old ~n used to pass my house daily in execution of this task, twirling his prayer-wheel the while.
Scores of people go every summer to the Pangkong Lake in order to 'obtain the blessing of seeing the image of Lhasa, which is hundreds of miles t.distant, pictured in the hlue waters of the lake. Others go to Triloknath _ . • . " .l,';' in Lahaul, which is in some mysterious way connected with Lhasa, and a journey to which is· almost equivalent to a pilgrimage to that holy city. Another favorite place is a lake in Kulu with a floating island. A man in Leh solemnly assured me that when on a visit there a strange bird bespattered his new dress with dirt. In anger he wiped it off, and since then nothing but misfortune has dogged his course. He had inadvertently deprived himself of a special blessing.
This is evidently all pure superstition, and a comparatively mild form of superstition. There are lower depths than this. It is Tibetan practice to creniate corpses; wood, however, being scarce, the cremation is often very incomplete. The ashes and unconsumed bones are therefore gathered together, pounded in mortars and mixed with clay, which is then stamped into little medallions and figures. I have one of these medallions, which purports to contain part of the ashes of the fifth Dalai Lama, and bearing the official gold seal attesting its genuineness on the reverse side. On my asking the man from whom I obtained it why it was damaged at the sides, he explained that many little bits had been consumed by sick people as medicine 1* II. 148. Does Buddhism teach its followers to hate, despise, or persecute nonbelievers ?
Anawe'1'. Quite the reverse. . . . Even where dominant it has never oppressed or persecuted non·believers, and its success has never been attended with bloodshed. In a note we read further: By Christians this is called apathetic indifference j by Buddhists tolerance.
True, as far as I am aware, Buddhism has never been propagated by the sword, as has Islam. But the statement that " it has never oppressed or persecuted non-believers" does not agree with the facts. The attitude of Tibetan Buddhism is that of "apathetic indifference," until the priests find their power imperilled, then fanaticism immediately breaks out. In the early days of the Christian mission at Kyelang a priest showing himself interested in Christian doctrine was promptly made away with by his colleagues. The Tibetan expression "red offering" has not been quite cleared up, and the priests are very reticent on the subject; but this much is certain, it includes the slaughter of notorious non·believers in order to propitiate the deity. The former Roman Catholic mission in *Ladaki Buddhism, however, descends lower still. It is only with grave hesitation that I ven- ture to mention the following practice, and I do so only from the feeling that it will illustrate better than anything else, what awful depths Buddhist superstition can reach. It is an old story that the Dalai Lama's excrements are made up into pills, which are sold as " hlessings" to the laity. I have enquired into this marvellous assertion, and have found many people who had heard of these pills, mauy more who wished to have them and regretted that Ladak is so far away from Lhasa that only a few of these precious objects reach the country, aud I have met with one man, who IlSSured me that his father had not only seen, but actually obtained and eaten one of these pills I Altho I am inclined to believe that the story Is true as to its main facts, I am not prepared to assert It unequiv·· ocally ; but I do assert that Ladak! Buddhists believe it and welcome such things. Can any snperstition be more disgusting, grovelling, and debasing than this? If Buddhism considers relic-worship to be superititious, what are we to think of this? And why has not Buddhism put a stop to it ? Bonga can point to more than one martyrdom. In 1893 a young man in Leh was baptized, whereupon all priests were interdicted from performing any service in the houses of his friends and rslatives, who had in vain opposed the young man's decision. Buddhism in Tibet is tolerant only so long as it can afford to be apathetically indifferent.
II. 144. Are prayers, sacrifices, rites, and other religious ceremonies requisite to reach Nirvana 1 .A1'IItMI'. The Buddhist religion does not prescribe prayers and sacrifices in the literal sense of the word ; but the repetition of pa888ges from the sacred books, the reading and devout listening to sermons and discourses are considered to be of great help.
As for sermons and discourses, they are absolutely unknown in Ladak. The reading of sacred books is of daily occurrence; but how are they read! The lamas are called, and the whole day long they gabble away at breakneck speed to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals, the people of the house meanwhile ploughing or reaping or shopping in the bazar. Nor could they understand if they wished it, for they are unable to follow the classical dialect, even if read slowly and intelligently. According to Tibetan ideas, however, the sense is of no value whatsoever; the mere reading is sufficient. The usual Tibetan style of writing and printing on loose leaves greatly facilitates the performance. The leaves of a book are simply distributed among the readers, and each man rattles down his particular leaf, probably beginning and ending in the middle of a sentence. If, as sometimes happens, several hundred readers are assembled, two or three books are thus read simultaneously.
Prayer properly so-called-i.e., a petition for a benefit desired or a thanksgiving for benefits received-is absolutely unknown. Tibetans have several Dharanis or prayer-formuloo consisting of a few Sanscrit syllables, usually without any meaning. Of these formullll, one stands so far preeminent that it has practically ousted the rest-the celebrated "Six Syllables," "Om mani padme hum," the invention of which is ascribed to Janrezig, the patron saint of Tibet. The holiness and meritoriousness of this prayer are beyond description great. According to the lamas, its frequent repetition is alone sufficient to ensure salvation or at the very least rebirth in Devachan ; and repeated it accordingly is, from early morn till lato at night. Ploughing, reaping, and threshing, walking and riding, sewing and cooking, spinning and weaving-in short, every occupation not requiring the use of the mouth is accompanied by the ceaseless murmur of the Six Syllables, sometimes aided by the use of the rosary. Even in conversation, often of the foulest sort, the prayer-wheel with its hundreds of impressions of the Six Syllables is twirled round, each revolution counting as if the prayers had been spoken. The same Six Syllables are contained by thousands in huge cylinders, turned by water, wind, and hand-power. Printed on pieces of calico, they flutter in every breeze blowing over the valley, while the traveler passes them by hundreds, engraved on rocks by the roadside, or on stones placed on specia1l1 built walls, or inlaid in huge letters iu white stones on the dark hillsides, so as to be visible miles away. Countless millions of times are the holy Six Syllables prayed by mouth, water, wind, and hand in the course of a year. All Tibetan Buddhism is bound up in them.
And what do they mean Y They are originally Sanscrit, and have the apparently harmless signification : "Oh the jewel in the lotus. Amen. "
But to the student, these words cover a reference to Shivaism. * They are simply a remnant of the old phallic worship, of which many other remnants still exist, and which Buddhism has proved powerless to extirpate completely. It is a relief to find that the meaning is entirely lost to the people, both cleric and lay. Go over all Tibet, and you will not find a single man who can explain their signification; and the people use a prayer of which they do not even pretend that it contains any sense at all. The great northern "Church" of Buddhism occupies itself with " praying to nobody for nothing" in what is to them a senseless jingle, and ascribes to this truly intellectual occupation the value of religious merit.
II. 145. Does the doctrine prescribe the worship of images, statues, relics of the Buddha and his disciples ?
AnBt06r. No; according to the Buddha's teaching, these practices are of no help to the furtherance of true knowledge, and may easily lead to error and superstition.
None the less, however, is it a fact that Buddhist temples are crowded with images. The image of the Buddha is less frequent than one might imagine. The statue, often colossal, of the next Buddha to appear is more often seen. Still more usual are images of the great saints, Bodhisattvas and lamas. But there is also in every temple an incredible number of figures, great and small, of some of the innumerable deities and demons of the Buddhist pantheon. The walls are covered with pictorial representations, among which is usually a " Wheel of Life." The others are more past, present, and future Buddhas, saints and deities. As if this were not enough, numerous paintings on paper or calico are suspended all around. It must be specially remarked that almost all are perfectly decent in clothing and posture, but there are in every temple of any pretensions eight figures of deities bordered from Hinduism, than which anything more obscene can hardly be imagined. In one or two cases I have even seen plastic representations of these deities, in which case the utter and intentional obscenity is put forward with a shamelessness that is in itself sufficient proof of a total want of mora} consciousness. They were first pointed out to me by a lama, who expected me to join him in his undisguised pleasnre at the exhibition. If you inquire about them, you are told that they are " protectors" or "servants" of ihe doctrine. A * The precise meaning of these words those who list can read in Monier·Williams' "Buddhism,"
p. 372, or in Koeppen's" RelIgion dl'l' Buddha," Ii., p. 61. religion which can tolerate such obscenities as protectors or servants clearly abdicat.es any pretensions to inculcate morality and pureness of hfe in its adherents.
The tendency of Buddhism to idolatry is so notorious that even Subhadra is obliged to attempt to explain it away. He therefore continues: II. 146. Why, then, are the Buddhists in the habit of offering flowers and of burning incense before the Buddha's statues?
.A1I8UJC'r. The lay adherents are wont to do 80 in order to give expression, by an outward act, to their veneration and gratitude. Europeans in the same way place flowers and wreaths on the monuments of their great men. . .. Such a custom has therefore nothing objectionable In it, but It were a great mistake to attach any special merit to it.
This answer is absolutely untrue as regards Tibetan Buddhism. In every temple it is part of the duty of the priest in charge to see that offerings are presented. They consist of butter, grain, tea, flowers, water, etc. Of these flowers and water are the greatest favorites, "because they cost nothing," as a priest once explained. Nor is it true that '~no special merit" attaches to such gifts i on the contrary, the Ladaki are taught that all offerings, especially of butter and tea, are very valuable. Naturally so, for they help to swell the larder of the monks.
It is also incorrect to say that the images, before which offerings are placed, are merely emblems. That images, which are believed to have fallen from heaven, receive divine adoration, goes without saying i but the manner of treating images made to order is clear proof that the image is in itself conRidered as divine. When an image or picture has received the consecration, it is a heinous offense to place it on the floor, much more to touch it accidentally with a stick. It is equally heinous to cross the roof or the floor of a room above the spot where the image stands, and special architectural arrangements are often made to prevent this. Nor is the punishment which follows such deeds considered as being caused by the general want of respect shown ; it is ascribed directly to the wrath of the particular divinity represented, and to no other. In all monasteries there is at least one image or pictnre, usually that of Kali, which is rigorously kept veiled all the year round, except on one certain day, when special services are performed. To unveil the deity at any other time would cause untold misery to the wretched man committing the deed. In one of the temples of Pyang monastery I noticed a dirtylooking box. On approaching to open it I was stopped by a horrified exclamation of the attendant lamas, who proceeded to explain that inside the box was an image of peculiar holiness. It had been sealed up in the box at Lhasa, transported to Ladak on a pony which had never since been used, and the seal had never been broken. If the seal were ever broken and the image exposed, the angry divinity would immediately destroy the monastery. The lamas, however, entirely disagreed as to what image was in the box. In Leh there is a temple which may only be entered by lamas. Any other person entering is immediately struck dead. The people assert that about one hundred years ago a woman who rashly entered met with instantaneous death at the hands of the wrathful deity, Facts like these utterly knock the bottom out of any" emblem" theory. The divinity itself resides in the image. Tibetan Buddhists are Idolaters in the full sense of the word.
Images are in themselves good and a cause of luck. With every additional image placed in the family chapel the chances of good fortune are perceptibly increased. It does not matter in the least whose image it is; one is as good as another. In one house I saw five hundred niches ready for images, of which upward of three hundred were occupied by absolutely identical clay figurcs of Janvezig. The householder informed me that he was saving every pice he had to fill up the remaining niches. I suggested that some variety might be desirable, both from an esthetic and practical point of view, but he replied that quantity only was really necessary. He would, he said, certainly like a change, but he had only one mold and could not afford to buy another.
Books are almost equally holy. It does not signify whether they treat of religion, or astrology, or fairy tales (of which Tibetans are very fond), or of medicine. It is of no consequence whether the book be complete or have half the leaves missing or consist of the leaves of several incomplete books on different subjects jumbled up together. It does not matter whether anyone in the house can read a syllable or not. The book is itself an indescribable blessing. To place a book on the floor would cause ruin. The sacred light must be lit before it every evening, just as before idols. I have often seen a lama walking along the road, aceompamed by a man carrying a book, which is often over two feet long. A layman approaches, doffs his cap, and at a sign from the lama the attendant touches the man's head with the book, whereupon he walks away in the comforting assurance that he is appreciably nearer salvation. The leaves of books are sewn into charms and eaten as medicine. Indeed, so far do the Ladaki go in their adoration of the book as such, that they occasion· ally place copies of the Christian Gospels in Tibetan on the altar with the idols and offer water, incense, and lights as to their own books. It IS even on record that a sick man, having swallowed several leaves of Buddhist books without finding relief, eat a few pages out of the Bible. He was bitterly disappointed at finding that the new religion eased his stomach troubles as little as the old had done.
(To 06 concluded.)
THE RECENT WAR IN MADAGASCAR AND SOME OF ITS CONSEQUENCES
THE RECENT WAR IN MADAGASCAR AND SOME OF ITS CONSEQUENCES.
BY THE REV. WILLIAM E. COUSIN!!, M.A., ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR.
The seventeenth century in one respect closely resembled the nineteenth, inasmuch as it was a time of great activity in colonial expansion.' The nations of Europe seemed all eager to found" establishments"or " plantations" among uncivilized or semi-civilized peoples. The large island of Madagascar naturally attracted their attention, and in both France and England ambitious schemes of colonization were engaging the thoughts of leading men. In 1642 Cardinal Richelieu granted a patent to Captain Rigault for the exclusive right of sending ships and forces to Madagascar, and a company was formed under the name of the French East India Company. Even at an earlier date (about 1638) similar plans were being' discussed by the merchants of England, and Richard Boothby states that it was decided that Prince Rupert should go as Viceroy to Madagascar. These English schemes bore little fruit, and we know that in the troubled times that followed Prince Rupert found work 10 do much nearer home j but the French sent out various expeditions, and established themselves at Fort Dauphine (still called by the natives Faradofay, after the French name), at Foule Point, and at other places on the east coast. The history of these early establishments is little else than a story of continual struggles with the natives, and with that even more dangerous enemy, the prevailing malarial fever.
When the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon were taken from France by the English in 1810, Governor Farquhar at once sent a detachment to Foule Point and Tamatave to take possession of the forts formerly occupied by the French, and issued a proclamation taking possession of Madagascar as one of the dependencies of Mauritius. When peace was reestablished in 1815, the Governor of Bourbon, M. Bouvet de Lozier, loudly protested against such an act j and according to Captain Oliver's account, " the English Government admitted that the claim was not well founded, and ordered Governor Farquhar to restore to the French all the posts which had been occupied by them before the war." The French, however, seem to have done little to vindicate their claims, nor could the British Government have regarded them as having any solid foundation, for in making a treaty with Radama 1. on October 23d, 1817, it not only restored to the king one hundred square miles of land obtained by the British from the natives near Port Loquez, but unreservedly acknowledged him to be king of Madagascar, and not merely, as he had formerly been called, " Chief, or King of the Bovahs."
The course of events since 1817 can only be sketched in barest outline. England did much to further Radama's policy of subduing the different tribes, and thus forming a united kingdom. But with the acceBBion of Queen Ranavalona I., after his death in 1828 there came a change of policy, and one of the first acts of the new sovereign was to annul Radama's treaty with the British Government.
France had not up to this time entered into any close relation with the Hova Government; but by treaties with local chiefs she had, in 1821, obtained possession of the island of St. Mary, off the eastern coast; and in 1841 she obtained in the same manner the island of Nosibe, off the northwest coast. About the same time she also made treaties with certain chiefs, smarting under the oppression of their Hova conquerors, which gave her some shadowy claims to portions of the mainland.
In 1845, when French and English traders in Tamatave were being treated with great harshness by the native authorities, a combined attack upon the fort was made by English and French war vessels. This attack was not successful, and the Rovas have often boasted that they won 8 victory over both the French and the English. As 8 matter of fact, however, tho the fort was not taken, their losses were much heavier than those of the attacking forces.
On the death of Queen Ranavalona l., in 1861, both France and England sent embassies to be present at the coronation of her son and successor, Radama II., and subsequently both governments made treaties acknowledging the king or queen reigning in Antananarivo to be sovereign of the whole island.
Difficulties between France and Madagascar were not, however, brought to an end by this treaty. Complaints of the conduct of the Hova officials were frequent, and the relations between the two governments were often seriously strained. At length, in 1883, matters came to such a pass, that because the Malagasy would not yield to certain demands made by the French Government, the posts of Mojanga and Tamatave were bombarded. The war thus commenced (if war is a fitting name for what was little more than a series of bombardments and blockades of the ports) lasted till early in 1886, when a treaty of peace was concluded. This treaty gave the French a firmer foothold in the island than they had ever had before, and, above all, it secured the placing of a Resident-General, with a small body of French soldiers as a guard of honor, in the capital. This in due time not unnaturally led to fresh difficulties. The late Prime Minister used every possible device to minimize the operation of the treaty, while the French Residents-General, on the contrary, were ever seeking to render it more effective. The French never gained from this treaty all the influence and authority they had expected; and it was clearly foreseen that new difficulties could not long be warded off. In October, 1894, M. Le Myre de Vilers was sent out on a special mission to present an ultimatum, which was virtually a claim to exercise a full protectorate over the island. This ultimatum is well described as having been" intended to define the uncompromising nature of the French suzerainty, affirming categorically that the Queen's government should deal with foreign powers ouly through the French Resident, that an concessions should be subject to the Resident's veto, that a sufficient French garrison should be permanently installed, and that the French Government should be free to execute public works and to collect taxes to defray the expense thereof." The native government replied to the French demands by making some counter suggestions, but absolutely refused to grant what M. Le Myre de Vilers required. After a few days' stay in Antananarivo the envoy hauled down his flag and returned to the coast.
As soon as the refusal of the Hova Government to accede to the French demands was known in Paris, M. Hanotaux, Minister for Foreign Affairs, made a statement with regard to the intentions of the government, and said they would ask for the despatch of 15,000 men and a grant of 65,000,000 francs. After a debate lasting three days a vote to this effect was agreed to on November 25th by 377 votes to 143. General Duchesne was appointed leader of the expedition.
The first steps taken hy t.he French to carry out their plans were the seizure of Tamatave on December 12th (the Hovas simply retiring to their intrenched camp at Manjakandrianombana), and of Mojanga on January 16th, 1895.
In March the main body of the French expedition left France, many, alas! never to see it agaiu. Immense enthusiasm was shown by the populace, and these brave men left amid the strains of martial music, the applause of tlle assembled crowds, and showers of bouquets from the hands of their countrywomen. Prayers for the success of their enterprise were offered in the churches.
The expedition was to start from Mojanga and to march by this route to Antananarivo, a distance of little less than 300 miles. The general landed at Mojanga early in May, but before his arrival General Metzinger had already taken Marovoay, an important Hova garrison town about 40 miles distant from Mojanga, on a small tributary of the Betsiboka. On June 9th Mevatanana, another important town near the junction of the Ikopa and the Betsiboka, was also captured. Near this place is Suberbieville, a town that has sprung up within the last few years in connection with a gold concession granted to a Frenchman named Suberbie. Up to this point the river had been utilized to some extent, tho not so fully as the French had hoped, and much confusion appears to have existed. But now began the most trying part of the campaign-viz., a difficult land journey through a roadless country, and ten weeks were taken up with the construction of a military road from Mevafanana to Andriba, a Hova garrison town about midway between Mevatanana and Antananarivo. It has been estimated that the construction of a hundred miles of road cost 1500 lives, 15 for every mile; and a correspondent, writing from Andriba, pathetically named it " that long Calvary."
The losses of the French were chiefly in the lower parts of the country. The numbers in the hospitals were very large, and medical attendance was altogether inadequate. At one time, when quinine was sorely needed, cases of it were lying unrecognized on the beach at Mojanga, having by some error been labeled "nails." Many of the soldiers sent out were quite young, and it was among these that the death-rate was so terribly high. The official estimate gives 3500 as the total number of deaths in the island. Many more (probably another 500) died on their way home j and hundreds of the survivors will long have reason to remember Madagascar, the malarial fever having such a strange unwillingness to leave those whom it has once attacked.
Comparatively few men were killed by the Hovas, as very little serious fighting took place. It should be remembered that the English officers had been dismissed some months before, and those who know Madagascar are not much surprised that the native officers showed little resource or courage, and that troops did not care to face French soldiers. Altho positions of great natural strength-as, for instance, at Andriba-were selected and great labor was expended in the construction of earthworks, as soon as the French attack was commenced these positions were at once abandoned. General Rainianjalaky, in command of the troops at Andriba, sent the following, message to the Prime Minister: "I can do nothing. My men will not stand. They run awa.y as soon as they perceive that two or three of their friends have been killed."
In spite of some facts which might seem to point to a different conclusion, the Hovas are not to be considered a warlike people. Military service is hated and dreaded by them. Nothing pleases them more than to be allowed quietly to attend to their agriculture and their trading.
Then it has been evident for months past that serious divisions existed among the nati'e rulers. There have been among them not a few who have been in sympathy with the aims of the French. It must not be forgotten that French officials have been living in Antananarivo for ten years, and that they have made many friends among the people. They have diligently sought to prepare for events they saw would not be long delayed, and we may without any serious breach of charity assume that French gold had already to some extent paved the way for General Duchesne's army.
Some disappointment has been expressed at the utter collapse of the Hovas. Mr. Stead, in the Review of Reviews, says they "had not a pennyworth of fight in them." The missionaries ought, he says, to have infused into the minds of their converts more of the Puritan spirit, the spirit, for example, that animated Cromwell's Ironsides. Missionaries are not drill sergeants, aud they need not wince under Mr. Stead's censure. But there is no doubt some cause for disappointment, especially when we remember the noisy and extravagant speech indulged in by many of the natives. Their patriotism has proved to be of a very shallow and ineffective description. Cowardice, however, is not the only explanation of the course of events. Had the Hova troops been well fed and well led, and, above all, had there been a general feeling of contentment with the exist- ing government, General Duchesne and his little band of toil-worn troops might have met with a very different reccption when they reached the neighborhood of Antananarivo in the closing days of last September.
The utter collapse of the Hovas was not, however, without its compen- sations. When we remember how they were mown down by the French guns, and especially what havoc was caused by the melinite shells, we may acknowledge that their so-called cowardice had at least this advan- tage, that it saved thousands of lives. The greatest friends of the Hovas never believed they could successfully contend with the well-trained and well-armed soldiers France could send against them; and a stouter re- sistance would only have prolonged a useless struggle, and would not have altered the final result.
The last stage of the war was the brilliant dash made by General Duchesne and a flying column of 3000 picked men (about half of whom were Frenchmen), which left Andriba for the capital (a distance of about 100 miles) on Sunday, September 15th. It is quite clear that by the time General Duchesne had reached Andriba he had formed such an estimate of the Hova troops as led him to conclude that he need fear no serious resistance, and that altho the Hovas might be able to outnumber him in the proportion of from 10, or even 20 to 1, his small but well-seasoned and well-disciplined body of troops might be trusted to hold their own and to gain possession of Antananarivo.
During this last part of the campaign the Hovas seem to have shown more energy and courage than in the earlier stages, and for the three days immediately preceding the capture of Antananarivo they made a steady attempt to check the French, and disputed the ground with them mile by mile; but even at this stage the fighting cannot have been very severe, as the French losses were only about 50 wounded and '1 killed.
Antananarivo was taken after a brief bombardment on the afternoon -of Monday, September 30th. The French guns were placed in position at Andrainarivo and on the Observatory Hill due east of the capital, and a few shells were fired at the palace, a little more than a mile away the other side of the valley. These, falling as they did among the crowds assembled in the courtyard for the defence of their queen, were terribly destructive. A French writer says, " Mangled bodies of Hovas were tossed into the air on the very terrace of the Queen's palace by dozens at a time." Another correspondent, describing the same event, says, "35 were killed by the first shell and 18 by the second."
Melinite shells, specially reserved for this purpose, were about to be fired, after which the place was to be taken by assault. Happily the Queen at this moment (about 3.30 P.M.) ordered the flag to be hauled down, and officers bearing a flag of truce were sent to the French general. The firing at once ceased, and the French troops quietly took possession of the town. On the following day (October 1st) the treaty brought by General Duchesne was signed by the Queen, and the final act in a long series of events took place. The dream of more than two centuries was realized, and Madagascar came under the power of her long-dreaded enemy. It now remains to be seen what steps will be taken to make this great African island what French writers have so often wished it to become, "Gallia orientalis," or Oriental France.
The dread of French invasion has been hanging over the Malagasy people like a threatening cloud for many years past, and now that the cloud has burst and the war is over, we may try to look calmly at accomplished facts, and to forecast as best we may the probable results of the French victory.
That Madagascar will gain much from it may be freely admitted. In all that pertains to the development of her rich material resources we may expect to see rapid advance. Roads, railroads, telegraphic and postal communication, the use of the smaller French coins instead of the miserable " cut money" or " chopped dollars" hitherto used, a well-organized system of mining licenses, and more liberal arrangements as to the forming of plantations of various kinds, are some of the results likely to follow the establishment of French rule. We may also look for a larger measure of justice and efficiency in the administration of the government. The Malagasy code of laws is fairly good, and suited to the condition of the people, but the weak point in native rule has always been in the administration. Government officials have had no regular pay, and great oppression and injustice have existed. The poorer classes have been the helpless prey of their superiors. At the root of many of the evils of the past has been the system of fanompoana or the corvee, under which anyone might be required to render unrequited service to the government. This has led to an amount of petty cheating and oppression almost incredible. It appears likely that the French victory will give the death-blow to this system, and already measures are being taken for the introduction of sonie equitable plan of taxation. Let the people be placed in a position which enables them freely and uninterruptedly to attend to their own business, and in which they will know exactly what demands will be made on them by the government, and a new era may be looked for. Domestic slavery, which has long existed, and against which not even the conscience of the native churches is, much exercised, will no doubt be gradually brought to au end. Then the bands of marauders that have infested many parts of the country and have terrorized the poor people in sparsely populated districts will be put down with a strong hand, and peace and security will be restored to the disturbed districts.
Already the fruits of French rule are making themselves manifest. A writer in the Standard, under date of "Antananarivo, November 15th," says: "It is now not quite seven weeks since Antananarivo was taken and the conclusion of the war, and yet it might be as many years, so unconcernedly have the Hovas settled down to French rule, and there is not the remotest chance of their rising against it. The remark is being continually made here that probably there never was a nation who took so kindly to their conquerors as do the Hovas. A garrison of some 3000 men is being talked for Antananarivo; whereas 50 men would be more than suffi- cient to prevent any outbreak against the French. This may be accounted for in two ways: 1. The Hovas as a nation are accustomed to accept any- thing their sovereign agrees to; 2. The tact and wisdom displayed by General Duchesne in all his actions. Whoever was responsible for his appointment as head of the expeditionary force is very much to be com- , mended. "
All recent communications agree with the above commendation of General Duchesne. His firmness in maintaining discipline among his troops, and his kind and generous treatment of the natives, have won for him golden opinions from all classes.
It was strange and amusing to read of the way in which, from the very day on which the treaty was signed (October 1st), the most friendly relations began at once to exist between the natives of Antananarivo and their French conquerors. The latter, weary and worn out by theIr long march, proved very welcome customers to the petty traders that abound in the capital. The trading instinct seemed stronger than any sentiment about the independence of the fatherland, and a brisk traffic at once sprang up. In the pockets of the soldiers was a plentiful supply of French coins, and the many stall-keepers on the roadside and in all open spaces were able to supply coffee, cakes, rice, fowls, beef, manioc, and fruit in abundance. The French soldiers knew little of current market prices, and the Hova traders looked with unbounded satisfaction upon customers who gladly paid two or three times the usual price. Their only regret would be that General Duchesne had not brought 6000 of such ready and welcome customers instead of only 3000.
Mission work has suffered far less from the war than was feared, and as we look back upon the events of the past year we see great reason for cherishing a spirit of gratitude and hope.
First of all we may express our deep thankfulness that those missionaries who remained in and near the capital were kept in perfect safety. The directors of the London Missionary Society, believing that those on the spot would see more clearly from day to day what was wisest for them to do, granted to all their agents complete liberty of action. Some left the interior, and even the island for a time. Others remained at their posts. Those who remained were sharply criticised by some newspaper correspondents, notably by the special correspondent of the Times. It may be granted that, judged by ordinary standards of prudence, it seemed unwise for ladies and children to remain at such a time. What was most to be feared was that before the French could reach the capital an interregnum of lawlessness and confusion would be caused, and that an excited mob might even turn upon their English friends and helpers. The sad events at Arivonimamo, when Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and their little daughter were savagely murdered a few weeks after the taking of the capital, show that such fears were not groundless. But in judging our friends who so bravely remained at their posts, we must think chiefly of their motive and of the spirit in which they acted. Their wish was to prevent the breaking up of the general work of the mission, to keep the people as quiet and hopeful as possible, and to give them a practical proof of sympathy with them in their trials. And so the natives interpreted their action, and many who were personally unknown to them thanked them for thus remaining. And their faith had its reward. No harm befell anyone of them. Bullets fell around them, but no one was injured. A tile or two on the roof of Miss Byam's house, broken by a bullet from a shrapnel shell, was the only damage done to mission property. It proved to be a great advantage that missionaries were on the spot to take up the work as soon as possible after the bombardment, and to help and encour- age their native friends in the strange circumstances in which they sud- denly found themselves.
It is also pleasant to think that on the very afternoon when the conflict ceased missionaries were busily employed in receiving into the missionary hospital at Isoavinandriana all the French wounded. A kind and friendly feeling was at once created by this action that produced very happy results.
Again, there is the fact that so little interruption of the regular work of the mission occurred. While we at home were from day to day made aware through telegraphic messages of the progress of the French expedi- tion, news traveled less rapidly in Madagascar, and the people generally seemed almost to the last still to cherish the belief that the difficulties to be encountered, and, above all, the virulence of the fever, would prevent . the French army from reaching the capital. It was pathetic to receive the letters written in the interior just before the final crash came, there seemed to be such a strange unconsciousness of the nearness of the invading army. School and church work were going on as usual up to the very last, for only one Sunday (September 29th), when fighting had almost reached Antananarivo, were the churches closed; and even on that eventful day the Palace Church was opened, and the Queen attended the service. At the close she spoke to the people present about the threatening aspect of affairs, and expressed her determination to accept the will of God, what- ever the event might be. Thus up to the very eve of the capture of the capital there was no serious break in the continuity of the work of the missionaries.
And to this we may add the equally cheering statement, that in a very few days after this event work was resumed. Churches were reopened on October 6th, and school work was recommenced within a few days. Some of the leading schools were opened about a week after the bombard- ment. The most recent newspapers from the island give reports of various meetings, school examinations, and other similar events, and, above all, of the well-attended meetings of the Congregational Union of Imerina, when we usually have 1300 or 1400 delegates present. The holding of this meeting so soon after the advent of the French did much to quiet the minds of the people, and such a large number of country pastors and others coming up to' the capital, and seeing for themselves the order and quiet reigning around them, would be the best possible agents to allay the fears of many ignorant and excitable people in remote country places. That such liberty of carrying on the work of Protestant missions still exists, and that confidence is being so rapidly restored, is to be attributed to the conciliatory attitude of General Duchesne. A deputation of missionaries waited on him a few days after his arrival, and explained to him the character of the work' they were carrying on, and also the strict rules of the missionary societies which prohibit their agents from interfering with local polities. "Go on with your work in the usual way," said the general, "the French Government has no intention to interfere with you." Soon after a deputation of native pastors had an interview with him, and received a similar a.nswer.
And then, strange to say, a deputation of native Christian women went to call upon this terrible man, the leader of the conquering army that had destroyed their' independence, the representation of the enemy they had so long been taught to fear, and from whom many had fled in panic just before the bombardment; and the object of their visit was not to sue for mercy from their terrible and powerful conqueror, but, as representatives of the Madagascar branch of the World's Women's Christian Temperance Union, to thank him for some stringent regulations he had made to lessen the sale of intoxicating drinks.
General Duchesne's work is probably almost done, and the new Resident-General, M. Laroche, is now the representative of the French Republic in Madagascar. He is a Protestant, and has the reputation of being a reasonable and honorable man. We shall be glad to hear that he confirms the wise policy of his popular predecessor.
The Protestant missionaries in Madagascar have no wish to obtain State patronage or assistance, but they do hope still to enjoy the priceless boon of religious freedom. Since the accession of King Radama II., in 1861, both Protestants and Roman Catholics have had the fullest liberty to carry on their work. The 'fTI4gna charta of religious freedom is contained in the words of Queen Rasoherina, spoken in 1863, and repeated many times since, "And as to the praying (the common name in Madagascar for the Christian religion) there is no compulsion, for God made you. " This has been for more than thirty years part and parcel of the law of the land, and under it French and English missionaries have worked side by side, not altogether without rivalry, but certainly without any great bitterness; and there seems no reason why in future years the same freedom should not continue to be the heritage of the Malagasy people and their missionary helpers. The Zanzibar Convention of 1890 is a formal pledge on the part of the Republic that such shall be the case; and the wise conduct of General Dnchense seems to show that French admin- istrators intend to act in harmony with its provisions, and to treat with fairness all sections of the religious community.
Knowing well, as I do, the missionaries now working in Madagascar, I here state my strong conviction that they will not be found opponents of French rule, but will do their best to lead the people quietly to pursue their ordinary occupations, to accept the logic of facts, and to make the best of their changed circumstances. .
An able French writer a few months ago, M. La Myre de Viters, who was the first to occupy the position of Resident-General in Antananarivo after the signing of the Treaty of 1886, wrote in the Revue de Paris, that French rule had two irreconcilable enemies in Madagascar, the Hova Gov- ernment and the London Missionary Society. I can see no need for such a judgment. Granted a continuance of the religious liberty at present enjoyed, I think our work will tend to create a spirit of quietness and respect for law, that can only be a help and not a hindrance to the French officials.
In this same article the writer adds a phrase that to all friends of the London Missionary Society will, I venture to think, sound like a very high complimentr-a compliment all the more valuable as coming from one 'who can speak so strongly against us. "The able men," he says, " who carry on the work of this society are insensible to discouragement, and notwith- standing the capture of Antananarivo they are still carrying on their work as before." May they, and indeed all missionaries in the island, ever show this " insensibility to discouragement;" and with quiet, peace-loving heart!! still persevere in their great work, and by patient continuance in well-doing stop the mouths of certain noisy critics, who, writing in pro- found ignorance of the men and their work, speak of them contemptuously as those " English Methodists," who are simply using their religious work as a blind to cover their political designs. The London Missionary Society is no political organization, but has been in every land true to its one grand object of seeking to instruct heathen and unenlightened nations in the truths of the Christian religion.
THE MARTYRDOM OF ARMENIA.
BY REV. CYRUS HAMLIN, D.D.
The first great massacre was at Sassoun about the last of August, 1894. The first reports were discredited. They were denounced by the Sultan as absolutely false. They were generally believed to be greatly exaggerated. But one year and nine months have passed, and the world now
THE MARTYRDOM OF' ARMENIA
knows that instead of exaggeration the half was not told. It could not be believed that there were such fiends in human shape, or that any monarch, heathen or Mohammedan, could ever sanction such atrocities as Abdul Hamid decorated.
The world desires to know who are the guilty parties and how it has come about.
The reigning Sultan, Abdul Hamid, is the sole originator of this era of bloody torture. He ascended the throne in 1876. From the beginning he manifested a special hostility to the Armenians. His mother was a beautiful Armenian girl who sold herself for the pleasures and jewels of the palace. Usually such renegades hate their own race, and she prob. ably inspired him with her own spirit. He found a surprising number of Armenians occupying posts of usefulness in his government. They were clerks, dragomen agents of every kind, consuls, commissaries, ambassa. dors. Seven had risen to the rank of pasha, and two to the higher rank of vizier. All this began to be changed, but not suddenly or violently. Some were degraded to lower positions, and they at once resigned. Hamid from the beginning assumed the right to look into every department and change whatever did not suit him. Even his cabinet ministers found their trusted secretaries changed without notice and without consultation. If they remonstrated he changed them.
Another line of enmity to the Armenian and to all our missionary work was shown in the department of education. No school.house could be built, no old one could be repaired. Occasionally a local officer would for a bribe allow a leaky roof to be remedied without attracting anybody's notice. He endangered his official head in so doing.
He also established a censorship of the press which has been ruinous in its influence. Many good school-books have been destroyed for having such words as courage, fortitude, freedom, liberty in them.
Another line of hostile administration has been shown in arresting and throwing into prison the colporteurs employed by the Bible Society and by missionary and tract societies. In many scores of instances it has been done when they had no books but those printed by imperial authority, bearing the government stamp, and when the colporteur had his teskereh, or government permit as a bookseller. These innocent men have spent months in the most loathsome prisons, and their lives have been wasted away by disease. Everyone of them could escape his sufferings any day by professing Islam. It was all religious persecution, as contrary to Mohammedan law as to justice and equity.
After all, his most offensive course has been in the line of taxation. This has been nothing less than legalized robbery. Russia has defended the Greeks and France has defended the Catholics. Their consuls are scattered all over Asia Minor. It is well known that they have not been unwilling to see the Protestant and Gregorian Armenians ground to the dust. The United States have not been allowed to have consuls because Russia did not want their intermeddling. Our Government commands no respect. For many years the property of American citizens has bec;n capriciously destroyed, and nothing beyond a promise, never intended to mea. anything, has been obtained. Our Government takes it all meekly.
It should be freely acknowledged that while Abdul Hamid has been using every possible means to degrade and impoverish the Armenians, he has been the most liberal patron of education among the Moslems. No Sultan of this century has built so many school-houses and established so many school~, and printed so many school-books, but they have all been for Moslems. The whole Moslem population has been inspired by him with a spirit of jealousy and hatred to the Armenians which they never had before. They, the Turks, are led by their Sultan. If he is friendly to the rayahs, they are. If se is known t6 be hostile, they easily catch his spirit and become ruthless murderers in the name of the prophet. Probably no people on earth are so much controlled by the character of their ruler as the Turks. He is called "The Commander of the Faithful," the Distributor of Crowns, the Arbiter of Life and Death, etc.
But this process, tho sufficiently bad to be called infernal, was too slow for Hamid. He was determined to have his whole Eastern border unified. He would have no " giaours" there. They must become Moslemi or be killed. Here he stepped out of all Mohammedan law. They were all patient, obedient taxpayers. It was a time of peace, not of war, and by every law of humanity and of Islam, they were entitled to his protection. This massacre of peaceable, unarmed, and faithful subjects in time of peace has no parallel in the history of Islam. It is this which. constitutes the supreme infamy of the " Commander of the Faithful."
To accomplish his purpose with more rapidity he employed the Kurds, old hereditary robbers. He formed the Kurdish tribes into cavalry armed with rifles and named after himself Hamidieh cavalry. The work of slaughter was begun by them at Sassoun. The large village and all the smaller villages of the district of Sassoun were involved in one bloody massacre ; and the chief perpetrators, instead of being regarded by the Sultan as miscreants, unworthy to live, were decorated by him and held in special honor. It is evident also that he delights to have the poor, defenseless victims tortured, else he would stop it. He professes to the ambassadors the most noble sentiments, and at the same time sends secret orders to have the good work go on. His governors, whether Vali, Mutessariff, or Caimacam, have all solemnly and repeatedly declared that they act from ordel'S coming from the highest authority.
The torture, violation, and slaughter of so many women and children at Sassoun caused the Sultan some alarm. He thereupon commenced the system of absolutely denying the truth of the reports. There had been no massacre. Some turbulent Armenians had been reduced to order. That was all. Armenians under torture were compelled to sign these Sultanic declarations. Many who would not sign died in prison.
But so soon as he perceived that he was safe and that Russia, France, and Germany (shame on the land of Luther !) would protect him from any interference, he expanded his original design and made it embrace all the Armenians. France will not allow him to touch the Catholic Armenians. Two and a half millions of Gregorians and Protestants occupy him for the present. He excuses his agents from killing old men, women, and children. Enough to destroy their habitations and strip them of beds, bedding, clothing, and food, if they will not profess Islam. He felt sure they would all finally yield and come into the glorious fold of the prophet. His hope has been poorly realized. Many thousands have chosen death by protracted sufferings, and are still dying.
The number of innocent persons massacred cannot be known with pre- CISIOn. It will be between seventy-five and one hundred thousand. The number of homeless refugees cannot be less than five hundred thousand. This ill! the work of Abdul Hamid, and it will be his monument in history.
Next to him stands Russia in the order of responsibili1y. The astute and watchful Czar saw the opportunity which the insane course of the Sultan opened to him. He had only to exasperate him to such deeds as would open the way for his own interference. Russia had played that game too successfully in the " Bulgarian horrors" to forget the lesson.
A revolutionary party of Russian Armenians, under the name of Hunchagists, was formed in Russia, and its agents came into Turkey. As to the possibility of doing anything, the absurdity is such as to expoRe it to contempt. The Armenians are two and a half millions of people, unarmed,. never allowed to have arms, a quiet, submissive, loyal people, scattered among twenty millions of Moslems, well armed and skilful and terrible fighters. These Russo-Armenian revolutionists claim to have secret revolutionary bands all over the empire, and they levy contributions at the point of the dagger from all Armenians, Protestant or Gregorian. They fearlessly assassinate a man who refuses. Many innocent Armenians have been put to death by these patriots. They are perfectly safe, for if apprehended they are tried before a Russian consul, who sets them free as having acted on self-def~nse.
These " revolutionists" exist in large numbers in Greece, England, and America. They also arc safe, and they make a very good thing of it. They compel all the poor workmen to pay them liberally " for the cause."
Their writings and plottings are hailed with joy by the Sultan. They teach rebellion most madly. Their teachings are translated into the Turkish newspapers and spread all over the empire. By means of these Abdul Hamid is able to excite the Turks and Kurds everywhere to slaughter the rebellious Armenians. He has been able to give still greater savagery to the bloody and inhuman work by giving over to " loot" all the prop- ~rt! of those who refused to confess the prophet al}d who remained true to their Christian faith. The comfortable houses of tens of thousands have been stripped of everything of value, and the houses have been made un- inhabitable. Many houses of the Moslems are filled to overflowing, so that if the plundered people had any property left they could buy back many lost articles at a very reasonable price.
Russia and France survey with satisfaction the destruction of the Protestant and Gregorian Armenians. They will not interfere; for justice, mercy, compassion have no place in Oriental diplomacy. In their policy of reducing the Armenians to a forced change of faith or extermination, Germany is with them, and her "blood and iron" policy is deaf io the woe and wail of Armenia. Doubtless God will requite her.
All these powers will unite in the policy of removing the missionaries. They are accused of being the origin of the whole bloody movement. It is a most malicious and· base fabrication. It is true that the enlightenment and education of the Armenian people have aroused the jealousy and hatred of the Turks. It is a change equally distasteful to Russia and Turkey. To suppress these elevating forces puts them out of the pale of civilized nations, and Russia will put forth Turkey to do the work and bear the odium. There are two that can play at this game of using Turkey. Our Government can hold Turkey to her treaties, and they are sufficient for the defense of the mIssionaries.
" The most favored nation" gives them the right to remain. Adet, or custom, is stronger than written law in Turkey, and this protects the missions. What has been known and permitted by both government and people gains thereby its strongest right to be. It is a common saymg among the people that adet is stronger than the Sultan's firman.
A good naval vessel at Smyrna, another at MItylene, the ancient Lesbos, and another at Alexandretta, with some positive words from our Secretary of State, would stop at once the Turk in his mad and foolish career.
Unquestionably Russia is determined to get rid of all the Protestant mISSIOnaries. England having basely retired from the conflict, to the amazement of the world, and having stultified her diplomacy of sixty years, the field seems to be left to Russia, but even Russia is subject to the plans of an Almighty Providence, now our only trust. Europe apathetic! The murder of Christian men for their faith, the outrage and tol:iure unto death of Christian women by defiant Moslems, are nothing to the crowned heads of Europe and to their titled ministers. " Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord," and the heaviest vengeance must fall upon them as traitors to the cause of freedom, humanity, and Christianity.
THE ABYSSINIANS AND THEIR CHURCH
THE ABYSSINIANS AND THEIR CHURCH.
BY PROFESSOR GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PH.D., COLUMBUS, O.
The stirring events on the Red Sea, and especially the surprising experience of the Italians in their attempts during the past decade to subdue the Abyssinians, have naturally drawn attention anew to this historic people and Church, really the oldest national Christian Church in the world. Of all the remnants and remains of the once so powerful Christianity of the East, as represented by the Armenians, the Copts, the Syrians and others, the Abyssinians, the modern representatives of the Ethiopians of history, are the only peoples that have maintained intact their national ecclesiastical organization and development. All the others have been crushed by the heel of the Moslem conqueror, and their history tells the sad tale that the Armenians of onr own day and date testify. The preservation of the Abyssinian Church in comparative integrity is an historical phenomenon. Against fearful odds the sturdy mountaineers of historic Ethiopia have for more than a thousand years defended their national existence against the Moslem aggressor, and have snccessfully maintained a life-and-death struggle with the fanatical hordes of Islam that carried fire and torch through Western Europe to the heart of France and throngh Eastern Europe into Austria, but who have not been able to overpower the small kindred people, numbering only a few millions, just across the Red Sea from the sacred Mohammedan shrines of Mecca and Medina. It has been the boast of the Abyssinians that they have never been conquered in war, and this is true in a sense of which it cannot be claimed for other peoples.
This singular historical prominence of the Abyssinians naturally leads to the conclusion that they must be a gifted people. And such they surely are. They belong to the Semitic family of nations, and thus are kith and kindred to the Jews, the Arabs, the Babylonians, the Syrians, and other leading races of the world. Their descent is the very best. Although the Ethiopians of antiquity, they are really, with the exception of the Egyptians, probably the only people of Africa who are not Ethiopians-i.e., they are not blacks. They are as purely Caucasian as are the Teutons or the Anglo-Saxons, their present brownish complexion being due to climatic influences. But language, physiology, mental traits and moral tendencies, together with the entire body of their traditions and history, declare with absolute unanimity that the Abyssinians do not belong to the negro family, but to the Semitic. By a singular anomaly their old name, "Ethiopians," was gradually assigned to all of the peoples of Africa, as the Ethiopians were originally, next to the Egyptians, the best known of the African peoples. It is another glaring instance of l'Ucu8 a non l'Ucendo. Again, among the Semitic peoples the Abyssinians are the only ones who as a nation adopted Christianity. The Syrians were Semitics, but Christianity was never really tbeir national religion. In Abyssinia, however, Christianity has from the very beginning been the chief historic factor in the development of national life, to which all other factors, such as literature, politics, and the like, have been subordinated, and this is largely the case yet. It is doubtful whether there has ever been a more thoroughly Christianized race, at least externally, than have been the Abyssinians. Its history is really only a chapter in church history, and that, too, a very interesting chapter. How thoroughly Christianity has pervaded the ideas and ideals of the ancient ,Abyssinians can be seen from their literature. While in possession of rich and abundant literature, altho largely a literature of translations, Abyssinia has really no secular literature at all. It is either theological or ecclesiastical, or under the spell of theological and Christian thought. Even its writings in the medical and law departments are controlled by Christian teachings. Thus, e.g., the great legal code of the Abyssinians, the Fetcha Negest, or Law of the Kings, is based substantially on the Book of Deuteronomy. In fact, the civil administration and civil laws of Abyssinia resemble in its main characteristics the Israel of the Theocracy of the Old Testament.
The Christianity of Abyssinia came from Greece in the fourth and fifth centuries. Christianity, originating in a Semitic people and expressed in a Semitic type, came again to a Semitic people after its form had been modified by its Ildoption on the part of Aryan races. The Abyssinians, then, have the singular fate of being a Semitic people whose mental, moral, and spiritual development has been directed almost entirely by an Aryan race. The making of Abyssinia has been entirely the work of Greek Christendom. Before the advent of the Christian missionaries in the fourth century very little is known of the Abyssinians. The traditions go back to Southern Arabia, and the German traveler, Edward Glaser, has in recent yearlil discovered in those districts undoubted evidences of the existence of this people there in pre-Christian centuries, yet the entire literature of the Abyssinians, with the excoption of some inscriptions on the famous obelisks at Axum, the original capital of the country, is Christian and does not antedate the conversion of the country. However, it is quite evident that before the adoption of Christianity the Abyssinians had been largely under the influence of Judaism, and may even have been converts to Judaism. Abyssinian Christianity contains a large percentage of Jewish elements. Thus, in addition to baptism, the Abyssinians still practise circumcision; besides the first day of the week, they still keep holy also the seventh day; they have an abundance of fast days, after the manner of the Jews, and the presence m Abyssinia of a communion of some 600,000 "black Jews," caned Falashas, living in a state of semi-serfdom, gives probability to the tradition that at one time a Jewish dynasty ruled Abyssinia for nearly a century before it could be overpowered by the Christians of the country. Possibly the best explanation is this, that the Abyssinians were at one time really converts to a kind of JudaIsm, the rehgIOn of their kmdred, and that the Falashas represent that portion of the people who would not exchange their Jewish faith for Christianity. It should be remembered that the Abyssinians themselves trace their royal home back to Solomon. The Queen of Sheba, they claim, was an Ethiopian princess, and that she had a son, Menelek' by name, from Solomon, and that his descendants still occupy the throne of Abyssinia. In the great work on Abyssinia, by Ludolf, the "Historia .iEthiopica," together with the accompanying commentary, to this day yet the great thesaurus for the student of " iEthiopica," altho written nearly two hundred years ago, the line of descent from Solomon to the present reigning family in Abyssinia is given without break or interruption.
It was not Greek culture or Greek philosophy that made Ethiopia a people of history, but distinctly Greek Christianity, together with its concomitants and handmaidens of culture and civilization. Altho geographically nearest Egypt, the land of Pharaohs, with its pyramids, temples, and famous seats of learning, never exercised a molding influence on Abys- SlllIa. At present, indeed, the Church of Abyssinia is subordinated to the Coptic Church of Egypt, and always receives its spiritual head, its archbishop or Abuna from the Copts; but this is solely caused by the fact that the Coptic Church of Egypt is the headquarters of the Monophysitic section of the old Greek Church, and that both Abyssinians and Copts adhere to the Monophysitic tenets.
The exact period of the Christianization of Abyssinia has exercised a decisive influence on this people, church, and their history. The first centuries after Christianity had become the religion of the empire were the age of controversies on theological and Christological matters. It was not yet the period when a highly developed culture and civiliza1ion went hand in hand with the new religion, when grand churches and basilicas were built, and when literature, the sciences, and the arts had fully adjusted themselves to the new state of affairs, and had thrown off their allegiance to the classical ideals of Greece and Rome. Before this formative period was over Abyssinia had already severed its connection with the Greek Church and the Greek world of thought. The Synod of Chalcedon, in 451, condemned the Monophysitic doctrines of the Egyptian churches, and with this act the Abyssinian Church too withdrew from the Church at large. About two centuries later Mahommedanism conquered Egypt, and the voluntary separation of the Abyssinian Church became an enforced isolation. It became and remained for nearly a thousand years isolated from the church universal.
These facts have had a decisive influence in determining the character of Abyssinian Christianity to the present day. Naturally after their separation they became all the more zealous in the observance of those doctrines and worship on account of which the separation had taken place. Then the conservatism, naturally so deeply implanted in the Semitic peoples, proved a most effective assistant agent in the process of spiritual petrifaction. Accordingly we have in the Abyssinian of to-day virtually a petrified Greek Christianity of the fourth and fifth centuries, ecclesiastical ruins on a grand scale. The outward forms, liturgies, dogmas, and ceremonies have been handed down from century to century uninfluenced by the developments that were going on in the Christian nations elsewhere. But at the same time the spiritual element in Abyssinian Christianity was lost, and nothing remained but a sterile formalism, a strange admixtnre of barbarism and loud profession of orthodox faith. In reality the Abyssinian is a typical representative of the Orthodox Church of the East, left alone to work out its principles consistently and to the bitter end. Singular phenomena result from this condition of affairs. The famous Emperor Theodore, whose cruel treatment of the Protestant missionaries in 1868 led to the English expedition, under Lord Napier, into the heart of Abyssinia and to the burning of the capital city Gondar, was perfectly willing to discuss by the hour the fine points in regard to the doctrine of the two natures of Christ, and on the same day order the hands and feet of several hundred political opponents or suspects to be cut off. He saw no inconsistency between his professions and his practices. The most brutal of Oriental despotism, such as is characteristic of the untamed Semitic heart and is yet seen in the Arab Bedouin, is found allied with a fervency of prayer, fasts, and religious observances in general that would be enigmatical, were it not known that centuries and centuries of isolation and stagnation of spiritual life had changed into dead forms what were originally living principles. In many of the ruder virtues the Abyssinians excel; but the higher qualities of mind and soul that spring from a regeneration through the Gospel, and the possession and appreciation of spiritual gifts-these are absent.
And this it is that makes the mission problem in Abyssinia so vexing and perplexing. Again and again has the attempt been made to revive the Christianity of Abyssinia, but with only meagre snccess. In general, the Catholics have been most successful among the Abyssinians themselves, while the Protestants have done the most effective work among the Falashas. But repeatedly have the missionaries of both churches been expelled from Abyssinia, and there is really such a prohibitative edict in existence at present, altho on account of French influences, it is not enforced over against the Roman Catholic emissaries. How grand it would be if the oldest Christian nation of the world, the Abyssinian, could be made the basis for a crusade to evangelize the whole Dark Continent; yet such a scheme, in the light of history, would be visionary. The corrupt Christianity of Abyssinia is seemingly a greater hindrance to the Gospel cause than the darkness and ignorance of the blacks. May the present prominence of Abyssinia and its contact with the civilized world of the West teach that gifted and historic people that the glory of Western civilization are not cannons and guns, but a living and evangelical Christianity I
FURTHER OVERTHROWS OF AFRIOAN SLAVE·TRADEBB
FURTHER OVERTHROWS OF AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADERS.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, DARWEN, LANOASHIRE, ENGLAND.
Unprecedented successes have been achieved by the British Central African Protectorate since December last under the command of Commissioner SIr H. H. Johnston and his efficient and heroic staff, supported by the httle force of Sikhs and trained natives. The defeats inflicted on the powerful slave-raiding chiefs occupying the western and southern shores of Lake Nyassa have been of the most shattering character, and may be regarded as having broken once for all the power of the slave trade in those regions. One immediate result of the operations- is that the traderoute mto the far interior westward and northwestward of the lake is' now open, and the slave route to the Zambesi closed.
Ever since the pioneers of the Universities Mission, guided by Livingstone, reached the Upper Shire in 1861, some thirty-five years ago, there has been an incessant struggle between the settlers and the slave-holders. From 188'7 to 1889 the Arabs constantly attacked the British traders and mission posts, and had not men of the type of Captain Lugard and Consul O'Neill defended them, entire destruction would have followed. With the appointment of Commissioner Johnston to administer British Central Africa in 1891, the tide has happily and unceasingly turned against the slave-raiders, and thus the claims of Africa's humanity in many localities redressed. During the month of March, 1894, the great chief Makanjira was crushed, and in the spring of 1895, when Sir H. H. Johnston was absent in India, the still more powerful chief, Kawinga, who had been & terror to his neighbors since the days of Livingstone, was defe8ted, pursued, and driven from his capital, on attacking one of the Blantyre mission stations, by that gallant aide-de-camp, Acting Commissioner Sharpe, with a few Sikhs and native levies. ,By the aid of the Sikhs, which Commissioner Johnston brought with him on his return to Nyassaland, he has been able to follow up the action of Mr. Sharpe, through the splendid services of several British officers, and rid the country, for good, of three powerful slave-raiders and the capture of fourteen chiefs, and some 63~ prisoners.
The commissioner himself dealt a heavy blow at the slave-traders who infest the southern shores of Lake Nyassa by defeating Zarafi, the strongest of their chiefs, and liberating the slaves found in his possession. More remarkable and auspicious has been the overtlIrow of the notorious chief Mwasigungu, a man of Zulu origin, living in the country west of Lake Nyassa. Declining to come to peaceable terms with the British, he eventually declared war against them, and ultimately challenged them by forming a confederacy with the Angoni and Yaos. His career latterly had jeopardized the entire outlook for missions and civilization, by his closing the important trade route from the lake to Luapula River and the Congo, and raiding for slaves far into the Morimba District, which is under the direct administration of the British Protectorate station at Kota Kota, the lake port, aggravated by his infamous cruelties upon the slaves in his compounds. To effect the capture of this tyrant and his stronghold an intrepid officer, Lieutenant Edward Alston, was dispatched, accompanied by Sergeant-Major Devoy and a British force of 150, composed of Sikhs and negroes, with which marched some 5000 natives, contingents from allied chiefs. Against these Mwasi placed some 20, 000 fighting men in differ-
A M188IONARY HlilROlNE-MADAMllI COILLARD
ent positions on the field or within his fortifications. In spite of these tremendous odds opposed to them the comparatively miniature attacking force, during engagements covering several days, took every settlement of the enemy. Under circumstances of the most trying nature, and ex- posed to Arab marksmen equipped with Remington rifles, Lieutenant Alston's volunteers fought with the utmost gallantry. The capture included more than 600 of Mwasi's men, 14 chiefs, and the redoubtable Mwasi- gungu, a former lieutenant of the .slave-raider Makanjira, who in 1891 treacherously enticed Mr. Boyce and Mr. M'Ewan into his village under a flag of truce, and there basely murdered them. Lieutenant Alston also took possession of one large Arab standard, 250 cattle, 564 guns, and a quantity of gunpowder. Every precaution was taken to protect the women and children cooped up in the various stockades, and no less than 569 wretched, shrivelled slaves were also successfully convoyed to the British camp. It is computed that in the successive engagements and subsequent rout upward of 200 of Mwasi's followers must have been slain, many of them falling into the hands of the long-oppressed and infuriated Wakonde. Kopa Kopa, a well-known chief, was found dead near the stockade, while his ruling chief, Mwasigungu, was taken to Kota Kota, , on Lake Nyassa, aud after' an impartial trial for his diabolical crimes was condemned to death and executed. Subsequently Lieutenant Alston and Captain H. T. Stewart led another expedition against the last two remain- ing slave-traders in the British Protectorate, the Chiefs Ombala and M'Pemba, who were completely defeated and their strongholds seized. During the past autumn campaigu the following slaves have been released: At Kindambos, 49 j Mpondas, 379 j Makanjira's 160 j Mlozi's 596: total, 1184 j to all of whom Commissioner Johnston has given freedom, and in each case has made provision for their independent living in future.
Great as these victories have been on behalf of suffering humanity and the terminating of centuries of oppression, it is not at present possible to effect a complete emancipation in the adjacent territory. It is the custom of the Yaos who live round the southeastern corner of the lake and their Arab allies to retire precipitately to. Portuguese soil, where they are at liberty to work their own pleasure. Even this immunity, however, will be checked. Every fresh triumph over this slave ring makes the raids of these man-hunters into the British Protectorate a more hazardous enterprise. As may be expected, the flourishing Scotch colony in the Shire highlands will now venture to extend northward to the shores of Nyassa, and with each foot of ground colonized, the marauders must inevitably fall back. Long ago the slave dhows on the lake were destroyed, and providing that Sir H. H. Johnston has resources enough to prevent the Arabs from coming round by the north end of Nyassa via German East Mrica, the inhuman occupation of the old-time slave-traders in Portuguese East Africa will be gone. In that day, which is very near, a glorious answer will have been vouchsafed to Livingstone's oft-repeated prayer, " Thy kingdom come."
A MISSIONARY HEROINE-MADAME COILLARD.
BY MISS ALICE BERTRAND, PARIS, FRANCE.
On January loth, 1887, unusual excitement reigned in the rich and beautiful valley of the Sefoula, near the Zambezi River. Men, wrapped in long strips of calico tied round the waist by belts of serpent-skins, and white and downy rabbit-tails in their hair; women, in still larger numbers, with their short petticoats of antelopes' hides, and copper or ivory brace- lets dangling on their wrists and knees, all were hastening to see that extraordmary phenomenon-a white lady! The air resounded with a clapping of hands and shouts of " Shangwe 1 Khosi 1 Lumela ma rona I"
(" Hail, hail, 100'd ; good day, 0 ! our mother.") The" lord" thus loudly cheered was no other than Monsieur Coil- lard, the dauntless French missionary, and the "mother" was his wife, Christina Coillard, a sweet, middle-aged lady. .
If, according to the olden-time poet, the heart of the hero who first ventured on the ocean of tempests was shielded with a threefold breast- plate, what must have been the armor of the first European lady who set her foot in those African wilds ~ Fortunately that armor had been forged by long years of silent preparation.
Madame Coillard* lived one of those harmonious lives whose mature age is the realization of their youthful dreams. She already loved mis- sions when a little girl, in her quiet Scotch parsonage of Greenock. She had subscribed, out of her own pocket-money, to a missionary paper for children, and her heart had beaten with indignation at the sight of little Sarah Roby, a poor child who had been buried alive by her heathen parents, but fortunately rescued by a missionary, and who was taken all over England and Scotland as a living proof of the horrors of paganism.
But when Christina's interest in evangelization developed into a decided missionary vocation it caused great surprise among her friends, for mis- sions were far from being popular forty years ago. Christina Mackintosh was not, however, a girl to be thwarted in her resolution by vain object tions, and she could but pity those who were unable to understand the grandeur of her calling. .
In 1855 we find Miss Mackintosh giving French lessons in Paris with her sister. She had a natural gift for teaching, and seems to have been very fond of her little French pupils. There lived then in Paris a rich and pious lady, Madame Andre Walther, whose drawing-room was the rendez- vous of all Protestants of note. There it was Miss Mackintosh made the acquaintance of a young theological student, Frangois Coillard.
We have but a few dry dates to satisfy our sympathetic curiosity as to the early growth of love in these two hearts. Monsienr Coillard had already been for three years in Basutoland when his betrothed joined him at the Cape. They were married there on November 23d, 1861. " Never,"
said Madame Coillard to her husband on her wedding-day-" never will you find me between you and your duty; wherever you have to go, be it to the end of the world, I shall follow you." This was more than a beautiful saying, it was the ruling principle of all her life.
Immediately after the wedding the young couple settled at Leribe, a secluded spot of Basutoland, where French Protestants have a large mis- sion. In spite of many difficulties and even of a cruel war, which obliged them to leave the country for a while, they spent there a few happy and comparatively peaceful years. They built a cottage, and had a beautiful garden with flowers. Madame Coillard hoped never to leave it, but the churches of Basutoland had decided to found a mission-field where native evangelists might find some scope for their activity, and for that purpose Monsieur Coillard was requested to explore the land of the Banays. When the Coillards heard of the proposal they were just about to start on a long- * Madame Coillard (Christina Mackintosh) was bOlll at Greenock, Scotland, on November 29th, 1829, and died at Sefoula, Zambezi, on October 28th, 1891. wished-for journey to Europe, which they had not seen for sixteen years; but after ten days' thought and prayer they accepted, unhesitatingly sacri- ~ficing all their cherished plans.
Now began for Madame Coillard a new life of adventures, perils, and 'sufferings of all kinds. No other reward crowned her endeavors but that which she found in her growing power of making ever greater sacrific~s.
After an unsuccessful expedition to the land of the Banays, Monsieur and Madame Coillard visited the regions of the Zambezi, where the language I()f the Basutos was still spoken. This fact would greatly facilitate Chris- tian work in that country, many missionaries being already acquainted with the Basuto language. After a trip to Europe, Monsieur Coillard returned with his wife to the Zambezl, this time to settle there.
We will not follow Madame Coillard in all those wearisome journeys, but rather would show the important part the lady missionary has to play, for, as Monsieur Coillard says, " The missionary is only a missionary inas- much as his wife is one and helps him." She is not merely a housewife, but a lady, a nurse, a teacher, a mother, and often, alas! a martyr.
The strange scenery in which Madame Coillard now found herself might seem at first most fascinating. Untrodden forests; vast plains, as white .as snow; mighty rivers, like that beautiful blue Zambezi, flowing slowly between tall and prickly rushes, or darting suddenly into an abyss, roaring ;and sending up clou~s of smoke into the air. But this fair picture has a ·dark, very dark side to it. Famine may at every turn knock at your -door j in the most intense heat you may have to walk forty miles to get a -cup of water; troops of armed savages may attack your peaceful wagon, ioaming with rage and yelling menaces. There are some people who, very ,generously and a little disdainfully, object to women sharing such dangers.
Monsieur Coillard did not hold that opinion. "We cannot but congratu- llate ourselves," he writes, " upon having my wife and niece with us. The wmplications which their presence involves are nothing compared to the comfort they are to us. My wife has taken her place of mother and sister of mercy. She is often a providence to us." But in Gideon's chosen host not the willing, only the worthy were accepted. To be a soldier in ,the missionaries' valiant army it is not enough to be ready, one must be ;prepared. .
The missionary's life, far from being a contemplative one, is too I()ften made up of very humble duties, which consume all his time and patience. Fortunately Madame Coillard was a superior housewife. She lmew how to cut out dresses, knead bread, and even make her own soap :and candles. Besides the ability shown in such little details, which can hardly be called little when we remember that the lady missionary is the chief agent of civilization among women, she had remarkable aptitudes for superintending. Last, but not least, she possessed a sweet and calm dis- position. If temper is, as has been said, the nine tenths of Christianity, a woman must be a true Christian indeed when she can see her most pre- cious boxes trampled upon, and her husband's clothes adorning some im- pudent black, without once losing patience.
The missionary woman is something like the "chatelaine" of old, almost a queen. Strange as it may seem, the native chief, iilstinctively feeling the superiority of a Christian and of a civihzed man, treats him as his equal and invites himself to his house. The missionary's wife is there- fore bound to know the laws of A.frican etiquette, and receive her royal guests with the courteous dignity which becomes the representative of a .higher civilization and morality. There is also the European traveller, who has imperative claims on your kindness, for he may not have eaten a piece of bread nor seen a white face for many a month. Madame CoIl. lard's duties were not always so easy and pleasant as the receiving of a poor explorer. Notwithstanding her delicate health, she was the sister of mercy to all, whites and natives. Many a time she had to appeal to her ardent charity in order to nurse patiently those rough Zambezians, affiicted with loathsome diseases. She once fell a victim to her zeal. " I have nursed so m'any sufferers from ophthalmia, 1 have poured so much sulphate of zinc into their eyes," she writes, "that I have caught an ophthalmia myself. "
Madame Coillard's favorite work was teaching. She had unconsciously prepared herself for it as a girl, when giving French lessons in Paris, and she taught to the very last. A few days before her death she was sitting among the prattling wives of the king, cutting out dresses for them, and telling them, in her own sweet way, the parable of the prodigal son. But the education of those coarse women proved a most arduous task, and Madame Coillard far preferred the children's school-that captivating school, as she called it-which was founded as soon as they had definitely settled at Sefoula. They hoped it to be a means of drawing the natives to the Gospel through their children. The school-room was formed by the shadows of the trees, and, instead of using slates and copy-books, the children wrote upon the sand. Children came in large numbers. King Lewanika held instruction in high reverence, and he had little huts built for his sons near the mission station, so that they should lose no opportunity in learning. What seems more wonderful still, the girls themselves would join their brothers. Fond of her home as she was, Madame Coillard decided to sacrifice it in some measure, in order to admit the daughters of the king and the little slaves into her family.
" This numerous household," writes she, "has been a cause of much occupation to me, but also of deep interest. I cannot but thank God with a grateful heart for the privilege of having all those dear boys and girls under our roof. Our four little princesses are very obedient, clever, and industrious. I am so pleased to see them happy and contented. The two daughters of the king read quite fluently now, and the two other girls, already engaged, though so young, to the King's son and to his nephew, are also improving. This is a wide field open to us, and if we had more help and means, the number of children who would come to be taught would be almost unlimited."
Intellect is more easily developed than conscience, and the little Barotsis were soon learned enough to pass a public examination in reading, singing, and reciting. That school festival must have been no common spectacle, honored, as it was, by the presence of the black king himself, who alternately encouraged or blamed the candidates, following the reading with a book in his hand.
But, alas! she who had given to her black daughters all that a woman's heart contains of unspent motherly love, was only repaid by ingratitude. Moral corruption is something dreadful in the regions of the Zambezi. Two of those girls scaled the palisades at night and fled into the forest for most shameful purposes and had to be sent away at once.
This was a terrible blow for Madame Coillard. She tried to master her sorrow, adopted other little girls, but she had lost the mainspring of energy, faith in her work. Surely, this bitter grief was one of the causes which hastened her end. Madame Coillard had been sickly for years, and she and her husband often allude to fatigues, to fever, ophthalmia, or other illnesses from which she suffered; but a vigorous mind dwelt in that frail body and ruled it unmercifully, as a strong-willed pilot governs a disabled ship. The ship was bound for the port; she might be wrecked, but she must not wander from her route. Christina Coillard had consecrated her life to African missions, and nothing, not even the threats of death itself, could have deterred her from her vocation.
Once Monsieur Coillard proposed to her to travel for her health. , , No," she replied; "life is too short and our work here too extensive. Let us remain faithfully at our post. The Master knows that I want my health, and, should it be His wish, He might give it to me here without my going to find it elsewhere."
One day, when returning from a missionary journey with her husband and Mademoiselle Kiener, a devoted Swiss young lady whom she considered as her own daughter, fever laid her low. After a day of great mental agony she became calm and serene, "talking of invisible things as one who is already on the threshold of heaven." The day before her death she said to her husband, "Dying is not so difficult all I feared. It is not painful, and then the passage is so very short. Underneath are the everlasting arms." A few hours later she went quietly to sleep in the peace of the Lord.
Madame Coillard's husband is one of the most energetic and faithful missionaries of the Paris Missionary Society. He is not so widely known as some, but he deserves a large place among the "heroes of African history." When young he was sent to Basutuland, where he toiled zealously and successfully for nearly twenty years. The Basutu Christians learning that a large tribe on a bend of the Zambesi River, in Central Africa, speaking their language, were destitute of the Gospel, decided to send it to them. M. Coillard offered to pioneer the little band of African evangelists, accompanied by his wife and niece. They had to encounter giant obstacleR at the outset, one of which was the refusal of Lobengula, the chief of the Matabele tribe, to allow them to pass through his territory, and holding them captives for several months. On their arrival in the Barotsi kingdom, the place of their destination, the chief, Lewanika, tho he did not drive them away, treated them in the unkindest manner. One has well observed that M. Coillard and his party were appointed to undergo" the reality without the name of martyrdom" at the hands of Lewanika, who was as odious as Mwanga, the king of the Baganda, tho not so bloodthirsty. "What have I to do," said the savage potentate, in a fit of anger, " with a Gospel that gives me neither guns nor powder nor sugar nor artisans to work for me~" Threats were thrown out to strangle those who served the missionaries. In the midst of their trials Mrs. Coillard was called away by death, but without a regret that she had gone to that distant field. M. Coillard was urged by his relatives in France to return home, but labored on with a faith and.courage truly sublime. The state of affairs has greatly changed. Reinforcements have been sent to the field. The king has become a stanch friend of the missionaries. His son, the heir to the throne, has become a Christian, and a great and good work is now being accomplished. Sirpo Pinto, the noted African explorer, in his book, " How I Crossed Africa," speaks in the highest terms of praise and gratitude of the Coillard family, and he has reason to do so, for he is indebted to their kind care for the preservation of his life. It would be interesting to us all should the life of this servant of God be written for us to profit thereby.-(Josiah Tyler, D.D.)
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GBACEY, D.D.
Oonditions and Results in Korea. tume as well as in a tight-fitting suit and a derby hat. BY REV. GEORGE HEBER JONES, SEOUL, KOREA. These Koreans live in mud huts;. straw-thatched, with rooms about eight; Geographically, Korea extends from feet square and five to six feet in height..
32· to 42° north latitude, and has about It is a peculiar thing to say, but, never..
the same number of degrees expansion theless, it is a fact, that the Korean· in longitude. The climate is equable, sleeps over the fire. The rooms are Cliln- and the country lies between two warm structed so that an intricate system of ocean currents. Korea consists of 100,- tlues runs over the floor. 0 ver the fluea 000 square miles, and is as mountain- are laid flags of stone, on top of which.
ous as Switzerla.nd. The origin of the mud is plastered, and over the whole a.
people is wrapped in obscurity, but they heavy thick oiled paper is pasted. The: probably came from India. The people fire by which the meal is cooked is con- are about five feet five inches in height, ducted into these flues, and on top. of'
and manifest less of the Mongolian fea- this the Korean sleeps. There are no turas than the Chinese or Japanese. chairs and no tables worthy the name.
They dress in garments built upon a The houses are grouped along narrow plan evidently intended to consume and crooked lanes, and present a very large quantities of cloth. Once there unattractive appearance. Globe-trot- was It request made to ascertain, the ters who visit Korea find little to rouse amount of goods used in one of these their enthusiasm or elicit their admira- costumes. The United States resident- tion. The people are agricultural, the minister made the measurements, and great mass of them being occupied im found that one full costume of a Korean rice culture.
noble in office would require 375 yards The position of woman is far from a:.
of native goods about 16 or 18 inches desirable one. The heel of heathenism wide. Their hats are made of woven rests heavily indeed on the neck of man,.
hair, and that of the poorest coolie costs but it rests infinitely more heavily om $5. This hat has just been done away the neck of woman. In Korea she is; with by law. The universal color is held to be completely inferior to man in white, but black is gradually coming every respect. She is secluded withim into style. The cut of the Korean gar- the inner apartments of the house and ments struck me at first as being very kept a virtual prisoner there, never'
ridiculous, but I very soon learned that lea.ving it except for a rare visit to her I myself looked quite as ridiculous to pa.rents, when she goes in a chair the Koreans as tbey did to me. A short heavily curtained and generally in the time afterward a Korean noble of very night-time. She is taught in childhood high family, the governor of a prov- that she must hold herself subservient ince, told me that when foreigners first to her father's will, in wifehood to her came to the .pountry with their shorn husband's will, in widowhood to that of heads, yellow hair, tight-fitting gar- the eldest son. Christianity comes with ments, and strange jargon of speech, a welcome and delightful emancipation the nobles thought them the most ridicu- lor her.
lous specimens of mankind they had It W88 God, not man, who held out ever seen, and that nothing worthy of any promise of success in Korea to the consideration could come from such Church when she entered upon her peculiar people. That taught me that work there in 1885. To human vision a JIlan can be a man in 1m !'~W:~ ~~" ~he difficulties appeared SQ enormQWl and the conditions and views of the peo- successful in stamping out Christianity, ple so completely petrified, it was not and the memory of what had happened only folly to attempt work there ; it hung like a dreadful nightmare over the was a waste of energy greatly needed people, so that the very announcement elsewhere. The results in the peninsula of another and open propaganda of to·day prove how unfounded was such Christianity in the country was such as an assumption. There, as everywhere, almost to terrify the people. During it is true that man's distress and help- this persecution reports of the most lessness was God's opportunity. scandalous and libelous nature had been The advance guard of the army of circulated concerning Christianity and Christ in Korea was but a handful of the objects of those who propagated it.
men-Dr. Maclay, Dr. Allen, Rev. Dr. These reports were accepted to a degree Underwood, Dr. Heron, Rev. H. G. among the people, for all effort to dis· Appenzeller, and Dr, Scranton. These prove or controvert them had been men, with the exception of Dr. Maclay effectually Buppressed, and it remained and Dr. Underwood (who was single), for Christianity to find some vindica· were accompanied by their wives-no- tion by future events. What the peo- ble women, who stood by the side of ple knew of Christianity was calculated their husbands, sharing their hardships to do anything but impress them favor- and perils, and cheering and encourag- ably with it. But not only was Chris- ing them in hours of trial and disap- tianity an ill odor, but all foreigners were pointment. Dr. Scranton had the add- regarded with suspicion. The ill·ad· ed blessing of the presence and wise vised and unsuccessful attempts to open counsel of his mother, often alluded to the country by force by the French dur- lovingly as the Barbara Heck of Meth- ing the sixties, by the American expedi.
odism in Korea, whose mature judg- tion in 1875, and by those nondescript ment and saintly presence have been of expeditions of a German Jew adven- untold good to the younger members turer, had caused the Koreans to regard of the mi8Sionary community. Dr. the advances of foreigners as anything Heron has been called to the presence but deserving of a hospitable reception.
of the Master he loved and served so To a certain degree this feeling had been well. The others remain to enjoy the allayed by the conduct of Admiral Schu· fruits of victory and win still greater felt when the American treaty was conquests for Jesus. The labors of negotiated and by the negotiation of Dr. Maclay were those of prospecting treaties with Korea by the various for.
for all Protestant missions, proTiding eign powers.
for and subsequently temporarily super· In 1885, when the first missionaries intending, from Japan, the initiation of went there, however. so little was the Methodist Episcopal mission. known about foreigners that the old A word as to the conditions which views largely hllld sway. The Korean existed in Korea when Protestant Chris· saw the ridiculous garb-garments the tianity first began its work: cut of which struck them as anything 1. Christianity was in a very ill odor but decent, the shorn heads, the eyes.
with the Koreans at that time. Within oil' color, the jargon of speech, and the memory of most of those living a they saw but little else. They voted mighty persecution had taken place, by unanimously that" Verily these are the which over 10,000 Koreans, converts to barbarians of which we have heard so the Roman Catholic Church, were cruel· often." Still another element which en- ly massacred. The priests and leaders tered into the situation to encumber it had been driven into hiding; the rest with obstacles was an ill·advised at- of the converts had disappeared al- tempt to overturn the old government most altogether from the public vision. and set up one dominated by the pro- To the Korean eye it seemed that the gressive party. In December, 1884, xp.easures of the ~overI).ment had been this attempted revoluti.QJ,tb~~~e.o~t, h~t, was quickly suppressed, and the ene· peculiarities noted, and plans laid for mies of progress managed to load with the inauguration of a worl: which the odium of the rebels all progressive should be commensurate with the ex- and foreign ideas which the so·called tent of the people. The field was truly rebels had espoused. Under Divine a virgin one.
Providence, however, Dr. Allen, the I make no attempt to exhaust the tirst missionary of the Presbyterian catalogue of difficulties and obstacles or Church to Korea, who had arrived in to magnify them. It is simply to indi- the latter part of 1884, was present in cate something of what had to be done Seoul. He was called to attend profes· ten years ago.
sionally one of the most representative What have these ten years brought men of the conservative party, and by forth?
his healing of this man's wounds, re- 1. The tirst result, which is certainly ceived in the emeute the story of which entitled to be enshrined as the chief after has been told so often, he was able to ten ye~rs of work in Korea, is the con.
neutralize to some extent the odium in quest of the prejudice of the people.
which foreigners were held. The ser- This has been accomplished to an extent vices of Dr. Allen to the cause of Chris- which transcends the wildest expecta- tianity and the advancement of Korea tions of the first missionaries when they can never be fully estimated. began their work in the field. Uncon- This was the condition of the country sciously, most of the time almost like politically when the tirst missionaries the melting of the snow under the rays went there. Great as were the difficul- of the sun, at other times like the strip- ties which grew out of this condition of ping of the trees of their leaves by No- affairs, they formed but a part of the vember blasts, this prejudice has disap- obstacles which the first miBSionaries peared. POBBibly that is too strong a had to encounter. This succession of way to put it. This prejudice still historic events to which I have been al- exists in isolated cases; but as far as luding had become petrified in the Ko- the people are concerned as a whole, rean mind in an unreasonable prejudice the Koreans have overcome their suspi- against foreigners in general and Chris- cion of foreigners, and Christianity has tianity in particular. been vindicated from 'the pdium with 2. The second great obstacle was the wWch it was regarded ten years ago.
utter lack of any familiarity with the Much of this work may be said to have field to which the first missionaries were been done within the last three years.
appointed. Korea was truly an un- About that time the writer was called known land and its people strangers. to a village on a populous island to bap- There is little doubt that of equal im- tize an old woman. When he arrived portance with a knowledge of the lan- at the shore he was met with the mes- guage is a knowledge of the people to sage that the villagers would destroy which the missionary is sent, and the the home of the Christian residing there if missionaries in Korea had to acquire he introduced a foreign missionary into this knowledge by slow and often dis· that hamlet. So the baptism took place appointing and grievous experiences. in a boat at the seashore at midnight.
The customs of the people had to be In less than three years from that time studied and weighed. The systems of a thriving church grew up in that very religious belief which the people held hamlet. It was the privilege of the had to be examined and determined, missionary who had been excluded from and the intellectual bias of the mind that town to receive a number of people and the trend of thought watched and into the church, to baptize no less than studied. The country itself was geo- nineteen men, women and children, graphically unknown to them. It had and to behold the valley lit up at night to be traversed, the great centers of by the fires of burning shrines and population discovered, tlleir provincial fetiches, w~i911 the vUlagers themselves were destroying to break their connec- enhanced thereby. HOIIPitals have been tion wi1lh heathenism. This is illustra- opened for the relief of the distressed tiye to a considerable degree of the great and the gratitude of thou!lands won by change in sentiment which has taken the cures effected. Permanent work in place in many centers in Korea. Wher' preaching and evangelizing the people ever Christianity has entered and begun has been opened at aboutforty different work it has easily conquered any vestige places throughout the nine provinces, of prejudice or opposition, and while and the number of people Identified as the people do not necessarily flock into members and probationers with the the church in multitudes to become Church reaches over 1100. During Christians, their views concerning Chris- 1895 these native Christians gave on an tianity, eivi1lzation and foreigners have average about $1 apiece to the work of changed vastly for the better. the Church in Korea. The beginnings .. 2. The second great result has been of a native ministry now gladden our the mutering of the language, To the hearts. Young Koreans are following knowledge of the writer there is no mis- the divine call to preach the Gospel to sionary in Korea but has some knowl- their people. Some are in our educa- edge of the Janguage, while, when the tional institutions preparing for that gavernment was recently in need of purpose. Others are employed as help- competent interpreters there were no ers and colporteurs, while a few, with- less than eight men among the missiona- out any payor emolument of any kind, ries in Seoul who were competent to act are preaching the Gospel to their people as the medium between the king and and doing a good work for their Ml.lster.
the foreign representatives. The Ko- rean tongue has been studied, gram- mars written, dictionaries compiled, and An Afrioan Pioneer.
treatises published, which greatly sim- BY DR. W. A. P. MARTIN, PRESIDENT plify the task of future missionaries in EMERITUS OF THE IMPERIAL TUNGlearning the language; but, above all, WEN COLLEGE, PEKIN, CillNA. the people have been given in their own tongue the blessed Word of God and In 1834 the American Board lIent taught to sing His praise in their own their first mission to South Africa. It language. consisted of Messrs. Adams, Champion, 3. There is no class Qf men In Korea Grout, Lindley, Venable, Wilson, and more familiar with the geography of the their wives. The last survivor of that.
country, with the customs, habits, and band was Mrs. Venable, who closed peculiarities of the people and with their her pilgrimage in Erie, Kan., on March provincial differences thaN the missiona- 28th, 1896, at the ripe age of eighty- ries. There may be said to be had by three.
the body of workers here, 8. knowledge Up to the last she followed with keen of the people, which adds to their im- interest the fortunes of the Zulu people portance in the eyes of the populace and of the mission of which she had themselves, qualifies them for etHcient formed a part. Tho her connection and forceful work among them, and with the work was brief-not over five givu them 8. ready entrance to the years-she rejoiced to see its expanding hearts and the hearing of"the people. seale and maturing fruits. It now has 4. The work itself has been organized 28 stations and 30 missionariell, with a along wide, far·reaching and permanent church-membership of near 2000 and a lines. Schools have been founded for following of five times that number.
the enlightenment of the people. Edu- Nor did she view with less interest the cational work carried on by the mis· growth of Great Britain's South African sionaries is regarded with respect by the empire, which she lived to see extended people, and their importance greatly from the Cape to the Zambesf. Often in my childhood I was privi- . was not half that distance. At night leged to hear from her lips the thrilling the wagons were formed in a circle, thus narrative of perils and deliverances ex- providing a pretty secure camp against perienced by those pioneer missionaries. the attacks of savage beasts or still The British colony was limited to a nar- more savage men. Their oxen were row strip around the Cape of Good sometimes killed by lions, and hyenas Hope. Less than thirty years prior to were constantly prowling about their that date England had taken possession camping grounds.
of it as part of the empire of Napoleon Six months only had Ihey been settled at the time when his brother Louis was in their new home when, just as they King of Holland, and its strategic im- felt ready to begin effective work, they portance was such that she never were waked one morning by volleys thought of restoring it to its original of musketry. Looking out of their owners as she did the isle of Java. windows, they saw a body of mounted The Dutch constituted the bulk of Boers in possession of the village, while the population, and naturally enough the people were flying in every direc- they were dissatisfied with British rule tion. In a few minutes the leader en- in a land where they had been masters. tered their house and explained the In 1833 a grand exodus of Boers set situation. The Zulus had been stealing toward the far interior with a view to cattle from the Dutch colonists, and the planting a new Dutch republic beyond latter had now come on them by way the sphere of British inflitence. The re- of repri.sals. It was the beginning of a sult-tho many years were to elapse be- war that might not end soon. If the fore its accomplishment-was the crea- missionaries remained at their post they tion of the Orange Free State and the would be exposed to the blind vengeance Transvaal, of which we have recently of a savage race. He therefore advised seen so much in our journals. them to quit the place, and kindly The diamonds of Kimberley and the offered them all possible assistance and gold of Johannesburg lay hidden in the protection in doing so; but he gave sands of the desert at the time our mis- them only six hours to make their sionaries penetrated those regions in preparations.
quest of something more precious. No It did not take the missionaries long railroad was there to whirl them across to decide. The decision was, in fact, the plains with the rapidity of an eagle's taken out of their hands by the fact of flight, nor was there any telegraph to war, which would leave them no peo- flash intelligence from station to sta- ple to preach to; so, with heavy hearts, tion, as it now does daily from Bulu- they bade farewell to that first station, wayo to London and New York. and escorted by the Dutch to a point Livingstone had not yet come on the beyond the sphere of hostilities, they stage. Moffat was the great explorer looked about for another field in which of that day; and after consultation with to prosecute their mission.
him, they decided to fix themselves at a They found it in another section of point not far from the banks of the the Zulu race, whose chief, named Din- Tugela among a tribe ruled by a warlike gaan, was looked on as a sort of king, chief named Moselekatze. The journey and always spoke of :&Ioselekatze as thither was long and toilsome-its dura- " my dog." Not long, however, were tion measured by months instead of they at their new station when the ris- weeks. Their conveyances were wagons, ing tide of Dutch immigration again each a dwelling-house and a fort, and swept over them. On this occasion the each drawn, without a road, over grass, outbreak was almost as Budden as be- brushwood, or barren sand by twelve fore, and much more tra~ic. The firllt yoke of oxen. Their ordinary march intimation of the coming trouble was was twelve mile. a day; and often it brought them by a royal messenger, who brought a special command for States and engaged in educational work Mr. Venable to come to the king and at Paris, Ill. .. not to eat or sleep on the road. " Setting off without delay, and making the Tho unwearied in doing good at home, whole distance of fifty miles on foot in Mrs. Venable appeared to have left her a very short time (tho perhaps not with- heart in Africa, and her devotion to the out.food or sleep), Mr. Venable arrived cause of foreign missions was conat Dingaan's kraal. At the door of the tagious. Through her influence her council house he saw the arms of Dutch two young brothers (one of them the soldiers stacked in military fashion; writer of these lines) and others whom but on going inside. what was his sur- I could name had their faces turned prise not to find a Dutchman! They toward the foreign field. were carrying on negotiations for the Who can measure the results of a purchase of land, and he had been sum- consecrated life like hers ?
moned to assist in a grand palaver. Discriminations Against Protestants in .. Where are the Dutch ?" he asked. Turkey . .. They have gone hunting," replied In the March number of this REVIEW the king. we treated the topic" The Attitude of H That is not very likely, or they the Turkish Government toward Chris- tians." The administration of the laws, would have taken their guns," suggest- edicts, or regulations is, however, by ed the missionary. no means equal toward all Christians, discriminations in favor of the Greek .. Then they have gone fishing," said Church and against Protestants and the king with a grim smile, but without Roman Catholics having been the rule a blush. for some years.
Perceiving that Mr. Venable suspect- At the risk of restating some things ed something, be added: .. The truth is, said in that article, we adopt, making I have killed the Dutch; but I don't our own the following communication. intend to kill you." It was not written for publication, and we are not at liberty to announce the That morning had witnessed in that author-at least at pIesent. Our in. very room one of those tragedies which formant says about the edict of Januprove how impossible it is for the sav- ary, 1892: age and civilized to live together in harmony. Encroachments provoktl re- " By imperial decrees and by treaties prisals, and reprisals lead to the exter- liberty to worship and to educate their mination or subjugation of the weaker. children long before llad been con- Dingaan, by making a show of concilia- ferred upon and enjoyed by the Christion, had decoyed into his capital a tiansof Turkey. Freedom of education party of fifty Boers. Oxen were slain, had been regulated by a special law in and a feast spread for their entertain- 1889, which made a government inspecment. Then while they were eating tion of the methods of instruction the and drinking, at a secret signal the sole limitation of the liberty to establish young men of the king's bodyguard schools. As to the liberty of worship, rushed on them, and each buried his atJ- it was limited by no special law. For lJefJai in the back of a guest. at least half II century the uniform and official interpretation of the proclama- Not long did the sable tyrant enjoy tion of religious liberty has been that the fruits of his treachery. The aveng- they confer upon all classes the right of ers of blood were on him almost as assembly for worship in any place that soon as the intelligence could reach belongs to them, and only landed propthem. His town was laid in ashes. he erty diverted to permanent religious uses was slain, and his people took refuge in what is now known as Mashonaland.
After this second catastrophe Mr. and Mrs. Venable returned to the United by the erection thereon of church edi- ments of long standing. It Is enly in fices, remained untaxed, subject to the the case where officials are fanatical or special authorization of the Sultan in influenced by special considerations of each case. a personal nature, as in the case men. tioned above, that a lon~·established .. It is said that the edict of January right is incurred, the edict made retro- 2d, 1892, applied to all Christian schools active, and the school or place of worand places of wOr3hip. It should be re- ship prohibited. Respecting the openmarked that no such phrase occurs in ing of new schools or places of worship, the edict. But the edict none the less however, the case is quite different. affects Christians chiefly, and, perhaps, Whereas, under the Ratti Rumayoun entirely. In the matter of education the and the usages of the past, the question needs of the Mohammedans are provid- of the expediency of opening a sooool is ed for by the government, which with left entirely to the community interestadmirable energy is pressing on the ed, submission to government control multiplication of schools of all grades being the only limitation upon the most for Mohammedans. In the matter of perfect liberty. Under the edict of Janworship the edict is executed in respect uary, 1892, the question of expediency to Christians only. Jews are, as ever, is the principal one submitted to the allowed the most perfect liberty in meet· official, who is, in fact, the sole judge aa ing habitually in any private houie to whether any given school is • needwhich is convenient to the community. ed.' The change introduced by the .Ai!. to the case of Mohammedans the edict is patent. In practice no new Government could be overthrown by a school for Christian children can be general uprising. if it were to suggest opened without the Sultan's personal that Mohammedans may not meet for consent. Respecting the meeting for worship unless they first take out a per· worship in a new place, also, the edict mit to do so, or a firman setting apart a is commonly applied in a prohibitive place where they wish to meet. The sense, the parties wishing to assemble discrimination here applied to all Chris- being commonly told that they cannot tians bears very heavily upon the Prot· do so without an imperial firman. • estants, because they have not, like the older Christian sects, a full equipment .. Since the Issue of imperial firmans of ancient churches. for schools and places of wOr3hip is.a matter relating solely to and inseparable " The discrimination becomes further from the dedication of land for religious evident in the order privately sent ont uses, which thereby removes it from the shortly after the issue of the edict reo category of taxable private property, it ferred to, under which no Christian, na- follows that persons temporarily residtive or alien, can own or hire lands or ing in a place where there is no Prothouses in Turkey unless he will sign a estant church, or persons who have not bond to the effect that the house or land the money to build a church, or persons will never be used for the education of whose only landed property is of the children or for the purpose of religious category of that which cannot be exmeetings. This curious • regulation' empt from the class of taxal!lle private is rigidly enforced whenever Christians property, may not meet for worship at purchase lands, but inquiry at the land all because they cannot obtain a firman registration office shows that it is not for a 'church edifice. This limitation enforced and cannot lawfully be en- as to obtaining firmal!.s applies also to forced in the case of Mohammedans. schools. Thus the liberty of education and of worship has been narrowed down .. So far as Protestant schools or by this edict. For the future the enplaces of worship are concerned, the joyment of this liberty is made te deexecution of the edict of January, 1892, pend upon a property qualification has not been attended in general by the hardships of the closure of establish· witWn the reach of those only who can greater enemies, the Protestants as a have access to the ear of the sovereign recompense to their wickedness are himself. standing in our presence covered with shame . .. Another curious result of the edict of 1892 is that it is uniformly said to "Oh, ye orthodox I stand manfully prevent the repair or alteration of any and gather up your strength. Fear private building in which a school or not, for while God is with you no one an assembly for worship has been au· can stand against you. While God is thorized to be held. The authorities our shepherd what wolf shall we fear 2 now hold that the effect of the edict is Thus miserable sinners are destroyed to prohibit such property from being and the faithful are rejoiced. repaired or altered except by special imperial firman, because ,the issue of " This work has been carried on and the permit for the school or the worship brought to a successful issue by the is held to have assimilated the' property energy of our priest Paes Christo alone." to that of permanent church or school buildings. But the permit by which Our correspondent adds: this assimilation is held to have taken " It should be recorded that the Konplace has not changed the category in BtantinoupoliB newspaper is the organ of which the building stands. It is still the Greek patriarchate. WWle Protes· taxable private property. therefore an tants are not partisans of a censorsWp of imperial firman may not issue respect· the press, this is no reason for failing to ing the repair. therefore it cannot be remark that in a country where any pubrepaired or altered at all. The only reo lication of articles of a nature to mold source for a man who has allowed his religious susceptibilities is forbidden by property to be used by an establishment law, and where censors must approve of this class, altho the school or the beforehand all articles published in the worship be formally authorized, if he papers, the authorization for publication wishes to save his buildings from falling of an article like the above quoted, is t8 pieces, is to oust the school or the as- another example of the discrimination sembly worshiping in his house." against Protestants habitually practised by some officials in Turkey." The following translation of part of an article from the KonBtantinoupolis of Among Our Letters. January 27th, O. S., 1893, is given as an illulitration of the spirit of the Greek -Rev. David W. Carter, writing from Christians toward Protestants: Antonio, Tex., says: "An unusual in- terest in the Gospel is being shown by .. Oh, ye miserable Protestants, who those Mexicans now living in Texas. know not what ye do I Your house is From many localities comes the news left unto you desolate like that of the of an awakening interest. I have just enemies of God who slew the Lord held a week's special services in which Jesus Christ. Oh, ye nations, under- forty persons were won to Christ." stand and be overthrown, for God is with us I The orthodox church at Fatsu, -Rev. Thomas Christie, D.D., of having heard of the plan adopted by us Tarsus College, Turkey, writes: "This at Ordu, also made petition to the gov- has been a year of painful trial to us and ernment for the closing of the schools our people in Turkey. But we look to and the services of worship which have see our Father'shand init all. No misceen peacefully conducted there by the 510n1lry has even thought of leaving his Protestants, and they easily succeeded. or her post. In such days as these our Thus under this new victory of our poor people are doubly dear to us. The church, which in five centuries has van- Lord is with us through all. It is for quished and brought to shame, without the good of His kingdom that we lay gUCl and without knife, such and many down our lives here; we feel sure He will give dying peaee as He has given sions in the recent reports of some of to so many precious martyrs this win· our Lodiana missionaries indicating a ter." reaching up for a fuller spiritual bless- -A friend resident in PhiIippopolis, ing in their own souls, nay, more, con. South Bulgaria, writes: "The present fessing to a consciousness of a new ex· is a time of vital importance for the perience of blessed fellowship with Christianization of Bulgaria. The de- Christ. termination of Prince Ferdinand of that " One writes; 'It has been the happrincipality, to be recognized by the piest year of my life as a missionary, European powers, at whatever cost, led and the reason why it has been so is, I him, tho a rigid Roman Catholic, his think, that I have learned to know wife and mother being the same, to sae· what a blessed life and work this is to rifice his first·born son and heir to his which we have been called.' throue, to be rebaptized in the Greek " Another writes: • I should like to Catholic or Bulgarian Church. This mention with profound gratitude that I was done February .14th, and waS sig. believe I have experienced during the naled by the issue of special stamps and past year a quickening and uplifting in postal cards. The Russian Czar sent a my spiritual life, a deeper sense of respecial representative to Sophia to par· sponsibility, a greater joy in service.' ticipate in the ceremonies, and he also " Another says: 'The past year has sent a congratulatory telegram to Prince been the brightest and best spiritually Ferdinand. Since then the prince has of all the years I have spent in India. been recognized by the Suzerain power, Christ has been more to me of a reality, Turkey, which implies recognition by and tasks have been more easy and all the European powers. A conse- hopeful because I knew they were His quence of this strengthening of Russian tasks. ' influence, and of zeal for the national " And still another, dwelling on the church is, more resolute opposition to encouragements in the work the past the evangelical work and some cases of year, adds the following words: 'And determined persecution of Protestant last but not least, we believe that we missionaries are awaking to the possi- Christians. " bility of living nearer our },laster. Call -Rev. '£homas B. WOQd, D.D., writ- it the Spirit·filled life if you will, we ing from Callao, Peru, says: "Perse- are with invincible zeal determined to cutions, involving imprisonments, ban- have more of it. Yea, we are willing ishments, stoning of houses and persons, to be content with nothing else than the incendia'rism, denial of natural and "mind of Christ~' itself. When that legal rights, are suffered constantly by day comes, as come it will, the future the converts, and they endure it with of India is assured.' meekness and cheerfulness. The con- "Commenting on these extracts in verts are improved spirituaUy and ma- another connection, I have said: ' Such terially by their newness of life to such testimonies from men who are not a degree that their neighbors notice young in the service witness unmistaktheir bettered condition, and attribute ably to the refreshing presence of the it to a money stipend distributed by Holy Spirit, and are a bright revelation . the missionaries, and can hardly be of a growth in spiritual life and power made to believe that, instead of receiv- in answer to prayer, such as all our ing money, the converts all give money missionaries abroad, yea, and all our constantly for the Gospel work." churches at home may hopefully strive -Rev. Benjamin Labaree, widely for and expect for themselves.' "
known as a missionary of rare qualities -Mr. F. D. Phinney, Superintendent and success, in a personal note says: of the Baptist mission press, Rangoon, " I have been much moved by expres- Burma, writes . .. Since the arrival in-Burma, in the quickening into new life cold and dead early part of 1892, of the first shipment members, and putting a great longing of the photo-engraved edition of the hunger into the hearts of our Chinese Burmese Bible. about 2500 copies have pr~achers for more spiritual power. been issued-that is, in about four years At a little conference three of them had the number of copies issued of this with Mr_ Smith about the baptism of small and cheap (one rupee) Burmese the Holy Spirit. they were full of joy Bible has equalled the present number to hear there was a way to get power, of Burman Baptist church-members. and wished they could build taber- During these lears the demand for the nacles and stay there, as one of them large type Blble. the Reference New said, where they had learned this good Testament, and for the photo-engraved news." New Testament has been steady, and the important fact may be stated that The volume" A Cycle in Far Cathay," during these four years more Copie8 of by Rev. Dr. W. A. P. Martin, men- Dr. JudBon'8 Burmese Bible have been tioned editorially in our May number, issued than in tM twenty years preceding. will. we learn, not be out till September. We hope to present an early and care- " Since August, 1895, 3000 copies of ful review of this work, which is the photo-engraved edition of. the Bible anticipated with great pleasure. It in Sgaw Karen have been received at would not be easy to name another authe mission press in Rangoon, and very thor so intellectually furnished for the nearly the whole number is now in the task, who has had such rare opportunihands of the people. A further ship- ties to acquaint himself with the matement of 1000 copies is to arrive this rial for an able summary and analytical month. and the balance of the edition review of affairs in the Chinese Empire of 5000 copies is due by the following in the last quarter of a century. steamers. The sales of this edition, uniform in size and price with the Bur- International Missionary Union. mese edition, is simply unprecedented. There is nothing in the history of Bible The thirteenth annual meeting of the distribution in Burma with which to International Missionary Union will be compare it. The demand still con- held at Clifton Springs, New York, tinues all over the field. and it is be- June 10th-17th, 1896. The opening lieved that a second edition of 5000 session begins at 7.80 P.M., of Wednescopies is now being printed, and will day the 10th. Missionaries will be be ready for issue about as soon as gratuitously entertained, chiefly by Dr. wanted." Henry Foster in his noble sanitarium, which for the greater l?art of a halt -Rev. Mr. McNair, writing from century has been a religiOUS Mecca, as Japan on the subject of the revival of well as a health resort. A large numidolatry by the State, says: ber of missionaries have already signi- fied their purpose to attend the meeting .. In one of my late letters I quoted in June. from a Japanese paper on the subject of parliamentary recommendations to All missionaries are urgently requestthe government to build a temple to ed to send the secretary theIr names, and establish the worship of the late 'societies. fields, years of appointment, Prince Kitashirakawa, in Formosa; and (if not now not connected with the and I stated that both houses of parlia- work abroad) date of retirement. The ment had acted in the matter. The union is constantly seeking the address quotation dealt only with the upper of all foreign missionaries who may be house, and when sending it I was told residing (as well as those only visiting) that the lower house had acted simi- in the United States and Canada. The larly. I didn't wait to verify the infor- secretary earnestly invites correspondmation, writing as the mail was leav- ence with any such persons. ing. The truth is, I since find that only the upper house took definite ac- Missionaries are requested to mentlon tion. This correction does not mate- any subjects which they desire disrially alter the fact that many repre- cussed in the meeting, or upon which sentative men in Japan-nObles, educa- they are prepared to speak or read tors, capitalists, I,ltc.-who make up papers, and to suggest suitable speakers the • Lords' decided unanimously to or essayists. Any inquiries will be anrecommend this idolatry business." swered by the secretary of the union.
-Mrs. Arthur H. Smith writes: .. The J. T. GRACEY, President, Holy Spirit seems to be moving on our Rochester, N. Y. Shantung Church (North China) as never before, in a quiet, powerful way, W. H. BELDEN. ,&cretOlf"lJ. Clifton Springs, N. Y.
4:56 lI'mLD Oll' :MONTHLY SUBVBY. –
I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLV SURVEY.
BY DEL.l.VAN L. PIERSON.
Afrioa,* Madagasoar,t American Freedmen.* NOTES ON AlI'RICA. of the world put together, II We would.
Africa has been given many names: suggest one other name as most approthe " Expiring Continent;" the " Dark priate for faithful Christians who love Continent;" the" Last of the ContI- the Lord's work, and who belleve in His nents;" the "Hopeless Continent." promises, and that is the "inBpiring Mr. Keltie, author of "The Parti- (Jontinent. " This contment has an area tion of Africa," says that "whatever equal to all of Europe and NorthAmerelse it may be, it certainly is, take it all ica combined, and contains at least one in all, the most interesting of all the con- eighth of the human race, oo.d one half tinents. .. He says that Africa now" at- of these men and women have never yet tracts more attention than all the rest heard of Christ 88 their Savior. Five hundred of Africa's languages and dia- * North Africa and Egypt are to be touched lects have yet to be reduced to writing, on In our October issue, which deals especially and hundred" of thousands of miles with Mohammedan lauds. The most complete have never been trodden by the foot of list of mission stations and societies in Africa is a white man. to be found In .. Africa Rediviva," by Dr. R. N. Cust. A new book is In press which will prob- From Senegambia across to Abysably be the most accurate and complete yet pub- sinia is a distance of 4500 miles; this IIshed; it Is by Mr. Frederic Perry Noble, Secre- region, peopled with nearly 90,000,000 tary of the World's Fair Congress In Africa, and people speaking over 100 dilIerent lanis to be entitled .. The Missionary Occupation guages, into which the Bible has not yet of Africa." For articles on this subject already been translated. In all this area there published In this volume of the RIIIVIEW, see labors not a single missionary, only the also p. 106 (February); 411, 418, 442, 443, 449 (present issue). borders of the great territory of the New Books: .. Europe in Africa in the Nine- Soudan having as yet been touched, teenth Century," Elizabeth W. Latimer; Nearly all of Africa is controlled or "Glimpses of Africa," C. S. Smith; .. Chroni- .. influenced" by European governcles of Uganda," R. P. Ashe; .. The Congo for Christ," J. B. Myers; "Illustrated Africa," by ments, the only independent portions Bishop William Taylor; .. Actual Africa," being Morocco, Liberia, Bornu, Wadai, Frank Vincent. Kanem, Baghirim, Dahomey, the South African Republic, and Orange Free Recent Art~: "West African Pioneers" (Sunday Magazine, December, 181l5); "Boer, Britain and Africaner in the Transvaal" (Fort- State. A state of almost constant petty nighUy Review, January, 1896) ; "Slavery under the British Flag, (Nineteenth Century, February, warfare exists in most parts of Central 1896); .. Story of the Development of Africa" «(Jentury, February, 1896); "Missionaries in Africa, and many chiefs and kings are Africa" (National Review, March, 1896); now seeking to throw 01I European pro- "The Helpers of Africa" (Treasury, March, tectorates, etc. Madagascar haS recent- 1896); "Stray Thoughts on South Africa" (FortnighUy Review, April, 1896 ); .. Africa's Claims" ly been conquered by France, and Ash- (Student Volunteer, April, 1896); Ohurck at antee has submitted to England's'de- Home and Aln'Oad, and Go8pel in AU Land8 mands, but Abyssinia stlll fights fiercely against Italy, and England is sending (June, 1896). an army to subdue the dervishes of thll Eastern Soudan. In South A.frica the t See also p.:300 (April); 380 (May) ; 424 (pres- troubles between the Bocrs (or Dutch settlers) and Uitlanders (or foreigners) ent issue). New .Book: "Madagascar of To- Day," W. E. Cousins. Recent Article: "Catholicism in Madagascar"
(Catholic World, January, 1896). in the South African RepubliQ have not :t: See al80 p. 51 (Jannary). yet been settled, and the Matabeles are Recent Articles: "Education of the Negro" in rebellion, causing England to semi troops for their subjugation. (American Magazine Qf Civics, February,'1896); Go8pel in All Land8 (April, 1896).
DARK CONTINENT-A SILENT
Africa has been waiting 1900 years for the Llgbt of Life. There are here at least one hundred millions of people who have never yet heard of Christ and His Gospel; there are nearly as many more who may have heard but who have nnt heeded. Christ died for the Africans, and commissioned HiB followers to tell them so, yet every hour sixteen thonsand are dying without Christ. A thousand missionaries scattered over this vast continent– their stations indicated by the white spots on the map -" but what are they amongst so many I" H Give ye them to eat."
lI'IELD OF MONTHLY
The religious condition of Africa is effort must be made to train them for pitiable in the extreme. If European that high and holy service to which we hope they may in God's time be called." nations were as anxious about extending A German missionary magazine puts their sphere of (Jhri8tian influence as on record this inspiring story: they are to wield political sway, the con- "In June, 1869, the missionary Ram- seyer, of the Basle Missionary Society, quest of Africa for Chrisfwould, human- was dragged as a prisoner into Abetift, then a city of Ashantee, with his wife ly speaking, be speedily accomplished. and child. Ther. spent three daY's in a The difficulties encountered by her- miserable hut WIth their feet in chains. Human sacrifices were then common in alds of the cross are many and great. Abetift, which was under the tyranni- cal rule of the Ashantee chieftain. To- The climate is most trying in many day, in the same streets, under the same shady'trees, instead of the bloodyexecuparts of Ihe continent; the people, sunk tioner going his rounds a Christian con- gregation gathers together every Sunin degradation and steeped in supersti- day, followed b'y a troop of Sunday scholars. Christlan hymns, such I¥I tion, are for the most part satisfied to • Who will be Christ's soldier?' ring remain in their ·present condition. The Joyfully through the streets of Abetlfi. The people come out of their houses, diBlculties of evangelization are always tbe chieftain is invited; he comes with his suite and listens to the joyful tidings more spiritual than num,erical and finan- of salvation. And it is not in vain; many have become disciples of Jesus. cial, but it still remains true that there Many even dare to tell their fellow- countrymen in the streets what joY' and is a shameful lack of men and means to peace they have found in Him. Who would have dreamed of this twenty-five carry on the Lord's work in Africa. years ago?"
Christians at home should be as ready Dr. Elmslie, of Nyassaland, gives the to deny themselves as those who go. If following summary of the three rueth- ods of work in his mission field : such a spirit were only manifest, what a " 1. Evangeliatie.-Every one, whethspiritual quickening it would mean for er in school or employed in outdoor work, is hrought daily into contact with the home churches, and what an in- the Divine message of salvation. The dally worship, Bible classes, Scripture crease of facilities for carrying on the lessons in school, evangelistic services on the station and in the villages, are work abroad. our evangelistic agencies. The catechu- In spite of all shortcomings, hin- mens' class had an attendance of 14, while 37 and 65 attended the men's and drances and other difficulties, however, women's Bible classes respectively. Eleven male adults and three children the outlook in many places is very en- have been bapti?Jed; and there is a number of men whose lives are concouraging. sistent, but who, being polygamists, are denied admission to the church. Bishop Tucker writes from Uganda.: .. 2. Educational. -Three new schools " I do not know that anything cheered me more on my way from the Nile to were opened durinll: the season, and the Mengo than to have pointed out to me attendance has reached the highest point church after church crowning this or yet attained. The average daily attendthat hill, on the right hand and on the ance in our seven schools during the left. There are now, I believe, more four months February to May was 431. than 200 of these churches scattered We have 31 teachers and monitors, and throughout the countrl' The decent during the school session 79 scholars and orderly way in WhICh the services have advanced as far as to read the are conducted is another token of the Gospel. Not included in that number advance in spiritual things..•. there are not a few adults who have learn- ed to read at home. Over 200 gospels, " One of the most pressing problems hymn-books, readers, and catechisms before us for solution is how to provide have been sold during the session. pastoral oversight for these congregations which are being so rapidly formed .. 3. Medical work shows 1274 attendall over the country-not, be it remembered, the oversight of Europeans, but ances at the dispensary. of native pastors. I do not know that anything has encouraged me more since my arrival in the country than the assurance which I have received on every hand that the young men who are coming forward as teachers are in their spiritual life far in advance of the standard which for some years has prevailed. It is from this body of workers that we must look for our pastors, and every " The past calls for gratitude to God, times as great as that of the 13 colonies . and the future is full of promise." at the Revolution. We regard it as important to give the Gospel to the Altogether Africa has been the scene 2(i0,OOO Indians within our boundaof marvelous development in the past ries. yet for every Indian there are 32 negroes among us-enough to populate two years. Colonization and civiliza- a territory as large as Ohio, Indiana, tion have made steady progress. The and a large part of Illinois as thickly great powers of Europe are rapidly as- as these States are now settled. They suming control of large districts of the would populate Maine, New Hamp- shire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode country. Great Britain now holds al- Island, Delaware, North Dakota, South most continuous possession from north Dakota, Nebraska, Indian Territory, to south. Telegraphic communication New Mexico. Arizona, Utah, Colorado, has been established througbout the Idaho. Montana, Nevada, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Calicountry in many places. The slave fornia as densely as thseetsteledS.t*ateTs haensde trade has been compelled to betake itself Territories are now to greater secrecy and be less aggres- millions are not scattered over the whole sive. The war that has been prosecuted of this vast country, as is our foreign population, in every-day contact-with has resulted in opening large districts our American life and institutions. of the country to the Gospel. It is There are 7,000,000 of them huddled hoped that European control will not together in our Southern States, 10ca11;r introduce the vices of civilization, but and socially isolated. Nor is theIr present number only to be taken into what is better, the saving agencies of account, but their rate of increase, too- the Church of Christ. one generation ago 4,000.000, now In South Africa we find many com- 8,000,000; a generation hence, 16,000,- 000; two generations hence, 32.000,- munities in a fair state of civilization. 000. What hinders their present rate The masses of the pcople have received of increase? Surely the growing num- the Gospel, and many of them are able bers of colored population call for seri- to read the Bible in their own tongue. ous consideration, and emphasize the importance of their evangelization; for Missionaries are penetrating the Soudan they are here to stay-a permanent part from various directions, some going to of the great Christian nation.
Sierra Leone, in the vicil!ity of our own 2. But look upon the moral and spirmissionaries. Bishop William Taylor itual destitution of this growing mass. Generations ago they were brought here has been establishing outposts of Gos- out of the heart of barbarous, savage pel activity in the heart of the Congo. life. Of course they brought their Igno- According to good authority, 40 mis- rance, their superstitions, their vices, sionary societies, 700 foreign missiona- with them. Nor was there anything in the institution of slavery under which ries, and 7000 native preachers are put- they were held for over a century to ting forth their efforts to give the Gos- make them better. but rather worse.
pel to Africa. Thousands of missiona- For, under the Southern system of ries are now needed to carryon the slave laws they were not looked on as persons with personal or propertY' rights, work of evangelization. but as chattels, as so many ammals to be bought and sold at the option of the slave holder. A PLEA FOR TIlE FREEDMEN.
Under this system no regard was paid Every part of the great world-wide to the family relationship. Nosanctity mission field has its own peculiar inter- was attached to the marriage tie among est. This is specially true of missions the slaves. As a rule, they were not among the freedmen. under influences calculated to make 1. We stand face to face with their them upright, honest, and chaste. I growing numbers. One generation ago, say as a rule, for there were honorable at their emancipation, there were 4,000.- exceptions. The large proportion of 000. To·day there are 8,000,000. Try Southern white blood that ran into colby comparison to realize what 8,000,000 of negro popUlation means. If they alone occupied the Southern States, they would give it a population almost three * "Facta Abont the Freedmen" (Presbyte- rian Board for Freedmen). ored v:eins is proof of the kind of moral- dence without just claims. There are ity that, as a rule, was taught and prac- dependent people in the world who have tised among them. It is not necessary made themsel ves so by their vices and that one should have lived among them follies. Such dependence has no just to know their moral and spiritual degra- claims on the help of others. But the dation. It is but necessary to call to colored man's dependence has just mind the kind of life they were com- claims on us as a Christian nation. He pelled to live to judge what was their is not among us, poor by his own state at their emancipation. Doubtless choice. We brought him here; we during the generation of freedom that made him poor ; we kept him ignorant. they have enjoyed some progress up- For generations we consented to his en· ward and forward has been made. The slavement. We took the products of Gospel in the hands of the Church his hard toil to enrich his masters. North and South has done something to Suppose we paid over to him his just lift the negroes out of their degrada- and rightful share of the product of his tion; but as yet only in spots. The hard toil during the generations gone favored localities where colored schools by. It is safe to say there would be and churches have been planted are few enough to furnish every negro family in comparison with the vast territory of with a comfortable home and every colored population. Our missionaries community with a prosperous church testiCy that, after thirty years of effort, and school. When we help him now only a b6ginning has been made; that we are simply paying old debts without the intellectual, the moral, the spiritual interest. darkness and degradation among the Besides, at his emancipation we took negroes of the South is appalling. him as ward. When we enacted the Think of 1,000,000 colored children fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth growing up, outside of school and amendments we took on us as a Chrischurch, in ignorance and vice I Think tian nation the obligation of furnishing of 8,000,000, probably, of men and the negro with the qualifications of women who can neither read nor write I Christian citizenship. Nor is the help What must be the prospect, the social, we now give him to be regarded as disthe political outlook of that section of interested benevolence. If I have on our country where such ignorance and my foot a gangrened spot, it would not vice nests! be disinterested benevolence for the We spend millions 01 dollars ditching head and hand to say we will come to swamps, letting out the deadly malaria, the help of the foot, but self-preservaso as to make room for pure air and for tion. So it is in the case of negro evanprosperous and happy homes. Ought gelization. These Southern States, not thil:1 great Christian nation to be gangrened with negro ignorance and willing to spend something to drain out vice, are sister States, members of the these Southern swamps of negro igno- commonwealth. For Maine, New York, rance and vice and make room for Ohio, Illinois, and the other States to clean, happy, Christian colored homes? say that they will come to the help 8. Not only their moral and spiritual of the South in this matter is simply destitution, but their dependence on us is self- preservation. a strong element in the appeal. Lan- 5. Lastly, the response which tho guage cannot describe fully the depths freedmen make to our help is another of poverty in which the slave population important and encouraging count in the of the South stood at its emandpation. appeal. They realize their need, are They counted themselves freedmen, but anxious for our help to C)nable them to what wretched freedmen! freedmen in rise out of their degradation, and very rags I no lands, no implements of their grateful for it. They have proven own, no money I What could such pov- themselves capable of a Christian eduerty and ignorance be expected to do cation, and are easily molded by the for itself? Nor was there any disposi· influences of the Gospel. There are no tion in the South to help them as freed- hoary sYBtems of false religion or phimen; nor, indeed, any ability. South- losophy, as among the Hindus or Chi· ern industry had been paralyzed by the nese, to break down before a way can war. From this industrial paralysis it be made for Gospel truth and ChrIstian required a whole generation to recover. –institutions. The way is clear. A wide Even to-day the South is not much dis- door is open for immediate results. It posed nor able to shoulder the burden is safe to say that no missionary enter· of the black man's evangelization. He prise at home or abroad can show larger depends largely on the good people of fruits in proportion to the means invest· ed than the work among the freedmen. the North for help. 4. Hi8 C'lai17l8.-Nor is this a depen· -A. Lehmann, Moorefield, O.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTlVlENT.
Most encouraging reports reach us and at the end of the decade there were from time to time in personal letters 225 in all on the field.
and through the columns of the British The third decade (1885-95) was press as to the blessing attending the marked by more thorough visitation meetings conducted by Dr. Pierson in and evangelization, with consolidation.
the British Isles. The prayers of God's In 1887, in direct answer to prayer for people avail much, and the Holy Spirit 100 more workers, more than this num- daily draws many into a closer life with ber willingly offered, and £10,000 pro- God, inspiring them to more earnest vided for outfit and passage money. It study of the Word, more active interest is noticeable that when this new addi- in His kingdom, and more unselfish giv· tion was first asked of God praise was ing of self and substance to the Lord's at once offered in advance for blessings work at home and abroad.-D. L. P. to be given.
In 1886 the American branch was formed in Toronto, and seven years Sunday, June 25th, 1865, on the beach later 39 missionaries had sailed from at Brighton, England, J. Hudson Tay- America. At close of 1895 over 620 lor, unable to bear the sight of a large missionaries were on the field, and in congregation of 'over one thousand this third decade women'8 work had Christian people rejoicing in their own come to the front in a marvelous way.
blessings, privileges, and securities, " What ha,h God wrought" through while three hundred and eighty millions one man in answer to prayer I-A. T. P.
of people in Chins alone were perishing in their sins and for lack of knowl- edge, poured out his soul to God, aban- " The King of Korea and the Crown doning unbelief and all apathy, and sur- Prince (with the help of the Russian rendering himself to God for service to Legation) have formed a new govern- a perishing world. Wandering along ment. Kim-Hong-Tau, the Premier, those sands at the midnighth, hour he and seven other Japanese ministers were boldly asked God for twenty-four fel- beheaded, and their corpses dragged low-workers, two for each of the eleven through the streets. A decree is alleged unoccupied provinces of China and two to have been signed by the king at the for Mongolia. Both laborers and the Legation ordering that the heads of five funds were provided in answer to pray- ministers should be exposed on poles.
er without appeal to man, and one year All the telegraph wires were cut. On later this band set sail for the Middle receipt of the news on board the Ameri- Kingdom. can, British, and French men-of-war at At the end of the first decade (1875) Jin-Sen, marines were landed and left 37 workers were in the field. i=ediately for Seoul. The king is re- At the end of the 8econd decade (1885) ported to have been actuated by a de- all unoccupied provinces but two, sire to avenge the queen's murder. All Kwangsi and Hunan, were held by resi- the new ministers are said to be mem- dent missionaries. During this period, bers of the Min family. The Tokyo at the very hour of darkest midnight, papers allege that owing to the influence the Chefoo Convention was unexpect- of the Russian Minister the king re- edly signed and China thrown open mains at the Russian Legation, which throughout, and itineration and ex- is guarded by 200 marines.» ploration followed. Within three years The new ministry is favorable to (1882-85) 116 new missionaries, includ- Russia and is under Russia's protection.
ing the Cambridge band of 7, offered, It is too early to say whether or not Korea will become a .Russian province, have remained within the limits of but it will probably not be done with- Spanish authority. Bnt he could not. out a forcible protest from Japan. He no doubt felt it to be his duty to see the others safely off the island before he Diaz in Jail. should go. Their departure was delayed by some unknown cause. O'Halloran, Dr. J. T. Tichenor writes that on the the last to leave, sailed from Havana Wednesday the 15th. That night or afternoon of April 16th a telegram from the next day Diaz was arrested, In the Havana was brought to the home mis- last letter received from him he said he sionrooms of the Southern Baptist Con- was perfecting arrangements for the vention containing these words: ".Diaz care of our property in his absence. in jail. .. Dr. Tichenor says: The evidence before us points to the conclusion that it was his desire for the ., This startling intelligence brings the safety of others and his fidelity to the Board face to face with the gravest trust committed to him by the Board difficulty of its history. Dlaz has been that induced the delay that :resulted in in 3ail before, but then the charges his arrest. against him were trivial. If he had been found guilty the penalty would "For months communication with our not have involved life or liberty. Then missionaries has been difficult and hazthere was peace upon the island, and ardous. They were objects of suspicion partisanship did not torture into crimes because of their religious faith and practhe careless words of familiar conversa- tice. It is understood that all letters tion or base a charge of treason upon were subject to inspection at the Havana the loose expressions found in a letter post-office. Under the prevailing conto a friend. ditions the most innocent expression relating to our mission work In the "Widely different are the conditions excited minds of the Spanish authorprevailing now. The Spanish author- ities might be transformed into words Ity in Cuba is shaken to its foundation. indicating rebellion and treason. Every Cuban men and women are fighting letter we sent to Havana might engenagainst a tyranny more dreadful to der snspiclons that would result in the them than death, and for liberty dearer imprisonment of our missionaIies, and to them than life. every letter they sent to us might be fraught w,ith similar consequences. " The Spaniards have repudiated their Hence we do not know why Diaz deablest commander because of his justice layed so long in Havana. We only and his moderation, and have supplied know our brother is in prison, and we his place by the most bloodthirsty and must help him. cruel of all the Spanish leaders. Suspicion is tantamount to conviction of " Arrangements must be made to care crime. The horrors of Spanish prisons for him while in prison. He will not are augmented a hundredfold by the dare to eat or drink anything furnished multitudes of their diseased, vermin-in- by the prison authorities. He must fested, half-starved inmates. Justice, have such comforts as the common jails always delayed in Spanish courts, has of Havana do not contain. His health tIed the land, and nothing but the strong suffered greatly from his last imprisonarm of foreign power can preserve even ment, tho it was brief. Protracted imcitizens of other countries from the pas- prisonment now will endanger his life. sion-prompted sentences of its partisan tribunals. We cannot shut our eyes to "It was the horror of a Burman prison the fact that the life of our Brother Diaz that broke down the health of Judson is in great jeopardy. Not simply from and brought him so near the grave. It the danger of conviction for the alleged was the dungeon in which Herod conoffense, but from the greater danger of fined John the Baptist that staggered the protracted and torturing imprison- the faith of the forerunner and led. him ment he may be called to endure. who in triumphant tones cried, ' Be- " ,The Board will not stop to vindicate hold the Lamb of God l' to inquire in its actions in regard to their missiona- timid and doubting accent, • Art thou ries in Cuba further than to say that it He that should come, or look we for has taken every possible precaution for another ?' And Diaz is flesh and blood their safety. Assured that Diaz was in as were they. He will need expressions more danger than any of the others, the of sympathy from all his brethren who Board has been especially solicitous for have assigned him to that post of duty him, and could he have acted upon the and of danger. He has honored them suggestions made him, he would not by 8 life of devotion to their cause sur- passed by none among the living or the dead. " Let every Baptist of the South, man, woman, or child, be among those of whom hands are upon the plow; we cannot Diaz can say, • I was sick and in prison look back. Diaz may perish in prison and ye ministered unto me.' Let there or die by the hands of the executioner, not be oue who shall fail to honor him- but Cuba must be spiritually free. The self by some token of sympathy and mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
love to him with whom God has hon- ored our denomination. .. We are tempted to ask ifany will not respond to the needs of such a man; The need in Armenia is almost as what suffering, what distress can move his heart, or what calamity smiting the great as ever. Relief work did not stop soul of a child of God would draw forth in April, as was intimated in our last from one 80 callous evidence that the issue, but continues in order to make of love of God dwells in him? some avail what has already been done. .. The imprisonment of Brother Diaz will impose unlooked-for expenses on Without crops or means of obtaining the Board. Not only must he be cared them the Armenians must starve, and for, but so must his family. The ex- the past efforts to help them 'prove of penses of a trial, which Spanish courts no permanent valne. Their poverty well know how to make exceeding burdensome. Attorney's services-and he can scarcely be overstated. But they must have the best-will not be small. are beginning to hope and realize that, Nothing must be spared that will miti- they have Christian friends who are gate the suffering or spare the life of ready to help. Funds come in all too our brother. Money is valueless when counted against the life of such a man. slowly, and thus keep the missionaries We ask that every church connected'with and agents of the Red Cross Society the Southern Baptist Convention take from extending the relief so sorely need- immediately a special collection for this ed. Miss Clara Barton telegraphs that purpose. In thIS general movement of our people .there is a strong element of there is no obstacle to the work save safety to our brother. It will strengthen lack of fnnds. It is not yet time for him. It will cheer his prison days. It Christians to close their purses. Tywill enable him to resist disease and phus fever, small-pox, and dysentery maintain his vital power. "If Havana could know that ten thou- are raging in the stricken districts, and much of the relief work is now being sand Baptist churches by one concerted movement swelled a fund for Diaz's directed to ameliorate the condition of protection and freedom, how that would those suffering from these diseases. hold back the threatened blow and change the purpose to destroy! How We acknowledge the following con- it would affect our authorities at home tributions to the REVIEW relief fund to know that a. million and a half of since those mentioned in our previous Baptists were in earnest in their efforts issue: to save a man so honored of God, a. star of the first magnitude among the mis- Woman's Missionary Society of the Union sionary heroes of the world I Presbyterian Church, Tarkio, Mo……. $20.00 Mrs. Cordelia F. Waterbury, Jordanville, .. What influence and power it would N. Y …………………………….10.00 give them for all coming time to protect and promote the missionaries of Friend's Christian Endeavor Society, Fall their faith in every land and on every River, Mass ………………………. 7.25 shore. Diaz's imprisonment is ,God's Wm. T. Barry, Castorville, Cal. ….•.•….. 1.00 call to the churches of the South to arise Two Friends, Athens, Ga ………•……•. 2.00 Mr. R. C. Douds, Meadville, Pa…•……. 1.00 Benie Visscher, Holland, Mich…………. 1.00 Mrs. Roberts, Brooklyn, N. Y …………. 5.00 and shake off the dust of sloth and act " A Lady," Superior, Wis ……………… %.00 for his deliverance, for God's cause and James L. Kit.g. New york …………….. 5.00 for their own honor, in a manner worthy James Hoag, Jr., Allegheny, Pa……….. 2.00 Moravian Congregation, Lake Mills, Wis… 21.88 of themselves, worthy of the King they "A Friend of the Armenians," Manchester, adore, and of the Gospel which they must gi ve to all the nations. N. H "" ……………….. " ……….10.00 Rev. R. E. Brown, Iowa City, Iowa ……. 1.25 "What tho ten times that which is Bhickley(Nebraska)Union Y. P. S. C. E … 7.00 needed for these purposes should be contributed by our churches? It would We also acknowledge $12 from Miss be but a garnered supply from which to equip other soldiers of the cross who Florence G. Coulson, of Paterson, N. J., will reinforce God's conquering host on to be applied to carrying the Gospel that island. into Tibet. It has been forwarded to •, We are committed to this work. Qur the Tibetan Mission Band. The Congregational Home Mission- ant note, for all symphonized with the ary Society, whose headquarters are in mind of the Spirit. While much that New York City, will observe its seven· was helpful in the conference must be tieth anniversary here June 2d-4th, in looked for only in its effect upon the the Center Church, of which Rev. New· lives of those who were privileged to be 1p.llIl Smyth, D.D., is pastor. present, there was much of permanent value in the addresses, which will make The great missionary convention of the volume of printed reports most weI· 1888 was not in Liverpool, as stated in come to all students of missions. This the April REVIEW (p. 242), but in Lon· volume, which appears under the title don; the Liverpool convention took place in 1860. "Make Jesus King," * contains ad· dresses by Eugene Stock, Egerton Young, F. B. Meyer, Dr. George Smith, The Shah of Persia, Nasir·ed-Din, and Arthur T. Pierson, and is supple· who for nearly fifty years has occupied mented with fifteen valuable charts repthe throne of Persia, was assassinated . resenting the religions of the WOl'ld, the by a fanatic on May 1st. The heir pre· progress of evangelization, and the sumptive to the throne is ssid to be forces available for the work at home ignorant, bigoted, and intemperate; but and abroad. Every volunteer should at this date (May 2d) it is not certain possess this report; it is inspiring and that he will be the ruler of " The Land educating.
of the Sun." May God direct this The story of the Congo Mission, which tragedy to the estabishment of His kingdom in Persia.-D. L. P. is one of unique interest and sug- It is SI1id that the Czar of Russia con· gestiveness, is recorded by Mr. J. B.
Myer t in a small book profusely illus· trated and containing much valuable templates proclaiming religious freedom information. This acconnt has to do throughout the empire on the occasion especially with the Baptist Congo Mis· of his coronation (May 26th). The char- sion, but also deals in general with tho acter of the Russian priests is indicated country, people, language, and climate by the fact that they are not only mak- of the Congo Free State, and discusses ing strong protests against such a step, to some extent the work of other socie· but that they desire a renewal of the per· ties engaged in work of the kingdom secutions of the Stundists on the ground there.
that the Protestant faith is growing too rapidly.-D. L. P. The map of Africa which appears in this issue is reproduced by the Christ's Mission (142 West Twe~ty courtesy of the Young People's Mis· first Street, New York City) has accom- sionary Society, from one in use by plished a great work among Roman them in the Young People's Missionary Catholics. Several eminent priests Journal.
have recently been converted. Rev. " Africa Illustrated," t a volume of James O'Connor is a faithful steward, b~t the mission is $10,000 in debt. views showing daily life on the Dark Continent, will add much interest to the Books Notioed. study of missions among the people of Africa. Few conferences, if any, have been more manifestly under the guidance of *" Make Jesus Kiug." Student Volunteer the Spirit than that which met in Liver- Missionary Union, London, England. 4 shillings. pool in January last at the invitation of the British Student Volunteer Union. t "The Congo for Christ." By J. B. Myer. No one of the speakers struck adiscord- *Fleming H. Revell Co., 75 cents. Published by Illustrated A/rica, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, $1.00.
GENERAL MIBSIOliARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts a.nd Translations from Foreign masters and servants, good and bad, as Periodicals. among us; that you are only men as BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, we are, only that your skin Is of an· other color. Now, if a white man MASS. comes to us, we shall know better how AFRICA. to deal with him. We will tirst ascer- -Our Anglo-Saxon habit of spoiling tain whether he is a great lord. A ser· the natives of barbarous countries that vant must not put on airs. If he does, visit ours, or where we cannot do that, he shows out for a liar. But a free of spoiling ourselves over them, by man, who has a will and knows how to making them out to be what they are use it, will now and ever have honor not, it appears is not confined to us_ among us. ' "
Superintendent Merensky, speaking of -" The bishopric of Zanzibar, va· some natives of the slopes of Kilimanjaro, cant by the death of Bishop Smythles, brought to Berlin by the traveller, has been tilled up by_ the appointment Otto Ehlers, remarks: "Our news- of the Rev. W. M. Richardson, Vicar papers, which in colonial matterl are of Ponteland, near Newcastle. He hal not very Apt to be of sound head, pom- been chiefly engaged in parochial work, pously described the three strangers as but has some experience of teaching. 'princes. envoys, and ministers pleni- He is, of course, a very High Church· potentiary.' In reality these were sim- man. We trust that the new bishop, ple cowboys. It was again seen how un- . who took his degree in 1869, and Is, reasonable it was in Europe to make such therefore, presumably not less than Africans a mere object of curiosity and forty·six, has not passed the age at gaping wonder. They were loaded with which one may safely enter upon work presents of toys, which disgusted them. in Central Africa." • What is all this stuff for?' said they; 'this ia only for fools and chil- _" Miss Josephine Bartlett, who had dren.' They did indeed value one pres- labored for twenty years in conne€tion ent-some locksmiths' tiles. A circus with the Universities Mission at Kiunperformance displeasod them. 'Such gani, has died. 'When we who had a dance is bad, is evil magic. A wom- been scattered far and wide in the dif· an who dances so is a sorceress, she is ferent parts of our wide field of labor returned to Zanzibar, it was to Miss bad,' said they. "Their spokesman, at taking leave Bartlett that we all naturally turned, as to the one who would be the most interof Berlin, spoke as follows: " , We have seen many things in Ber- ested to hear all we had to tell of the lin, but have already forgotten many of work and workers far away, and who them. But one thing we have seen would evince the deepest sJmpBthy.' very plainly, which we shall not for- So writes Archdeacon Chauncey Maples, get, but shall tell to everybody at home. the bishop-designate of Nyasaland."- When a white man came to us we used Ohurcl& Mi8sionary InteUigencer • always to take him for a great, influen- -The working together in any toler- tial man. We said, " The whites are all able terms of peace of English Protest· rich; they stand in God's neighbor- ants and French Catholics having been hood." Now, since we have seen Ger· found impossible in Uganda, Rome many, we know better. We have seen Jla.s wisely determined to remove at least that here too there are rich and poor, the removable cause of friction, and to
EXTBACTS AND TBAl'fSLATIONS
sUbstitute English missionaries for brief activity, while sickness has great- French. Bishop Hanlon, of Manches- ly diminished the forces of the others, ter, takes BiS}lOp Hirth's place, and some of whom are compelled to leave takes with him a body of English priests for their health's sake for a longer or to replace the French. On the other shorter time. " – AtmindeUg Kirkeeid6nde hand, the new bishop avows his inten- (Provost VAHL).
tion to disregard the territorial division between the two religions. The root of . -Of the several Barotsi chiefs that trouble was planted when Cardinal have become Christians, one, Semonja Lavigerie, going back from his own or Sabeho-all the Barotsls have sev- word, sent Roman Catholics into a coun- eral names-is a son-in-law of the king.
try where Protestants had already been " He unites to a rare mildness a great laboring for some two years. force of character," says M. Coillard.
The Barotsis, men and women, are -" Far more compactly than various very free of speech, natural orators.
other Congo societies does the Swediah The movement which, after several Missionary League labor on the northern years of disconsolate waiting, very bank: of the Lower Congo. The three much like that of the first Moravian stations first established, Mukimbungu, missionaries in Greenland, has now Kibunzl, and Diadia, are now augment. broken out throughout the country, ed by two more, Uganda and Londe, manifests itself in free conferences at besides some out-stations. The stations which all have liberty to speak, men, have been provided with buildings, in women, children, chiefs and common- part of stone; transportation has been ers, free and bond. Of one, attended regulated, the training of the natives, by some seventy, M. Coillard says: old and young, to work, has been taken "There were beautiful things said in up; schools have been established for this simple gathering, where everybody adult men and for children, and others spoke so unrestrainedly, and whose gen- for women. There are 178 school chil- eral theme was Lot's Wife. One poor dren and 78 members. About a dozen woman told us that she had come from native evangelists are at work, for the bottom of the valley of Sefula. On whose training an evangelists' school her way she had found people working has been set up in Diadia. God's word in their fields. She accosted them, and is zealously proclaimed at the stations invited them to come to hear the word and by-stations, as well as in the neigh- of God_ They replied with contempt: boring villages. Diligent labor is laid • It is no longer the m01'11ti (missiona.ry) out on translations, and Missionary who comes to remind us that it is the Westlind is drawing up a grammar of Lord's day; now it is these fag-ends of the Fioti language. The New Testa- women folks I Begone 1 Be off to ment, biblical narratives, and a hymn- play the believer, if you imagine tha t book are printed on the hand-press in the missionaries are going to give you Kibunzi, and a beginning of a native cloths and beads·,' • Oh, my masters,'
literature has been made by the publica- answered the poor thing, • I am noth- tion of a missionary sheet and a little ing but a poor slave, to be sure. I am almanac. In Mukimbungu there has nothing, but I feel the need of learning been established a medical mission; but the things of God. Oh, no, it is not unhappily the physician, Dr. Walftrd- cloth or beads that I am looking for.
son, after laboring barely two years, What could I do with them? I have fell a victim to the climate just as an never worn anything but this bodice of apothecary was about to be sent out to skin. But I am a great sinner. and his assistance. Besides the physician, what I seek is the pardon of my sins I"
the mission since 1889 has lost 10 labor- " Everything is caprice and surprise ers of both sexes bl li(lll,t4, After only lAo il Mri<;~-9~e day fallille j the next,
GlilNERA.L MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
abundance, nay, even superabundance. as I said to him only yesterday-speak- Drought desolates us, and then it does ing of his personal habits-" he aban- not rain but that it pours. The post, dons all that made his life, piece by while we hope for better things, is the piece; but he cannot decide to give plaything of the same caprice. We himseU. Pray continually for him."
have more than once been nine long St. Augustine, about 420, remarks months without a single letter. We are that many Christians of his day thought now only at the end of April, and here that the coming of Christ was at hand, already are four mails from Europe because, said they, the Gospel had now since New Year's. One really believes been preached in all the world. He re- he is dreaming when he receives at Lea- minds them how very far the Roman luyi, in mid-April, letters coming from world is from being the whole actual Europe, and dated toward the middle world. There are, he remarks, many of January. Is this going to last? races, and even unknown races, to Does this announce to us the approach which the Gospel had not yet been of railways, of telegraphs, of tele- preached, and to which God had not yet phones? • •. .As to the telegraph, we made it possible to preach it. .. Even have long since known it as being in in the heart of our own Africa," says Mashonaland on its march to Alexan- he, " how many tribes there are of which dria by way of Nyasa, Tanganyika, we have no knowledge, and to which we Victoria Nyanza, and the Nile I A few have no access I" How different the years more and the iron horse will have case now, as to the world at large, and reached Palapye. It is far from the as to Africa in particular I time when I quitted the Cape and trav- " The answer of a woman patient at ersed the melancholy wilderness of the Tangier shows that in the land most Karroo in ox-wagons I" cursed by Mohammedanism the testi- The king, Lewanika, still maintains monyof God's Word has its answering close friendship with the missionaries, echo in the human heart. 'I asked to- but shows very faint signs of a heart day,' writes Miss ViJ].ing, 'who has sin?
touched by the Gospel. On the con- And one woman at the back of the . trary, his royal pride becomes more ex- room, whose clear brown eyes had been aggerated every day. This African always attentively fixed on me, said, grand monarque seems as deeply en- "Everyone but God," and when I gaged over questions of footstools and said nothing we could do would cleanse glass necklaces as that great pattern of away our sin, " Alms won't do it, fast- false greatness, Louis Quatorze, used to ing won't do it, and men going to Mecca be over questions of tabourets and arm- won't do it, they go with sin and they chairs, who had the right to sit on come back with sin," one woman said, which. .As M. Coillard remarks, this half under her breath, "Yes, and some is no road to the sense of sin and the of them with a good deal more."'''- humility of a converted man. The Medical. MiBBion,.
missionary reasons with him against JAPAN. such antiquated arrogance, and he pro- fesses to be convinced; but meanwhile -Dr. DALTON, quoted in the Zeit- the royal ceremonial becomes more com- 3chriftfiilrMi&ionakunde,remarksonthe plicated every day. At this rate, says rapid growth of the Sunday-school in M. Coillard, the SUbjects and the slaves Japan, and its great value in diffusing will soon have no place left for them on the Gospel. He deseribes a session, the earth. .. The progress in civiliza- opening with a hymn, sung to our tion, all is for the king and his family, Anglo-Saxon tunes. .. You see easily nothing for the people. " The heir-ap- that the children delight in the hymn ; parent, Litia, seems to show a more occasionally also, no doubt, the spirit- Ohristian I!linq. "Poor Lewanika /" ual song of the little Sundar schola~1I
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
resounds in many II heathen house, so cherry branch, on which little singing that the parents take up the words and birds rock themselves, accompanying melody. Then the leader offers a the Savior's words, "Behold the fowls prayer, often, it seems to me, too long of the air." On another, around a for the children, followed by the read- nosegay of lilies, runs the inscription, ing of the Scripture lesson, which is " Consider the lilies of the field."
then explained by the teachers, both The Zez'tschrift happily remarks that male, and often still more largely fe- the Buddhist imitation of the Sunday- male. These are mostly maidens of school is just such a sign of the impend- the people, who have themselves only ing collapse of Buddhism in Japan, as lately been baptized, and who cannot Julian the Apostate's futile attempts to forbear speaking to the little ones of introduce Christian usages and institu- Him who has so wonderfully touched tions into his decaying paganism was a their own heart and brought it to a sign of his despair. Conscious imitation glow. I have often found confirmed only succeeds where the principles are the remark of one who knows the land, the same; otherwise it only hastens that ' one can recognize in the features ruin.
of the young female Christians the " Wherever we would gain entrance gracious, transfiguring refulgence of for our faith among adherents of other the day that has risen lipon them.' " religions we are certainly bound, both In one Sunday-school Dr. Dalton was in justice and prudence, to acknowledge especially struck with two female help- all the truth and good we find already ers : here a young girl in somewhat in- prevailing among them. For instance, ferior attire, somewhat distorted in the Japanese can unquestionably give form, but her features reflected unmis- us lessons in filial reverence, obedience, takably her devoted care for the child- control over anger, moderation in our ish group entrusted to her, and her judgments of others. We are therefore warm affection for the Word of Life, bound to acknowledge this unreservedly which she was setting forth; and it to them."- Dr. Buss, in Zeitschrift fiM'
was plain to see by the attentively lis- Mi86ionskunde.
tening children that she understood how to touch the spot in the children's MISCELLANEOUS.
heart" where her word of the Holy -A small number of students in Den- Friend of the children finds a good mark having, as we see by the Blad, lodgment." Yonder ten or twelve been induced by Mr. Wilder to enter children around an old mother, by into the Students' Movement, exception years, toils and cares bowed sheer to has been taken to the solemn promise to the earth, and the little ones clustered go abroad. The students have there- around her as around a grandmother fore modified it into a profession of a who is disclosing to her grandchildren present intention to go abroad, not to a strange and wondrous story-world•. be lightly given up, but, in view of The pictures distributed, Dr. Dalton possible developments of duty, not bind- remarks, are wisely adapted to that ing with so much of the stringency of love of nature which so eminently dis- a vow. It is worthy of note that even tinguishes the Japanese. Here the ris- in the Catholic Church some of the later ing sun, on his edge It birdling trilling orders, especially the Oratorians and the his morning lay; the words are, " The Paulists, SUbstitute such a profession of kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent present intention for a vow, 80 that if therefore." There the snow·crowned strong reasons should appear for leav- Fujiyonama, and on the azure heaven ing the order, the conscience may not the words, " And tho I had all faith, so be entangled by an irrevocable engage- that I could remove mountains," etc. ment. As an eminent Roman Catholic Around another CArd twines a flowering c1ergyml'.ll hM sa,id to the present writ.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
er: .. Vows hardly agree with a free -" In Buddhism at once it may be age and a free land." Tho present dis- affirmed without qualification there is position to reintroduce them among no such conception as that of sin. Tak- Protestants is of dubious import. " Be ing sin in its primary sense, as trans- not entangled again with the yoke of gression against a personal Creator, sin bondage. ., there cannot be in a system which knows no such being. Sin, as it offers -" Millions at this moment are ready itself to the view of the Christian con· to die for Christ. A dead Socrates, a sciousness, in all its complex antago- dead Marcus Aurelius, a dead Francis nism to duty and love to God, in all its of ABsisi can do nothing for the world ; varied opposition to our service and but tho Christ died-yea. X'ather, He rose obedience to Him. in all its manifold again, and He has proclaimed His uni- ramifications of relationship to our fel· versal dominion~ Confucius owns many low-man, is not a possible conception followers over a vast space of the to the Buddhist mind. The creative world's surface, but he appeals to the and the fatherly idea lies at the root of Chinese alone; Mohammed has many all such manifestations and exercises of adherents, but he appeals only to Turks moral goodness. Buddhism has sup- and Arabians and certain Eastern peo- pressed the witness of the conscl~nce in pIes; but Christ appeals to every man man to God. It has denied His exist· who is born into the world. The old ence. Buddhism has thus far tended to man dies in the peace of Christ, and the delete from the tablets of the souls the little Christian child, on its death-bed, fundamental conception of sin. The whispers the same holy name. If we contrast, then, between sin in Christian take the very foremost men in genius and Buddhist theology breaks down whom this world has ever produced-a through its incompleteness. The other Dante, a Milton, a Newton-we find limb, in fact, of the comparison is want· them weeping over the records of that ing. Sin is everything in the Christian life which was given for man. But breed ; in the Buddhist fabric of belief none the less, when that story of Christ's it is not found." -Rev. G. ENSOR, in.
love is told to the very humblest and Ohurch MiBBionary Intdlig6nct11'.
meanest of mankind it comes home to their hearts; and I was told by the late saintly Bishop of Moosonee, who was English Notes. my friend and my guest, that if at this day you were to go down the bleak BY JAMES DOUGLAS. shores of Hudson's Bay, there-among those poor, I had almost said degraded Ohina Inland Mi88ion.-The account -at any rate, those poor, once savage supplied by Mr. F. A. Redfern of Indians and Eskimo-you would find .. Fruit Gathered" in Lan-chau, Kan- the Bible in almost every wigwam, and suh, is interesting, not only on account you would find in many of those poor, of the cases cited, but for the light cast converted savages, a humble student of on the difficulties in the way of the open the life of Christ in the Word of God. confession of Christ. Months and some- Therefore our commission is plain and times years transpire before faith is suffi- our duty is positive-to obey that last ciently reinforced by courage for the divine command by extending the area step of avowal to be taken. Mr. Red· of Christianity, by carrying further the fern gives details in respect of a number victories of Christianity, and by pro- of such cases, and magnifies the grace claiming to the remotest nations of the whereby several families have come out world the name of their Savior Christ_" boldly for the Lord. Nine persons -Archdeacon (now Dean) FARRAR, in have thus recently crossed" the rubi- Ohuroh MiB8ionarv Intelligenw. con, " and hope is elltertailled that Qthellj
ENGLISH NOTES
will speedily gather courage for testi· worship, and a large number on Sun· mony. days.
Sought and Found.-Under thic head, Work among t7te Ainus, Japan.-This Mrs. Simpson gives a graphic account work is full of promise. At the service of how a Chinese woman found the held at Pimtori, the capital, on the oc- Lord. A.bout a year previous Mr. Simp· casion of Mr. and Mrs. Batchelor'S visit, son had preached in the village of 200 Ainus were present. "We began," Ohih·li, where the woman and her hus· says Mr. Niven, who is now staying at band lived. Within six months the Piratori for the study of the language, husband fell ill and died, but as his end .. with the hymn' Je@uB loves me,' and drew near he said to his wife, •• When if the readers of the lntelligencer could I am gone you must go and visit them only have heard it sung they would [the missionaries], and inquire more fully have had a very definite turn given to about this doctrine. It is too late for their praises that day." The Ainu me; I cannot go, and I cannot find the Christians now number 449, among way, altho I want to do so ; but per· whom there are some bright and shinhaps God will take me after all." As ing lights. time went on the woman became might· ily convinced of sin. Eventually, after T'ai-chow, Ohina.-In December last nearly a year had passed from the time the Rev. J. C. Hoare made a three of the missionary's visit, she made her weeks' tour in the above district and way to the station, voicing her need in baptized several converts at each station the words: .. Yes, if you want to know v!sited-38 in all, of whom 27 were the biggest sinner iu the hall, here she adults. Mr. Hoare notes that a forward is." She wanted the Gospel, she want· movement was manifesting itself at the ed the Savior, and the Savior wanted close of the year, and that the people her. The result was that she speedily were recovering from the restraining found the pearl of great price. Simple effects of the war and war's alarms. and childlike in her faith, she sought to know Jesus' own words, and when she EngZislt Presbyterian Mi8sion.-The got them she stuck to them, and made Rev. C. Campbell Brown writes hope· them her pillow on which to rest. Her joy in the Lord continues to be very fully of his work in aMnc1ww. Along great. •• People think me crazy," she says; "but they do not know the pre· with a native preacher and his wife he cious Mediator I have got." has been evangelizing in the villages, sometimes walking many miles and The Story of Ohu·ping·Zan.- We have preaching wherever people could be not space to tell the graphic story of gathered to listen. .. Again and again, " this Chinaman's conversion, or what per· he says, .. we came upon men who secutions he endured. Suffice it to say seemed to drink in the Gospel. The that, constrained by the love of Jesus, wiiling hearers make any amount of he now superintends, in the busy cit.y labor worth while." In Chinchew itof 0 hao·ch'eng, an opium refuge. Since self the work grows visibly. the opening of this refuge, four and a half years ago, nearly 500 persons have Un·Sio.-In Un·Sio, which is near broken off opium. Not a few of these Ohangpoo, Formosa, there are the faint opium patients have. turned from idols beginnings of a Gospel work. Hopes to serve the living God, and to wait for are entertained that a preacher will be His Son from heaven. There is now a appointed to this sphere. The town is growing church in the city. About 50 one of some commerce, and faces the persons meet together every evening for sea. At present Un-Sio wails, practi. cally virgin soil, for its apostle.
The S. P. G. Mission.-The total in· come of the Society for the Propagation oj the Gospel amounted, in 1895, to
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
£118,258 lOs. 9d. The Bishop of Cape ern Berbers to listen to the Gospel. At Town warmly acknowledges the help the Harley House Training Institute, rendered by this mission to the church Bow, London, a young German of de- in his diocese for now nearly half a cen· cided talent and grace is preparing with tury. or The Church's outward growth a view to mission work among the Ber- and ever.increasing strength," he says, bers. His ling~al talent is most marked.
.. would have been utterly impossible London Missionary Society.-The edu· but for that help." In Osaka, Japan, a new bishopric has cational work in Travancore has greatly been constituted; while in Mahanoro, grown, tho there is still urgent need for Madagascar, the progress of the work a great enlargement of the means requi. is exemplified by the recent presentation site in providing for an adequate :sup. of over 50 candidates for confirmation. ply of trained native preachers. At .present there are 16 students, but three Baptist Missionary Society. -Writing times.that number are called for to meet from Watlteu Station, Lower Congo, the needs of 328 congregations, as well Miss de Hailes reports encouraging as evangelistic work among the Hindu progress. .. The school," she says, .. is community. greatly increased since I was here last The vernacular boys' schools of the year. There are 'now 135 boys and 15 mission number 329, with nearly 13,000 girls. . .. The ruling principle of the scholars; while the development of the station is love. All the work seems so real and solid. It is the life lived which zenana branch of the work has been nothing short of marvelous, there being sheds such a spiritual influence on those now 88 female native workers, 3000 around, and is leading many to the Sav- Hindu women under instruction in-their ior ; quite as much, I b!llieve, as the homes, and nearly 5000 girls of all words spoken. Last year, when I went classes in the schools. home, there were 17 church·members, 3 of whom were being supported by the King-Shan.-The success of the work others as evangelists. Now there are in King·Shan has been such a surprise 46 church·members, 4 of the number to Dr. Griffith John that, tho he has being evangelists supported by the had forty years' experience in China, members." he confesses, " I rejoice over it greatly, Italy.-A new hall has been opened but I rejoice with trembling." He in Florence, and after a month's ex· adds, "on this visit we have had 91 perience the prospects are encouraging. baptisms in King·Shan, of whom 60 are' 1<lr. Nathaniel A. Shaw, who is charged adult converts from heathenism." The with the work, is now giving a series of work in this district is not quite two historical lectures on the great reform· years old; and already it is difficult to ers, .. and these," he says, "are being see to what it is going to grow. " The listened to with the most rapt attention kindness of the King·Shan Christians," by large audiences." The entire ex· says this veteran, missionary, "I shall pense of fitting up this hall has been never forget, neither can I forget their met by a friend whose name Mr. Shaw earnel:!tness and zeal."
is not at liberty to publish, but for THE KINGDOM. whose generosity he thanks God and the donor. -In the largest and truest sense there South Morocco Mission.-This mission is no" negro problem" any more than has now been at work for seven or eight there is an .. Anglo·Saxon problem."
years. The founder is Mr. John Ander. The only problem which faces any pas- son, Glasgow. Mr. Nairn, ,the superin- tor or patriot or parish is the " human tendent, confirms the tidings of the problem. " And it is all capable of comparative willingness of the South- being resolved into simple terms which apply equally to every race and condi- which He is preparing us by shutting tion.-.Re1>. O. M. BheTiWn. us up to Himself. "-Mi8sionary Herald.
~The Rev. R. S. Storrs says: "The -God moves in a mysterious way, foreign missionary work tends to pre- His wonders to perform. Dr. Jacob sent on a wider and a cosmical scale the Chamberlain, of India, several years power of the Gospel for renovating the since wrote a little tract entitled •• Wind· world. We get the idea that the Gos- ing up a Horse," whose influence has pel is admirable for the nursery, excel- been so great as to be the means of turnlent for the sick, beautiful for Sunday- Ing $80,000 into the missionary fund of schools ; but we should also believe that the Reformed (Dutch) Church.
it is equal to great cosmical effects. -A letter from Mexico in the Mia· Such have been witnessed in Patagonia, Bionary Herald says: .. Various circum· in the Fiji Islands, in New Zealand, in stances had operated to prepare the way Madagascar, and elsewhere. They re- in an unusual manner for the reception inforce our faith in the potency of the of the Gospel. The just and Christian croSB." conduct of an American mining com· -For the present I believe the call of pany located here has been an Indirect Mazzini to Italy to be the real summons but powerful influence in favor of Protof the Christian minister to the indi- estant Christianity." This is, indeed, vidual: "Say to men, • Come, suffer; .. an unusual manner" of preparation, you will perhaps be deceivt:d, be be– and the fact seems to be established that trayed ; but you have a great duty to 801M corporations do have souls, and accomplish.' They will be deaf, per- consciences too.
haps for a long time, to the severe voice -A touching incident is related of of virtue, but on the day that they do two Mohammedans in Asia .Minor, decome to you, they will come as heroes, siring the Word of God, but hiding it and will be invincible."-Rev. B. F. for fear of persecution. One bought Mills. the Scriptures in Spanish, and learned -Mr. Peet, of Constantinople, writes: the language, that he might read it in " It seems to me that we have an un- safety_ Another walked 100 miles and usual opportunity before us; the dif- paid $1.50 for a copy-all he could ferences between the Protestant com- spare from a year's work.
munity and the Gregorians are fast -A hundred years ago the Scottish malting away. The position taken by Church, through some of its ministers, the American missionaries in this time pronounced this missionary idea 1;0 be of sorrow to the Armenian people is .. highly preposterous," and one of the giving them a place in the hearts of the praised, .. the happy ignorance of the Armenians which they never held be- untutored savage." A bishop of the fore. It is probable that we have be- Church of England publicly and pow- fore us opportunities without a parallel erfully argued against the idea of mis- in the history of these missions, and if sionary enterprise. Parliament declared we are able and have courage and grace against it. The servants of England in given us to hold on through the present the East treated OUI first missionaries as visitation, our position in this land breakers of the law. But for the char- will be such as never could have been ityof a Hindu usurer, the first mission· gained in any other way." And an- ary family in Bengal would at one time other missionary at the same capital: have had no roof t.o cover their heads.
" The best feature of the whole case is But for the courage of the gO'fernor of the clear acceptance by all the mis· a little Danish settlement, the next mis- sionaries of the faith that God has some sionary family who went to Bengal great blessing in store for us all for would have been seized by the English consul in Calcutta and shipped back to Missionary liIociety have rented a house .Europe. in Newton Center, which they placed in charge of Mrs. O. L. George, former- A hundred years ago the sense of the lya missionary in Burma, and here such churches, the policy of Parliament, the of their candidates for missionary serinstinct of self· preservation among Eng- vice as were not more advantageously lishmen who were working for Eng- pursuing their studies elsewhere have land in distant lands, were all arrayed found a home. and completed their against the missionary idea.-8ir Wil- preparation for missionary service by liam W. Hunter. taking advantage of the f~ci1ities afford- ed in Newton Theological Institution. -The Presbyterian ReDiew quotes the This enterprise, which was first begun following extract from the Catholic as something of an experiment, has com- New8, of Trinidad, which must be pub- mended itself so strongly to the Womlished in an exceedingly bilious climate, an's Board that they have now erected, or else, let the Bible Society be abated: by means of special contribUtions, a •• That most pernicious of all pernicious home for their missionary candidates. It sects-the Protestant Bible Society-is is located in the immediate vicinity of again at its murderous work. Its false the Theological Institution. Up to the prophets are galvanized into temporary present time the house has cost $17,140. activity, and this time it is the' benighted ' Catholics of Spanish America who -It was during the visit of Adoniare to have the peace of their homes ram Judson to this country in 1845 that invaded and the sanctity of their relig- the story of his own sufferings, as well ion vilified by psalm-singing twaddlers. as his account of the Karen people, led Gospel tramps, and ignorant hirelings, the women of the Gloversville, N. Y., who are a'Jout as competent to explain Baptist Church to organize the Karen the Word of God as a Hottentot is to Association, with their pastor's wife as lecture on bimetalism. These paid leader. The primary object Was to supemissaries of a society which gathers port a native missionary among the into Its coffers the savings of dyspeptic Karens. The sum needed was $35. old maids, these self-constituted apos- This band of 15 women set about earntles. laymen clothed in clerical garb, ing the money by sewing on gloves. carryon an infamous traffic in a Bible At the end of the year the needed sum which they cannot understand, and yet was secu~ed and forwarded to the Misprofess to explain to the addle-pated sionary Union. A few years later the dupes who are weak enough to listen to sum was increased to $50, and still later them. All honor, then, to the Catholics to $100. Twenty-five years before the of South America who have expelled organization of the Woman's Baptist the evangelical carpet-baggers. The Foreign Missionary Society the women priests and people of Spanish America of the Karen Association pledged themwill not remain passive while the slimy selves to pay three pennies per week serpent of heresy endeavors to imprint into the treasury. This is believed to its poisonous fangs in the souls of their be the first society on record whose little ones. If the Venezuelans are members were pledged to a certain ignorant of anything, it is of the use of number of pennies per week for mistar and feathers, a judicious application sionary purposes. of which would be sufficient to keep the brawling ranters of the Bible So· -Helping Hand has these words reciety at a safe distance from their garding the inspiration of missionary shores." studies: ' Our mission circles open to women an inexhaustible and inspiring WOMAN'S WORK. field of study. We have an investment in India, and India has a new interest -For several years the Board of Directors of the Woman's Baptist Foreign for us. We are caring for some gifted Jews. We are not surprised, and only woman while she teaches those black, wonder that they did not take their barbarous children of ours in Africs- course sooner; and we are much surand we want to know Africa itself. prised that Dr. John Hall and Dr. D. J. Our missionary contributions are giving Burrill are so courageous as to continue us an ownership in old Earth that makes to stand as its sponsors. Nearly a year her most distant lands dearer than the ago we gave a list of Jewish missions homestead of our childhood. What a in this city, and took conspicuous pains literature is open to our study I Facts not to indorse Mr. Warszawiak's soci· before which fiction pales; truths be- ety. We do not pretend to have made hind which romance must hide herself. as thorough an investigation of the Read faithfully the best of our mission- charges against him as has Dr. Schaufary periodicals, with their heroic history fier, who publicly charges him with of our day, and you will feel that you being a persistent liar, and with specuhave trod the borderland of heaven and lation in trust funds, and we do not listened to angel choirs. " therefore indorse this indictment; but we do know that Mr. Warszawiak's -The annual report of the Church of attempt to raise $60,000 for a big Scotland's Women's Association for 'Christ's Synagog,' where bis Chris- Jewish Missions states that there are tian Jews shall herd by themselves to 958 girls in the mission schools, 819 of his great honor and glory, is uttetly them being Jewesses. There are now foolish and needless, and is enough to 2 medical nurses at Smyrna under the throw suspicion on the wisdom, if not association, and a lady evangelist at Al- good faith, of this persuasive preacher exandria who does excellent work in to Christians." visiting the homes of the Jewish girls in attendance at the school. The in- -Indian schools have been carried on come is steadily rising. It appears that for a long time, but almost without obthe total amount of subscriptions and servation so far as the general public donations is £1001, as compared with are concerned. But if satisfactory ar- £698 for 1894, or an increase of £302. rangements can be made for transporta- tion and entertainment W. N. Hail- AMERICA. mann, National Superintendent of Ind- ian Schools, proposes to hold summer United States.-There is a town on institutes for Indian school employees at the Upper Snake River, in Idaho, called St. Paul, San Francisco, and Lawrence, New Sweden. Hans Hansen is mayor Kan., next season. The tentative date of the tOWD, Peter Petersen is clerk, for St. Paul is July 20th-25th. and the common council is composed of Pete Hansen, Hans Petersen, Peter -There are 4961 Indian members of Hans Petersen, Hans Peter Hansen, the churches under the care of the Presand Peter Hansen Hans Petersen. No byterian B:Jard of Home Missions. Last relationship exists among these men. year these people contributed toward But where, pray, is the Anp:lo-Saxon all the support of their own work $3459, this time? and for foreign missions, $2652.
-The Independent gives this severe -The Baptist Publication Society has arraignment of a much-advertised move- 4 church cars in constant use for misment: "Seven leading clergymen of sionary tours. One of the~e recently this city, Drs. Josiah Strong, C. H. reached San Francisco from a southern Parkhurst, H. A. Stimson, S. H. Vir- trip. It is 85 feet long, with the living gin, W. H. P. Faunce, J. R. Davies, apartments of the pastor at one end and F. F. Ellinwood, have issued a and a completely appointed church occard withdrawing from the Board of cupying the rest of the space. It con- Hermann Warszawiak's mission to the tains an organ, lectern and pulpit. The car carries Bibles in 12 languages, and West Indians, and East Indians. Of large stocks of religious publications. the ministerial members whose names The railroads haul the cars free' of are on the roll to·day, 1, the father of charge, and the telephone companies the Presbytery, is a West Indian, 1 is furnish "franks" to the pastors in an East Indian, 2 are Scotsmen, and charge. No collections are made at 6 are Canadians: while of the mem- any of the services. Whenever a like- bers who are ruling elders, 2 are of ly place for work is found the car is West Indian origin, 2 are East Indians, sidetracked. and 2' are of Portuguese extraction.
-In Alaska the Presbyterians have 8 The membership of the church has been mission stations: Chilcat, Fort Wran. and is even more varied in origin. We gle, Hoonah, Juneau, Point Barrow, St. have Scotsmen, Englishmen, Portu- Lawrence Island. Hydah, and Sitka. guese, Danes, Canadians, Chinese, Afri- Swedish Lutheran, 4 stations: Golvin cans, Trinidadians, and natives of al- Bay, Unalaklik, Kangekosork, and most every island in the West Indies, Yakatat. Moravian,4 stations: Bethel, while perhaps quite half of the whole Ougavig, Quinhaha. and Carmel. Epis- number are East Indians.
copal. 8 stations: Point Hope, Anvik, -Thirty years ago there was no or- and Fort Adams. Methodist. 1 station, ganized evangelical church or school Unalaska. Baptist. 1 station, Wood house in Mexico; the statistical results Island. Congregational. 1 station, Cape of twenty-five years' systematic work is Prince of Wales. Roman Catholic: as follows: Centers of operation, 90; Juneau, and 5 stations on the Yukon. congregations, 615; ordained missiona- The Russo·Greek Church has missions ries, 60; assistant missionaries and wives scattered through southeastern Alaska, of ordained and assistant missionaries, besides a few farther north. 60; lady teachers, 6"1 ; native preachers, -Father Chiniquy wrote lately to the ordained, 111 ; native preachers, unor· Ohriatian, of London, in the following dained, 164; native teachers, 177 ; other cheerful strain: .. I am happy to tell native helpers, 94; grand total of foryou that the number of converts from eign and native workers, 732; churches Rome now is much more than 45,000, organized, 444; communicants, 17,000 ; and it is rapidly increasing every day. probable adherents, 50,000.
We do not count less than 100 young -'-During the third quarter of the ministers of the Gospel, all converts, present century the word Mexico stood with whom it is my privilege to work. as the synonym for anarchy, misgovern- We have helped 37 priests to give up ment, despotism, and all other weaktheir errors to accept the Gospel." nesses and vices possible to a popular -These statements concerning the government. But since then so great Trinidad Mission of the Canadian Pres- have been the changes that Zion'a Her- byterian Church are full of interest. ald can write: .. President Diaz enjoys The work is mainly among the East the almost universal confidence and es- Indians, was begun in 1868, and there teem of his people. The country has are now 6 churches, with 635 commu- developed along many lines to a surpris- nicants, 3 native ministers, and 53 cate· ing degree under his discreet and effi- chists. Last year there were 359 bap- cient leadership. There was a touch of tisms. In the 54 East Indian schools egotism in his recent message to Con- there is an average daily attendance of gress in which he reviewed the progress 2168. The first ministers were Scots- made under his administration; the men, and there have been Scotch memo peaceful relations maintained with for- bers of the Presbytery ever since; but eign powers, the sanitary regulations there have been associated with them adopted, the charitable institutions aid- Portuguese, Americans, Canadians, ed, the expansion of mining industries, railroad, telegraph, and postal exten- had a very successful year, the efforts sion, the hopeful condition of the na- of 9 agents and 121 native colporteurs tional finances, etc.-but he has solid having been crowned with much bless- ground for complacency; he richly ing. The Hankow Press printed 13,000 deserves the honors heaped upon him." New Testaments, and 350,000 portions, EUROPE. with nearly 1,000,000 tracts. A second annotated Gospel, that of St. Matthew, Great Britain.-The British and For- is about" to be issued from the same eign Bible Society distributes on an press. To various parts of Africa, to average over 13,000 copies of the Bible South America, and to the Colonies, daily, nearly 4,000,000 a year. Its in- Scriptures have been sent for circulafluence is continually extending more tion through various agencies. Among widely over the whole world; the Bible other versions published or issuing from being now translated into the languages the press, is the Mang'anja version by of nine tenths of the human race. At Rev. David Clement Scott, of the Blanthe beginning of the century it had only tyre mission.
been translated into the languages of -The Universities' Mission of the one fifth. Church of England has sent into the -One of the vice-presidents of the African field no less than 7 bishops, of British Bible Society has issued a pam- whom 3 still survive. Of the other 4, phlet which shows that the Bible is now 1 is buried without memorial in his printed in 381 languages, no less than cathedral in a lone grave by the Zam- 52 versions having been added in the besi; another, the builder of the cathe· last five years. Forty-two of these ver- dral, rests alongside of its altar ; a third sions are credited to the English and sleeps also without a memorial in his Scotch translators and societies, and to cathedral, beneath the waves of the Ind· American societies, 5. What toil this ian Ocean, and now the fourth has sunk meant to the translators is easily seen to rest in the waters of the Nyassa, hard from the fact that in the list 23 languages by Cape Maclear.
and dialects belong to the African Bantu ,~ -The foreign mission work of the family, 4 belong to each of the follow- Irish Presbyterian Church is carried on ing : Malayan, Chinese, and Melanesian; in the province of JUjarat and Kathia- 3 are Indian languages; 2 each belong war (Bombay Presidency, India), and in to the negro, Turki, Druidian and Manchuria (North China). It has 23 Hamitic groups, and 1 each to the missionaries at work, 3 of them medical Tibeto-Barman, Aryan and Micronesian missionaries, imd there are 3 native pasfamilies. Such a description is strik- tors and 194 native Christian workers ingly significant. (evangelists, teachers, etc.). There is -The National Bible Society of Scot- an annual collection taken up in all the land had an income of £25,976 in 1895, congregations of the church-561 in which exceeded that of 1894 by £3338, number-for the foreign mission. The but the expenditure was £30,642, being collection taken Za8t Janua'l'1J was the larger than that of the previous year by large8t in the history of the mimon, £1666. The issues of Scriptures were amounting to somewhere about £6600.
814,408, the largest circulation yet re- This is all the more satisfactory as a ported. The total issues since 1861 sum of above £1400 has been recently amount to 15,654,307 Scriptures. On raised by a special effort to send out a the Continent 198 colporteurs circulated number of our student volunteers, who, the Scriptures in 12 countries, from Nor- on the completion of their course, offered way to Macedonia. In India, Korea, themselves to the Church to go to the and Japan, Bible work has been vigor- foreign field on any terms that the funds ously prosecuted. In China the society of the mission would permit. Three of the tJ who thus offered are already in but 62,000 Protestants in Italy out of a the field. population of some 30,000,000. Nor is – Thirteen missionaries are about to that all. A large proportion of the 29,- sail for Manchuria, sent by the United 000,000 odd have forsaken the Catholi- Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which cism of their youth, having found it has a very promising mission field there. honeycombed with superstition, and now The work was interrupted by the late are blatant skeptics of all religion.
war between China and Japan, and one -The Norwegian Missionary Society, young missionary fell a martyr to Chi- which works mainly in Natal, Zululand, nese bigotry, but it is being resumed and Madagascar, has in Africa 14 main under most hopeful conditions. Six stations and. nearly 150 out-stations; in missionaries are also expected to leave Madagascar some 20 main stations, and shortly for Old Calabar, the oldest mis- upward of 500 out-stations. In Mada- sion field of the United Presbyterian gascar last year there were nearly 39,000 Church, which has suffered sadly of late communicants, and about 60 native mis- years through loss of life on account of sionaries.
the dangerous climate. -The mission work of the Russian -The complaining cry is, "Let us Church is generally overlooked or un- not rob Christendom of the Gospel in dervalued, and we may fail to note how our sentimental zeal for the redemption its missionaries work among the Buriat of heathendom." But a writer in the tribes of Eastern Siberia. They have April Ohureh MU8ionary InteUigeneer just accomplished an interesting and affirms: "Deducting, as seems fair, the difficult piece of work, the translation total of church collections and Easter of the liturgy of the Greek Church offerings, and also the endowment of into the dialect of the Yakuts. That schools, we have, as the amount con- language is so poor that it can only tributed parochially for home work, boast of 200 root words. For example, £5,369,232, and for foreign work, there is no word in the language for £251,102, which shows that for £1 bread, cereals being unknown in that which goes abroad there is £20 spent at inhospitable region. All words of high- . home. But since there are 33 times er religious significance–e.g., righteous- as many Mohammedans and heathen ness, faith, mercy, even justice, have abroad as there are people in England been imported bodily from the Russian. and Wales, we find that of the money contributed, 660 times as much is spent ASIA.
parocWally over Christian work for each India.-A generation ago Indill was nominal Christian at home as there is only beginning its career under the for each professing heathen or Moham- Queen's rule. Railroads were laying medan abroad. Of course this is not a their first rails, and schools were startfinal nor exact conclusion. The con- ing. Now there are 20,000 miles of tributions to purely Church of England railroads, and 15,000,000 of people who missionary societies in 1894 was over speak English fluently. Caste was £572,000; but then, on the other hand, rigid. Pilgrims swarmed all roads. there are the endowments of livings Now they are few. Then they swung which would have to be taken into ac- by their naked flesh from hooks, walked count in any close comparison." on iron spikes, threw themselves under The Continent.-Italy is a country Juggernaut's car and burned them- which many are apt to think does not selves. Now apologists are beginning offer a promising field for missionary to deny that such things happened.
effort. That, however, is not the opin- The monastic endowments are coming ion of the promoters of the Spezia mis- to be a stench in the nostrils of some sion, for the report states that there are good Hindus. One of their orthodox Buddhist papers, the Rei8 and Rayyat, also is often carried on in knee-deep of Calcutta, scores Mrs. Besant, the the- water. They glean the fallen ears with osophist, saying: "It behooves every their toes and fingers out of the muddy well-wisher of the country to tell her waters and catch fish in creels, wading plainly that sensible men do not want up to their waists in the same waters her eloquence for gilding what is rot- frequented by the alligator and buffalo.
ten. " .. The men's work Is as dirty and de· -For some time there has been a re- grading as that of the women; followmarkable movement of Dherd families ing the plough up to their waists in in and around Anand toward Christian- muddy water is not so hard or filthy as ity in connection with the Irish Presby- that of mending the banks of the fields terian mission. At the end of last year when the fioods go down. They bring there were 64 families on the roll of boat-loads of boughs from the jungles; new adherents, after some doubtful these are laid on the banks, and a thick cases had been deducted. At a more layer of mud is thrown on the top. recent date 34 adults and 22 children The mud has to be taken out of the were baptized, coming from 11 villages. bottom of the canals and rivers; the It is especially difficult, however, for men dive down and bring it to the surthe women to break off heathen cus- face in their arms, resting it against toms. .. Indeed, the winning of the their naked bodies; it is black and women to Christ is the solution of the semi-liquid, being the decayed vegetaproblem before us. Last Sabbath our ble mold brought down by the rivers, church here was crowded on the men's and has a peculiar, disgusting smell. side, while the women's side, contain· They have also to dive under water to ing only a third of the space of the find the holes made in the banks by other, was far from full. The great the alligators in which they lay their desideratum here just now is trust- eggs. Their tools for this work are worthy native women workers, under made from the iron-like wood of the the control and guidance of European palm, shaped somewhat ike the oar of lady missionaries." an outrigger; with this they slice down to the holes and build up the bank -The TravancoreDioce8an Record again in layers of brushwood and mud.
has the following graphic description As the black mud dries on their bodies of the condition of the PuJayans, one the men look like their scaly brothers of the depressed classes in Travancore : the alligators. To have to pass a boat- " The women become prematurely old load of men returning from work is an from working in the water under a infliction to anyone possessed of an tropical sun; the weeding and trans- ordinary nose for smelling, for they planting of paddy in low-lying fields is seldom if ever wash, and even if they their work, besides the harrowing of did, the water has the same disagree- the fields after ploughing. They may able odor. The pores of their skins be- be called, literally, human harrows, for come permanently impregnated with under a burning sun they may be seen this same smell of mud in which they sitting in rows, up to their necks in the work and on which their hovels, made muddy water,· which has been stirred of mud, leaves, and sticks, are put up."
up by the plough and the feet of the buffaloes. pulling out with their fingers -So far as known, the American and toes the weeds, particularly a Mission High School in Bombay is the troublesome, massy-looking weed, which only high school ill India where co- breaks into pieces under the plough, education exists. By taking so many and heaping them into little islands in of the pupils while very young, Mr.
the water or dragging the long, shiny and Mrs. Hume have succeeded in ere- things into the blW~. The reaping I1tin~ a public sentiment which, with unceasing vigilance on their part, has Abroad, Rev. Mr. Bergen, of Chefoo, done away with supposed eVils in mixed says that the terrible poverty prevailing schools. "These are day schools com- can only be known by those who spend posed entirely of children from heathen days and nights among the Chinese, see- families- I have had two most interest- ing them in their common life, and he ing mornings visiting two of them and adds: .. This is a bran-eating, not a the homes from which they come, with 11our-eating, people with which we have Mrs. Hume and the Bible women, to do-a grass-eating and root-eating Balubai and Kash'bai. We found the people. They live practically without children in a little room up a narrow meat. Should there be a happy demise 11ight of stairs, sitting on the 1100r of cow or mule, dog or donkey, througb against the walls with their slates on accident or tuberculosis or general de- the 1100r in front of them_ Such dear crepitude, there is a neighborhood feast.
little things as they are, all sizes, and They eat occasionally of wheat bread, in all Borts of costumes ; here a small buy a bit of pork, have a bowl of vege- boy, resplendent in pink and white silk tables, a few ounces of salt fish, but trousers, yellow satin jacket, and a cap just about as often as the ordinary with high white feather, and there a A.merican citizen indulges in terrapin bit of humanity entirely in nature's cos- or canvas-back ducks."
tume, a little living bronze statue who has dropped in for a few moments to -H. N. Lachlan, of Gan-King, writes see what is going on ; there little atoms that in China, especially in the south, of girls loaded with jewelry, whose " the bamboo is a.lmost as useful as the black beads show that they are already reindeer in Lapland, or the palm tree in married; and here is one with great Southern India. In furnishing your baunting black eyes with the red paint house it will supply you with tables, on her forehead, which may show that chairs, beds, sofas, stools, stands, she is doomed to life in an idol tem- screens, brooms, mats, mattresses, food, ple. "-Miss Abbie (Jhild. fuel, paper, pencil handles, cups, buck- China.-Mr. Denby, our Minister to ets, bird-cages, pipes, whether for smok- China, has sent forth the following cir- ing or bringing down rain from the cular to all our consuls in China under roof, not to mention its uses for carrydate of February 6th: "To the Consuls ing, building and boating."
of the United States,-Gentlemen: I ]apan.-It is reported that the Japhave the honor to inform you that his anese Governor-General of Formosa has excellency, M. A. Gerard, Minister of prohibited the use of opium in the island, France, has recently procured from the under heavy penalties. This edict may Tsung-L-Yamen, by virtue of the cause an exodus of the Chinese inhab- French treaty of 1858, an order direct- itants; but the authorities say that it ing the local authorities in all provinces would be easy to supply their places of the empire to expunge from the vari- by immigrants from Japan. There is ous editions and compilations of the no law in Japan more rigidly enforced Chinese Code all claims placing restric- than that which forbids the use of tions upon the propagation of the Chris- opium. The Ohristian Instructor says tian religion. You are directed to bring that last summer 4 men, natives, who this circular to the attention of the were detected smoking it were sent to A.merican missions in your consular dis- the penitentiary for two years, and the tricts. It gives me pleasure to add that Chinaman who sold them the drng got the Minister of France is entitled to the seven years. gratitude of the Christian world for his action in this important matter. -The Presbyterian Church of Japan -In an article in Oht&rch at llQmfl awl ~8 soon to begin mf,ssi9Ilary work in Formosa. President Ibuka, of Tokyo, byterian Church, South, has this from and President Ogimi, of Steele College, the Upper Congo; "Mission work was Nagasaki, have been appointed to visit begun in China in 1807. In 1842 the the field and report· to the Mission visible results were 6 converts. Lapsley Board. Three thousand dollars are to and Sheppard went to Africa in 1890. be raised from the Japanese churches One year was consumed in exploration. to inaugurate and push forward this Our work at Luebo will be five years new work. old this fall. On the one hand mission- ary experience elsewhere would have -Japan is seeking commercial con· led us to expect long and patient waitquests on the sea. A purpose to share ing while the unseen foundations were the carrying trade of the world with being laid, before the structure of our Great Britain is clearly shown. A line African church would appear above the to Bombay has been arranged, and a surface. But the Lord has seen good line to Australia is planned. Six new to give special tokens of His favor on 5000-ton steamers have been ordered in this work. Since early in the spring all England, and .when finished these are the services held have been attended to be placed on the European line with with constant and manifest tokens of the Tosa-Maru now running. The en- the Spirit's presence; and Dr. Snyder's terprise shown in the land of the Mikado report just received announces the oris astonishing. ganization of a church of 48 hopefully converted natives. AFRICA.
-Fever continues to mow down the -Bishop Tucker, who is still in workmen of God in the fatal climate of Uganda, writes in the warmest praise of the West Coast. Last October the mis· the material improvement in the coun· sionary Roess died on the Gold Coast, try since it has been a British protecwhere he had been working for six torate. Order reigns in the place, and years. It is the seventh death in the there has been a great increase in cultiranks of the Basle Society, on the West vation. But it is the spiritual progress Coast, since the month of May last. in the place which naturally claims But the work goes on. There has never most of the bishop'S attention. The been such a number of baptisms as on new church in the capital has been the last missionary tour. In the district built to hold 4000 people, and in the of Akem especially, among the Chi surrounding neighborhood there are 23 population, converts are very numer- smaller churches, which are all served ous. The fortress of heathendom does from the capital, and attract large not yet fall down in large masses; it is and attentive congregations. Scattered only separate stones which are being de- throughout the country there are tached; but the frequency of the fact is now some 200 churches, where service remarkable, and begins to disintegrate is reverently and orderly conducted, the mass of heathendom. To prove and a church has been lately erected this, it is enough to remember that in within the king's compound. Mwanga 1864, after thirty ·seven years of work, himself is not yet a Christian, altho his the BasIe Mission counted 961 Chris- attitude toward Christianity has much tians on the Gold Coast. In the course improved. The native church has of the last inspection, the missionaries caught the missionary spirit, and large registered 962 adult baptisms, and the numbers of the native Christians go into number of Christians had risen to 13,- all the country round as evangelistic 036 of whom 5442 are communicants, agents. During one week nearly 350 besIdes 479 catechumens.-Bvangeliaehe were confirmed. HdderWote.
-'!'he jJ(i,ssiona'l"lI, organ of the Pres- -News has ~Qw:e b~ th,e ~eQ6l,ltlr opened telegraph that a powerful slave- wife are Protestants, they are being dealing chief, Mwasigungu, to the west cursed by the Catholics both here and of Lake Nyassa, has been crushed. in France. The Catholic bishops blessed Mwasigungu had been conducting his the expedition, sung • Te Deums ' over raids in the district in charge of Mr. the fall of the capital, and now they A. J. Swann, whose station is Kota have taken to cursing the French Gov- Kota. Mr. Swann, who was for some ernment for sending out a Protestant years in the service of the London Mis- Resident-General ; but it is of little consionary Society on Lake Tanganyika, sequence, only that curses are said to had assembled some 5000 nati ves to put have a knack of coming home to roost I . a stop to his depredations, and he was The French are making changes here, joined by a force of 150 regular troops, for they have already set the Malagasy the whole being under the command of to repair their wa~ s and make the Lieutenant Alston of the Coldstream break-neck roads we had here in the Guards. They attacked the forces of capital into something like decent the slave-raiders, numbering 20,000 streets… fighting men, and completely routed them. Now that the Arab Mlozi at the -Once when Mr. John Williams was north end, and Mwasigungu on the explaining to the people of Haiatea west side of Lake Nyassa have been how English Christians raised money disposed of, the slave route to the Zam- to send the Gospel to the heathen, the bezi is closed, and the trade route into natives expressed regret at not having the far interior westward and north- money to use in the same good work. westward of the lake is open. These He replied: .. If you have no money, victories are most important, and they you have something that takes the are likely to prove the death·blow of place of money. something to buy money the slave trade in those parts of Africa. with ,'" he then referred to the pigs that he had brought to the island on -The evangelization of Abyssinia his first visit, which now every family was undertaken by the Swedish Mis- possessed; and suggested that every sionary Society as early as 1866, but family should Bet apart a pig f01' caU8until the Italian occupation the mis- ing the W01'd of God to grow; and when sionaries were unable to get any far- the ships came, sell the pigs for money. ther than the island of Massowah Ilnd The natives eagerly followed the sug- Monkullu on the adjacent mainland. gestion, and the next morning the Afterward they were able to go forth squeaking of the pigs which were reinto the interior, and now in the dis- ceiving the "mark 01 the Lord" in trict of Hamasen they have 93 converts, their ears was everywhere heard. On They have made many endeavors, hith- Mr. Williams' return to the island, the erto unsuccessful, to reach the Gallas. native treasurer put into his bands £103, the product of these sales. It was the ISLANDS OF THE SEA.. first money they had ever possessed, but every farthing was given to the lI/Iadagascar.-A special correspondent of the Aberdeen F1u Prea8 writes : cause of Christ. .. The new French Resident-General, ]1.1. Lauroche, has arrived, bringing a -Only a few years since in New staff of 40 officials with him. He seems Guinea, on one occasion the friends of a very superior man, and one that is a woman, whose husband had just died, most anxious to do the right thing by came to condole with her. Having no all, and the very best he can for this pig to feast them with, she dug up the country and people; but as he and his dead body of her husband, and they re- galea themselves on e7w,t,
The Missionary Review of the World — May 1895
PALACE, BA~GKOK, SIA)I
MISSI'ON'A'RY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVIII. No.5.-01d Serie.5.-MAY.-VOL. VIII. No. 5.-NMJ1~.
SOME HINDRANCES AND HELPS IN EVANGELIZING LAOS LAND.
The great hindrances to the spread of the Gospel and the conversion of men are the same in all ages and all lands. " The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God j neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.". "And men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." "The God of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them." These statements are as true now as when Jesus and Paul uttered them, and in them are still to be found the chief obstmcles to the triumph of the Gospel. Not caste and the slave trade, but the evil heart of unbelief departing from the living God j not Buddha or Confucius or Mohammed, but Satan, the enemy of God and man-this is still the J ebus that holds out against the Son of David, this still the Goliath whom He must meet and slay. And as the most obstinate difficulties, so the highest encouragements of the mission enterprise are the same to-day as at the beginning. It was the truest missionary instinctthat led Judson, when some one wrote to him inquiring what were the prospects for the evangelization of Burmah, to reply, "Bright as the promises of God." The cause of missions will always be at its best when the" Go ye" and the" Lo, I am with you always" of Christ outbulks and outweighs every other encouragement in the esteem of Its supporters. But while all this is true, it is true too that each field presents difficulties on the one hand, and sources of encouragement on the other, which are to some extent peculiar to itself. In these, not in geographical situation or climate or productions, lie the true differentia of mission lands j and of these we must have some right conception if we are to enter into intelligent and prayerful sympathy with missionaries, and not simply to feel a vague interest in missions. The writer hopes, therefore, that it may be to the purpose if in this month of May, when so many prayers will be put up for Siam and Laos, he speaks of " Some Hindrances and Helps in Evangelizing Lsos Land. "
e<>ME BlNDltANCE8 AND DELFS IN EVANGELIZING LAOS LAND
HINDltANCES.
1. Power 0/ Ou,tom.-And, first, let him advert to the power of cus- tom among the Laos as a hindrance to the progress of Christianity. If the world were to be divided as we sometimes divide the churches in our own land, into conservatives and radicals, the Orient would be set against the Occident. Custom has power in the West, it is true j on the other hand, " old fashioned" is more often than not a term of reproach, and the love of novelty is so great that the mere fact that a thing has long been done in a certain way is counted by many a sufficient reason for beginning to do it in some other fashion. The temper of the Orient is the opposite j there the customary is the sacred; the thing that hath been is- that which shall be, and also the thing that ought to be. And in this respect the Laos are true Orientals. It is some time before the missionary can realize the force which this matter of custom exerts among them. He goes into a wayside temple j he seeks out the head priest and courteously salutes him j he is invited to seat himself upon the mat that is spread for him, and a pillow for his elbow, a jar of cool water and a cup, and a tray of the inevitable betel-nut are provided for his comfort and refreshment. After a few commonplaces on either side the real business of the hour is taken up, and that all the more eagerly because the presence of the foreign teacher has drawn every member of the monastery, ,every casual loiterer in the temple grounds, perhaps even ~~score or more of persons from the village, into earshot of the conversation. " Your reverence," begins the missionary, "is a religious man; are you acquainted with that which is called the religion of the Lord Jesus~" The answer will probably be this: " Noble doctor, we have heard of this religion of the Lord Jesus, but we do not understand clearly what it is." This the missionary feels is the very opportunity for which he has prepared himself. He has thought out his statement of Christianity j he has chosen his illustrations with great care j not only the terms he will employ, but the very tone and manner he will use j as not in the way of harsh and initiating polemic, but in that of calm but earnest reasoned appeal to heart and conscience, he sets the new system from heaven before thE> minds of those who know only the old that is of men. There is much to encourage him as he proceeds j there is earnest attention j the head priest interrupts now and then to ask a wellchosen question j not infrequently an auditor ejaculates under his breath that what the teacher says is true. The missionary ceases speaking, and awaits the reply of his fellow-teacher in the yellow robe. What will he pitch upon as the weak point in the argument ~ What will be the line of his attack 7 Listen:" Noble doctor, what you say is good j truly you speak to our hearts j but, haw pen heet paw, hoy maa" (these are not the footsteps of our fathers Rnd mothers). lifissa est! The assembly is dismi!l!!ed. The old priest's answer is conclusive to everybody except the missionary, and he departs wondering if it can really be tht an argument SI) stauch has gone to pieces on a rock Sl) small, 2. WOTship of Evil Spirits.-While Siam is called and is a Buddhist country, yet along with Buddhism there flourishes everywhere, and espe- cially among the Laos tribes, the worship of spirits. You may call them ghosts, demons, devils, genii, sprites, elves, or fairies. If you listen to the talk of the people you will at first think that now one and now another of these is what is meant by the ever-recurring word phee ; but you will come at last to the sad conclusion that if you are to find an equivalent in English, it must be something not very different from " evil spirit." For whether the phee in question be thought of as the soul of a dead man, or the presid- ing genius of a family, or the invisible guardian of some brook or cave, or the inferior deity who has special charge of some natural phenomena like rain or thunder, or some event in human life, such as the weaning of a child or the marriage of a maiden, it may become at any moment and on the slightest provocation a malignant foe. And therefore one of the main anxieties of a Laos man or woman is to keep on friendly terms with these invisible powers. It is only by degrees that the foreigner can come to understand how large a part of life this is for the people about him; for this devil cult has no temples and no priests except as every house, from the carved and gilded palace of the ., Lord of Life" to the thatch-roofed bamboo cottage of his humblest subject, is such a temple, and every man and every woman a priest or priestess of this worship. Go where you will and when you will, in city or country, by river, through forest, to the caves of the mountains, across the smiling rice fields, in wet season or dry, at rice planting or harvest, at birth or death, at wedding or funeral, when contracts are signed, when houses are built, when journeys are undertaken, when sickness or storm or drouth befalls, and you will find in charm and spell and offering the tokens of the sway of this dark superstition as to the presence and activity of spirits. And just in that word superstition lies one chief element of the power of spirit worship as a hindrance to the acceptance of the Gospel. It is not merely that for a Laos man to change his religion will surely offend the spirits of his ancestors and provoke the enmity of all those demons who have in the past been pleased by his worship ; it is not merely that the heart in which the missionary sows the seed of God's Word is already preoccupied with a rank growth of weeds; but it is the peculiar character of this religion as a superstition which constitutes it an obstacle to the truth. An historical religion can be attacked in its history; a philosophical religion can be attacked in its philosophy; but how shall we attack a superstition 1 It is fighting with a ghost. We cut it in twain only to find that the impalpable substance of which it is made up closes behind the blade and suffers no harm. Not based on reason or fact, a superstition like this refuses to yield to reason or fact. And superstition embrutes men's minds; it teaches them to count fact and fancy, truth and falsehood as of equal worth, and at last makes them incompetent to distinguish the one from the other. Much of wha.t is believed by the people is so absurd that even they themselves, when the sun shines and all goes well with them, will make jokes about the" spirits somewhat as the children of America do about the " brownies i" but let the night fall, let misfortune overtake them, and all doubts vanish. Ignorant of the laws of nature, knowing nothing of Providence; rebelling unconsciously against the" Buddhist dogma that the experiences of this life are the resultant of conduct in some previous state of existence, the Laos finds in the activity of these spirits his easiest explanation of· all theiUs that overtake him. And thus this belief and worship roots itself in every event and relation of his life, and constitutes, like the idolatry prevalent in the Roman world in. the first century, at once one chief difficulty in the way of his accepting the Gospel, and when he has accepted it, one chief source of temptation to apostasy.
3. Buddhism.-Buddhism is in Siam and Laos the most obtrusive of all facts. The missionary, as he enters the mouth of the Meinam, gets at the same moment his first sight of the red flag with the white elephant flying over a frowning fort, and of the glittering roof and spires of a Buddhist temple; and every day he spends in the land through whose gate his stj.lamer. is passing will teach him more clearly the significance of the scene that lies before him. And, first of all, Buddhism bars the way to the entrance of the Gospel into men's hearts because it is a religion of self~righteousness. Buddhism has three keywords-misery, transmigration, merit-and the greatest of these, the one most often uttered, is merit. Existence is. essentially wretched, but there is no escape from it ; nothing can stop the endless revolution of the wheel of birth and deAth j all that can be done is to make future existence less wretched than the present; and this can be accomplished only by personal merit. What we are is the result of what we have done, and what we shall be depends upon what we are doing now-this is the short creed of the Buddhist. There lies before the writer some rough memoranda of a conversation with a brother of the King of Siam. He had read the Bible, he said, in English and in Siamese, and always kept it by him. He admired much that was in it; he believed Christ to have been a good, wise, far-seeing man, and a great teacher, though not divine; he regarded Christianity and Buddhism as far superior to Mohammedanism, because the former appeal, as the latter does not, to direc1ly religious motives; but there was one thing in Christianity that he could never be brought to believe-it is that there can be any way of escape from the consequences of our own actions. " There can be. no Saviour," said he, "except as every man can save himself by doing good deeds. If any man can believe Christianity, he will no doubt be happy. I would be glad if I could believe it mYElelf j but I and ttll the higher classes of Siam hold firmly to the belief .that every man mUllt receive according to· his deeds. We cannot believe that God can be bribed to release any orie from his responsibility." And in deference to this conviction the Siamese have made"a vast investment in what they regttrd as work:s of merit. They have c8vered their land with temples and pagodas MISSION PREMISES, CHIENG MAL MISSION CHURCH, CHI ENG MAl, LAOS COUNTRY, and images of Buddha. More than half the men in the kingdom have spent some years at least in the priesthood. Not a household but has furnished one or more sons to the monastery ; not a woman but contributes to the daily support of the priests, and spends her treasured coins for gold leaf to make the idols spleBdid. It has not been enough to supply cities and villages with temples more plentifully than those of our own land are with churches; the very hilltops must be crowned with pagodas and splendid flights of stairs built to make access to them easy; the caverns of the mountains must be sought out and turned into temples for Lord Gautama. No nation under heaven can better than these Siamese Buddhists sympathize with Paul as he catalogues his grounds of confidence in the flesh, and his works of righteousness which he had done j and none knows better what it costs to say with him, what everyone must say who becomes It Christian, " But what things were gain to me, these I counted loss for Christ."
HELPS.
1. Religious Toleration. -But over against these hindrances to the progress of missions in Siam and Laos there are some helps that do not exist, or do not exillt to the same extent, in other fields. And, first, there is entire religious toleration, and that by law. The very prince whose views were quoted above began the interview in which he gave utterance to them by informing his missionary callers that he had just returned from a visit to Lakawn, a principal city of the Laos provinces, and that while there he had purchased and now wished to present to the mission a site for a mission station in that place. The same man afterward paid to the writer as mission treasurer the sum of two thousand rupees, a gift from his royal brother for the purpose of erecting a dispensary in this same city of Lakawn j and it was just this encouragement and help from the highest in the land that led to the establishment there of what has since become a flourishing station, with churc1es, schools, and hospital. And this only illustrates what for many years has been the attitnde of the ruling classes toward the efforts of the missionaries on their educational and medical sides. There are few incidents of modern missions that more strikingly exhibit the providential guidance of God than the oft-told story which reveals to us the fountain.
head of this tolerance in the influence of amissionary over the future King of Siam, then a refugee in a Buddhist monastery from the hatred of a usurper. It is because in 1845 Rev. Jesse Caswell became tutor to Prince Chow Til. Mongkut, that from the time of the latter's accession to the throne, six years later, the missionaries have enjoyed increasing liberty to preach and teach, acquire property, open schools and hospitals, and make converts. The one serious exception occurred in 1869, when the then King of Chieng Mai (the most important of the Laos provinces) put two native Christians to death. But the persecutor's hand was stayed by his OWIl death, and in 1878 the King of Siam issued his proclamation of religious liberty for the Laos States, and to-day the missionaries are as free to prosecute their work as ministers are at home.
2. Position of Woman.-Along with religious toleration, the position of wo~an in Siam, and particularly Laos, deserves to be mentioned as one of the conditions favorable to the success of missions. There is perhaps no heathen land where women occupy a better position than in the Laos States. Monogamy is the rule among the common people. There are no harems or zenanas. The women wear no veils. They are to be seen everywhere-at their homes, on the streets, in the fields, keeping stalls in the markets, worshipping at the temples. The missionary may address them as freely as he does their husbands, sons, and brothers. Though Buddhism makes no provision for the education of girls, no prejudice is felt against allowing them to attend mission schools, and the Church in Chieng Mai has more than once availed itself of the talents of her native Phrebes and Priscillas, sending them out two and two into the villages to teach the women and children especially, but the men too as they had opportunity.
3. Spirit-worship ])riving People to Christ.-Buddhism has its weak points; it has even rendered some services to Christianity. Its false cosmogony is easily shown to be false; it was the prediction by Dr. McGilvary of the exact day and hour of a coming eclipse that attracted the attention of the man who became the first convert of the Laos mission. The monasteries and temple schools have made the men a nation of readers, into whose hands Christian books may be put. The burden of maintaining the great hosts of priests in idleness, coupled with the dissolute lives led by some of them, has here and there disgusted a community with the ancient faith. The elaborate system of merit making fails to satisfy the consciences of the really earnest; the vanishing prospect of some time attaining in Nirvana escape from the weary round of birth and death sometimes appears as mere heartless mockery; and thus a man here and a woman there is prepared to welcome the proclamation of a Saviour, and eternal life through Him. And yet, when abatement has been made for all these things, Buddhism must still be pronounced one of Satan's masterpieces for deluding men's 80uls. But the writer is inclined to raise the question whether in spirit worship, as in the phenomenon of possession by demons in the days of our Lord, the wily Prince of Darkness has not overreached himself. For the worship of evil spirits is wholly a religion of fear. It brings no salve to the conscience; it makes no ground for self-righteousneRS; it offers no hope for the future, not even such hope as Buddhism gives. "What do you do when anyone dies~" the writer once asked of a group of Moo Surs, a mountain tribe whORe only religion is spirit worship. "We cry and put him in the ground," was the answer. This faith contains no single element of hope or comfort for this life or the life to come. Incantations, charms, offerings, pilgrimages serve but one endthey make the spirits propitious for the moment, and that is all. We
THE NEGBO AS.A )lISSION.ilty. &27
have heard our grandparents talk of a " dark day," when the sun seemed to shine through an inky haze. Every day is a dark day for the adherents of this superstition. They live under a pall of dread, and he who offers them a way of escape from this bondage is likely to have earnest listenel'll. Think what the Christian doctrine of God's providential care must be to such. And, as matter of fact, a large number of those who make up the Laos church have been driven to the missionaries by this very superstition. For in Siam, as everywhere, belief in spirits leads to belief in witches. The Laos man whose child has become suddenly ill, or whose buffalo has fallen into a pit, has a short and easy method of reasoning. " Thii hai befallen me because the spirits are angry with me. But why should the spirits be angry with me, who have taken such pains to appease them? Must not some witch have set them upon me 1" And who is the witch 1 Alas for his enemy, if he has one! Alas for his neighbors, if he lIas no enemy! For his suspicion of witchcraft once aroused will soon light on some hint of the witch, and forthwith the accusation is uttered. A jury of the village elders is impanclIedto hear his complaint; but the jury is as superstitious as the plaintiff, and the verdict will generally be guilty. And what will be the penalty incurred by the innocent victim of this accusation ~ He will be driven from the village, his house will be pulled down, his garden rooted up. And where shall he go? There are cities in Laos land wholly inhabited by such supposed witches, who have been herded together as though they were lepers. But some hundreds at least have gone to the missionaries for help. They have heard that the missionaries are not afraid of spirits; at any rate, the missionaries are foreigners, and a refuge may be found with them; and so they have come under the power of Gospel truth, and found Him who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil.
THE NEGRO AS A MISSIONARY. * BY THE REV. J. R. BRIDGES, SALEM, VA.
William H. Sheppard, the subject of this sketch, was born in 1865 at Waynesborough, Va. He grew up after the manner of his race, not much cumbered by cares or clothes. A pious lady said to him when a boy, " I have been praying that God may make you a Christian and send you to Africa." This boy is now a man who, after a strange experience in Africa, has been speaking to crowded houses, capturing all by his eloquence, fund of humor, and histrionic qualities. At the age of sixteen years he studied for four years at Hampton, Va., and then spent three years at the Colored Theological Seminary at Tuscaloosa, Ala., under the • The following I. a brief sketch of a most remarkable colored man, who .pent .ome time Ipeaking throul:h the South, and at the lalt meeting of thu Synod of Virginia received a mOlt enthnlluUc hearing. control of the Southern Presbyterian Church. He spent two years in Atlanta, Ga., in charge of a church, but his success was so poor that the committee under whom he was working hesitated to recommend him to the foreign work, when he proposed to accompany the late Rev. S. A. Lapsley to Congo Free State.
The Foreign Missionary Committee at Nashville, Tenn., under the guidance of the Spirit sent him, however, and February 26th, 1890, he and Lapsley sailed from New York for Africa. One was the son of an Alabama jurist, a fine type of the ante-bellum South, the other the son of an enslaved race, yet they proved kindred spirits in the Lord. LandinI{ at Matadi, on the Congo River, and going by Stanley Pool, they rea.ched Luebo, 1000 miles from the coast, where they established a sta.tion. Many are the incidents related of -Lapsley once preaching so tenderly concerning God's love for men that the women said, " If the Bakete women knew your God, they would sing to Him i" or at another time, awakened at midnight by a weeping mother, who begged him to take her dying child in his arms and" tell your God about him i" or at another time, buying from slave-traders a little girl whose mother they had slain and eaten, and had also compelled the child to feed upon her mother's flesh. At times their position was one of peril, but by using the African telegraph system they escaped. This system consists of two oblong bells welded together, which being struck with a stick produce certain notes, each meaning a certain thing. Every canoe in passing must report at each village, else these beHs are sounded and the next village is notified to look out. Once word was brought that the Mechoka, a fierce tribe, would come at night and destroy the missionaries. Instantly the missionaries had the alarm sounded,. and this message went from village to village. "The Mechoka are coming to destroy the missionaries." Armed bands came running in from every quarter, butthe enemy, taking the alarm, had fled.
While in Luebo Lapsley met some natives of fine form, high insteps, broad foreheads, and tall figures. Upon inquiry he found that they belonged to the Bakuba tribe, a people under the great King Lukenga, who, driving out all other tribes, now inhabited the most desirable region in the interior, into which no foreigner had ever entered, as the penalty was death to the foreigner and destruction to the village showing the road.
The traders and Belgian officials for nine years, and even the king of Belgium, had tried through presents to gain an entrance, but in vain. These two brave men, feeling called of God to the work, made necessary preparations. While Lapsley was at Stanley Pool forwarding the goods, Sheppard, Jacob-like, made savory messes, with which he enticed the passing Bakubas, and thus, while eating with them, he learned many words of their language. Lapsley died suddenly at Underhill, a station at the foot of the Livingstone Cataracts, and the news of his death fell like a thunderclap upon the station at Luebo. Sheppard now regarded the contemplated work as a legacy fro~ his departed friend, and it is a striking proof of the heroic faith of the man that, though alone in Africa, deprived of the man upon whom he had always leaned, he started the following day on his perilous journey. Out of forty only eight men and a small boy responded to his call for men whose hearts were strong. When he reached the first Bakuba village he was royally entertained, but no one would point out thc road farther on. They agreed that his servant should go with a trading party to the next market-town for eggs. This man re1,urning guided him to the next village, where he was kindly received, but the people were publicly warned against showing the foreigner the road upon the pain of death. Again he man- aged to get permission for his man to go to the next town for eggs, and thus reached the next village. Here he was in' a quandary. The egggame would not work, for they offered to supply his wants at home. In his efforts at cornering the home market he performed wonders at eggeating, managing to di!lpose of thirty eggs at one meal; the eggs, however, were small and he was hungry and desperate. While seeking in the woods Divine guidance, three women came from a village ahead. When they returned home he quietly followed and reached another stage on his journey.
He had now been on the road thirty days, losing it often and often unable to travel at all. At M'Boma he remained one month, unable to advance or to go back, as the rains had washed away his marks. Finally three ivory traders on their way to Lukenga's capital passed by. Sheppard sent his headman to follow them at a distance and to mark the crossroads, he with the caravan following behind. Through five villages they passed, and finally reached Bechebing, 40 miles from the capital. The traders, giving them the slip. reported at the capital that a foreigner was on the road. In the mean time the people of the village refused to receive him for fear of their own destruction. That night he spent in the woods, and the next day the king's son, N'toinzadi, with fifty warriors camc to bring the villagers and the foreigner to the king to be beheaded. They seized the people, put ropes around their necks, and then seized Sheppard's men. Sheppard sat on a stool praying and not knowing when his turn would come. In despair he called to the leader in the Bakuba tongue, and assured him that he alone was to be blamed. " You speak my language," said the prince. " Yes. " "And you have come this journey without a guide~" " Yes. " "But did you not know all these paths years ago~" "No; this is my first trip." He then consulted with his men, and coming back said, " Remain here till I return from my father."
The villagers were released on parole, and for three days he waited in anxiety and prayer, not knowing whether the issue would be life or death. The villagers passed him with averted faces, as if blaming him for their threatened ruin, and he imagincd that he could read reproaches in his own men's eyes. In the mean time the king had consulted his wise men, who decided that Sheppard was PO Pay M'Cobba, who reigned before Lukenga, and that he had passed into the body of Sheppard. The prince and other nobles were sent to bring this resurrect-ed ancestor to the capital. On their way to the capital Sheppard was received with marked honor and free-will offerings of sheep and goats. Reaching the capital, they were put in houses different from any they had seen in Africa. Each house had an attic, in which corn and ivory were stored. It was surrounded by double fences ten feet high. In the house were carved bedsteads, tables, clothes-racks, and mats. The city was laid off in squares separated by broad streets.
Three days he remained in the house, while hundreds crowded the yard. The fourth day the king received him in the great square. Escorted by four princes, he passed through thousands of children, some rolling hoops and others running ahead playing leap-frog.
On the public square a large circle had been formed of blanket cloth with leopard skins for a carpet, and there he found the aged sister of the king, his Majesty with seven hundred wives, which number, however, did not represent the full complement. The king was borne by stalwart men. He was dressed in blue robes trimmed with cowries and beads, and his crown was ornamented with blue and white beads surmounted by a white tassel. Around his neck and legs were small brass rings. He presented Sheppard with a knife which had been handed down through the reign of seven Lukengas, and upon the butt end is a seal, which has been the deathwarrant of many thousand lives. The king is nearly seventy-five years old. He will be succeeded by his eldest son, who lives in his own house, nev.er to be seen by anyone till he ascends the throne. Between the heirapparent and Mr. Sheppard pleasant messages have been exchanged. The king has granted him land, houses, and stock, and given him permission to labor among his people.
Mr. Sheppard, in an interview with the king, endeavored to convince him that he was not PO Pay M'Cobba, but the king only smiled pleasantly. The civilization of this country is far beyond any yet found in the heart of Africa. Their code of laws is simple, clear, and rigidly enforced. Polygamy is prohibited except in the royal family. Adultery and fornication are punished by death. Gambling or drunkenness entails slavery upon the man's family. No loud noises are permitted after a certain hour at night. A thief confessing is fined, but denying, he must submit to the ordeal by poison. Every third day is a day of rest from labor. Dancing consists of a movement with music, one standing behind the other, no one touching the other. They dress in flowing robes made of native cloth. They are very particular about their personal appearance. Said a native, " Sheppard, you have no knife." "Yes, why do you say so ?" "Because your finger-nails are dirty." They only believe in an evil principle that brings storms and death. Slaves are slain to accompany their dead to the spirit-land. One thousand slaves were buried with the king's mother.
ON IDOLATRY. "THOU SHALT NOT-" S31
Mr. Sheppard obtained liberty to leave after promising to return in twelve moons. While in London he delivered a lecture in Exeter Hall, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, an honor conferred upon Mr. Stanley when he returned from Africa. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, evolved from a Virginia negro through the power of Almighty Grace, is our hero.
ON IDOLATRY. "THOU SHALT NOT-"
BY THE LATE REV. SAMUEL MATEER, OF TRAVANCORE, INDIA.
Among the Ten Commandments uttered amid thunders and lightnings and awe-inspiring signs by Jehovah Himself from Mount' Sinai, and engraven by His own finger on tables of stone as of perpetual obligation on all mankind, the second commandment is very full and express and particular. Its importance is thus evident, and the design that the injunction should not be violated, as if the fact that men would ill every possible way seek to infringe or evade it was present to the Divine mind, which, no doubt, it was.
The first commandment refers to the object of worship-none other but the true and living God, the same who chose the Israelites and l;evealed Himself to them as His peculiar people for the preservation of His revealed truth and the ultimate enlightenment of the nations, and who brought them up out of the land of Egypt and established them in the Holy Land. The second refers to the manner of worship : it must not be through images or visible representations of any kind or under any form. Idolatry denotes the worship of the Deity in a visible form, whether intended to represent the true God or false divinities. The meaning is so plain that Roman Catholics habitually omit this in all catechisms and summaries of doctrine, and to help them in so doing, they do not count it in the number ten, but divide the last commandment into two to make np the total of the Ten Words spoken of in Scripture. But in India we can refer them to the ancient colony of Jews in Cochin as authorities for a genuine copy of the Law, for as God committed the New Testament to the keeping of the Christian Church, so He committed His oracles of the Old Testament to the guardianship of the Jews, who also have been faithful to their trust; as testified by our Lord and His apostles; and our preachers sometimes relate to the Romanists a story of an image of St. Anthony and that of one of the Hindu gods made out of the same piece of timber and regarded by the carpenters as elder and younger brothers. Roman Catholics therefore are unable to join us in open-air discussions against Hinduism, for they are at once confounded by being charged with their image-worship.
Idolatry does not signify merely the worship of a material image as itllelf a living and powerful god, though e'en that is done by ignorant millions of the common people in India. There is a ceremony of COll!!ecration by which the gods are invited to take up their abode and inhabit the image. In Travancore the eyes of the image are sometimes opened by painting in the pupil on the background left by the workmen. There are some images, as the Salagram, a fossil shell found in rivers, which are supposed not to require consecration, being of themselves inherently the habitation of the indwelling deity without its being put in by any consecration ceremony. But few Hindus think of the consecration or distinguish between the image and the spiritual being represented by it. Indeed, the pantheism of India, which deifies the universe, rQgards all things as God and God as all, and declares the highest attainment of spiritual wisdom to consist in a poor, miserable, naked, half-civilized man's coming to say, "I am God." The idol is practically worshipped as itself God. It is bathed with water or milk, and anointed with oil, and carried to the sea or a river in state procession for a bath. This is one of the great periodical ceremonies in Hindu temples. The image is cooled in the hot season by water in a pot hung over it and dripping constantly upon it. It is clothed, and fed, and fanned, and regaled with the sweet scent of flowers and sandalwood. It is married, put to sleep, wakened in the morning by the blowing of the shell trumpet. Female images are said to be at times defiled; others catch cold and are sick or benumbed by enchantment. At Madura one opened the left eye to look in displeasure on a Mohammedan. And when the idol has shown itself disgracefully careless of the prayers and ungrateful for the offerings of the worshippers, it is beaten, contemptuously sat upon, broken up. or cast away. A man in Travancore erected a small temple on government land without leave. He was ordered to remove it, and delaying, a fine of a hundred rupees was imposed. He destroyed the whole, exclaiming, "What is the use of worshipping dumb idols that cannot help me in my time of need~" In the apprehension of the people in general the idols are real deities. They occupy the place of God and receive all the homage and honor He justly claims.
What said Rajah Rammohun Roy, a distinguished Hindu reformer ~ " Many Europeans feel a wish to palliate and soften the features of Hindu idolatry, and are inclined to inculcate that all objects of worship are considered by their votaries as emblematical representations of the Supreme Divinity. The truth is the Hindus of the present day have no such views of the subject, but firmly believe in the real existence of innumerable gods and goddesses who possess in their own departments full and independent power, and to propitiate them, and not the true God, are temples erected and ceremonies performed."
Only by the statements of the worshippers themselves can we ascertain whether the material idols themselves are worshipped or not. Some years ago a stone idol, a Salagram, was the subject of litigation in a eourt in Calcutta, and the judge consulted his Brahman interpreter and the Brahman agent of the plaintiff whether the idol could not be brought into the court for identification. They answered that it could not be brought in- side the court-house because matting is regarded as a conductor of cere- monial pollution, but it might be brought into the corridor of the building, which was done.
A great indignation meeting, however, was held by the Hindus of Calcutta, about ten thousand being present, headed by their leading priests and scholars. A distinguished Pundit addressed the meeting. " An idol," said he, " which was worshipped with all their heart, mind, and strength had been polluted. An object of worship was always kept in a sacred place, and for it to be moved into a court of justice was worse than sacrilege."
The next speaker said: "The God of heaven is an object of worship. He is the creator, preserver, and destroyer of things on earth, and now it occurs for the first time in the annals of British Indian history that a creature of the earth could order about a god of heaven as he liked. It was, therefore, their duty to take steps to prevent a recurrence of such sacrilege. " Here it is distinctly assumed that the idol itself is identical with the God of heaven, not a mere memorial or sign of His presence.
The natural desire of man is to see God-to walk by sight rather than by faith. To such it may seem desirable to have an image, an emblem, a reminder of God constantly before them to guide and help their conception of God, a visible symbol representing an invisible power. This might seem to some men a reasonable expedient as a first step to the knowledge of God. The Parsees now claim to be Theists, notwithstanding their worship of fire and the sun, taking these as the noblest emblems of Almighty God. The Israelites, when they worshipped the golden calf, said, " These be Thy gods (Elohim) which brought Thee up out of the land of Egypt. To-morrow shall be a feast to Jehovah." So also Jeroboam, 1 Kings 12 : 28. The Romanists tell us they only give an inferior worship to their images of the Virgin and saints. The Hindus perhaps had the idea in their mind of representing great power by the four arms of Vishnu and the sixteen of Siva and other representations.
But this is the very thing absolutely prohibited by God-any attempt to give men the knowledge of God by images or visible representations. It is emphatically forbidden in the Word of God, both in the Old and New Testaments. It is condemned by practice and precept, by prohibition and threatening. To bow adoringly to any image is a plain violation of God's law. It is not acceptable worship, but unbelief and disobedience. It is abomination and an insult to the living God. He is jealous of any attempt to worship Himself by any medium. "God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." However expedient and desirable it may seem to men to use images and pictures in divine worship, Scripture is the only standard and authority upon the subject. In the Word of God there is much about idolatry, and it is condemned and deprecated and rebuked with all the argument and scorn and vehemence of which human language is capable.
Idol worship does not as a matter of fact and experience aid men in the worship of God. It is unprofitable and useless. It does not remind the Hindus of God their Creator, Father, and Ruler, nor supply any aid or incitement to moral excellence and virtue.
" To whom will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare unto Him 1" ,, We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone graven by art and device of man." It is impossible to convey any conception of God by an image of anything in heaven or earth or under the earth. On the contrary, idols are deceptive, and convey false and ruinous ideas of God. " Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself." The idea of God is obscured and de. graded. Such gods have been compared to the Brocken spectre seen at dawn on one of the mountains in Germany, but the magnified and distorted shadows of the people themselves, human frailties and passions and virtues projected -and magnified upon the heavens. These gods are simply immortal men. The stories told in the vile mythology of India about the crimes of their gods and the depraving legends of their amours are derogatory to God, dishonoring to His perfections, and virtually a blasphemy of the Divine Being, who cannot lie and is of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity. The votaries of such gods "feed upon ashes, a deceived heart has led them astray. " "They that worship idols are like unto them. " Men will imitate the character of the gods they worship. Indeed, according to the highest teaching of Hindu sages, idols are not worshipped for anything but temporal benefits and prosperity. We are accustomed to appeal to the Hindus when some attempt to defend idolatry- Do these idols lead you to God 1 Do they aid you in virtue 1 Are your people godly, truthful, righteous, chaste, good 1 We appeal to their own consciences as to the general character of those who worship idols, and the abominable fables related of their gods, and can boldly compare all this with the history of Jesus Christ and the character inculcated in Holy Scripture and exemplified in the native Christians around them.
Take again the testimony of the learned and enlightened Rajah Rammohun Roy. He says: "Idolatry, as now practised by our countrymin, must be looked upon with great horror by common sense as leading directly to immorality and destructive of social comforts. For every Hindu who devotes himself to this absurd worship constructs for that purpose a couple of male and female idols, sometimes indecent in form, as representatives of his favorite deities. He is taught and enjoined from his infancy to contemplate and repeat the history of these as well as their fellow deities, though the actions ascribed to them be only a continued series of debauchery, sensuality, falsehood, ingratitude, breach of trust, and treachery to friends. There can be but one opinion respecting the moral character to be expected of a person who has been brought up with sentiments of reverence to such beings, who refreshes his memory relative to them almost every day, and who has been persuaded to believe that a repetition of the holy name of one of these deities, or a trifling present to his image or to his devotees, is sufficient not only to purify and free him from all crimes whatsoever, but to procure for him future beatitude."
Idolatry invariably degrades, belittles, and corrupts the mind. The worshippers as well as the images have eyes, but they see not; ears, but they hear not. An elaborate and debasing ceremonialism takes the place of spiritual religion. In the earliest of the Hindu Vedas we seem to find something of a monotheistic faith, and there is no mention of idols. Then came the worship of the elements, then of the deities supposed to preside over the powers of air, fire, water, and earth, then the worship of innumerable gods, and within the last thousand years the wicked and monstrous fables, the elaborate ritual, the cruel asceticism, the outward meritorious ceremonies of the Puranas and popular Hinduism, down to the worship of the cow and monkeys and snakes, of the mint and the linga-yea, of the meanest objects in creation. Monotheism is utterly lost in the multitude of divinities. It was by such degrees that the Hindus" changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up in the lnsts of their hearts unto uncleanness." As Matthew Henry says: "Whoever thinks one God too little will find two too many, and yet hundreds not enough." Truly, their sorrows are multiplied that hasten after another God. Idolatry is utterly useless for the purpose for which it is now defended, as leading men's minds to God and His service.
Again, idolatry is not only an insufficient system of worship, but the Word of God declares that it is injurious; it is rebellion, high treason against the Divine authority. It springs from disobedience and rejection of God. The genesis of idolatry is sin in the heart.
Whatever theories may be held as to the lower animals (and the theory of evolution is far from being proved), we know from Divine revelation that men at first knew God, but fell. "Since the creation of the world God's everlasting power and divinity are clearly seen, being perceived by the things that are made, that they may be without excuse. Because that, knowing God, they glorified Him not as God, neither gave thanks. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator." Men shut their eyes to the light they had. They" refused to have God in their knowledge. " They were not willing that He should be King, should be a spirit and worshipped in spirit and in truth. Judged by their own natural light they are to blame. Like the rich man who hinted that the Scriptures were not enough for the salvation of his brethren without some one rising from the dead and becoming visible to their sight; like the Israelites who cried, "Make us gods that they may go before us," the frequent demand of the heathen is for a material vision of God. Show us God. Let us look at Him with our eyes and not be troubled to exercise faith in an invisible being and to exercise our hearts in spiritual meditation and loving communion.
Hence it is that the living God is the one being whom Hindus do not worship. There is not a single temple in the'whole of India to the one God. The heart that feels not the want of the living God as its proper nntriment will feed on the ashes of idolatry. Men will worship secondary causes instead of the great First Cause, the Author and Giver of all good. The fisher, we read in Hab. 1 : 16, "sacrificeth unto his net and burneth incense unto his drag, because by them his portion is fat and his meat plenteous. " So in India the implements of war, learning, arts, and agriculture are worshipped annually-the sword of the warrior, the tools of the artisan, the books and pens of the scholar, the almanac and accountbooks of the merchant. We have known Christian officers in India lend their swords and subscribe toward the cost of these ceremonies. Distrust in God and His power and grace, and reliance on the creature, are at the bottom of idolatry. "When one god is asleep another can help us," they say, "but as for you who worship but one God, when He is asleep, there is none to help you."· "One god is good for one thing, another for other things," is their doctrine. The omniscience of God is hidden from them. " Can you tell us of a god whom we can worship in the house without travelling so far and getting so fatigued~" The worship of the sun or the moon is declared by Job to be a denial of the God that is above, to whom we owe life and breath and all things. We are, therefore, specially anxious, in these days, to show the Hindus not only the folly and uselessness of idolatry, but to awake their consciences to a sense of its sinfulness and criminality before God.
Idolatry is a great sin against the majesty of the God of heaven, and is so spoken of in Scripture. Godly men would rather lose their life than yield to it. "We have no need," said the three godly Jews to the king of Babylon, "to answer thee in this matter. Be it known unto thee, o king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. " The early Christian martyrs were asked but to cast a pinch of incense into the fire before the image, but would rather die than do so. Were they right? Certainly-rather die than deny the God that made us and loves us and redeemed us by his dear Son Jesus Christ.
Therefore it is that God has so often and so warmly declared His displeasure against idolatry. God must rule the universe, there is no other way possible. God is love, but He must love righteousness and hate iniquity. "My glory will I not give to another, nor My praise to graven images." He cannot transfer His supremacy to another, else the world would perish, righteousness would perish. No sin is more offensive to· God than thus to rob Him of His glory and give that glory to the finite creature. He is provoked to wrath by the rejection of Himself and perversion of His gifts to evil. " My bread which I gave, the fine flour and oil and honey wherewith I fed thee, thou did set before the imagel!l fora sweet savor." "I gave Israel the corn and the wine and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baa!." "The idol is a shameful thing." "It is an abomination to the Lord, an iniquity which shall be visited upon the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him." It is ingratitude, contempt, and rejection of God's rnle and dominion.
The Israelites were ordered to destroy all images and not to intermarry with idolaters. Idolatry in the nation was to be punished with death, and three thousand were slain for the worship of the golden calf. " If ye shall go and serve other gods and worship them, then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them." For their idolatry and crimes the Canaanites were destroyed from the face of the earth. The Jews themselves suffered many national disasters, and ultimately a long captivity as a punishment for their idolatry.
Again, idolatry is in Scripture classed with the grossest sins, as one of them and leading to them. Neglect or abandonment of God must lead to sin. It is a fruitful source of superstition and vice. " Images," said Augustine, " are of more force to pervert the soul than to instruct it. " The gods that men invent are suited to their taste- " Gods changeful, passionate, unjust, Whose attributes are rage, revenge, and lust."
Gods not abhorring sin and easily pardoning vice, pleased with an external ritual without the veneration of the heart, under the power of their worshippers by their offerings and incantations. None of the Hindu deitiel!l represent any virtue.
Fearful cruelty and crimes which it is a shame even to speak of usually accompany idolatry. Its chief seats have always been cesspools of immorality and vice, and its allurements sensual pleasure. Missionaries are often at a disadvantage because they are unable to explain to a general audience the horrors of evil with which they are acquainted. In India almost every large temple has numerous priestesses engaged in vice, religious courtesans. These are spoken of as the servants and the wives of the god. We have known a melancholy case of a young woman who had been for some time under Christian instruction, but became irregular in attendance, and, when asked the cause, confessed that she was about to become the twenty.first wife of the god Bhuthanatha-" the wife of a stone," said she j "that is, the wife of anybody that wishes. Who can help me," she mourned j "it is settled by the gods, and I must submit to my fate."
It is all this indulgence in sensuality and pleasure that attracts and retains the worshippers, as it did the Israelites formerly. Idolatry exercises no restraint on vice, but rather encourages it. "In heathenism we can do as we like," some tell us, " but if we become Christians we must keep the ten commandments." The very carvings on temples and idol cars are often abominable, obscene, and bestial. From idolatry sprang human sa.crifices, formerly pra.ctised in India, the hook swinging, not yet effectually put down by government, and other sanguinary rites, widow burning and throwing of children into the idolized Ganges, weary penances, and toilsome pilgrimages. From idolatry and its distrust of Almighty God springs the resort to evil spirits for pretended divination, sorcery, magical arts, and demoniac possession. In the Tamil tractate Subhradipam, written by a native Christian, an argument against Hinduism is adduced from the fearful imprecations and magical charms and rites sanctioned by it for the destruction of enemies. Hence sorcery as well as sensual lusts are usually associated with idolatry in Scripture. " The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of which I forewarn you that they which practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
Lastly, it is but reasonable, as it is certainly scriptnral, to declare that idolatry is fatal to the souls of men. The Word of God declares the future punishment of idolaters. Everywhere in Holy Scripture it is spoken of as destructive to the souls of men. We must either give up the inspiration of the Word or accept the lost condition of the world. God says that men are perishing, and there is but one way of salvation for them. " This is life eternal, to know God," and men do not care to know God or to retain Him in their knowledge. What multitudes have withIn the last century heard the preaching of the Gospel and rejected it! Idolaters are under the" power of Satan," and many expressly worship devils as more prudent and profitable and more urgently necessary than the worship of God.
Ve read in Rev. 9 : 20 of those who "repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which neither see, nor hear, nor walk." So idolaters need to repent of this sin, and few do so.
Observe the connection in 1 Thess. 1 : 9, 10 between idolatry and the wrath to come, from which Jesus had delivered the Thessalonian converts, " Ye turned unto God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come."
See also Rev. 21 : 8, " For 1,he fearful, and unbelieving, and abomiooble, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Thus if we accept the testimony of Holy Scripture, and view idolatry in the light in which we are told God views it, we cannot rest; with the poor, cold, feeble, inadequate argument for missions that some are now resorting to, that the heathen must somehow be saved by the mercy of God, but
RAILROADS IN TURREY
we should add to their happiness and spiritual privileges by sending them the Gospel. That principle is one of mere philanthropy. No! They are living in sin, and to a great extent, in India at least, knowingly and wilfully, against the law written in their hearts and consciences, in the love of sin. They are responsible and guilty. They have such acquaintance with duty as is essential to accountability. They cling to heathenism even after hearing of God. They need therefore the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and not only from love to our Blessed Saviour and from obedience to Him, but from love and compassion to millions of perishing souls, should we send the Gospel to rescue them from their misery and danger. May God prosper the glorious work !
RAILROADS IN TURKEY.
BY REV. DR. HENRY H. JESSUP, BEIRUT, SYRIA.
It is well known that the present ruler of Turkey, His Imperial Majesty the Sultan Abdul Hamid Khan, is in favor of the material improvement of the Empire. He is a friend of railroads and wagon roads, and more has been done during the eighteen years of his reign in this direction than in all preceding reigns.
The accompanying sketch map has been prepared to show the various railways already built, and others under construction and proposed.
I. The Jaffa-Jerusalem Railroad, about 50 miles long, of standard gauge, constructed by a French company. This is eminently a sentimental railway, as it can hardly be expected to pay dividends to the stockholders. It may pay the employes and running expenses, and thus be saved from collapse. The tourist and pilgrim seasons are short, and during the greater part of the year it resembles the railways to the American mountain summer resorts during the winter. The last Arabic official journals just received from Beirut deny that this railway has been purchased by the Rothschilds, but add the somewhat remarkable news that the French company have asked permission from the Sultan to extend the road to the Dead Sea and Jericho. As Jerusalem is 2600 feet above the sea-level, and the Dead Sea is 1300 feet below it, there is a descent of 3900 feet in about 18 miles. A Swiss cog-wheel road could be built without difficulty in these days of engineering triumphs, but the question arises cui bono? The few hundreds or even thousands of poor pilgrims who go down to Jericho and the Jordan annually would never compensate the company even for running expenses, especially as the majority of the Russian pilgrims, in their superstitious devotion, come to Palestine with a vow that they will walk all the way from Jaffa to Jerusalem, to Jordan, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and back to Jaffa. The Dead Sea, with its salt and bitter waters, would seem, in a poetical sense, to be an appropriate place to " end" a railway which is said to be already a financial failure.
The Sultan has recently annexed to the Turkish Empire the district of Kir Moab (Kerak), southeast of the Dead Sea, where the sheikhs of the MajeUa Arabs have so long defied the government and levied blackmail upon travellers. A wagon road has been surveyed from Kerak to the Mezraa, on the southeast shore of the Dead Sea, and a steam launch is said to be prepared to run between the northern shore and Mezraa. As a military convenience to the Turkish garrison holding Kerak, this is a wise arrangement, but hardly enough to give business to the Jericho extension of the Jerusalem Railway.
A far more encouraging piece of news comes by the last Arabic journals of October 16th from Beirut, that the Jaffa Railway Company have asked of the Sultan a " concession" for building a breakwater and harbor at Jaffa. No tourist to Palestine can ever forget the perils of landing at Jaffa. It is proposed to build a stone breakwater enclosing a port large enough to admit steamers, and to extend the railway to the harbor.
II. The Haifa-Damascus Railway. A firman was given some years since to a native Syrian for the construction of a railway, standard gauge, from Haifa, under Mount Carmel, through the plain of Esdraelon south of Nazareth, via Jezreel and Bethshan to the Jordan south of the Sea of Galilee, thence northeast through the land of Javlon to Damascus, with a branch into Houran and east of the Jordan.
This concession was sold to an English company in London, who surveyed the road, let its construction to contractors, and a few miles of track were laid southward along the Kishon. Then came a sudden halt. The work stopped. The Syrian concessionaire sued the company for a heavy amount, and this with other suits is said to amount to some £80,000 sterling. The engineers in Haifa, having received no pay for seven months, seized all the plans and surveys of the road, and, according to reports published in the Lisan el Hal journal of Beirut, in September, were about to leave for London to prosecute the company. There has been gross mismanagement somewhere, and the whole enterprise is imperilled. It had proposed to continue the road eventually from Damascus to Baghdad.
III. The Beirut-Damascus Railway. The concession for this road was obtained four years since by a Syrian Mohammedan gentleman, Hassan Effendi Beihum, and by him sold to a French company, which has owned the Damascus Diligence road since 1860, and has also just completed a fine breakwater and harbor in Beirut at a cost of about $500,000. This road consists of three divisions: 1. From Beirut to Damascus. This crosses the Lebanon range at an elevation of 5000 feet. It is a narrow-gauge road, and has a third cograil on the steep grades. It pass@s northwest of Shtoreh below Zahleh, thence east to Wady Yehfofeh and Zebedany, and down the valley of the Barada (t1l.e Abana) to Damascus. This road will be open for traffic within a year.
2. The Damascus-Honran brauch. This ruus south of Damascus to the vast wheat region of Bashan and Houran, and is to terminate at Bozrah or Mezeirib. It is already finished and open for traffic. It will protJW)te the pacification of that turbulent district and provide a cheap outlet for the splendid wheat harvests of Houran, besides increasing largely the area of cultivated land. It will also be used by the Hajj pilgrim cara- van on the first stage of its progress from Damascus to Mecca.
3. The Damascus-Aleppo-Birijik branch. This is under survey, run- ning from Damascus northeast to Nebk and Kuryetein, thence northwest to Hums and Hamath, thence to Aleppo and northeast to Birijik on the Euphrates.
This is a part of the future inland mercantile and military trunk rail- way from Constantinople to Damascus. It passes through a fertile region now almost wholly abandoned as pasture land to the Bedouin Arabs.
IV. The Mersin-Tarsus-Adana Railway. This road was built some years since by an English company as the beginning of a through line to Mosul. It is completed only to Adana, and its extension eastward is among the uncertainties of the future.
V. The Constantinople-Angora-Cresarea Railway. This road is com- pleted to Angora, and is under construction to Cresarea, with the expectation of its ultimate extension to Diarbekir, Mosul, and Baghdad. It will, no doubt, connect at some time with Birijik and Damascus.
VI. The Smyrna-Ephesus-Aidin Railway. This is already extended 70 miles east of Aidin to Serai Kowy. through the finest fig-producing region in the world. It will, no doubt, be extended still farther eastward.
VII. The Constantinople and Bulgarian Railway. This is the connecting link between Constantinople and Western Europe.
The advantages of railway communication in this great Empire will be very great.
1. Large tracts of fertile land now lying desolate through insecurity will be brought under government control and settled by the peasantry now crowded into the mountain districts for mutual protection. The -great wheat region of Houran and Bashan and the vast trans-Jordanic pasture lands now claimed by the Bedouin Arabs will be gradually restored to cultivation.
The line from Damascus to Aleppo borders a district of great fertility, now desolate or sparsely settled and at the mercy of the Mowali, Hadideh, and A 'nazi Arabs. Mount Lebanon is crowded with villagers who earn a scant subsistence from their rocky terraces, but are afraid to venture out upon the plains. This railway will encourage settlers, enable the goverp.- ment to protect them, and thus benefit the whole land.
2. It will make travel more safe and economical. A box of Bibles now Bent from Beirut to Mosul (the ancient Nineveh) goes by caravan, and is
GROWTH OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN JAPAN
a month on the passage, and during the winter is liable to injury and delay from pouring rains and impassable roads. This is true of other routes, and increased facilities will increase opportunities for good.
3. It is to be hoped that increased means of intercourse will tend to bring the different tribes and nationalities of this motley and much-divided empire into a better acquaintance with each other. The Protestant communities of Asia Minor have little to do with those of Syria and Palestine; and yet they are under a common civil organization, with a common wakil or civil head in Constantinople. If the future Evangelical Church of the Empire is to be a unit, and co-operate for the common weal and the spread of the Gospel, the people must know each other, and send delegates to each other's conferences. Railways will make this possible. At present it is out of the question.
THE GROWTH OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN JAPAN.
BY REV. A. D. HAIL, D.D., JAPAN.
The Protestant division of the Church in Japan has passed through two periods in its progress, and is now in the initial stages of its third period. These may be loosely characterized as the periods of preliminary resistance, relaxation of resistance and revival, and reaction.
The first period embraces the time from 1859-72. To the missionaries of this period Japan was a Jericho, around the walls of which the powers that be, under severe penalty, forbade the priests the privilege of even "blowing their horns." The swaggering Samurai not only "looked daggers," but carried them, and that, too, with a purpose. Indeed, the threat was made that should the Christian's God Himself come to great Japan, even His head would be cut off. The whole chrysanthemum country was completely combined against Christianity.
When the Roman Catholic form of Christianity reached the high-tide of its great success several centuries ago, it drew to itself the attention of the Buddhists. They bQgan a series of persecutions and oppositions which were not terminated with the supposed extermination of those Christians. When our pioneer missionaries came they had, accordingly, to live in an atmosphere of suspicion and hatred generated by the same persecuting power. They found edicts everywhere on the government bulletin-boards against the faith they had come to propagate. The first teachers employed often proved themselves to be government spies. One man hired himself to Dr. Hepburn in order that he might find a favorable opportunity for assassinating him, and was disarmed only by the impression made upon him by the good doctor's uniform Christian kindness. Not quite twenty-five years ago several thousand Catholic Christians, still secretly maintaining their faith, were discovered and subjected to a cruel imprisonment, many of them in the neighboring city of Wakayama.
When the edicts were first taken down by the new government, it was only that they might be renewed by itself. The masses feared Chris_ tianity. and the rulers hated it. So late as 1872, when an inquiry was made of the Governor of Kobe (Hyogoken) whether a native bookseller would be permitted to sell the English Bible, the reply was given that any Japanese who sold a Bible knowing it to be such would have to go to prison.
By the close of 1859 the American Episcopal, Northern Presbyterian, and Dutch Reformed churches had missionaries upon the ground. One of Commodore Perry's sailors, a Baptist, came in 1860. The A. B. C. F. M.
and C. M. S. entered the field in 1869. The total number of missionaries at the close of 1872 was 28. During the first period, up to the time of the organization of the first church, 10 persons only had received baptism, 5 in Central and 5 in Southern Japan. The first convert, the teacher of Rev. James Ballagh, was baptized by him in 1864. The first church was organized March 20th, 1872, in Yokohama, consisting of 9 young men baptized on that day and 2 middle-aged men who had been previously baptized.
With 1873 began a new era in the progress of Christianity. The attitude of the rulers began to change. An embassy left Japan in December, 1871, making the round of the leading Western nations, returning in 1873. This body was composed of men of such ability and social standing as to have much weight and wide influence. The country began to wake up from its Rip Van Winkle sleep of ages. The edicts against Christianity were taken down, and the hundreds of Roman Catholic Christians were released from imprisonment. Various national reforms were undertaken, the Gregorian calendar was adopted, telegraphs, railroads, daily papers, postal treaties with West ern nations, school systems, prison reforms, and many other improvements began largely at this time, and so the Mikado's empire began to move into line with the great nations of the world. With this year also new missions began to be established, and 29 missionaries came which more than doubled the force already on the ground. At this time also the Committee on Bible Translation began its work. In the 55 missionaries on the field at the close of 1873 ten missions and 8 different bodies of Christians were represented. This second period closed about 1887. The .missionaries on the ground had increased in number, from 1873-78, to 99 ; 1879,122 ; 1882, 138 ; 1885, 183 ; 1887, 253. The converts numbered in 1873 about 125(?) with two organized churches. The number of baptized believers had increased in 1876 to 1004; 1879, 2965 ; 1882, 4987 ; 1885, 11,678; 1887, 19,825. During this period occurred three important and helpful events. The New Testament translation was finished November 3d, 1879; (The committee engaged in this work to its close were Rev. S. R. Brown, D.D., Rev. D. C. Greene, D.D., Rev. Dr. McLay, and Rev. J. C. Hepburn, M.D., D.D.) This was about five years and six months from the time they began it. Another important event was the conference of missionaries held in Osaka, April, 1883. Although every Christian body was represented and all the burning questions of mission polity were warmly discussed, yet the sub-base of a common love to our common Lord was the undertone heard through it all. The inftuence of that meeting for good still lingers, and has specially contributed to subsequent Christian comity and fellowship.
There was also about this time a gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit and an uplift of the spiritual life of the Church. It spread throughout the entire country. It entered the Christian schools, and delegates from these went to the various churches to exhort them to do great things for Christ. The triennial convention of the Japanese brethren, which is one of their fixed in~titutions, was that year pervaded by such a spirit of prayer that they found it difficult to follow their prearranged programme. It was truly a Pentecostal time, and one in which the Holy Spirit's power assumed a new meaning. This served to give a good direction to the preaching services in the churches and the Christian addresses in the theatres and other places during those days. It also served to prepare the Church for the third and terribly trying period upon which it was soon to enter.
With 1878 Japan began to swing to the other extreme in regard to their treatment of things Western. A nation whose intensity of feeling against Christianity and Western peoples isolated them for three centuries, has in the continuity of its past a potent instrument for either good or evil. With this in the hands of a designing priesthood the politicians become mere puppets, while true patriots and Christian Japanese leaders have their inftuence greatly circumscribed, and also as members of the" body politic" must have their own feelings more or less colored by it.
The schools were the first to feel the effects of the reaction. The attendance dropped from 10,297 in 1888 to 8758 in 1889-90 i in 1890-91 was another drop of 1861, leaving the enrolment for that scholastic year 6897. The year 1893 shows an increase of 253 over 1892, but less by 2305 than in 1887-88.
During these years there has also been an annually decreasing number of adult baptisms, dropping from 6884 in 1888 to 3636 in 1893. The number of exclusions have annually increased during this time from 161 in 1888 to 636 in 1893. The adult baptisms for these years run as fol. lows: 1888, 6884 i 1889, 5007 i 1890, 4431 i 1891, 3718 i 1892,2731 ; 1893, 3636. The number of exclusious for the same time are: 1888, 161; 1889, 286 i 1890, 355; 1891, 322 i 1892, 573; 1893, 636. There has, however, during these years been a net increase of 11,884, the membership by years being, 1888,25,514; 1889,31,181; 1890,32,380; 1891, 33,390; 1892, 35,534; 1893, 37,398. In these reactionary years the contributions of the Japanese Christians amount in round numbers to about 500,000 silver yen ;* to thc close of 1893, from 1888, the sum was 428,6~8.44 yen, the largest contributions for one year having been made in 1891. The organized churches increa~ed in number from 221 to 365, or 144 during these last five years. The number of theological students, ministers, and Bible-women has steadily increased. The present number of theological students is 367 ; native ministers, 206; unordained preachers and helpers, 665 ; Bible-women, 279.
One reason for the annual increase of exclusions and decrease in the number of baptisms since 1888 is the fact that the Church has come to a better conception of the Christian life. They have become more careful in the instruction of catechumens and increasingly particular in insisting upon the maintenance of Christian character.
This straightforward, silent, steady growth of the Church finds its solu- tion in the fact that it has a life derived from Christ alone, or rather in the statement that Christ still lives in and sustains His saints.
Spiritual, like all other forms of life has within it such a mystical, in- visible element that its growth can be known only by the peculiarities of external manifestation.
A disappointment is sometimes felt by missionaries and others that the developing life of the Church and of the individual Christian does not manifest itself in forms that are in the line of those to which they have themselves been most accustomed. The unreasonableness of such a dis- appointment ought to be evident with but little reflection. In the West, where we have so many different denominations developed, each under trials and difficulties peculiar to itself, and where each one has stood for the emphasis of some one important truth overshadowed by others, there , has come in time to be a common denominational consciousness, so much so that we can even speak of different types of piety. In, America we have very distinctly marked types, such as the Quaker, the Methodist, the Old Presbyterian, and the Episcopal. In Japan the Church has not become so thoroughly denominational, and so its type of life partakes more of national and racial peculiarities. The kinship of the general life of the Church to that of the West is indicated by that literature which is so help- ful to all Christians everywhere. Thomas a Kempis's "Imitation of Christ" and Stolker's "Christ's Image" have had a large sale; with them also Bunyan's" Pilgrim's Progress" is immensely popular, and un- bounded delight is taken in following pilgrims from the cross and the wicht-gate through the whole way to the wide-open gates of the celestial city.
Prayer, providence, and the Word of God have been markedly con- spicuous in their relation to Japanese Christian life. Shortly after the opening of the country to foreign intercourse, about 1857, Dr. S. Wells Williams and the Rev. W. E. Style, of Shanghai, went to NagasakLt At that time the United S~tes gunboat Powhatan was in port, and on the • A yen is somewhat less than a dollar. t Rev. Dr. Stont, Osaka Conference Report. occasion of a visit of the officers to the governor of the city, they were invited with the chaplain, Rev. Mr. Wood, to join the party. In course of conversation during the call the governor said that Japan was now open to trade with other nations, and the Japanese would be glad of anything the foreigners might bring them except two things-viz., opium and Christianity. The remark was noted, and on the return of these three gentlemen to the vessel they talked the matter over. It was plain to them that the governor did not know what Christianity really was, but had formed his opinion of it from Roman Catholicism in the country in former times. They therefore resolved that they should try to bring about the introduction of true Christianity, and wrote letters to the Boards of the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches in America, urging the sending of missionaries to Japan. The answer to the prayers of these men and their letters were the first missionaries sent out in 1859. Subsequent events have shown that for the onward movement of the Church in modern missions God had struck the hour of the Church's opportunity. "The isles were indeed waiting for His law." In these early days there was a large number of Japanese with whom the missionaries first came in contact who could read Chinese Bibles and tracts, and these did a good service in sowing the seeds of spiritual life.
As an instance in point we have the well-known case of General Wakasa, who commanded the littoral guards at Nagasaki in 1854, when an English fleet suddenly made its appearance in that harbor. It was his duty to prevent the landing of foreigners except at a designated spot. In his rounds he saw a New Testament floating on the waters and fished it out. From a Dutch interpreter he learned its nature, and afterward obtained a Chinese translation of it. He began reading it immediately. After Dr. Verbeck came to Nagasaki he received a request for instruction from this general, who was living two days'journey in the interior. Owing to feudal restrictions the general could not go in person, but sent by a messenger passages of Scripture for explanation. In time he was ripe for the reception of Christ's appointed ordinance. Dr. Verbeck, on May 20th, the day of Pentecost, 1866, baptized two members of this his interior Bible class-viz., General Wakasa and Ayabe San, his brother. The general translated portions of the Chinese New Testament into easy Japanese for the women of his household, and they too were instructed in the way of salvation. A daughter and female servant were baptized in 1880 at Nagasaki. They reported that the general died a most triumphant death. The servant's zealous service for her spiritual master has resulted in the organization of a church in Saga. A granddaughter of Wskasa has become a Christian, and in 1890 a grandson entered the Doshisha College,bringing with him, and presenting to th~ school, a large English Bible given to his grandfather thirty years before, but which they had been obliged to conceal for years on account of persecution.* Dr. Ver- * Dr. Gordon, .. American Missionary In Japan." beck states that "by the close of the first period of mission work many thousands of volumes of Chinese Bibles and other ChristIan literature had been circulated. These were obtained mostly from the Presbyterian and London Mission presses at Hongkong and Shanghai. The faithful authors of this literature were little aware that while working for the salvation of China, they had been, as it were, writing with a double-pointed pen and working for Japan as well."
There is no mission in Japan but that can in some place or places in its history point to signal instances of the initiation of spiritual life and labor to the seemingly direct inspiration of a conjunction of these three factors-prayer, providence, and the pure Word of God. Prayer at the time of the providential opening of Japan preceded the coming of the first missionaries with Chinese Bibles. Prayer preceded the organization of the first Church in Japan, just at that moment when God's providence opened the country in 1873 to wider Christian effort. Prayer and the translation of the New Testament preceded the revival of 1883. There has for the last year been an unusual spirit of prayer in the churches, while more than 13,000 Japanese Christians are enrolled in the Scripture Readers' Union, and this just preceding that inscrutable providence within which is infolded a dark war cloud big and black with wrath. Has not the Father thus been rooting the life of His people in the living Word that they may firmly endure the coming storm ?
There has from the very first been a spontaneous tendency of the life of the Church toward uniou. Our Lord counted upon the oneness of His people as one of the most apposite of apologetics. In the Saviour's sad. dest hour the solidarity of His saints was His supremest solicitude. " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also that believe on Me through their word: that they all may be one, even as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us : that the world may believe Thou didst send Me." It might have been feared, in view of the many years of feudalism that existed in the land, with the consequent tendency to clannishness thus generated, that the various bodies of believers would carry the " clan spirit" into their various denominations, but there has been but little of this. The consummation of the promptings of the Spirit in the direction of union. and fellowship has become a fixed hope and prayer with Japanese Christians. Indeed, the greatest checks to union have come from our constituencies in the West. In the earliest years of the work, in September, 1872, the three Presbyterian bodies then in the country and the A. B. C. F. M. missionaries agreed upon a basis for the organization of their churches. '" "The plan," says Dr. Gordon, "of forming simple churches of Christ failed at the time, largely (must it be confessed?) because some people couldn't count converts so easily; but the good tlpirit of the convention has followed these missions down to the present time."
• .. American Missionary in Japan." Yet the union of churches in Japan has not wholly failed, and with the splendid nationalistic feeling in the country and the continued development of the spiritual life of the churches, it is a mere question of time when other unions will be effected. There are now two united bodies in Japan. The English, American, and Canadian families of the Episcopal household unite in building up the Nippon Leikyokwai. Four missions are represented in this work. It has 4 bishops, 3 arch-deacons, 91 missionaries, 61 theological students, 21 native clergy, and 5157 members. The other united body, Nippon Christo Kyokwai, has seven co-operating missions representing one Scotch and five American Presbyterian churches. It has 140 missionaries, 105 theological students, 62 ordained ministers, and 11 ,200 members.
With the union of the various Methodist bodies and of all the orthodox bodies holding the Congregational polity, the 23 missions in Japan would be engaged in building up but four branches of the Church. " Desire for union is strongest either in the newly converted or in the mature Christian. An intermediate stage of experience is the best soil for the growth of the denominational spirit."* With the more marked maturity of the • Church, therefore, may we expect that its oneness may become more and more manifest.
The unfolding of the life of the Japanese Church adds one more illustrative fact to the truth that it thrives even under trials. Its dangers have not dwarfed, but have deepened its life. Spiritual life is not one of God's hothouse plants. The life of Christ's body, the Church, has its wilderness temptations and Gethsemanes, as well as had its great Head. Persecution has played a painful part in the work-imprisonment, the pressure of public sentiment, and other forms of it peculiar to Japanese social life. The son of a man who was assassinated JIllany years ago for his supposed sympathy with Christianity became a Christian. He writes: "One day when I returned home from school my mother informed me that if I did not renounce Christianity she was going to commit suicide that very evening. My father had been assassinated because he was supposed to have been a believer in Christianity, and his friends told me that if her son became a Christian the stain on the father's name could never be washed away. It was a terrible trial, but I asked for a little respite that I might reconsider the claims of Christianity. I said I was willing to abandon it if I could see that it was not true. So it went on. They used every means in their power to change my mind, but the unseen hand was above us and led me. After three months I got permission to go to the government college in Tokyo, and a year after I entered the theological school in Kyoto. . . . My mother is now a Christian rejoicing in the faith."t A Buddhist priest baptized by Dr. Verbeck suffered in various prisons for five years. A teacher of Rev. O. H. Gulick was put in prison for his faith • Dr. Gordon. t Dr. Gordon, " American Missionary In Japan." and died there. There have been threatened disinheritance, boycotts, imprisonment of sons at their own homes, the stoning of Christian preach- ing-places, and lately a cowardly and cruel working of the nationalistic feeling against Christians j but whatever the form of trial, they have borne it as a whole with a prudence and patience that places them in the long roll of those worthies who from the beginning have suffered for Christ.
There are numbers of Christians who have given up lucrative employments from the conviction that these were inconsistent with the Christian life-wholesale sake brewers, renters of houses for immoral purposes, the manufacturer of theatrical costumes and furnishments, and others. There are those serving in the ministry receiving far less than they could obtain in government employ.
A girl who makes 90 cents a month manufacturing paper match-boxes keeps the Sabbath, though it means a loss of 12 cents a month from her scant wages. There are other instances of a similar kind. Missionaries whose work necessarily puts them into the closest and tenderest relations to the Japanese Christians could recount many cases of personal sacrifice, patient cross-bearing that would be a source of helpfulness to all who love our Lord. The life of the Church, as it has grown and shown itself in Japan as a whole, is a grand nineteenth-century evidence of the truth and power of Christianity.
Of course the life is not yet a perfect one, and there still are things criticisable by pastors and others, else there were no further need of either, but better than this is it ours to see Christ back of it all.
The developing life of this Christian body is its safeguard in these days when so many loose Western theologies threaten it. The creation by the Holy Spirit of a Christian consciousness through the common experience of the fulness and fitness of Christ to meet the spiritual hunger of the human heart and to heal "all its diseases," is that which increasingly tends to hold the Church true to her great Head. A Buddhist priest who became a Christian, when giving his household Hotoke San to a missionary, said that two years before becoming a Christian he gave up the worship of this idol, " but I never knew how dear it was to me until, in accordance with my vow, I bowed before it for the last time in worship. No human being can tell what a lonesome heart I had during these two years. I had given up the only object of worship I knew, and there was no other to take its place j but since I have known Christ I have never known what it is to be lonesome-hearted. "
As there are" flowers that bloom in the sunless depths of the sea," so this sweet common experience of Christ in the heart is the flower that continually grows in the depth of this Church's Christian life, no matter what storms sweep the surface above it~· Hurtful theologies cannot stand before the soulful satisfaction found in the spiritually presen1; Saviour.
This is the direction which the Church's apologetics are beginning to assume. An eloquent Japanese pastor, at the recent twentieth anniversary
DR. GORDON'S RELATION TO MISSIONS
of his church, said: "Our early apologetics took the direction of the nature of the God we worshipped as compared with the prices of dried wood the idolators worshipped. We were soon met with the popular reply from them, that we do not worship the wood, but only what these images represent. We then took up the superiority of Western morals and progress, for in those days we supposed that the Western people were about all of them Christians, and everything in their civilization was good j but we finally had to weaken on that line. At last, after trying the whole round of evidences, we come back to the argument from Christian experience. We can stand before our adversaries and tell them of our hearts baptized with the Holy Spirit, with a rest of soul as deep and broad and beautiful as a quiet sea in a still night reflecting the stars of heaven. "
Other features of the growing life of the Church readily suggest themselves, and can be only mentioned. This intensifying Christ-life has caused confessions of sin and restitution, the reconciliation of enemies, a purer family life, lives of faith, and the founding of institutions thereon that have been as marvellous as that of Muller's Bristol work. Indeed, the one thing the Buddhists now fear more than anything is the life of the Christian Church, and they are now duplicating in a mechanical way every institution that is the dynamical outgrowth of the life of the Church.
DR. GORDON'S RELATION TO MISSIONS.
* BY REV. H. C. MABIE, D.D.
If I were to express in one word Dr. Gordon's relation to missions, I should say that hi, interest in missions was integral; it entered into his very spiritual personality ; it was but the natural breathing and outcome of his being; it was no form of service that was put on as a garment; no perfunctory performance; no line of duty taken up hecause he had been elected to fill some official position. Missions with him, as with the God who instituted them, and with Jesus Christ His Son, who by His atonement made them possible, were constitutional. He could no more think of missions as geographically limiting his thoughts, his heart, his life, his enterprise, than you could think of there being limits to the sympathies of our Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose it to be the very essence of the heart of God that He yearns over humanity as a whole, longing with infinite tenderness to impart His own type of being, His own type of life, His own type of blessedness, to His creatures. It proceeds from within, as does the heat of the sun. So was Dr. Gordon's relation to the work of missions; it was born in him by the Spirit of the living God. He was in his natural birth the descendant of a parentage missionary in spirit. The • From at) tj,d<lre•• delivered at the funeral, Boston, February 5th. very name which his parents gave him in the old birthplace in New Hampshire was indicative of the spirit that had ruled in the ancestral home in admiration of the foremost martyr of this missionary century-Adoniram Judson. So also, in connection with his conversion, there seemed to be transmitted to him and implanted within him the very essence and genius of this relation to the whole earth in the spirit of his honored and saintly name8ake.
Dr. Gordon's Bible was a missionary Bible from Genesis to Revelation, not merely containing a passage or two in the form of explicit command, such as " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" -but the entire Book, the volume as a whole, the complete oracles of the Old and New Testament, were missionary, from the" In the beginning" to "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." And so whatever his point of departure in his Rtudyor meditation on the Divine oracles, they were ever saying to him, "This is too good, too Divine to be kept; it must be shared with the entire family of mankind." And so Dr. Gordon's preaching was evermore missionary preaching, because missions are the interior of the Bible, the essence of the Gospel, the reincarnation of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit among the nations, and he could not expound these words without exhaling a missionary spirit.
Dr. Gordon's world in which he lived was a missionary world. He found himself a denizen of a goodly city, indeed, of a noble commonwealth, of what we are fond of calling the most exalted nation on earth; but Dr. Gordon regarded himself far more than this, even a denizen of the planet; the entire earth was his home, his parish; and so these artificial missionary limitations that we are wont to form called home and foreign, because of our shortness of view and our failure to take in the great Divine perspective, which so often affiict the minds of God's people, never affiicted his mind. Those of you who have heard him speak of missions will remember how he was wont to say that the best prayer-book in the world is a map of the world. " Go," said he, "into the closet, and spread out this prayer-book before you, and then draw a line round some portion of the world, and pray, if you can, 'Thy Kingdom come.' Nay, rather, get the entire globe before you, and hover over it in the spirit of the Holy Ghost, who brooded over chaos, and brought light out of darkness, order out of confusion, salvation out of death, and you will pray aright." This was his attitude toward the world in which he lived.
History, in its ongoings, as Dr. Gordon viewed it, was missionary history. He was not a man sailing over a trackless deep without chart or compass, with no desired haven in view. History was not to him a confused mass of accidents, as it is to the materialistic thinker of our dayan insoluble riddle-a hopeless tangle. The history of the world, as he viewed it, started from a beginning and went on through the middle to the end, in an orderly way, and the end was a glorious and Divine consummation. The one last word that escaped his lips WaS "Victory I" He believed that this was assured in history. His faith swept the entire perspective, and hence it was that he saw great mountain peaks in that wondrous landscape where some of us, perhaps, see only hillocks, if we see even these. His view of history was simply the successive stages of the plan of human redemption, with its glorious culmination.
" The great world's altar stairs That slope through darkness up to God."
If some thought at times that his view of proper mission work was superficial or pessimistic, I bid them think again. If some think that he emphasized unduly what he regarded as the great and immediate duty of the Church in this present age-viz., to preach the Gospel "for a witness" -let them think how long, how ardently, how profoundly he pondered the words of the Lord–for His words they are-" This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." What Dr. Gordon meant by the" witnessing" is not that superficial post-boy, flash-light method of Christian enterprise which some imagine. * What it is let his own tremendously earnest and concentrated efforts-which burnt out the fires of his lifetestify. He meant all that Jesus Christ meant when He said: "To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the Truth." Christ's personal ministry, from the manger to the throne, he believed to be but a witness-the beginnings of things, not the consummation of them-the foundations only of the eternal kingdom that God was to rear. He meant all that the Apostle Paul meant when he spoke of his consummate privilege " to testify the Gospel of the grace. of God j" to" finish his course," a life-work that in the Divine plan had a beginning and a completion.
Dr. Gordon was profoundly moved in respect to missions because he believed that the Holy Ghost-the Third Person of the adorable Trinitybeing the soul of the Christian Church, was likewise the soul of its most characteristic' work, Christian missions. The Holy Spirit, and therefore his spirit, could not rest until it can:ied out what was hinted on the great natal day of the Church-the first Pentecost. Hence it was that Dr. Gordon's thought respecting missions was simply coincident with and exactly commensurate with the attainable spirituality and spiritual service of the Church of God in this age. Missions in his mind were the birth * That there are those who entertain such a view we do not dispute, but such was not Dr.
Gordon's conception of the witnessing. He did indeed believe that, however thorough and effective this period of witnessing among the nations might be, It was ouly preliminary and relatively Ineffectual as compared with what the period of world-harvest to follow the Lord's return will be. This with him was, however, chiefly a matter of programme of the Divine plan of operation. In his mind .it neither warranted superficiality of present-day effort, nor landed him in pessimism. Rather it afforded his basis for the most triumphaut optimism-the only basis for it which he saw In RevelatioD. On this basis he was at least always a pro-millennialist. (See Dr. Gordon's" The Holy Spirit in llIieeions," Ilrst chapter.) of the Holy Ghost~· and hence he could not preach as he did, or think as he did, or write as he did, concerning the Holy Ghost's administration of His Church, without thinking of the most heroic application of service in behalf of all pagan peoples, wheresoever they may be found, destitute of the Gospel. With his large outlool~ on the world, we can appreciate that characteristic hospitality which Dr. Gordon entertained toward all forms of Christian enterprise. Some of us are wont to choose for ourselves the forms of mission which we prefer to do, and we sometimes say, "I will do this," and "I won't do that," but he never thus spake in respect to any aspect of Christ's work on earth. He was naturalized to all Christ's work. To him that work was a circle, not an arc. It was globed. Hence he was as much at home in alien cities as in his own Boston, at the "Vorld's Missionary Conference in London as some of us saw him-easily king of missionaries, as he was imperial among pleaders for missions, the one man without whom no single session was thought complete till his voice had been heard. Hence it was that in Edinburgh and Glasgow and throughout Scotland he was welcomed everywhere, and fitted into the relations and voiced the missionary interest of these people just as naturally as if he were addressing his own prayer-meeting here in Clarendon Street Church. So their testimony was, " He fed us with the finest of the wheat. ,. He enlarged their horizon in respect to the world, and gave them a relish for its conquest. Hence it was that in Paris, with the McAll Mission workers, he was not only welcomed, but eagerly sought for. Hence it was that in our own land he was sought on all platforms where missions were to have a peculiar and effective advocacy. Hence it was that the Student Volunteer movement, the great conferences at Northfield and Ocean Grove and elsewhere regarded his presence and his addresses as indispensable. Hence his favor for the Salvation Army movement, which he commended and cheered when almost all men set it at naught. Hence it was that in the stables of street-car drivers, on the wharves along shore in Boston, or in refuges of the lost, he was everywhere welcomed as the supporter, advocate, and brother, vitally linked with all these organizations of any and every name.
But who shall tell what our beloved brother was to the American Baptist Missionary Union-our counsellor, our inspiration, our pride j none so meek as he. I may be allowed to say, without disparagement of any one, that all through his official relations to that body, through so many weary years in our committee rooms in this city, he often surrendered opinions of his own respecting ways and means in deference to his brethren, whom he was always ready to think of as more to be considered than himself. He was always ready to take the field for us, and was the bulwark of that organization. How this noble church has stood by him and followed him, till at length they only wanted to know his thought and they would anticipate it! There was with him no pulling of people's door-bells to extract from them unwilling offerings j no passing around nertously, hat in hand, to beg for Peter's pence; but rather he quietly exalted the lofty privilege of giving, and reminded of the blood mortgage on all men to redeem the world.
Since I came into this building this morning, I was approached by a young man, a member of one of the young people's societies here. " Excuse me, sir," said he, "but I must tell you what occurred here at our Monday night prayer-meeting. It was discussed what we shoqld do to express our feelings on this occasion, and at length it was resolved-and do you wonder at it-that we would do what he would have liked us to do. There is a great debt upon the Missionary Union; we will make an offering toward its extinction. And in a few minutes we had collected between four and five hundred dollars-gathered with the loving thought that that would have been our pastor's desire." 0 brethren, talk of inB.uence, and power to bring things to pass! It is that unspoken inB.uence which tells-it is what we are far more than what we 8ay, that carries our people. It is what he was in his majesty, his Christly simplicity, that has made his people yearn to be and do. It is that which causes this audience to-day to heave like the billows of the ocean-its main desire to be like Him.
It has been said over and over again, "How can we get on without this brother, in the family, in the church, in the Missionary Union, in Christendom ~ How can we spare him~" Shall we not rise to the heavenly view-point and look down upon it as God does, for this we must do, if we are to stand under this sense of loss? Shall we not remember the words of Him who said-even concerning Himself, the Master of all discipies-" It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come?" God in His providence has demonstrated that it is expedient for us that our brother be taken. He says he can be spared from this side, that he may be glorified on that side ; and God has settled that j it is expedient that he be taken. What, then, we ought to say is this: not how can we get on without Dr. Gordon ~ how can we get on without our pastor 1 how without the chairman of our committee ~ how without him in these Christian assemblies ~ but rather this: how can we get on without those compensations in grace which God's Spirit and providence will give to us if we shall have sanctified to us this inexpressible loss ~ That is what we cannot afford to get on without. We ought to settle it in this house to-day-every one of us-that with God's help we will not get on without that-that compensation, that transmitted bleesing, grace, and power, which may come to us, especially upon the ministry of the land. We draw no denominational lines here to-day. May there come upon the ministry of the world the baptism of fire in connection with thie departure! Oh, that the spirit of Elijah may fall upon Elieha-not !!imply upon !!ome !!ingle man toward whom the Church, in the deep, dark days before them, may reach forth dimly to find as a suc_ Ce!!SOr ill the pastorate, but upon ten thousand ministers of Jeaus Christ-
KEV. ADOLPHE MABILLE. 355
psstors of sll churches, the ministry of all denominations, by whatever name designated, upon united Christendom. Nay, I will not draw the line more narrowly than he would-upon the circle of entire pagandom as well as upon entire Christendom-that there may come such an anointing, such an outpouring of the Holy Ghost, as will be indicative of that great and final world Pentecost toward which his thoughts were forever bent and on which his eye was forever fixed.
REV. ADOLPHE MABILLE, * OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANT MISSION IN BASUTOLAND.
BY ABBIE P. FERGUSON, SOUTH AFRICA.
It is as when a standard-bearer fainteth. The Basuto Mission of the Paris Society in South Africa has suffered a great loss in the death of Rev. Adolphe C. Mabille, now almost a year ago. He was the heart and centre of a great work, one of the most wonderful in its results in South Africa. Dr. Moffat used to speak of it as the most successful of missions.
Mr. Mabille was in his fifty-eighth year, and we had looked forwarll to years of usefulness for him, but he has fallen in the thick of the fight. He was a most intensely active man. One of his fellow-missionaries said of him: "It is of no use to relieve Mr. Mabille in his work, for as soon as he is relieved in one thing he finds something else to do." He had a wonderful helpmeet in his wife, the daughter of Dr. Casalis, one of the pioneer missionaries in Basutoland. The Basutos say of her, "She is our mother, she was born in our land, she is one of us, and what she says is good." And she has unbounded influence among the people.
Mr. and Mrs. Mabille began the work of training evangelists during a time of war. Coming back to look after their people at Marijah,t they were detained there, and while the war cloud hung heavy about them they gathered a few young men and taught them how to help others. Out of this small beginning grew the Bible school at Marijah, from which hundreds of young men have gone forth to all parts of South Africa as teacher!'! of the Word. During all these years Mr. Mabille has given much time to this work, often taking a class at six -in the morning. A small class of young men have gone on to a fuller theological training. and these have been, in fact, under Mr. Mabille's instruction. Indeed, Marijah has been a centre of great activity, with its theological class, its sixty Bible students and seventy .normal students. One great secret of the success of this mi!'!sion has been, under God, the training of the native ChriEltians to work among their own people. I have heard Mr. Mabille say: "Our native .. Mr. Mabille had II church of 1600 communicants and 600 inqulrel'l and OTeraaw work in 16 outstations.
tOrMorija. Christians can help their own people much better than we mIssIonaries can. They know their difficulties and the way to their hearts. "
There are twenty out-stations connected with the Marijah Church, each under the care of a native evangelist, and it was Mr. Mabille's aim to place such evangelists all over Basutoland, until every heathen should come within sound of the Gospel. These twenty evangelists were directly under Mr. Mabille's care and oversight. Twice a year they came up with their church-members to Marijah to a great spiritual feast. These have been never-to-be-forgotten scenes, when hundreds of the Lord's dear people have gathered on the green hill-side around the table of our Lord, and have shown forth His death until He come. Too many for even the great church to hold, they have stood under the blue of the sky, with the grand Maluti Mountains looking down upon them, reminding one of the innumerable company.
Mr. Mabille has always been the life and centre of these gatherings, laying his hand in baptism upon those gathered out of heathenism, breaking the bread of life, speaking words of reproof and exhortation. There were always special meetings for the evangelists, when they reported concerning their work, and received special instruction and counsel from their spiritual father. Mr. Mabille was much used in bringing souls to Christ. I shall never forget seeing a multitude of heathen filling the Marijah Church, many of them under deep conviction of sin, and how wisely Mr. Mabille and his helpers led many of them to accept Jesus as their Saviour.
The printing of a monthly Basuto paper and of Basuto books, which were sent out to all parts of South Africa, made many demands upon Mr. Mabille's time. The printing was done by natives, who required careful superintendence. Mr. Mabille had willing helpers in his fellow-missionaries and in his own family, but a heavy burden of responsibility rested upon him.
Though such a busy man, he was the joy of the home life. Every day after the mid-day meal he and Mrs. Mabille took the time to go away and pray for God's blessing upon their sons and daughters, and God gave them the desire of their hearts. All of their children were converted, and two sons and three daughters were missionaries, working hand to hand with their parents.
Mr. MabiIle had a rare gift of song, and every evening the family gathered around the organ to sing. To us who listened it was a great treat, as each member of the family took his or her own part, sometimes to music of Mr. MabilIe's own composition. We shall never forget how our souls thrilled as we listened to the rich, deep tones of his voice. This gift was a great power among the native students, whom he trained in singing and playing on instruments, like the sweet singer of old. And he has gone, this grand, gifted, courteous man of God, whom every one loved, and whose rule of love was felt all through the Basuto Mission. " God takes home His workers, bnt the work goes on. II His daughter, writing in March, said: "To us the year until now has been one of great joy and peace, in spite of dear father's great mental fatigue. He had done too much and felt very tired. The doctor said if he did not leave the work at once he would not answer for the consequences. The Lord arranged everything for the best. The Home Committee said one of our missionaries was to go with the Zambesi expedition, who go to Mr. Coillard, as far as Mafeking, in Bechuanaland. So father and mother were ready in a week to go. Then strength was given to Louis (Mr. Mabille's son) to take up for a month father's great work-his lessons, printing-office, and church. So ali was arranged, and now we are asking God to bless their journey and to bring back our loved ones to us well and able to resume their work."
At first he seemed benefited by the journey. He attended the Basuto Mission Conference, though he could be present at the meetings only by lying on a couch. There it was arranged that he should have the assistance of his brother-in-law, Rev. Alfred CasaIis, as well as of his son Louis. Then he visited his eldest son at Leribe (Mr. Coillard's old station), all of the Mabille family gathering there, united for the last time.
Mr. Mabille preached in the Orange Free State on his way home, where he arrived, seemingly none the worse for the journey. He suffered very much from rheumatic pain, and when the doctor was called, he pronounced him very ill. Mr. Mabille expressed the desire to live, especially that he might revise the Basuto Bible. He had just finished an English Basuto Dictionary, the work of twenty years, but he soon realized that the end was near. He sent for the Bible students, the Basuto chiefs, the normal-school boys, and said good-by to them. He spoke very earnestly to them, dealing with them as at the very gate of heaven. He pleaded especially with the paramount chief, begging him to be reconciled to God.
Sunday, May 20th, 1894, was a glorious day, full of the veryatmosphere of heaven. Those about him felt that death had no power over the child of God. The first hours of the day he spent praying for each of the catechists, schoolmasters, and elders of his district (about 150 in all), and the students of the Bible school who are in the work. When those about him wondered that he could remember all the names so well, he said: "Oh, you know I have prayed for them so often by name I" When he heard the church bells he said: "Glory, glory, glory in the highest heaven I" and then, "Jesus, I also am one of Thy worshippers." He said during the night before : "You do not know all the struggles my study has witnessed. I have wanted to be small-smaIl-small, that He should take away all the pride and self-love. "
His daughter writes of the privilege it was to sit beside him and receive his last messages.
A young trader wanted to see him. "Yes," he said; "let him in ; I have a lovely message for him." After talking earnestly to him, he said: "I wish I could imprint upon your heart the conviction that Christ
THE LEPERS OF THE WORLD
is your Saviour." Afterward he clapped his hands joyfully, exclaiming, " Bravo! bravo! they are going to reach the Zambesi." His thoughtlil were with the mission party that he had escorted on their way.
At the evening tide it was light. He slept in Jesus to awake in His glorious presence. On the lOth of the next month he would have completed thirty-four years of service in Basutoland. " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord."
THE LEPERS OF THE WORLD.
Few realize how numerous are the sufferers from this most terrible malady. Miss Kate Marsden, whose life is devoted to the mitigation of their sufferings, is preparing a chart, designed to show at one view the real prevalence and spread of leprosy in various countries. From the minimum figures already supplied by government medical returns and other reliable sources, she reckons that there are 1,300,000 lepers in the world. China alone is said to have more than 600,000 j Japan, 200,000 j and India at least 100,000. But Miss Marsden would rather understate than overstate the case in her earnest endeavor to move the practical pity of the Christian public.
What an awful aggregate of sorrow and suffering is represented by those figures! Who can estimate the value of every Christian effort made to alleviate their pain and grief and to stay the progress of the dread disease ~ Leprosy, the greatest disease of medireval Christendom, is identified, on the one hand, with a disease endemic from the earliest historical times, 1500 B.O., in the valley of the Nile j and, on the other hand, with a disease now commQn in Asia, Africa, South America, and the West Indies, and in certain parts of Europe and the islands of the sea.
Egypt is generally regarded as the country from whence leprosy came. It was endemic among the Hebrews when they migrated from there. During the Middle Ages it was estimated that there were about 20,000 lepers in Europe, and every considerable town had its "lazar house." Owing to strict legislation, it is now found only in small isolated coast districts of Norway, Russia, the Riviera, Spain, Iceland, and some islands. It is common in all the countries of Asia, and in most of the coast districts of Africa. The West Indies and South America (the Guianas), Malaysia, and many of the islands of the sea also have numerous sufferers from this dreadful disease. The essential cause of leprosy is unknown, but it is generally found among people who live on the sea-coast and live largely on fish (often putrid), and who intermarry closely. It is not now believed to be contagious. Comparatively little missionary work is being done for lepers. The Moravians have a "leper home" in Jerusalem, and work among those in South America and elsewhere. The Mission to the Lepers of India is doing a glorious work among the lepers of India, Burma, Ceylon, and Japan. There are also hospitals for the lepers of Europe, of Madagascar, and South Africa, and missionaries are laboring among those in various other parts of the world. Little can be done for the poor lepers' bodies, though their suffering may be lessened, but their souls may be cleansed and saved, and the work among them is a certain one, which shonld call forth our deepest sympathy and most hearty support.
INTERN ATION AL DEPAltTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D "In Darkest Afrioa." to the road, so that one has to climb over great masses of fallen trees. This BY R. H. MILLIGAN. is, perhaps, the most exhausting part of the travel; but climbing over such EFULEN MISSION STATION, BATANGA, places i8 infinitely preferable to crawl- WEST AFRICA, March 12, 1894. ing under on all fours. On starting out the first morning we shrank from On July 17th I started for the inte· the cold water and tried to avoid the rior, and returned to Batanga after four mud, but after slipping and falling sevmonths, looking, I imagine, rather pro- eral times we became bold, and when fane, having been neither shaven nor we had walked an hour we came to a shorn for fi ve months. deep stagnant pond that must be cross- ed. I cannot swim in clear water, but There were two white men besides I saw that I would have no difficulty myself, Rev. A. C. Good, who has in swimming here, so I plunged in with charge of this expedition, and who has the others, but we were able to wade been in Africa for ten years, and Mr. all the way over. Just after this a Kerr, a new arrival. We had twenty- heavy rain fell, drenching us through. five native carriers, making in all This was a dreary outstart, but not twenty-eight persons. White brethren unfortunate, for afterward we walked and black friends stood gazing with without timidity, fearing neither mud strange thoughts as we stretched along nor water, nor height nor depth, nor the beach a short way and suddenly any such thing. disappeared into the forest. Noone would think of making this On such a journey toward such a journey for fun. There is great disland none can forecast even the near comfort in walking all day with much future. We were five days in going mud in one's shoes, especially when seventy-five miles, walking from 7 A.M. gravel is added. It is also uncomforto 4 P.M. each day. All the way was table to get up for several successive through deep forest, the trees much mornings before daylight in the cold taller and closer than in American for- bush and put on clothes wet through ests, and made more dense by a thick and through. Yet the road is not growth of enormous vines, all which worse than I expected, nor is it so together make it strangely dark, and rough as to be a great hindrance to our depressing as the Dismal Swamp. work. Any reasonably stro.ng man im- pelled by worthy purpose will find it The road is a po;)rly beaten path, easy enough. which carefully avoids the hills, keeping down in the lowest parts. The natives Four months later Mr. Good and mydislike climbing, but they have no aver- self returned from the interior to Basion to mud; one passes through every tanga, passing over this road at its variety of it and every depth. The very worst. For two months I had road often lies in the beds of streams. been sick with a severe fever that left The part of the traveller that is above several ailments behind, which made it ground is kept cool and wet from the necessary that I should, as soon as I dripping shrubbery that meets across was able, go to Batanga for medical the path, and as if this were not suffi- treatment. It was near the end of the cient, he has to wade many streams. wet season. For many weeks the rain On the first and last days the road passes had fallen almost night and day. The through native gardens, which are never cleared, but the immellBe trees are simply felled, and that without regard forest was flooded. The streams had be- muscle was stiffened and sore, but we come rivers. The rivers had spread had to walk much faster than before, far over their banks, making wading not knowing how far we were from necessary, and beyond were marshes Batanga. which we must reach that which were yet worse. The bridges night, for we had only food for one had all been swept away or buried un- more meal. We walked twenty miles der the water, and others built for tem- . that day, in spite of stiffness and soreporary use. The permanent African ness, but my courage was never so bridge is bad enough, but these tem- taxed before by any physical effort. porary bridges were unspeakably bad, At last we emerged from the forest consisting of a single line of poles tied into the sunshine, which never seemed end to end with rupe uf vines, and so bright nor the sky so blue. Batanga. usually several feet under water. shone like the Celestial City. Our toilet There is also one vine stretched across was in woful shape. Mr. Good had a few feet higher that one may hold received a severe hurt on the way. In with the hand. This latter vine is jumping 07er a deep place he had fallusually rotten, so one must hold it en upon an upright stick. At this late carefully aJ;ld let it go as soon as he be- date I can afford to smile, although at gins to lose his balance, as it will likely the time I turned pale; I thought he yield to the slightest strain. But what- was killed. We twisted his coat into ever other faults these bridges have, a knot over the sore, and bound around they are not especially treacherous; him two strips of bark several inches they make no fair' promises of support, wide, which formed two large bows, and one never starts out upon them extending more than a foot on either with any expectation of reaching the side. Moreover, he had torn his trouother side without sounding the depth sers at the knee so badly that he could of the water. In one place where this only keep the lower part by tying it to upper vine chanced to be strong enough his leg with vine. Add to this that we to bear our weight, the poles beneath were both lame, and besides bore the us, which were three feet under water, general marks of seven days' walking suddenly came to an end, leaving us through mud and mire, and you may to go a short distance on the upper vine imagine the effect. I do not speak of alone, hand over hand, until our feet my own apparel. I could not see that came in contact with another pole. In so well. Our appearance altogether one day we crossed as many as nine was fearful and wonderful. Our such streams with adjoining overflowed friends beholding said: .. Whence come lands and marshes. We were seven ye ?" We replied: "From going to days on the way. I was weak from and fro in the earth, and from walking fever and walked only four miles the up and down in it." tirst day, the next day eight, the next We reached Mr. Good's home first, twelve, and the last day over twenty where I sat down to rest, but in a few miles. On the last day, immediately minutes was unable to walk, and was after starting and before our blood was carried to Mr. Godduhn's home, one in proper circulation, we reached the mile farther, in a hammock. " Slough of Despond," deep with wa- And why illl this hardship, some are ter. We had difficulty in finding the asking, this exposure and peril of life, road. Mr. Good moved about in search, this isolation in the dismal interior of but I not knowing the roads moved Africa, or this madness, as certain of very little, remaining in the cold water our friends have called it? Only obeto my waist, and sometimes to my dience to a Master who thought tit to shoulders, for more than an hour. For say, "Go ye into all the world and the tirst time I felt evil effects from preach the Gospel to every creature." this. Before we had gone far every Is it not strange that even some Christians should seem to question the wis- beads and brass and bells. The men dom of this command or of obedience also wear ornaments, but not in such to it? I am weary of the opposing excess. Both men and women take arguments of many, even my friends, great pains with their hail', doing it up based upon our peril of life or the de- in the strangest and dirtiest way con- pravity of this people. I came not for ceivable. A common style is to build love of these, but in obedience to the it, with the aid of strips of bamboo, above command, and their depravity into three hard ridges several inches makes the command more imperative; high, running from the front to the and as for fear of hardship or danger, back of the head. Each ridge is mount- I am sure that no two things are more ed with a close row of common white incompatible than Christianity and shirt-buttons. Sometimes a card con- fear. If Christianity is anything, it is taining as many as six dozen is sewed courage. When in the French Revolu- on above each ear. The ridges of hair tion France was beset with foes on do not always run fore and aft. They every side, " cannon to right of them, are often in circles built up like a story- cannon to left of them, cannon in front cake and iced with buttons. Some- of them," and all were prostrate with times a kind of splash-board is built despair, the great Danton in thunder- out behind, running from ear to ear, to tones that filled all France called on hold more buttons. This latter style men "to dare, and again to dare, and prevents their lying to sleep in the or- without end to dare," and every son of dinary way. They must place the neck France arose and braced himself for on the wooden pillow, and let the head battle. His words are an echo of what hang over. The hair once arranged re- Christ has always s1id to His followers. mains undisturbed for several months.
Daring is an essential of all successful It forms a convenient place for wiping living. Surely Christianity ought to their hands or knives. After dressing be as strong a motive-power as patriot- it grease is smeared over which in the ism. Hardship ought not to be named; sun melts into the hair, some ot it our life is a small thing, the cause alone usually passing through and running is great. down the back. No matter what color In this interior we found a peculiar this oil is on going into the hair, it al- people indeed, called the "Bule." ways comes out black.
Our station is at the beginning of a The women, moreover, wear a strip countless populace extending far in- of monkey-skin or goat-skin an inch ward. On our first arrival a multitude wide-trimmed with buttons, of course of beggars surrounded our tent, beg- -across the middle of the forehead; and gars everywhere as thick as leaves in besides all this, they have bangs all autumn, insisting that we divide our around the head consisting of loose hair little stock of goods, which to them strung with beads of all colors. With seemed fabulous wealth. No corner this glittering headgear and with brass was too private for them to enter, nor and beads hung over the whole body, could we keep them out but by main the women make an appearance alto- force. Persuasion failed utterly, and gether unique in this world, if they be all a priori arguments were vain. We not like to things sometimes seen in soon came to the use of practical a pos- windows of toy-shops or on Christmas teriori arguments applied with a boot trees.
or other convenient object. We have, no doubt, come among 8 In appearance they are tall, well- desperately wicked people. Borrowing formed, and graceful. The men wear from Hume's estimate of Henry VIII., small loin-cloths. The women wear one might say that a catalogue of their nothing but a few haudfuls of grass, vices would include, perhaps, all the but thAY are loaded wit;.h ornaments of evils incident to human nature. When I first arrived among them I wrote a with the palaver. At the time of shoot· letter to a friend with the superscrip- ing yesterday we were holding our tion "Bule Land," but afterward, usual Sunday service. The man Who knowing more of this land, the super- had stolen the woman was present. He scription seemed a caricature too pro- heard the firing and knew what it fane, and that of my next letter was meant, and thought it was in his own " Chaos," for this is the very home of town, yet he showed no concern, but all disorder. They have reversed the sat calmly through the service. The whole moral law and every righteous people whose men have been killed are maxim. The plough they have beaten on the warpath to-day, determined to into a sword and the pruning-hook into kill a number of people, they care not a spear, and every man's hand is whom. Another palaver is going on in against his neighbor. the town nearest to us. A woman, who said that her husband was so homely There is no other law than the law of that she could not live with him, C'lme selfishness, which reigns supreme. to our station, met a man from another There is no word in their language for town and eloped with him. Her peoservice, they have not the idea. Mr. ple followed a few nights ago and kill- Good has been giving many of them ed a woman. We do not know how medical treatment. They take it for long this will continue. The people of granted that this also is selfish. They the town near by keep up a loud noille will sometimes get angry and scold if all night to let the enemy know that fresh bandages are not gi ven them they are watching. often. One man came and told that his wife was very sick, and asked what Last week Mr. Good and I visited a Mr. Good would give him if he would town one half-day's walk distant, where bring her for treatment. Another was we spent two nights. We found the in great distress, saying that his little stormiest people I have ever seen or daughter was dying, and that a man in heard of. They quarrelled almost a neighboring town had agreed to buy without ceasing, each quarrel involving her in marriage, and had already paid all the men and women of the town. some goods which would have to be re- During the day it was carried on in turned if she died. This latter made the street, becoming worse at night his grief truly pitiable. when they scattered to their houses, the men yelling and the women scream- Their wealth is chiefly in the shape ing their rage from within, loud enough of wives. These are usually stolen at to be heard over the town. There is first. Then follows a big palaver. no lack of matter for copious quarrel· The people of the offended town will ling even among this remote people of come at night and kill some one of the the forest. The occasions are so abun· town where the woman is. The enemy dant that many palavers are not settled, will return and kill one of them. And but are displaced by others. The occaso it goes on-killing in turn until the sion of a large quarrel the day we arthief pays for the woman, or until either rived was that a certain man's hen laid town stop that they may fight another an egg in another man's house, which enemy. Such a palaver has just begun latter man kept the egg. The town in one of our towns. Two days ago was rent in twain. The whole com- (Saturday) a man who lives near by munity is astir; they conspire together; stole a woman from a town some miles deep calleth unto deep; the sky dark· distant. The offended people came in ens; the mountains roll down their arms yesterday, but finding it hard to threatening thunders; hoarse rage is reach the town where the woman was, echoed back; but suddenly strange they killed two men in a town close to quiet falls on all the places-it is time us, which town belonged to another to eat. When eating is finished another tribe and had nothing whatever to do palaver cries out for attention, and the of Freemasons in A.merica, in whose former one is "laid on the table, ", surpas~ing antiquity I can now believe There was not an idle hour in which to that they include Solomon and perhaps resume it before we lefto It is still un- Noah. settled, and liable any day to deluge the valley with blood. Ngee is the native word for gorilla, and is also the name of a certain man We are used to noise. The people in each town, who is the head of this dance in the street almost every night, society and who takes the character of often through the whole night, to the a gorilla. This is also a benevolent somusic of several wooden instruments, ciety, protecting its members from the which they pound furiously, and all power of witches. Ngee may be called keep up a continual yelling such as is a witch-doctor or a devil-doctor, it you only heard in heathendom. Their please, able to kill at will or to cure heads are cracked, but not their lungs. any disease: He has a profound knowl- And with this unfortunate combina- edge of witches, and is a potentate tion of cracked heads and uncracked among them, saying, "Go, "and they go; lungs they make our nights hideous or, " Come," and they come. When in enough. character he will come into the town at any time, roaring like a gorilla, but One day I had thrust upon me the loud enough to be heard at any finite pleasure of seeing a woman perform distance. A.ll women and children the native dance. The woman is a and uninitiated men fiee for their queen. She often comes selling pota- lives. If one of these see him thus toes. This day she was carrying a bun- in character, they will take sick and dle rolled in leaves. She opened it and die. The dire truth is that they Inshowed me a coil of snake, which she deed die if it be known that they was taking home for her husband's have seen him. We suspect they are dinner. There were four other women poisoned. A few nights ago there was with her, all queens and, with herself, a Ngee dance in the nearest town. Mr. wives of one man. They all talk at Godduhn, of Bat&nga, was with us, once; those not talking are laughing, and he and I went through the town. some doing both at once, and at the The chief who lives in the first village same time running about through the followed after us, full of wrath, and house asking for everything they can threatening us with every calamity if find ; but this particular woman insist- we dared look upon the sacred scene. ed upon showing me the Bule dance, We passed on, however, and having which consists of a series of fiendish turned our light very low, we entered contortions. The whole body is in the village where Ngee was holding rapid motion, especially the shoulders forth with many of the initiated. The and stomach. One would think that women were of course hidden in their the body was without bone or solid part. houses, but We have reason to believe She accompanies this with imitation of that they were looking through the the music of their several wooden in- cracks. What woman wouldn't? It struments as weird as the dance itself. was very dark, but we could still see Both music arid dance belong to the un· these weird, black forms in every under world; neither of them should human shape gliding swiftly about in ever have reached upper air. She imi- all manner of strange motions, dancing tates all the instruments at once, and to the discordant sound of the instru· dances on, heedless of perspiration and ments spoken of above, and all shriekdecorum. ing like hobgoblins. The place smelled of sulphur. We soon became conscious But the most hideous of all their that Ngee was approaching. He dances is the "Ngee" dance. The growled hideously and roared in tones Ngee Society is a secret order corresponding in many points to the order such as I would not have supposed where no reason is conceivable unless a could come from man or devil, and love of the lie itself. The only sexual changing from shape to shape. immorality that they consider wrong is the unfaithfulness of a wife, but the "If shape it could be called, that shape had restraint put upon this sin is slight, none, and upon other immorality no restraint at all. They believe in God, but their Diltingui8hable in member, joint or limb." belief is unliving, a vague idea that has no fear in it, and hence no moral force. He flashed his knife about us fiercely, One day when I was returning from but seeing that we were not to be preaching in a certain town, it chanced moved by all the powers of darkness, that several women who had heard the he retired for a time. We turned up preaching were following along the our light and sat down. The novelty way. One of them called to me, a of the lantern overcame their antago- woman in whose face was not even a nism, and they danced freely about us, trace of innocence. She said: .. If God their motions more demon-like than is so good, why does He not give me ever in the dim light of the lantern. more food 1" I replied that the wonder But Ngee did not yet give up all hope was He gave her any, that God only of oVercoming us, or it may be that his promises to take care of good people. purpose was to initiate us. He brought She said that she was a good woman, a the bones of his ancestors-of his grand. very good woman. I looked at her for father or his grandmother perhaps- a moment, wondering what a very bad and placed them in a heap before us, woman would look like. I asked if Shaking the grinning skull at us, and she had never done such and such dancing about them with roaring and things, mentioning their commonest incantation. With look as innocent sins. She had never done any of those and ignorant as we could command, we things, but had always been a model took the bones up and handled them of truth and purity-such a woman, on curiously but respectfully, looked on a the whole, as is not found outside of little longer, and then departed, having Africa. I turned to the other women seen enough. present and asked them if this woman had spoken the truth. To my surprise It is said that after writing the .. In- they all agreed with her, saying that ferno" Dante looked as if he had been they had never known her to do any in hell. I do not know whether I after- of those things of which I had spoken. ward looked so, but I certainly felt as I then said: "Now, you say that you if I had been there. are a good woman. God says you are a bad woman. Who tells the lie?" She The belief in witches is perhaps the replied; without hesitation, "God." strongest prevalent in this country. Again I was surprised, but it was easy History gives us abundant testimony now to defeat her since she had called that this has always been one of the God a liar. Imagine, then, how near most cruel and enslaving beliefs that the abyss a people live on whom the have ever entered man's mind, and greatest of truths, that of a living God, here as elsewhere it is prolific in tor- has no moral force. ment and misery. I am told that among them are men But this subject is too large to enter called "tiger.men," whose custom is upon here. to hide in the bush and spring like tigers upon passing women and chil- As I know more of these people I dren, cutting them to pieces. find greater depths of depravity than I had thoup:ht of. One sometimes won- It is such a people whom we have ders whether man cannot indeed de- undertaken to tame by the Gospel. It scend to the depthS of the witches in .. Macbeth," to whom" fair is foul, and foul is fair." They will answer the most ordinary question with a lie, is not yet too late. "If there are Demon Possession on Missionary Fields.* depths in man as deep as hell, there are also heights as high as heaven. Are There are observable among men not both heaven and hell made out of gradations of intellect. Is there anyhim 1" Christendom may well ask thing unreasonable in the supposition why it is that they have not heard the that there are other intellects in the Gospel centuries ago; but let none ut- universe of higher powers than man P ter reproach nntil himself does his Does the creation necessarily top out duty. Three of us labor here alone with the human· family? Did what- ever force made man exhaust its powamong a people of urenakcnhoewd nthneumdebpetrhs~ ers when it made a human being? a people who have of depravity and misery, where the 2. If there be other higher intelliworm dieth not and the fire is not gences, must they all be necessarily good, or may some of them be malevoquenched. We are calling for help. Their de- lent and evil f pravity calls loud-calls louder to us S. If there be such higher intellithan to our fathers, and Christ's com- gences, good or bad, or both, have they mand, though long neglected, has not any means of influencing the human become a dead letter. The harvest mind and life? Bold, bad men of falls ~o the ground for ripeness, and great intellectual force do here influthere IS none to help. The work is not ence their fellows to evil. May some easy, but I prefer it to any other I have unseen higher intelligences also lead ever done. The Gospel in which we men into error and crime? trust, in which is all our hope, is here These are questions with which the Old and New Testament affect to dperaol ~ put to the severest test, and is not found and about which they are very wanting. It is said of Mohammed, that when a nounced. Is there anything contrary boy, lying one night in the open field, to reason in the way they deal with an angel came in his sleep, and remov- them? ing his heart, wrung out of it all the Explain the Bible narrative as we evil, which fell in dark drops to the may, it distinctly recognizes certain ground. I can think of the streams and phenomena as being superinduced by rivers of this land running red like energy exercised over the human body crimson with their escaping sins, and and mind by unseen spiritual forces. this people still unclean; but we know Is there anything that can be identified a simpler way and more effective, even as the same class of .. possession" as the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the that described in the New Testament? power of God. From these hills that This is what Dr. Nevius undertook to now resound with the noise of this vio- answer in the volume just from the lent people we purpose to proclaim the press, through the kind offices of Mr. life and death, the example and the Henry W. Rankin, to whom he comprecepts of Him whose voice is not mitted the manuscript just before leavheard in the street, who breaketh not ing for China, where, presently after the bruised reed nor quencheth the arrival, he died. smoking fiax, and who died for the But this is not all which interested sins of the whole world. And this we Dr. Nevius. He wanted to ascertain 0; do in the strong hope that in a time not * Demon Possession and Allied Themes be- far distant the smoke of their torment ing an Indnctive Stndy of the Phenomena onr shall no longer ascend to darken the own Times, by Rev. John L. Nevins, D.D., forty sun, but the listening heaven shall hear years a missionary to the Chinese; with an Infrom ten thousand voices the glad troduction by Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D. shout, .. Gloria in Excelsis." Chicago and New York: Fleming H. Revell Company. $1.50. whether the same kind of power exer- Chinese, their Present and Future: cised by Jesus Christ and committed Medical, Political, and Social" (1891), by Him to His disciples is applicable says he examined many cases of al- to similar cases if found to exist in our leged "possession" in China, and as- .IllY. He had a far more definite pur- serts that mania, dementia, and hysteria pose than that of a mere contribution are sufficient to account for the cases to the occult science of our time. He he had either seen or heard described, grappled with the question, What ought and he considered any who believe in to be the attitude of the foreign mis- demoniacal possession "superstitious sionary to this class of phenomena in and too credible." But Dr. Nevius heathen lands? Must they be relegated furnishes testimony which, he definitely to pathology or psychology, or dealt avers, and many will concur with him, with as spirit-product, to be exorcised cannot be explained by these causes, in the name of the same Jesus who and he gives some striking cases of commanded like spirits to come out of strong, healthy men, never ill, and men and to cease to torment them in never depressed in mind or body, who His day? Shall the missionary treat were subjects of this sort of double ex- them with the ammonia-bottle or the istence at intervals.
Bible? The practical point, however, is the In order to settle this as far as possi- missionary one, of how to attempt to ble for himself, and to furnish datil for deal with these cases. Dr. Nevius others to do likewise for themselves, he affirms that many cases have been took great pains, by personal investiga- cured by prayer to Christ or in His tion and by correspondence with other name, some very readily, some with missionaries in all parts of China, to difficulty; but, so far as he had been gather the fullest possible testimony able to learn, this method of cure had from experience and from reliable testi- never failed in any case, however stubmony concerning these alleged cases of spirit possession. He carefully sifted born and long continued, in which it the mass of material he had thus collated, and as carefully attempted to had been tried; and in no instance had analyze and classify it; and whatever may be thought of the evidence-and the malady returned if the subject beopinion is sure to be diverse-we have here an important contribution to the came a Christian and continued to lead bibliography of spirit-phenomena. The distinction of the volume consists in a Christian life. the facts as testified to by Chinese competent to observe and state them. A reaction against the gross mate- How they arc to be accounted for is a separate portion of the treatise. Of rialism of our times is sure to come, this much the author is convinced, and the occult is quite a8 certain to be thrown out of perspective when it is taken in hand seriously; and this vol- ume will therefore be of value to Chris- tian people wishing to follow a careful and conservative investigator. as all who knew the author recognize him to have been. [J. T. G.] that whatever was meant by demo- niacal possession in the land of Judea in the times of Jesus Christ, exists to- Shall Missionaries be Sent to Foreign day in China phase for phase. He Fields in Faith that the Funds will gives further testimony of Bishop Cald- be Forthooming? well as to the precise similitude with these of evil-spirit possession in va.rious This question has been a vital one parts of India. with some Christian workers for some Dr. Robert Coltman, Jr., surgeon in while past. The Church of England charge of the Presbyterian Hospital, Missionary Society, seven or eight Teng Chow Fu, In his work, "The years ago, determined that God must in some way take care of suitable men then in the Contingenc:y Fund. The definitely called to this work, and re- year 1894-95 began with about £4000 solved to send all such forward, funds to the good, the surplus on the special or no funds. They have recently contributions to clear off the previous issued a tract showing the development year's deficit. The Society, therefore, of their work in the seven years they after the immense development above have pursued this policy, in which they illustrated, is only £6000 worse off than say: it was seven years ago. And within " 1. The total number of missionaries the same period, a mortgage of £20,000 (not counting wives) has increased as on the Children's Home has been paid follows: Clergymen, from 247 to 344 ; off. On the other hand, it is important laymen, from 40 to 82; women, from to remember that very large savings 22 to 193. Total, from 309 to 619, or are due to the fall in the value of sil- just double in the seven years. (The ver. Had the Indian exchange re- Estimates Committe~ give a larger mained where it was, a much larger number, but they have not deducted income would have been needed."
some recent deaths and retirements.) "2. The increase in some missions is especially, noticeable. West Africa (including Yoruba and Niger) had then Reasons for Taking Part in morts to 11; now 43. East Africa (including Save the World.
Uganda) had then 26; now 58. The BY REV. EDWARD WEBB, LINCOLN UNI- Mohammedan lands, Egypt, Palestine, VERSITY, OXFORD, CHESTER COUNTY, Persia, had then 17; now 63. India PAhad then 133; now 222. China had then 30; now 85. Japan had then 14 ; l. Because" God so loved the flJO'I'ld. "
now 53. 2. Because it is the command of " 3. It was at the end of 1887 that Christ.
the new plans for associated evangelists 3. Because Christ Himself, as the first were formed. It was at the same time great model Missionary to the flJO'I'ld, that the large extension of women's leads the way-we should follow Him.
work began. Since 1887 medical mis- 4. Because salvation is provided by sions have much developed, and the Him for the flJO'I'ld.
number of medical missionaries have 5. Because He has given us the Gos- more than doubled. pel in trust for the flJO'I'ld.
"4. Since 1887. the p1'oportion of the 6. Because if we are not faithful to Society's expenditure on home organi- our trust, the flJO'I'ld will perish in its zation and administration, relatively sin.
to the direct expenditure on missions, 7. Because, if by our unfaithfulness has diminished. In 1887 the home and neglect the flJO'I'ld perishes, we charges cost 2s. 8td. out of each pound shall be adjudged guilty.
sterling spent. In 1893-94 they cost 1;1. Because if we are faithful to our 28. 2d. out ot each pound sterling trust, the flJorld will be saved, and the spent. reward will be ours.
" 5. In 1887, there were four honor- 9. Because Christ has taught us to ary missionaries. In 1894 there are say, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be over seventy honorary. done on earth as it is in heaven."
" 6. In the year ending ~Iarch, 1887, 10. Because no one, without active the General Fund income was £200,- interest in the foreign missionary work, 777. In the year ending March, 1894, can sincerely make this prayer.
it was £237,797. 11. Because foreign missionary work "7. The year 1887-88 began with has brought to the Church In return a £10,500 to the good, being the balance boundless blessing. 12. Because to stop all this work for work and exchange accounts of experithe world would bring upon the Church ences. There were besides five foreignparalysis and death. born missionary children. The mis· sionaries represented work in various 18. Because Christian love is essen- parts of India, China, Japan, Bulgaria, tially world-wide; it utterly refuses to be Hawaiian Islands, Siam, Turkey, and limited. West Africa. These are all receiving gratuitously the medical service of the 14. Because this world-wide love in- faculty and the free use of all the remecludes and fosters love for our own dial agencies of the institution, which country. Dr. Henry Foster has built up through forty years and presented to a board of . 15. Because the plea that to save our trustees composed of the senior secretaown land is to save tke world, has force ries of the leading missionary societies, only when the Church at home fs active to be held in perpetuity for the rebuildin saving the world. ing of the impaired health of missiona- ries. The outright gift is valued at 16. Because home missions had made $500,000, besides not less than $20,000 little progress when, by direction of annually of what may be classed as the Holy Spirit, foreign missions were eleemosynary expenditure. The superbegun from Antioch, in Syria_ intending physician, the Rev. C.. C. Thayer, M.D., and his wife were for a 17. Because, if there is a good reason term of years missionaries in the Turkfor one church or one member of a ish Empire, and as the head of the instichurch neglecting it, there is the same tution are in full sympathy with the for the whole Church. benevolent intent of the founder.
The three non-ethnic religions of the The twelfth annual meeting of the world that in spirit and work are ag- International Missionary Union will be gressive, diffusive and missionary, are held at CliIton Springs, N. Y., June Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and 12th-19th. All foreign missionaries, Christianity. The first, from humani- whether in service or retired, are recogtarian motives only; the second, with nized as members and entitled to free a prevailing political object. But the entertainment. All missionaries pur- Gospel of Christ is spread from su- posing to attend are requested to notify preme love to Him, as the chief and im- Mrs. C. C. Thayer, Sanitarium, Clifton pelling force, and also from love for the Springs, and to name topics they wish world. discussed. Ail information will be gi ven by the Secretary. The prospect is of a Let us, by all means, love our own large attendance, and eminent names country, even as Christ loved His native are already enrolled, such as Dr. H. H. Palestine. In His spirit let us labor Jessup, of Syria; Dr. Blodgett, forty and suffer for it. Let the spirit which years in China; Dr. Jacob Chamberlain moved and inspired the great Apostle and Dr. Boggs, of India; Dr. Amerto the world, whose motto was, "To man, of Japan; and Secretaries Bald· the Jew first, but also to the Gentile," win and Barton. be onrs. For the love which reaches out to the Gentile cannot pass by ~he J. T. GRACEY, Pre8ident, Jew. Rochester, N. Y.
A goodly company of missionaries are REV. W. H. BELDEN, Secretary, " up for repairs" at that great mission- Clifton Springs, N. Y. ary centre, Clifton Springs. One day recently the Sanitarium arranged that these missionaries should dine together in the spacious dining-room of that noble institution, and a social was held in the parlors in the afternoon, at which thirty missionaries gathered to talk over the40
CHU-LA.-LANG-KORN, THE KING OF SIAM, AND HIS SONS. PALACE ENCLOSURE-ENTRANCE TO TEMPLE
FillLD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY. SURVEY.
BY D. L. PDmSON• .Siam and Laos,* Malaysia,t Buddhism,t Lepers.§ THE LAND OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT. lation of the country is estimsted at. about 6,000,000, largely interspersed BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHillF. with Cbiriese. The people are not taU, aTe inclined to tatness; with faces broad' Siam has been, in comparison with and fiat, with, small noses and wide India and China, unknown to modem mouths, and they wear a stolid and sulcivilization. Commerce found little len aspect. 'The type of race is moditbere to attract trade, and, until witbin fied Mongolian, mixed with Chinese and the past quarter century, there has been Burmese. In the extreme south the but little literature which trea.ted of inhabitant8are quite distinct and have that Malayan penil,l8ula; and, as to the migrated from Sumatra; they are Mos- Laos country, it was even more a part lem in religion, and politically indepilDof the great unknown. dent 6f Siam,under rajahs or sultans.
Siam is about 1000miles long, and at Education Is at its lowest level among its widest less than one third of that the'Siamese, and woman Is wholly un· measurement. In the north are great taught, though her domestic estate is mountain districts, rich in fauna and fiora, streams and waterfalls; and the much above the aVllrage condition ·ot lowland,;! produce ample rice crops, the main dependence of the people. Three women in the Orient, and notably hi principal rivers constitute its river system, the Menam, the "motber of wa- toIndia; but. when education is brought ters," being the great highway of inter- bear upon thl'se people, they prove course and the stream on whose banks by no means lack.ing in native ability. Bangkok, the capital, the Asiatic Venice, stands-or, as we might say,fioats- A cuyious cust~m is insepllr~ble from so large is the proportion of inhabitants the exercise of hospitality. The areca living upon its water streets. nut is mixed with lime and 'certain other ingredients, a· compound which not Most of the travel is by boats, but in only blackens, but· rapidly destroys the cases where they are not available, by teeth, and yet this. mixture is chewed elephants, which carry a saddle shaped by both 'men and women, and the richer like a sawbuck. class serve it in gold boxes.
Bangkok has a population. verging The government is an absolute mon. on half a million; and the whole popu, archy, and it is not long' since the lion. ors paid to the Siamese .king. were: aI, * See also pp. 8 (January), 219 (March), and most Divine. There Is no hereditary nobility, and the king himself is elected 321 (present issne). Literature: .. Historical by certain officers. Some. sixty smaU Sketches of Presbyterian Missions:" "Slam provinces have each a ruler, aU subject and Laos as Seen by American Missionaries :': to the king. The late king and his "Siam," Mary L. Cort;" The ·Land of the successor, Chulalangkom, .have, proved Wbite Elephant," Y. Vincent. very able, .educated, and erilightened monarchs, who abQlishEld the CUB· t "India and Malaysia," J. M. Thobnm, toni of bowing lik.e beasts "on all fours," and bade. their courtiers stand D.D.; "A Winter In India ;md Malaysia," before:thein Hkemen.. 'From theacccs- M. V. B. Knox, D.D. sion' of· M8.ha"Mong-Kut" in.18S1, there has been more contact with the outside :I: "The Light of ~Ia and. the Light of the world and more real progress than for World," S. H. Kellogg, D,D.; "Short Chapter~ centuries before. on Bnddhism," .J.. H;. 'TitcOmb;, "Buddhism,',' Rhys Davids: "Buddhism," Sir Monier Will, ams.
S See p. 358 (present Issue). ". The Lepers of Our Indian Empire," W. C. Bailey: "Work Among Lepers." Missionary operations have never been ever opened in this country. Among vigorously carried forward, owing to the first fifteen scholars three were the paucity of laborers. The country daughters of the nobility, and all proved is open in a remarkable degree, but the equal to the boys in the acquirement of whole missionary force in Siam and the knowledge, so the school proved a suc- Laos country does not exceed thirty- cess, and other natives were induced to Jour, including women and the medical send their children also. One of the force (excluding wives of missionaries). Laos princes called to see the school. He had on a coat, pants, and hat, but The missionaries of the American was in his bare feet. The people are Board sent out in 1831 and 1832 were very much darker colored than the afterward removed to China. Since Chinese, but have the same straight 1847 the entire native population have black hair. They cut it short, and been under care of the Presbyterians of comb it d la mode parted in the middle North America. But the whole of the -men and women all the same. The New Testament and part of the Old, priests shave their heads, and wear san· with a beginning in Christian literature, daIs. Their garments are all made of were the fruit of one decade of years, yellow cloth. It is the sacred as well and now the whole Bible is accessible as royal color. There arc thousands of to all who read Siamese. The" Pil- the lazy vagabonds supported by beg· grim's Progress" was among the early ging. They make a very good living, products of a Christian press, which has however, as no one is allowed to refuse proved a grand instrument of evangeli. them what they ask, somewhat after zation and education. Parts of the Bi- the style of certain priests in America. ble have also now been translated into They are all servants of the idol god the Laos dialect. For seven successive Buddha, and at death expect to enter years the accessions to the Church in upon an eternal sleep. They live alone the Laos country were constantly grow- in monasteries upon the temple ~rounds. ing, from 110 in 1887 to 303 in 1893. The mother church at Chieng Mai, after .. At a certain season the kmg celesending out eight colonies, has an adult brates worship and gives gifts to the membership of over 700. priests. He visits the temples for nine days. At such time he may be seen in From 18407 to 1851 aU mission effort his royal barge upon the river. His was hampered by the hostility of the boat, over 150 feet long, with 84 row· king; on his sudden death, and the ers, all dressed in uniform, and keeping election of Maha·Mong-Kut, who had perfect time with their paddles. The studied with an American missionary, boat is beautiful, beginning with a and proved a catholic·spirited sov- bird's head and ending with a fish's ereign, the work began to take root, tail, all covered with gilt and Siamese though it was thirteen years before the carving. There were banners of crimfirst convert, Nai Chune, yielded to son and gold, and tassels of Yak hair. Christ; and the simple faith of the na· The king sat in state uuder a small cantlve Christians has given much hope to opy near the centre ,of the boat, and the missionaries. was almost hidden by curtains of cloth of gold. We saw him plainly When The effort was early made to raise he passed from his barge to the temple up a native ministry and to establish under his glittering golden umbrella. schools for girl8, as well as boys, to He was dressed in shining raiment and whom native custom had confined these sparkling with jewels, but had left his advantages. crown at home, as it is far too heavy to wear with any degree of comfort. I A well·known traveller writes: never saw a more imposing procession. There were perhaps a thousand boats .. Rev. Dr. Samuel R. House and his upon the river; eighty of them, filled wife were at one time the oldest Pres· with princes, nobles, officers of rank, byterian missionaries in Siam, and had soldiers, priests, etc., with their serunder their care the fir8t girls' 8chool vants, were counted as his special es· cort. The whole ceremony was for the perpetuation of Buddhism and the wor- ship of idols.' The people, however, worshipped the king as though he, too, were a god. There was music and shouting, and on either side of the river, in the floating houses, there were altars erected and tapers burning, while the people clasped their hands and bowed themselves as the king in his glory to earth in form of white elephant, passed by." birth, etc., and ending with his funeral pile and miraculous consumption. In the following paragraphs little else is attempted than to make a few The doctrines of Buddhism; bIlef notes on the condition of the land 1. Vacuity, unreality, illusiveness of and people, and to give short extracts nature. from competent authorities. 2. This nihilism levels all barriers of caste, nation, etc. Polygamy prevails to a fearful extent, 3. Final object, Nirvana, or deliver- with the inevitable degradation of ance from pain and illusion. Rotation woman. of metempsychosis then being broken, the soul is not born again; even desire Half a century ago all foreigners were of existence lost. excluded, but now all Christian coun- 4. Its four great truths are; Pain, its tries enjoy treaty rights. The present origin, its annihilation, and the way king subscribeS liberally to educational to such extinction. and missionary enterprises. Buddha actually sways the people of Siam. Its sacred fanes are among the Dr. Dean organized in Siam the first costliest in the Orient. One is estichurch of Chinese Christians in all Asia. mated at $800,000 and has 900 images The first zenana teaching ever at· of Buddha, one of which is 150 feet tempted in the East was by missionary long and is inlaid with pearl and overwomen in 1851, among the thirty wives laid with gold. The sacred literature and royal sisters of the king of Siam. in the Pali is written on slips of palm leaf, and the four hundred principal Buddhism is a most obstinate foe to works embrace 4000 volumes. Gospel conquest. It is a State religion, "Buddhism is evidently losing its and conversion is virtually treason. No hold upon the minds of young Siamese. man can hold office till after three Indeed, many of the older nobility, such months in the priesthood. While this as the Regent and others, are said to is the nominal attitude of the govern- have but little faith in it, but are ment toward foreign faiths, as a matter obliged to keep up appearances to some of fact no Oriental government has degree. The majority of the common made a closer approximation to a catho- people, and the women of all classes, aro lic toleration. still firm in the faith and constant in their works of merit; but there is un- As to Buddhism, it is a very subtle questionably a coldness in certain quarsystem. It is so complex and philo· ters. The present king, before assumsophical, that it has taxed the greatest ing the reins of government, according minds to explore and represent it. It to custom, spent some time in the is a mixture of apparent absurdity with priesthood. This, it is said, he would exalted ethical teaching. The most gladly have avoided, had not the custom satisfactory work I have seen upon been so inexorable, and the prejudice Buddhism is Sir Monier Williams's su- in its favor so strong. perb volume, one of the series of Duff The son of the Minister of Foreign Afmissionary lectures. fairs spent four years in England, part of the time at Oxford. He was there, Buddhism is the religion of the fol- however, without any proper person to lowers of Fo, whose tenets, introduced direct his studies or control him, and about A.D. 66, are called after Buddha, after spending a mint of money for his (to know-inteUigence). father returned, talking fluently upon horse·racing, dog-fighting, dancing, Buddhists hold that countless Bud· theatres, operas, and all plays and dhas have appeared to save the world, among them one in the present period -namely, &kyamuni, or St. &kya, held by some to be the ninth incarnation of Vishnu. His legendary history is in twelve sections, beginning with his being in the fourth heaven, descent sports; but his knowledge of the sci- than anything else. These calculations ences appeared to be small. He pro- are printed at the royal press, and pubfessed to have lost his faith in Bud- lished under the king's seal a short dhism, without having adopted any- time before the opening of the new thing better, and was averse to entering year." the priesthood. His father was indif· ferent upon the subject, but his grand- Buddhism has no place for atonemother was determined that he should ment, acknowledges no creator; the follow the ancient custom. She said souls of men are ancestors'/ all birds-and he was her favorite, and all her earthly beasts represent souls of departed relagoods were laid up for him; she accord- tives. ingly betook herself to weeping, day and night, until the young man was The white elephant is said to represent obliged to relent. Usually the shortest some king or hero. Death may usher time that anyone can spend in the priest- the soul into the body of a white ant or hood is three months. He agreed to elephant. enter the priesthood for tltree days; but stipulated that, contrary to the custom All males enter the priesthood for a of the priesthood, he should have his time, and live as celibates. regular meals in the evening, with claret. It is also reported that many of the ris- The Siamese believe in acts of merit, ing nobility have relinquished Bud· and seek to accumulate them. dhism. It is to be feared, however, that infidelity will succeed. The great The darkness of the future is terrible, preponderance of European influence, according to the confession of an aged outside of the missionaries, is in that priest himself, who with all his virtues direction. and austerities could see only a blank despair ahead. " Phja Krasap, a nobleman of rank and superintendent of the royal mint, Nirvana seems to be a condition in was at one time the only man in the which all attributes or quality, all dekingdom who had any scientific knowl- sire or emotion, or action or sense, is edge ,worth naming. He was also a gone. Buddhists maintain that a soul philosopher of some ability, and has so sublimated exists, though everything been denominated the 0 hunder Sen of that can be predicated of a soul has Siam. He discarded Buddhism as at passed away. One is reminded of an present taught and practised, and be· illustration which a Western college lieved in a Supreme Being, who pos- professor once gave of transcendentalsesses a kind of personality and is capa- ism, When pointing to a sand-bank full ble of hearing and answering prayer. of swallow-holes, he said, "Imagine That Supreme Being he combined with that bank all washed away, and the the correlation of forces, or rather made swallow-holes still remaining, and you that the instrument of the Supreme have transcendentalism." Being in carrying out his designs, and claimed to find this belief revealed in The thing that is plausible in Budthe Buddhist Scriptures. But few of dhism is its ideal, not its practical mothe Siamese know anything about the rality. The Buddhist decalogue is in Copernican system. The Brahman as- most respects commendable, and so far trologers calculate the eclipses with resembles that given by Moses at an tolerable accuracy, and give the time earlier date, that one naturally queries When the sun in his apparent course in whether the wonderful spread of the the heavens reaches the equinoctial and truth in Daniel's time did not reach solstitial points. This is done more in India, and give to Daniel's contemreference to the times of their festivals porary, Gautama, some of his principal ideas. The Decalogue, according to Rev. N. A. McDonald's work on Siam, is as follows: I. From the meanest insect up to man, thou shalt kill no animal what- ever.
18911.] ll'lELD OF' MONTHLY
II. Thou shalt not steal. "4. The way to the suspension ofsuf- lII. Thou shalt not violate the wife fering: By the eightfold noble path- Right belief, right resolution, right of another nor his concubine. speech, right deeds, right life, right IV. Thou shalt speak no word that ideals, right thoughts, right memory, is false. right meditation. V. Thou shalt not drink wine nor •• The last of these clauses is the foun- dation of Buddhist ethics. Evidently anything that may intoxicate. ethical law here is not founded upon VI. Thou shalt avoid all anger, ha- the dictates of a higher power, nor is there anywhere the suggestion of a law tred, and bitter language. VII. Thou shalt not indulge in idle or of universal harmony, or necessity, by which the individual is led forcibly to vain talk:. follow a line of conduct which suits VIII. Thou shalt not_covet thy neigh- the universe. The difference between bor's goods. ~ood and evil conduct, roughly stated, 18 the effect upon the individual him- IX. Thou shalt not harbor envy, nor self. Good conduct in a small way pride, nor malice, nor revenge, nor the produces relative happiness in life, and desire of thy neighbor's death or mis- advance of station in the round of ex- fortune. istence; in a large way it becomes the X. Thou shalt not follow the doc- motive-power toward the highest aim, trines of false gods. the resolution into the all, the Nirvana. This doctrine of suffering concentmtes This illustrates the ineffectiveness of all serious attention upon the Ego, and laws, however good, if there be no lov- for the Buddhist this metaphysical term steps out from the franJe of an ing and sentient law-giver. In a world abstract system, and assumes a reality which" created itself" (" Pen Eng," so strong, that everything without as the Siamese say), and whose supreme fades at times into utter insignificance.
being has no attribute nor emotions, To find the Ego is praised as the best end of all search; to be friends with laws will be observed or not according the Ego is the truest and highest friendto the disposition of men. The proof ship. The Ego spurs to good; through of all systems lies in their power to the Ego one knows one's self, and the change the downward tendencies of Ego watches and protects. The Ego is the ultimate refuge, therefore it must men. The practical morality of the be held in check, as the dealer holds a Siamese may be judged by the fact that noble steed. One's own Ego must, the nameless sins of Sodom-the un- first of all, be securely founded on natural affections depicted in the first good. After that others may be in- structed. chapter in the Epistle to the Romans- .. This may, perhaps, be regarded as are fearfully prevalent even among the the most characteristic point in Budpriesthood. dhist ethics. It is a spiritual egoism, Professor Maurice Bloomfield says : whose existence and development are hostile to and exclude practical selfish- " Buddhist ethics is joined directly to ness by its very existence. Forgivethe doctrine of suffering, as we may ness and the love of enemies is exaltcall it. This is the very corner·stone ed, but the impulse is less from the of the edifice. It is designated with heart than from the head; it is from schematic regularity as the fourfold that knowledge which kills desire, and doctrine of suffering, being presented leads to Nirvana. " again and again in four statements which form a close sequence. "1. The truth of suffering: Birth is THE TEA.CHINGS OF' BUDDHA. AND suffering, age is suffering, disease is CHRIST COMPARED.
suffering, union with what is not loved HISTORICAL DIFFERENCES. is suffering, separation from what is loved is suffering. Buddhism• •, 2. The origin of suffering: The thirst after existence which leads from birth By the doctrine of Karma a man is to birth, and to the desire for lust and power. bound hand and foot to the inevitable consequences of his own acts. " 3. Suspension of suffering: Giving np the thirst for existence by cutting Buddha always described himself as off all desires. self-made. Buddha came down to be born on bodily life as the highest of boons and earth in a rich and princely family. loftiest of aims.
Buddha declal'ed that all enlighten- Beware of action, as causing re-birth, ment and wisdom were to be attained and aim at inaction, indifference, apathy, by his disciples, not through him, but as the highest of all states. through themselves and their own intuitions. Every man is saved by his own works and by his own merits. Buddha died peacefully among his friends, suffering from an attack of in- What shall I do to inherit eternal exdigestion, at the age of eighty, and tinction? leaving thousands of disciples. Ohri8tianity. Buddha is dead and gone forever, or lives only in the doctrine which he left. Christianity demands the suppression Ohristianity. of selfishness. Christianity says: Fight and over- In Christ alone there is forgiveness of sins. come the world.
Christ constantly insisted that He Christianity teaches: Expect a new was God-sent. earth, a world renewed and perfected, in which righteousness is to dwell for- Christ was sent from heaven to be born on earth in a poor and humble ever. state. Bodily existence is subject to only Christ had all the treasures of knowl- one transformation. edge hidden in Himself, and made The body of man may be the abode known to His disciples that He was Himself the way and the truth. of the Holy Spirit of God. Present your bodies as living sacri- Christ died in agony an atoning death, suffering for the sins of the world, at fices, holy, acceptable to God, and exthe age of thirty-three, and leaving pect a change to glorified bodies hereabout one hundred and twenty disciples. after. Work the works of God while it is Christ rose and is alive forevermore. day. DOCTRINAL DIFFERENCES. Become as little children, and when Buddhism. you have done all, account yourselves Buddhism demands the suppression unprofitable servants. of self, with the one object of extin- What shall I do to inherit eternal guishing all consciousness of self. life? Buddhism says: Shun the world and withdraw from it. Another writer says: Buddhism teaches: Expect a never- .. To the Christian, the chief quesending succession of worlds forever tions of the future turn upon the fate coming into existence, developing, de- of Buddhism, and the prospects of caying, and reviving, and all equally Christianity. Can Buddhism retain its full of everlasting misery and change. hold upon the people amid the inevita- ble enlightenment? It is admitted to Bodily existence is continued in six be one of the purest of false sYiltems, conditions, through countless bodies of its ethical code almost identical with men, animals, demons, etc. our Decalogue. Gautama, the origina- tor, appears to have been a man of rare The body can never be the abode of disinterestedness and purity of charac· anything but evil. ter, contrasting strangely with the las- civious grossness of Mohammed. But Look to final deliverance from all the whole philosophy of Buddhism is an impractical dream, futile and ineffec- tual. It lays no strong and cheering hold upon the hopes of the life to come. It lacks inspiratIOn and high prompt- ing, affording no • mark for the prize of his high calling in Christ Jesus,' which quickened Paul to all endurance and all effort, revealing no • eternal weight of glory,' no fellowship of God part to different authorities and in part here or hereafter, no eternal career of to basis of calculation. The 2,284,880 culture and growth and delightful ac- Christians include nearly a million and tivity, no joy of eternal love. but in- a half of Roman an~l Syrian Catholics stead of these a mere endless dream iu and about 800,000 Syrian Jacobites. In which all sin will be bleached out of 1890 there were in India proper (excluthe soul. but with it all thought, feel- sive of Burma and Ceylon) 559,661 ing, and moral quality. It gives no Christians, of whom 182,722 were comimpulse, and lacks moral power. It municants. Including Burma and does not,corrupt, but it leaves all the Ceylon, 671,285 adherents and 223,941 natural corruption of the heart to go communicants. These have now inunchecked, which in the end leads to creased to over 700,000 native adherents I much the same result. and about 250,000 communicants for all India. " Buddhism. so plausible and so negative, will be hard to dislodge, and for NOTES FOR THE MONTH.-D. L. P. this reason great fruits have not yet been gathered in Siam. A people well The estimated area of Siam is 190,000 fed and proud of their garden land and square miles, about equal to that of the their respectable religious faith are less New England and Middle States, or one easily moved than impoverished and and one half times as large as the Britperishing races ; but Siam must yield ish Isles. The population numbers up Buddhism before the progressive about six millions, and consists of tendencies of a practical age. If not 2,000,000 Siamese, 2,000,000 Laosians, Christianity, then scepticism will take 1,000,000 Malays, and 1,000,000 Chithe place of the shadowy and soulless nese. dream that now entrances the people… Roman Catholics began mission work Oorreotion and Explanation. in this country about 1662, but soon became corrupt and a great hindrance Rev. D. F. Watkins writes to correct rather than a help to the cause of pure statements in the March Survey: .' Rev. Christianity, since the Siamese judged Mr. Thompson brought Bibles here (to all Christians by the Romanists among Mexico) in 1827. Portions of the Scrip- them. The first attempt to reach the tures in Spanish also found their way into Siamese with the Gospel was made by this country at an early date after their Mrs. Ann Hazeltine Judson, when, at her home in Ragoon, Burma, she transpublication (1823). . . . There are about lated a catechism and some tracts into a dozen churches and congregations in Siamese in 1819. Mrs. Gutzlaff was the Territory of Tepic with two or- the first missionary who resided in dained native pastors, helped by faith- Siam, but she only lived there one year, from 1830 to 1831. The American ful local preachers. The llethodist Board established and maintained mis- Episcopal Church, South, has also good sions there from 1831 to 1849. The work in three cities in Sinaloa and in American Baptist Union began work in Bangkok in 1833, but since 1835 have three places in Sonora, also at La Paz, confined their attention to the Chinese Lower California. OUf statements in Bangkok and the vicinity. The were based on the fact that there are Presbyterians of the United States no Protestant foreign missionaries sta- (North) entered the field in 1840, and have continued laboring successfully tioned here. A seeming contradiction with but a slight interruption until the iu our April issue needs a note of ex- present, and are the only society now planation. On pages 269, 291, and 293 the statements are made that there are in India 2,284,380 Christians, of whom 592,612 are native Protestant Christians, again that Protestant communicants number 250,000 and adherents 700,000, and again that communicants number 182,722 and native Christians 559,661. These seeming discrepancies are due in working among the Siamese and Lao· was granted, and he regained his throne.
sians. The prospects of the work are Later on the kingdom came under the exceedingly bright, seemingly only lim· power of Siam, when French aid was ited by lack of men and means to take again called in, and the protectorate advantage of the fields already white recognized 1863. Pray for an open unto harvest. In 1894 there were la- door and men and means to enter into boring among the Siamese 22 mission- Cambodia and Annam.
aries, including 8 ordained men, 1 phy- sician, and 5 unmarried ladies. These were assisted by 23 native helpers, In- cluding 1 licentiate and 18 teachers.
Communicants numbered 317, of whom Malaysia consists of the lIIalay Pen- 12 were added in one year; 307 pupils insula (Lower Siam and British colo- attended 13 day -schools, 555 were in nies), Sumatra, Java, Celebes, Molucca, Sabbath'school, and the number of in- and other small islands under Dutch door patients treated was 2800. The rule, Borneo, divided between the more important and promising work is Dutch and English, the Philippine Is- carried on among the Laos tribes of the lands under Spain, and numerous other north. Here 31 missionaries (10 or- small islands, some of them controlled dained, 3 medical, 6 unmarried wom- by Portugal. New Guinea is some- en) are stationed, assisted by 1 ordained times added, but more properly belongs nat~ve and 50 other helpers. They to Australasia. The total area, 830,000 have established 9 churches with 1590 square miles, and the estimated popu- communicants, of whom 289 were add- lation, 35,000,000, of whom two thirds ed in a year. Pupils in the 6 day- are in Java. The prevailing religion schools number 370, and in Sabbath- is Mohammedan. In Singapore and schools 475. the adjacent country there are laboring representatives of the Church of Eng- land, Presbyterians and Plymouth Brethren of England, and the Ameri- One of the unoccupied fields of the can Methodists (North). The British world Is neighbor to Siam. OarnlJodia, and Foreign Bible Society from this with an area of 40,000 square miles and centre sends out Bibles and tracts in a population of about 800,000 Siamese forty-jive languages (200 languages are and Laos people, 30,000 Malays, and said to be spoken in the city), and has 100,000 Ohinese and Annamese. Cam- colporteurs going to Sumatra, Java, bodians are more honest, but scarcely Borneo, Celebes, and the Philippine less indolent than Annamese; women Islands, in which last place they are are fairly respected and independent; the only missionaries. In 1890 there instead of earrings they often wear were 83 missionaries laboring in the wooden or ivory plugs in the lobe, Dutch East Indies, most of whom are which thus becomes distended to a connected with the Reformed Church monstrous size. Society of Holland, the Netherland, The early history is obscure. Con- Ermelo, Dutch, Mennonite, Rhenish, quered by the Annamese toward the and Utrecht societies. Statistics of sta- close of the seventeenth century, the tions, missionaries, and communicants southern portion was set apart for Chi- are very incomplete, the Encylopredia.
nese who had fled from home for politi- of Missions gives 198 stations and 32,767 cal reasons, and this became Cochin communicants; this is, however, a very China. In 1787 the king of Cochin incomplete record. In Java there is a China, being dethroned, appealed, native home and foreign missionary so- through French missionaries (Roman ciety founded in Batavia in 1851. This Catholic), to France for aid, which is now operated from Amsterdam_
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The March of Events. by the Chinese forces that hover around it. The climate is inclement. Imag- Official ad vices received at Wash- ine a large army tramping through the ington announce that the powers of snows of Maine and New Hampshire, Viceroy Li Hung Chang, the Chinese and we have some of the conditions of the Japanese forces, and, moreover, the Peace Commissioner, embraced negotia- Japanese army has not the clothing or tion upon four points. His credentials the shelter that an army in New Engread simply" to negotiate," but he was land might be expected to have, neither clothed with full powers to effect: can it get much support from the coun- 1. The independence of Korea. try through which it is travelling. It 2. A money indemnity. is not the first time that an army has found it a very different matter to push 3. Cession of territory. the war within the enemy's borders from what it was to gain victories on its 4. The readjustment of treaty rela- own or a neutral country's soil. Ja-· tions between the two countries in re- pan, of course, shows no fear as yet, gard to commercial relations, extra-ter- though there is seen a lack of.enthusi- ritorial jurisdiction, and other matters asm over the war which a tew months ago was not apparent. There is no previously covered by treaties which seeming haste on the part of Chinese have been terminated by the war. envoys. They are evidently confident This information discredits the cir- that the longer the delay the smaller cumstantial statement sent out March will be the .indemnity. There is cere tainly at present some ground for the 121h, purporting to give the text of the prophecy which was made by good auconditions agreed to by China in ad- thority in the fall of 1894-that the vance. These conditions are said to nearer Japan came to taking Pekin in include the cession of certain specified 1894 the greater her victory, an<J the farther she was from Pekin on January territory and to prohibit the cession of 1st the greater her misfortune. But all other territory, and to limit the indem- this may have changed ere this reaches nity to $250,000,000, payable In gold. America.
March 25th the news came from Tokio "One event in connection with the war should fill the Christian world with that a young Japanese, Kogama Roku- rejoicing and prayer for God's blessing nosuk, had shot the viceroy in the cheek, upon the Word. In an almost unex- and the bullet entered below the eye. plainable way Japan has lately been The wound was not thought to be dan- opened to the Bible as never before. It shOuld be known that in the past misgerous, and the would-be assassin is re- sionaries and Christian teachers have ported a lunatic. The Japanese with been forbidden to enter the barracks or one accord deplore the fanatic's act, to present Christianity in any way to the soldiers. A Christian young man and the probable result will be favor· who became enrolled in the arm.y could able to China in the peace negotiation. keep his Testament with difficulty, and Indeed, later it was announced that was likely to suffer much persecution an unconditional armistice is granted by at the hands of officers as well as men. A few months ago a young man who the Japanese emperor. last year graduated from the Baptist Ai to Japan and the war, Rev. J. L. theological school, on being enrolled, Dearing writes in The Watchman: had the greatest difficulty in keeping his small copy of the Gospels. Now all " The war wages steadily on. The is changed. Those in authority are nearer view of affairs gives little en· doing everything in their power to have coura~ement of the speedy issue which the Testament placed in the hand of AmerIcan and English papers report. every ioldier. The private secretary The accounts in the daily vernacular of Count Ito aided in forwarding a press, which may be expected to make large number of copies of the Testaout as good a case as possible for the ment, to be distributed through tbe Japanese, lead one to think that the navy. Prince Komatsu, who is at the Japanese army is advancing very slow· head of the Imperial Guards, asks that ly toward Pekin and is greatly harassed 10,000 copies of the New Teatament b6 fwrniihed for every office! and man in may not seem strange to those who are the Imperial Guard. They are the accustomed to think of the sympathy picked men of the empire, he says, and of a Lincoln or a Washington, but It should be the model men of the army. one thinks of the usual luxury of an He wants everyone to have a Testa- Eastern court, and how unusual such ment. Free permission has been given conduct is on the part of an ElIStern to the agent of the Bible societies to monarch, it will be easier to conceive distribute Testaments and to hold reo the high place that his Imperial Maj. esty, Mutsu Hito, is winning in the lIgious conversation in the hospitals of hearts of his people by the sympathy the army, among the Chinese prisoners, and love that he is showing, and one and in the barracks throu~hout Japau. can better understand what an inspira- How much this means it IS hard to reo tion he is to the entire army." alize. We cannot believe that this general permission to do a work here- From other sources we learn that the tofore forbidden cOll}es wholly from a American Board of Commissioners for new love for the Bible. Other forces Foreign Missions has received from are doubtless at work, but the fact that Hiroshima, the military headquarters the Bible is thus circulated may tell above referred to, a statement and ap· wonderfully in the advancement of the peal relating to Christian work for the Master's kingdom through the new and army, showing that, for the firllt time widespread reading which these thou- in history, a pagan nation authorizes the sands of copies will receive. We may employment of native Ohristians a8 army well pray that the understanding of chaplains! Ten missionaries and six· many may be opened. It is unques- teen Japanese workers have been des· tionably true that the war will forward ignated for the special work. for soldiers Christianity in Japan as well as Korea at Hiroshima. Encouraged by the and China. Korea has been opened as sympathy and weighty influence of never before to Christian teachin~. Christian officials high in rank, the 10- The slur which has often been heard lD cal committee have obtained permission Japan, that Christianity would make to send a number of Japanese evangel· one disloyal and destroy one's love for ists to the front as Cluistian workers for the Emperor and for one's country, has the army, and it is hoped that permis. been effectually stamped out by the sion may be secured for a missionary to loyal attitude of all Christian people. accompany or follow these Japanese. The activity of Christian people in seeking to supply the needs of the An appeal is issued asking for $1000 army, as well as in prayer for the at once to use in the missionary work army, has brought Christianity before contemplated in the Japanese army. the people in a very favorable light, The appeal is signed by seven well· quite in contrast with the inactivity of known brethren, with Bishop Evington at the head, and a new door seems open the Buddhists. for Christian effort which it is to be " Reference ought to be made to the hoped may be promptly entered.
attitude of the Emperor toward the In stran~e ways God may use this war. The subject is little dwelt upon war to promote the spread of Christian· by the home paper, perhaps because it is not understood, but it is a fact, never· ity in these lands. theless, which makes him a great ex· ception among Eastern monarchs. Soon Purushotam Rao Telang, a Brahman, after the war opened he removed his in the December Forum, makes the fol· court from the luxuries of his Tokyo lowing remarkable admission in regard palace to Hiroshima in West Japan, to Christ,ianity: "Here, in justice to that he might be nearer the seat of war the missionary, I must say that he has and able to encourage the troops as done much to lift the pariah, socially they embarked for the war, and also and mentally, by opening schools and oversee the return of the wounded and educating those who became converts. prisoners. There, in plain, temporary The structure of ,Hindu society and r60 quarters, he has remained, taking a deep interest in everything that concerned the war. He often goes through the hospitals and sends the band to play for the invalids. Only a few days since he was found walking in his garden in the clothes of an ordinary solaier that he might, he said, more fully appreciate the condition of his soldiers at the front. Such action on the part of an Emperor ligion – built on caste – is such that there was desperate fighting, 1500 men there is no such help for the pariah as having been killed or wounded.
the Christian missionary has brought to ., Then the diplomats and the Papal him." Nuncio, Mgr. Macchi, intervened and Another war threatens between Chili a peace was arranged. and the Argentine Republic, which "During the fighting all of the forwill draw in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador as allies of Argentine against eign legations were exposed to the fir- Chili. One thing feared by the people ing. The United States Legation was here is that Chili's first step will be to in a particularly dangerous situation. put a heavy body of troops into the centre of Bolivia, which can easily be "Mrs. McKenzie, wife of the United done by the railroad, and thus step in States Minister, narrowly escaped being between all the allies and chastise each shot. More than fifty refugees sought one separately at leisure. an asylum in this Legation. The only means of communication with the out- side world since Saturday has been over the lines of the Central and South Drought and locusts have caused American Telegraph and Cable Comwidespread famine in Eastern Equa- pany. All other lines were closed."
torial Africa. Villages have been de- Dr. Gracey sends the following letpopulated and mission schools and ter from a well-known source: churches have been closed. Many natives are selling themselves and their SEOUL, KOREA, February 7, 1895. children into slavery to obtain food_ I give you a great piece of news- The missionaries in Ugogo, Mpwahwa, Bishop Ninde had an audience with and Mamboia have joined others in an the king of Korea on the 4th inst. The appeal for aid. king expressed a desire to see the bish· op on January 31st, but he had already Mr. McKenzie, United States Min- gone to Chemulpo. He returned and ister to Peru, telegraphed the State was received in auillence. This is the Department March 21st, that, after first time episcopacy stood In the pres- three days' fighting, an armistice had ence of royalty in the bermi~ nation.
been arranged between the insur- Dr. Scranton [Methodist Episcopal] and gents and the government troops, Dr. Underwood [Presbyterian] accom· and that over a thousand dead and panied the bishop, and they understood wounded were left lying in the streets the hearty words of thunks His Majesty of Lima. Later some sort of an agree- uttered to the bishop in behalf of the ment was reached by the belligerents, Americans for their interest in Korea.
and peace was restored. A provisional "There are many, many Americans in government is reported formed with Korea. We are glad they are here.
Senor Candamo as Provisional Presi- Thank the American people, and we dent and Minister of Foreign Affairs. shall be glad to receive more 'teach- The New York Herald says: "Presi- ers.'" This is a wonderful utterance.
dent Caceres surrenders the government There are no Americans worth men- and retires to Ancon. Nicolas Pierola, tioning in Korea except "teachers,"
the leader of the revolutionists and and to tell the bishop to tell "the formerly President, will go to Chorillos. American people" to send more seems Caceres took refuge on board the Chil- to me to be opening the door wide on ian cruiser El P'l'eaidente Pinto. its hinges. The king and many of his .. This change in the government is people believe in Americans, and want the results of the three days' battle in to get as much of their" civilization"
Lima. The revolutionary forces, led from them as possible.
by Pierola, entered the city at dawn To-day I was asked by a representa- Sunday morning, and for three days tive of the foreign department here to receive two hundred students into our ditional pledlSe suggested by this devout mission school. It is not likely they man of God were added? We can im- agine the deeper feeling with which have this number ready, but it does each one would say, ' It meaw mY8elf, mean they want to avail themselves of ()1' my earthly p088essions.' One vow of our school. This Is a time worth living this kind would be worth one thousand in Korea. of the other, which is hedged in on three sides only. The word' if ' leaves Student Volunteers. the other wide open toward the world. Like Gideon's band, the little company An additional pledge is suggested of three hundred would be worth more for battle than more than thirty thoufor the Student Volunteer Movement, sand. by a prominent friend of missions and "These new Volunteers would be a generous giver. We print the com· like the tine wheat and the unblemished munication : sacrifice, which was required in the Old " A widely known and useful clergy- Testament religious rites. Now, no man of our .Church, who has made a less than then, God is mocked when study of Presbyterian and other church solemn vows are broken, or when immethods, made a suggestion recently, perfect sacrifices are brought to His on the Student Volunteer Movement, altar. "
that challenges and will bear consider- In the last issue we gave place to ation. If put into practice, it would insure such a purification of these the communication of Mr. S. F. Wilwould-be sons of Levi as could not fail kins, President of the Howard National • to bring down an abundant blessing on the churches. Bank of Boston, as to the" extra cent· – "Speaking of the imperfect pledge a-day plan" for raising money for the which these young people take upon cause of missions. Mr. Wilkins is not themselves, he added, 'I would find no only very earnest about this scheme for fault with the pledge, if it would go on and say further," If the way is not open- habitual and systematic contributions, ed for me to go to the foreign field, I but he exemplifies his principles by in· promise to live on the same amount, in closing fifty dollars, which we apply to this country, that I would receive were our Student Volunteer Fund for sup- I engaged in missionary work, and consecrate all that I possess over and above plying the REVIEW to proposing and that amount to the maintenance of the intending missionaries. To this plan foreign missionary work." , of Mr. Wilkins we call attention with "It was not said in jest, but in sol- emphatic commendation. emn earnest, and was the result of much observation and careful consideration of the plan that is rcgarded as simple Vivekana.nda. and easy to take up or let go. There is no question but that many who are Last winter no little stir was created counted as Student Volunteers have an in some of the northern cities by the earnest purpose to push on till they lectures of one Vivekananda. a Hindu reach the end they have professed to aim for; but these, as a rule, would monk, who was a delegate to the have gone out, almost certainly. with- World's Parliament of Religions. This out having made any previous public same Hindu has since published his declaration. views regarding missions in India in " It is no less true that most of the rank and tile of the movement are not different papers and magazines in this qualified to carry out their profession, country: and many of the thoughtless, and it would be better that they should or those whose prejudices were against not vow, than vow and fail to perform. foreign missions, were led to suppose Crowded meetings and the enthusiasm inspired by members, with impassioned that missions in India were a failure. appeals, are responsible for forcing, It would be well for such people in our from not over-strong natures, declara- own land to read the comments of the tions they would not make under other newspapers of India, Hindu as well as circumstances. " For these and other reasons would Christian, on the character and views of this same Vivekananda. His Hindu· it not be well, and would it not be an inspiration for the Church, if the ad· ism is repudiated. and it is stated that such a system as he gave forth in this both ways. The lantern and some one country is unknown to orthodox Hin- to read the l"cture must be secured 10.'
dus; and his description 8f mission- cally. Whenever possible, the slides aries is generally pronounced as most are sent so as to arrive a day or two in unfair. It now appears that he was at advance of the date on which they are the outset an actor in the Calcutta the- to be used, and they should be returned atre. He afterward joined the Brahmo the day following, packed in accord- B'omaj, and preached their faith. He ance with the directions on the box.
soon repudiated this, differing from hil!! It may be well to add that Mr. Grant's brethren as to any belief in God. This own hints on giving an exhibition may is the man who has posed before Ameri· be had in printed form, by application can audiences as a learned and able ex- to him. Our illustrations on Siam in ponent of orthodox Hinduism.-The the present issue were kindly lent us by Missionary. Mr. Grant.
Apropos of the above, it may be add· New books on Missions still con· ed that the Calcutta missionaries do not tinue to appear, and some of them of favor the scheme of the Rev. J. H. Bar- high excellence. The Pacific Press rows, of chicago, for a course of lec- Publishing Company publish "The tures to be delivered in India on .. Com- Story of Pitcairn Island, and the Mutiparative Religion." It appears that neers of the Bounty," written by Miss the influence of the recent Parliament Rosalind Young, a native daughter, of Religions has tended rather to foster and it is well done. The marvellous confidence, already too arrogant, on the way in which the Word of God withpart of the mndus, in their own relig- out any living preacher won its way to ion and opposition to Christianity. The the heart of the whole community is a great business of Christians in regard unique testimony to the power of the to India is to preach the Gospel in all living book, and it is well that the story its simplicity and glory, and leave the is fully told by one who knows all the Hindus who hear to make their own facts. The proceeds of the sale of the comparisons. We have had serious book go to the new educational institudoubts from the beginning as to the tion now building on the island. expediency of any such" lectures" in the heart of Asiatic idolatry and false faith. Michael Coates sends gratifying news from the South Africa General A most helpful way of creating and Mission as to the work of God in SWRfostering interest in missionary subjects zieland.
is by magic lantern lectures, illustrating Mr. Baillie with Mr. Coates and wife the daily life of the people, their occu- visited the new station," The Welpations, religion, places of worship, the come," and found the work going for· physical features of the country, public ward, and the natives flocking to the buildings, and the mission work. Such meetings. The Sunday before their illustrated lectures on India, China, and visit it was difficult to find room for Persia may now be had by applying to the people. Klass, the owner of the W. Henry Grant, 53 Fifth Avenue, farm, was converted and baptized duro New York. Each set is composed of seventy or eighty views, with a map ing their stay. The party several time!! and two missionary hymns. A' manu- visited the klng's kraal and held school script lecture is sent with the slides. there for the young king, a boy of About an hour is required for reading about nineteen and his two brothers. the lecture and showing the pictures. l1r. Coates writbs: " We believe there A charge of $2 is made each time the is a work going on in the heart of the slides are used, in addition to expressage queen. lam told she prays often. We heard her speak about Jesus and ask questions about the Bible. She has promised she will shortly tell all her people to learn and to pray. The king is very firm in his belief that their ideas about spirits and snakes are right, being compelled to deny a share in the but all his movements are watched by distribution to any whose income Is the native doctors, who are anxious over £100 a year. The work done by that his mind should be kept -in a state this "book fund" has been immense of darkness. and of vast benefit.
" If the king goes to wash, his medi- A Presbytery has been formed in cine man accompanies him, so that the connection with the United Presbyte- rian Mission in Egypt, one of the most water may be doctored and no evil promising missionary enterprises in the spirit hurt him. When lately the king world. This presbytery has recently shot two men in a fit of anger, his held its annual meeting at Suit al Lebu, witch doctor had to come immediately on the Upper Nile. Americans, visiting Egypt now in increasing numbers, and give him medicine to make the an- often show their interest by their gifts. A gry spirit depart, and the remedy was late letter from Cairo says that Mr. Whitelaw Reid, of the New York to paint the eyes of the king with a Tribune, who has just left for Suez, en black concoction, telling him also not route for Jerusalem, sent in a check for $500 for mission work, with a note in to leave his hut for three days. I was which he witnesses to the excellence of very much surprised the other day the work being done all through Egypt by this mission. when the king told me that the white people simply existed to give nice things The Proposed Medioal Missionary 001- to the nati ves. The king is very fond lege. of speaking to us, and I trust that be- The first payment of $5000 toward fore long his mind will be enlightened. the purchase of the John Stephenson We have had the king's own brother at church twice; he also comes frequently to visit us and is very pleasant and nice. He told me that when he got to know more about Jesus he would believe in Him.
.. Five of the king's sisters with their attendants were present at church, and listened most attentively to what was said, for which we praise God, as we feel sure that the words spoken in church are carried home and repeated again to the queen. "
Rev. Frank S. Dobbins will send to estate at New Rochelle, N. Y., was anyone writing him (at 1420 Chestnut made by the International Medical Mis- Street, Philadelphia) for it, a list of sionary Society early in March. The " Some Two Hundred of the Best Mis- second payment of $70,000 is due May sionary Books. " The list includes only 1st, and the third payment of $15,000 books now in print and on sale and must be made September 1st. easily obtainable. The property, comprising twenty Thirteen thousand copies of the list acres, and forming one of the most are now out in circulation, and a new beautiful sites to be found on Long edition of five thousand is just issued. Island Sound, has upon it a large white stone mansion built in the form of a cross, and measuring 115 feet in length, Mrs. Charles H. Spurgeon, still inside of piazzas. and 72 feet extreme residing at Westwood, London, con- breadth, about 60 feet average width.
tinues to supply ministers of small It has four complete stories. It is pro- means with good books. During 1894, posed to arrange the upper floor as a 8403 volumes were thus distributed, dormitory for male students, the third mostly works by her lamented hus- floor being devoted to lady students.
band. Among the recipients were 183 The ground fioor, containing eleven Baptists, 72 Congregationalists, 105 rooms. will be used for purposes of in- Methodists, 63 Episcopalians, and struotion and administration, While the 6 Presbyterians; £882158. 7d. was con- basement will afford all needed con- tributed. Mrs. Spurgeon says that she venience for boarding, culinary pur· has had more applications from the poses, and laboratories.
Episcopal clergy than she could fill, The former owner, John Stephenson, spent over $400,000 upon the building weeks will also be arranged for prospec- and grounds, but the executors, being tive missionaries, during which instruc- interested in the project, bave given tion will be given in emergencies and $35,000 of the lowest market price- the Bible, and the students will have $125,000-reducing the cost to only opportunity for practical work at the $90,000. A mortgage of $50,000 can mission dispensaries of the Society.
be readily obtained upon the property, The charge for board, residence, and but the promoters of the college trust instruction for ten weeks will be $50.
that the people of God will not permit This course will extend from the mid- this to become necessary. They have dle of June to the end of August.
about $10,000 promised toward the sec- Recently a very valuable addition to ond payment, and much earnest prayer the Society has been made by placing has been and is being offered by the on its Board the Rev. D. M. Stearns, of managers, students, and others that the Philadelphia, one of the ablest and scores and even hundreds of noble soundest Bible teachers of the present young men and women now clamoring day.
for medical education for mission ser- vice may be accepted and trained as they desire. Rev. Dr. Steel, of Sydney. The gift of $1000 will provide resi- dence for one student in perpetuity, Among our ablest editorial correwhile $5000 will provide re8idence and spondents we esteemed the late Dr. board for nine months and medical edu- Robert Steel, of Sydney. A memorial cation for one young man or woman in tablet to him, of Carrara marble, ;has perpetuity. The donors may name been unveiled in St. Stephen's Church, their gifts as scholarships, "In Memo- Sydney. The inscription reads: riam," and for the use of students of their particular denomination. Sacred to Tbe basis of the institution will be the Memory of :THE REV. ROBERT STEEL, D.D. evangelical and interdenominational, Born at Pontypool, Monmouthshire, England, and the trustees will represent, as 15th May, 1827.
equably as possible, the denominations Died at Sydney, New South Wales, 9th' in accordance with the gifts made from October, 1893. and for the same. Minister of St. Stephen's Church for 31 years. The Rev. S. L. Baldwin, D.D., Sec- Third Moderator of the General Assembly.
One of the first Couucillors of St. Andrew's retary Methodist Mission Board, 150 College. Fifth Avenue, New York City, is the President of the Interim Theological facnlty present treasurer. of the Presbyterian Church of New Sonth Since January 1st, 1893, Dr. Dow- Wales. An earnest and eloquent Preacher of the kontt, the Founder and Medical Direct- Gospel.
or of the Society, has received commu- A faithful and Warm-heaned PSBtor. nications from not less than 400 young A Wise and Far-seeing Church Statesman. men and women in our various colleges and schools, who desire to obtain medi- A Popular and Instructive Lecturer. An Enthnsiastic Social Reformer. And an able and voluminous Contrihntor to cal education for mission service. If the Literature of the Day. the building is secured, it is intended In his daily Life to form the first class of first year students of 40 or 50 -both sexes-and be- he endeavored to show himself an example to his Hock. In his intercourse with his Ministerial Brethren he was ever a Pattern gin the regular course about September of Courtesy aud Forbearance, and iu his dealings 15th next. The course will be four with those outside his Denomination, he was a years of nine months each session, with privilege of graduating at the end of Model of Manly Frankness and Christian three years. A summer course of ten Charity.
" 0 for the tonch of a vaniShed hand, And the sound of a voice that is still 1"
GENERAL lIUSSIONARY INTELLIGENOE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign faith that had led many to righteous- Periodicals. ness of life ; but as yet confession of BY REV. C. O. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, Christ is not made unto 8al1Jation. We MASS. have now to prophesy to the wind, and the spirit will come from the four quar- lNDIA. ters of the heaven, and they shall then -" Mr. Redman took me last even- live. In a few years we shall, please ing to visit a memorial to Sadhu Hira God, be able to say, ' And they lived, Nand Shanthi Ram Advani. The in· and stood up upon their feet an exceed· scription in English on the monument ing great army.'" – Rev. ROBERT was that he was' born March 6th, 1863, CLARK, in Church Mi88ionary Gleaner.
and died on July 14th, 1893.' 'Do not -" A More Liberal Christianity for be weary in well-doing.' 'The ,world India. It is an exceedingly interesting passeth away and the lusts thereof, and fascinating study to trace the dif- but he that doeth the will of God en- ferent currents of thought that ripple dureth forever.' On the top of the over the Hindu mind one after another.
monument was the Christian cross, the Many of them are very evanescent in Hindu trident, and the Mohammedan their character and their effects. Some crescent. He founded and for a time of these waves of thought just touch taught in the Brahmo Somaj Union the surface and leave the abysses un- Academy in Hyderabad. He was touched; but there is one current of greatly interested in the education of thought which is quietly but surely en- girls, and taught some of them him· tering the Hindu mind and stirring it self. He was the editor of a native to its depths, and that is Christian newspaper, the Barowati, and advo· thought. In many minds it awakens cated every scheme of social reform. sympathy, in others aversion, in some At the time of the cholera epidemic he intense hatred. Numbers would like a wen(personally wherever the pestilence Christianity robbed of its strength, was most virulent, and gave medicine more accommodating to the ways of to the sick and comfort to the dying. men, or, to employ the usual term, a He never spared himself, and he gave more' liberal' Christianity. The Par- his labor, his time, and his money with- liament of Religions is to some extent out any human reward. He was a na- responsible for this latest ripple of tive of Hyderabad, and his whole heart Hindu thought. Hindus and Bud- seemed filled with a measure of the dhists have been welcomed in Ameri- spirit of Christ. But he never became ea; they have proclaimed to delighted a Ohristian. On his monument appear audiences the lofty morality and tran- two English texts from the Bible, scendental philosophy of their sys- which are surmounted with the em- tems ; Christian men and women have blems of the three great religions in listened with delight to their eloquent India, which are antagonistic to each denunciations of Christian morals, and other. have regarded the testimony of these " Full long has the Christian Church men as superior to that given by mis- been prophesying in India to the dry sionaries. The Christian public in bones, as God has commanded us to America and England are prepared to do. These bones are now coming to· take these men at their own valuation.
gether in the form of humanity. But The pUblication of the report of the there is as yet no life and no confession WorId's Parliament of Religions has of !Jhrist. There is apparently the given ' liberal' editors the opportunity
1895.J EXTlACTS .AND
of having their say. The editor of the prevail must emphasize the facts of Metlwdi8t Times cven is quite prepared sin, of alienation from God, of return to accept the Hindu at his own esti- to God through Jesus Christ. Take mate, and heartily endorse his senti- these away, and Christianity will be ments. Mr. Hughes says: 'How ter- deprived of its power. But the heralds ribly just, for example, was the follow- of Christ in this land will not cast away ing bitter cry of a high-minded Brah- their shield of strength. Their work man: •• Oh, that the English had never is agitating the minds of men; it will set foot in India 1 Oh, that we had continue to agitate them till the people never seen a single European face 1 ·of India shall have fairly faced and Oh, that we had never tasted the bitter adequately answered the question, sweets of your civilization, rather than , What think ye of Christ? ' "-Ha1"lJUt it should make us a nation of drunk- Field.
ards and brutes I'" This rhetoric is – We take occasion to commend the , terribly just,' and is to be accepted as Ha1"lJUt Field, published by the Methtrue because it is the 'bitter cry of a odist Episcopal brethren of Madras, as, high-minded Brahman I' But is there in point of mildness, breadth, and any truth in it? We have no doubt soundness, a magazine that leaves the' high-minded Brahman' would be nothing to be desired. delighted if every missionary left these shores to-morrow. Mr. Hughes ap- -The Madras Mission of the Ameri- parently agrees with him. The en- can Board, as quoted in the Ha'I'fJUt dorsement of such exaggerated rhetoric Field, says: may lead Hindus to think that Chris- "In view of the many accessions to tians who can so write are' liberal :' our community, an inquiry concerning but such foolish writing can only the motives of the new converts in be- weaken the Christian sentiment and in- coming Christians is a very interesting fluences that missionaries are trying to one. The opprobrious epithet of ' rice spread. Missionaries who live in the Christians' is not so frequently hurled midst of the people cannot accept at missions as it once was, so that we these representatives of the Hindu and can study the question more calmly.
Buddhist religion as fully and ade- It Is evident that as intelligence grows quately describing these religions; they among the people, and as the Christian do not endorse their wild and extrava- community multiplies, a greater vari- gant rhetorical statements. Hence the ety of motives and higher ones become people of America and England are possible and common among those who liberal and progressive. while mission- are accepting Christianity as their aries are narrow, puritanical, unpro- faith. The relative number is growing gressive. of those who are disgusted with the " The only 'liberal' Chris- hollowness of Hinduism, and 'are at- tianity that will be approved by many tracted by the truth and divine excel- is a Christianity that will deny the de- lence of Christianity, and for that rea- pravity of the human heart, and there- son embrace it in the face of many per- fore its need of regeneration ; that will secutions. We rejoice also in seeing rob Jesus Christ of His Divinity, and many, perhaps the larger number of set Him up as a peerless man among our accessions, drawn to us by family men. and therefore deprive Him of His ties. Their relatives were already redeeming love. Will such a Christi- Christians, and were being richly bless- anity be of any use in India? Will ed by their new faith. Their pleas, the followers of such a Christianity their example. and the solid blessings ever take the trouble to send out am- which Christianity brought to them, bassadors in any numbers? We trow and their refusal to marry their chil- not. The only Christianity that can dren to non-Christians, Were the all-
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
powerful motives with this class. And is the power of God unto salvation. this motive through ties of blood and And it is no uncommon experience of kinship is to grow, for some years at the missionary to receive men whose least, out of proportion to all others, motives are so low and Whose minds and become the vastly preponderating are so base as to disqualify them from factor in the conversion of India to any true Christian life, but whose Christ. children, when they themselves have passed away, adorn the faith and ex- "The thirst for education and ad- perience the joys which their parents vancement is another growing power never knew." which draws the people. Many a young man, with the hearty consent -Mission jubilees are commencing of his Hindu relatives, now casts in to rain in India. The fact is suggeshis lot with us because it is the only tively instructive. The contrast with way open to him for education and the olden times, which were not better, promotion, with which blessings our is admirably encoura.ging. The Basel faith is becoming more and more iden- German Mission Church at Calicut, tified in the minds of the masses. And which has arrived at this joyful and many families also thus join us in or- patriarchal age, teaches, both in its inder that their cbildren may be edu- ception and by its later success, two cated. A great many still become distinctly important facts. The birth Christians from less worthy motives of the Church at Callcut was instruthan these. They are poor people suf- mentally due to the English civilians, fering injustice and cruelty at the hands Dr. Buchanan and Mr. Conolly. Its of village headmen and their heredi- parentage emphasizes the essential imtary masters-suffering as none but portance of the Christian layman in the poor Hindus do and can. But they counsels and efforts of the Church. Its learn of the missionary and Christian- maturity accentuates the wisdom of its ity, and sopn come to regard them as policy in its complete discouragement friends of the oppressed and the de- of caste."-Ohurch Mi88ionary InteUifenders of the poor. So they flee to gencer. them for protection, and when they find that they have not lied in vain, -" A notable Brahmo Somaj lecture they and their descendants are found on ' The Hindu Conception of God' was among the stanchest friends of the given on the 19th in the Town Ha)) to cause and the most devout disciples of a crowded audience by Babu Protap our Lord. A few come from more sor- Chandra Mozumdar, the leader of the did motives than these; but beyond Somaj. Tha.t conception, be told his telling all plainly that we offer no finan- hearers, had its best realization in the cial inducements of any kind to any Christian doctrine of the Trinity. The one, and can give them no promise of only point at which his utterances cessation of earthly troubles, we feel it might not have been the utterances of our privilege and duty not to scrutinize a sufficiently eloquent Christian mistoo closely men's motives; for we sionary was where-without explainhave learned not to expect high mo- ing, however-he declared that the tives from an ordinary Hindu, and we Christian conception of the Holy Spirit have learned also that a man's religiou'.! was' just too definite.' What a Chrisstatus in the future will depend, not so tian missionary Mr. Mozumdar would much upon the character of his pre- make t But the Lord of the Harvest Christian motives, or the absence of knows best." -Ibid. any serious motives, as upon the faithfulness and heartiness with which he -" The Irawaddy, like the Ganges entered Into the new relations and and the Brahmapootra, colors the sea llstellS tQ!l!ld 4qbibefj that Gospel which for many miles from its mouth. The coast lief! rlLther low, and is covered
EXTRACTI!l AND TRA]i8LATION8
with thick jungle, 80 that you see noth- find there is not a word in that treaty ing of Rangoon itself until you have to support the claims put forward in swept round into its harbor. But long the Chamber of Deputies by Ministers before, when yet miles away, you see, of Foreign Affairs answering interpella- out of the dark green mass, a glitterin~, tions. It is silent on the subject of a flashing tongue of flame shoot upward protectorate, and it only grants a privi- to heaven. Ascending like a fiery pil- leged situation to France in respect to lar, it disappears one moment in the diplomatic relations with foreign Pow- shadow of a passing cloud, and the ers, but not in respect to trading or any next moment flames out again more other relations. They stand on the brilliant than before. It is the' Golden letter, and, they aver, on the spirit, Pagoda,' the Sway Dagon, which is which was more distinctly expressed thus gleaming out far over the sea to in the Memorandum annexed to the greet us. "-Rev. O. FLEX, in Allge- treaty. They would not sign the treaty meine Mi8&01WJ·Zeitschrijt. unless M. Patenotre accepted the Mem- MADAGASCAR. orandum, which is not the less valid because M. de Freycinet shirked read- -The following statement, from the ing it to the Chamber of Deputies when Ohronicle, shows on the highest friendly he represented the treaty as a victory, authority, French, Catholic, and Jesuit, and asked for its ratification. how thoroughly inequitable is the present attitude of France toward Mada- "The Jesuit Father regards the gascar. Hovas as an intelligent and an interest- ing people, and well aware of the evil -" The Paris correspondent of the consequences of war with a great Euro- J)aily News recently sent to that paper pean power. But they will go to war the subjoined testimony as to the pres- if they are bullied, and a sentiment ent position of the French in Madagas- which would engender future trouble car from Pere Caussegue, a gentleman must spring up in the case of their well known in that island as one of the being defeated. If the French Govern- senior and most able members of the ment act with firmness and moderation, Jesuits' Mission. We fully endorse trying to conciliate and to be fair. the Pere Caussegue's view of the situation; Hovas are sure to become attached to it is strikingly true. France. The Jesuit complained to-day "Father Caussegue, of the Jesuits' to a writer on the staff of the Temp8 of Mission to Antananarivo, bas returned the number of usless French function- to France. He thinks the French aries quartered on the Hovas. Why wrong in ascribing aggressively hos- not send, instead of the fifty soldiers tile intentions to the Hovas. They who form the Resident's guard, six have no wish whatever to break the married gendarmes. and doctors, en- peace, and if they are procuring arms gineers, schoolmasters, and schoolmis· from England, it is only to make, tresses? They would be truly work- should they be obliged, a defensive use ers for civilization. A grand palace of them. They are terrified at the ut- has been built for the Resident, and a terances of M. de Mahy and other per- big barrack for the soldiers. The Jesuit sons of intemperate speech in the Cham- Father longed to see hospitals in their ber of Deputies. All that is said there place, and a few hundred thousand about Madagascaris printed at Antanan- francs devoted to benevolent institu- arivo. It does sound alarming to per- tions. Such an expenditure would be sons who are not used to French par- a premium of insurance against war, liamentary oratory, and it makes the which would cost millions, be a cause Queen and ministers scan closely the of military weakness, and bring France text of the Patenotre Treaty and the no return worth speaking of. There Memorandum annexed to it. They are English and Norwegian missions at
GENE:RAL lIlISSIONA:RY INTELLIGENCE
A.ntananarivo. Father Caussegue says out for more." -Ohul'c7& MiasiMWl1"Jl of them that if their relations are not InteUigence1'. intimate with the Catholic missions they are civil. The English and Norwegi- English Notes. ans do not attack the Catholics. The open and violent enemies of the latter BY JAlIlES DOUGLAS. are French. As to the Sakalavas, who are not yet Protestantized, the Jesuit London Mi8Siona'l'1J Society. – In an Father holds them to be an inferior able article on " The Story of the Lonrace, refractory to civilization. They don Missionary Society," Dr. Horton are fearful thieves. The Rovas are shows that there has been no decline really a fine race, and in time to come in the quality, the devotion, and the will be the governing one of the island." achievement of the missionaries. For example, in the last quarter of the cen- -As the two extremes of Christian tury there is the splendid story of New opinion in France, M. Saillens and Guinea to match that of cannibal Tahiti M. Caussegue, a Baptist and a Jesuit, and Samoa won for Christ. Africa concur in deprecating the overbearing presents a similar record-" the eleven policy of their government toward martyrs, gathered one by one,and laid Madagascar, we may regard the case in the lonely graves to possess the land as closed with all the judicious. M. about Tanganyika," forming a titting Caussegue, we observe, while acquit· sequel to the glorious courage of Vanting the Protestant missionaries of all derkemp, Philips, and Moffat. So hostility against the Catholic, does not with China. Dr. Horton, however, as condescend even to mention the charge an Englishman is not quite satisfied that they are plotting against France with the review. "Is it creditable," herself. He evidently does not think he asks, "to England that nearly all this worth notice. our best missionaries in the London Missionary Society have been Scotch- -" Moral ideas seem lacking among men or Welshmen 1 What is it in the the Sakalavas in Madagascar, though England of to-day that saps the herotheir neighbors, the Hovas, are Chris- ism in youths, and drifts them into tianized to a large extent. They say: smooth respectabilities instead of pas- • To lie, a sin? to rob, a sin? to get sionate heroisms 1" drunk, a sin? to aid wars, a sin? What is sin? That is some idea of Tien-Men and King.shan.-Dr. Grifyou white men, not ours. Let the fith John sends an inspiring and length- Hovas accept new ideas and customs. ened aocount of a journey through We are not such fools, or deceived so these districts. We note one or two easily.' Yet there il:l a conscience in items. "At one of our prayer-meetthem, and it may be awakened."-Pel'i- ings," he says, "it was my privilege odical A.ccounts (Moravian). to hear a remarkable prayer offered up by one of the Christians of Pan-tsze-Nau. -" Last November 21st, the birth- The Christian is a man of nearly sixty, day of the Queen of Madagascar, the and a convert of not quite three years' first pocket edition of the revised Mala- standing. Neither in China. nor out gasy Bible was issued. The books are of China have I listened to anything in clear type, neatly bound, and sold in the shape of reverent, earnest talking below cost at one shilling, so as to be with God that has impressed my mind within the reach of most. Thi.. vocket as that prayer did. The truth must have Bible is esteemed a great boon, and become very real to that brother, and when the consignment reached Anta- very precious, too, for otherwise it nanarivo, there was a great rush to se- would have been impossible for him to cure copies. In a few days every copy hold communion so intimate and loving was sold, and the people were crying with his Father in heaven."
ENGLISH NOTES
Dr. John reports large additions in shade of view and practice. As one of the district of King-shan. Besides 66 themselves expressed it: .. Drawn as already baptized, there are on the books we are from all classes and grades of 136 candidates for baptism. .. There society, we try to perpetuate in our is," he says, " something extremely in- midst the very differences that charac- teresting in the whole movement. It terized us before we entered the fold gives one an idea of the possibilities of Christ; but what has become of the connected with missionary work in bond of fellowship that is in Christ China, and especially in this province. Jesus? Is it not strong enough to . •. Our great need just now is more break down all petty barriers of an ar- men." tificial society? We want more of Ohurch Mi8sionary Society.-In H. union and fellowship, more of sympa- E. P's notes in the Ohurch Missionary thy and Christian love, to weld together Intelligencer, attention is called to two into a homogeneous whole the varying defects in Indian Christian life : First, and discordant elements of our comthe prominence given to matters of munity."
only temporal concernment; and, sec- Kerak, Palestine.-This town, which ond, t.be lack of thorough Christian is some 700 feet higher than Jerusalem, oneness. It seems odd that a Christian is the scene of a hopeful mission. A convention should have been held for great work is being done among the no higher purpose than" to deliberate Moslems of the place, who seem on the on such subjects as .the educational most friendly terms with the workers needs of Indian Christians, their indus- there, and who are very open at pres- trial and commercial pursuits, the es- ent to the preaching of the Gospel.
tablishment of a family pension fund," Kerak is adjacent to the Bedouin tribes etc., but such is the information tele- of the great Syrian desert, who come graphed from Lucknow. In Madras thither to trade, and is within three the subject of .. thrift" has been eager- days' journey of the Arabian frontier.
ly canvaesed ; but better still the first It is felt that there is a loud call to meeting of the" Native Christian Gos- make Kerak a strong mission without pel Propagating Association" has been delay.
held in that city, at which Mr. S.Jagana- Bapti8t Missionary Society, North thum told "how wonderfully the Lord Ohina. – We understand that great was helping the earnest members of it in bleSSing has accrued from the Baptist propagating the Gospel to the multi- mission work in North China. Around tudes of both Christians and non-Chris- the three mission stations in that region tians, and thus accomplishing the only there are now from 80 to 100 small object of the Association, which is to churches, with a membership varying make known the only way of salva- from 6 to 60.
tion. " Dacca,lndia.-The Rev. R. Wright The want of homogeneity among na- Hay has had a warm welcome on his return to his much-loved mission work. tive Christians is doubtless due to the A Mohammedan gentleman, whom he very imperfect assimilation of the spirit has known for years to be under imand principles of the Founder-a fruit- pressions of the truth of the Gospel, ful cause of separation among brethren has committed himself by being bapat home as abroad. The grave·clothes tized. Concern for his family had long of caste hamper the movements of the held him back from the path of open Divine faith in India. At one extreme discipleship. are the conservative native Christians, paganized in customs still; and on the other, there lire the Anglicized few who Lower Congo.-Times of refreshing assert their liberty, while intermediate are reported from Underhill Station, is a motley group of ev-ery oonceiVl.lble· Lower Congo River. Two lads have
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTEJ,LIGENCE
been baptized, both of whom made a The Presbyterian Ohurch of England. good confession in their baptism; and -Much interest is felt in the appoint· there is besides a class of fi ve inquirers. ment of the Rev. W. B. Douglas, B.D., Tidings of a good work of grace in the as assistant in the Puerto College of Upper Congo have also arrived. The the Irish Presbyterian Spanish Mission. work at Bopoto was commenced four "Mr. Douglas," says the Missiona1'1/ years ago, but the seed sown is now Herald, .. is not only an accomplished beginning to yield the promised har- scholar, but seems to be on fire with vest. the true missionary spirit which is so much needed for working for Christ in Oeylon.-A revival of Buddhism in this land of Romish superstition and this island has developed a strong op- ignorance and degradation." For three position to Christianity. It is a time years he has been chaplain at the Rio for the workers in patience to possess Tinto mines, being stationed at Huelva, their souls. The Rev. Walter D. Han· where he preached regularly, and su- kinson contributes an admirable article perintended the large Spanish schools on the situation. Much is contrary for the children of Rio Tinto workmen. 'lnd the reverse of hopeful, but "the Lord sitteth above the floods." The A Visit to Jam-tsau..-This place is fierceness of the opposition has aroused interesting because of its associations interest in many. Mr. Hankinson and with William Burns. The Rev. J. L. his native preacher received during a Milne, B.D., has been visiting it along few weeks hundreds of visitors. "We with Mr. Wynd, a missionary in Japan. feel very thankful," he says, "that so Good congregations were had at the many have come within our reach, for services held. Among those visited ever since I came to the district the was an old saint who was found sitting Buddhist preachers" (one a very bitter against her doorway, reading Matthew hater of God) " have been stirring the 6. "Yes," she replied, in answer to . people up." The opposition in ques- Mr. Wynd's inquiries, "yes, she does tion has been accentuated (thanks to often think of the Lord, and is glad she Chicago) by the arrival of Mr. Dharma- soon will meet Him; and when she Iles pala, who was representative of the awake at night, unable to sleep, her Buddhist religion at the Parliament of prayer is for the work in China." Religions. THE KINGDOM. Wesleyan Missiona1'1/ Society.-The Aylilf and Fingo Memorial Church, -This is the entry made on the rec- Peddie, South Africa, was opened on ords of the Leicester Church when November 1st, 1894, amid great rejoic. Carey's decision to resign his pastorate ings. The name Ayliff is of historic in order to go to India was announced: interest, being associated with the work "No business of importance, except and name of the Rev. John Ayliff, who that in January our pastor gave us no- first brought the Gospel to the Fin- tice that he should leave us in March, goes more than half a century ago, and having engaged to go on a mission to laid a solid foundation on the ever-dur- BengalI, in the East Indies. " ing rock. The original Aylilf Church, Peddie, was built about 1840; and a -It is said that the words, .. Reserve striking evidence of the progress made the cots for the two most uninteresting since those days was afforded by the babies," always accompany the check presence of a thousand persons at the which Miss Helen Gould sends each opening of the new church, among year for the support of two beds in the whom were many ordained ministers Babies' Shelter connected with the and other office-bearers; descendants of Church of the Holy Communion, New original Fingo refugees. York City. -The American Mes8enger relates aged by what the missionary societies this incident: A foreign missionary re- have done and are doing in carrying the cently told of a woman who, on a Gospel to the whole world.-Rev. F. M. school-teacher's salary of $1000, lived Rains. on one half, and with the other half supported a substitute in China. She -The Peninsular and Oriental Steam- then felt that she was really two per- ship Company, commonly known as sons, and carried out her lifelong de- the P. and 0., is the oldest and one of voted desire to be a foreign missionary. the largest steamship corporations In She received a letter every week from the world. It commenced a mail ser- her substitute, prayed for her by name vice to the Spanish peninsula in 1837 every day, and realized the truth of with the Siberia, a wooden side-wheeler what a friend of hers had said-namely: of 516 tons and 180 indicated horse "This teacher serves the Lord twenty- power. This company's fleet now con- four hours a day, and thus practically sists of 54 steamships of 221,807 tons lives the life of the angels, who serve and 225,650 horse power, and 22 steam Him day and night; for at the antip- tugs and launches, the largest and most odes her SUbstitute is working while powerful steamships of the company she sleeps." being the Australia and Himalaya, each 6900 tons and 10,000 horse power. The -A missionary among the colored P. and O.'s receipts from passengers in people in North Carolina relates that 1893 were $4,655,880; from freight, $5,676,480; and from the government after he had bee!B. absent from his field for contract services and conveyance of troops, $1,841,940. The total expendi. for a few weeki, and at the first prayer- tures were, in round figures, $10,885,- meeting, they all thanked God for his 000. In the course of twelve months return, and one brother prayed: "0 this company's steamers traverse a dis- Lord, we thank Thee for our beloved tance of nearly 2,600,000 miles. pastor, and we pray Thee to bless him. -The records of a certain church in o Lord, make his head an inkstand, Massachusetts in 1805 were" enriched" by the addition of these words: "Reand his tongue the pen of a ready writ- 8olved, That we will not allow any er." Still another brother prayed that preacher the use of the pulpit to solioit he might "mount the Gospel horse money in support of missionaries." and ride into the sea of truth." It is But very soon came along a pastor who in this same church that when they brought that people to sound repentgive out a hymn they say, .. Let us ance, faith, and good works. now mangle our jangling voices in a hymn of praise." -Much of this is owed to Christian missions: "The farmers have a new -This gigantic enterprise of saving market. China and Japan find that the world has stimulated Christian peo- flour is now as cheap· as rice. The ple to their largest and best endeavors. mills on the Pacific Coast are grinding More attention has been given to organi- night and day to supply the market. zation and thorough preparation for the A new steamship line is proposed from work in hand in the past few years Portland. Flour is only one of a thouthan ever before. We have come to sand articles of commerce that will be understand that an army, however great, required by a Christian civilization. will be weak unless thoroughly organ- Future trade will make the new Northized. Out of the desire to save the west to Asia, what the North Atlantic world, and the determination to be thor- is to Europe."-North and West. oughly organized for the work, have grown up the various missionary socie- -The Evangelist affirms and proves ties which are making heroic struggles that "last year it took the average against the kingdom of darkness and sin. Lift up your eyes and be encour- Presbyterian twelve days to get one ings embraced 1158 young people who cent out of his pocket for the annual were brought under the inftuence of o:ffering taken in the churches for the Gospel teaching. Some young men re- greatest and the grandest work that is quested her to teach them English, before the Church to-day-that of for- which she consented to do upon their eign missions. Think of it I Less than promising to attend her Bible class."
one mill a day in response to the pow- -There are 4 Methodist womenerful (1) appeal, the ringing (1) sermon Mrs. Knowles, Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Mess· from the past or before the offerings more, and Mrs. T. J. Scott-who have were taken." And the worst of the been in India thirty-dx, thirty-five, matter is that" the average Presbyte- thirty-three, and thirty-one years rerian" is no worse than the bulk of his spectively. ecclesiastical neighbors-in fact, is better than most of them. -The Friends' Woman's Foreign Missionary Society has 202 auxiliaries, WOMAN'S WORK. with nearly 4000 members, who raised $35,982 last year. They support 41 -The Woman's Board of MiSSions, missionaries and 20 native evangelists· representing the Congregational church- or Bible readers; and 5 schools with es in the Eastern States, received, in 296 pupils. Meetings for worship were 1894, $101,898 in contributions and held in 1894 to the number of 691. $24,551 in legacies, making the total receipts $8329 less than in 1893. It YOUNG PEOPLE. supports 5 missionaries, 16 day-schools, and 8 Bible-women in European Tur- -The College Young Men's Chriskey; 5 missionaries, 1 assistant mis· tian Association is assuming great imslonary, 1 boarding-school, 12 day- portance. Among the 85,000 young schools, and 3 Bible·women in Central men connected with our higher institu· Turkey; 16 missionaries, 1 assistant tions of learning, less than one half are missionary, 3 boarding·schools, 26 day professing Christians. The work beschools, and 35 Bible-women in East· gan in 1857; in 1877, 25 Associations ern Turkey; 24 missionaries, the Ameri- had been organized. At the beginning can College for Girls, 5 boarding- of 1895 there were 440 Associations in schools, 50 day-schools, and 8 Bible- American colleges, with a membership women in Western Turkey; 13 Bible- of 25,000.
women in Bulgaria; 15 missionaries in -A Christian Endeavor Society in India; 5 missionaries, 1 boarding- Moreton, Eng., has become a slave- school, and 3 day-schools in :Mexico; holder. One of its members is a mis· 1 boarding.school, 1 day-school, and sionary in Amoy, where her interest 9 Bible-women in Austria. The Eu- was greatly roused in a young Chinese phrates College has 232 girls enrolled, girl whose parents were going to sell 38 of whom are in the college proper. her for a slave. The mission tried to -Miss Lawrence, of the Japan Mis- induce the parents to give her up to sion of the American Methodist Protes- them, but they would not unless the tant Church, is evidently a busy wom- full market price of $15.50 was given. an; for she, .. in addition to her school The missionaries did not have the duties, is engaged in evangelistic work, money, so they appealed to the.Moreton having in the last quarter, with the society, which has raised the money, and help of 0 Yaso San, conducted 50 therefore become the owner of the girl.
meetings for children, taught 12 Bible -Each week the Golden Rule prints classes, 14 Sunday-school classes, at- in a prominent place "the best news tended 27 evening meetings, and made item." Theile two are among recent 88 visits. The various children's meet. ones: " Oharlestown, Mas8.- The First Bap- to the borders of unkindness to make tist society reports three fourths of its them.
members pledged for a penny a day AMERICA. for missions. Literature is sent each week to different parts of the West. United States.-The will of Henry One hundred hymnals were sent to a Keney, of Hartford, Conn., leaves at missionary in Nebraska; and, when the discretion of the executor about the news came of the suffering there, $800,000 for the purchase of the park the church was canvassed, and 5 bar- in the northern part of the city, to be rels of clothing and 2 large boxes of known as Keney Park. Also $424,250 dry provisions went to the same mis- is left in specific legacies, which in- sionary, the express company kindly clude the following: Trinity College, shipping them free. $25,000; Hartford Hospital, $50,000; "Santa Oruz, Oal.-There are 25 En- Hartford Orphan Asylum, $50,000; deavor societies in the county, and one Old People's Home, $50,000; Park of the smallest-a society of only 26 Church, $30,000; Hartford Charitable members-gave most to missions the Society, $2000; Union for Home Work, last six months, the amount being $10,000; City Mission Society, $10,- $91.25 ; and led the six months before 000; Good Will Club, $30,000, and the with $115. This is the Chinese society Wadsworth Athemeum, $25,000.
of Santa Cruz. Within the last six -During the last twenty years the months another Chinese society has New York Society for the Prevention been organized, and it already stands of Cruelty to Children has cared for second on the list in giving." over 230,000 outcasts, a very large pro- -R. Wardlaw Thompson, of the portion of whom would otherwise have London Missionary Society, sounds a been criminals to-day. During the note of expostulation in the ears of the past year 9078 complaints were reyoung people in the March issue of ceived, of which 3770 were prosecuted; The Ohronicle: "It is in connection there were 3730 convictions, and 5459 with the desire for direct correspond- children were rescued from destitution ence with the mission-field. A consid- and vicious surroundings.
erable and increasing number of re- -Moody the evangelist wields an in- quests now reach the Mission House fluence not surpassed by many men, but from the missionary secretaries of Moody the organizer and fosterer of in- Christian Endeavor societies asking for stitutions is vastly more puissant. Take the names of two or three missionaries the single case of his Chicago Bible In- in each part of the field with whom we stitute, of whose graduates this state- may enter into personal correspond- ment is made: "There are 41 pas- ence, and who would be likely to send tors of Congregational churches, 27 of us three or four times a year a letter Presbyterian churches, 25 of Baptist about their work. Such requests give churches, 24 of ::IIethodist Episcopal evidence of a most kindly feeling, and churches; 32 are city missionaries, 12 if they could be gratified they would are home missionaries, 12 are Young doubtless result in stimulating a con- Men's Christian Association secretaries, siderable amount of personal interest in 11 are missionaries under the American missionaries; but those who write have Sunday-School Union, 10 are Sunday- little conception of the burden which school missionaries under other boards, they are unconsciously laying on the 14 are pastors' assistants, 75 are evan- shoulders of the missionaries." And gelists, 41 are assisting their husbands then he easily goes on to show that in in pastoral or evangelistic work; there most cases it is next to impossible to are 61 foreign missionaries, 15 in India, grant such requests; so much so that, 10 in China, 9 in Africa, 5 in Turkey, 8 though unwittingly, it is l1nr~aeonl!ble in Japan, and so on; also 13 under ap- 394 GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. (11ay pointment for the foreign field. At Christian college planted in that region present there are nearly 300 young men and well endowed.
and women in connection with the In- -The Christians (Disciples) have stitute actively engaged in work in the hitherto been behind many of their different missions and in house to house brethren in missionary matters, ·but for visitation throughout the city." two or three years past their energy and -A second Conference of Foreign enterprise have made great advances.
Mission Boards met in the Episcopal Their leaders know how to use the Church Mililsion House, New York, press, and last year was started Ths February 14th, and was attended by Mi8lJionary Voice, devoted to world- representatives of 16 societies in the wide evangelism, which is decidedly United States and Canada, besides sev- bright and breezy. Surely that great eral missionaries and other persons un- denomination, numbering nearly a mil- officially interested in missions. Papers lion, ought to have its missionaries in were read upon such topics as The the field by the hundred and the thou- Japan-China War; its Strategic Sig- sand.
nificance to Missions; Industrial Mis- Canada.-The United OhurchMonthsions; How far they Have Developed ly has the following item: "In 1845 in Foreign Lands; Self-support in Mis- the Presbyterians in Canada had one sions; The Proposed National Church missionary about to enter the field. In in India; Motive in Missions, etc. Two 1895 they have 34 ordained missionsessions were held, and arrangements aries, 68 unordained preachers, 84 catewere made for a meeting in 1896. chists, and many others engaged in re- -Booker T. Washington, of Tuskee- lated work. In 1845 the sum of $1000 gee Institute, seems clearly destined to was available for the foreign mission be a wise leader for the freedmen. His enterprise. Last year the Presbyteutterances to the last one smack re- rians in the maritime provinces expendfreshingly of good sense. Not poli- ed $34,779, and the western section extics, but hard work on their part, is to pended $105,881, making a total of solve the .. negro problem." Or, as $140,660. Of this the women's soci- Mr. Washington puts it: eties contributed $48,661."
"Immediately after the war we be- -Mr. Tyrrell's late explorations :in gan at the wrong end. We began our distant North have, says the Oana- working to get to Congress when we dian Presbyterian, brought to light yet should have been working to get land. another field for the labors of some de- At Tuskeegee we teach the students that voted Christian missionary. On the it is better for them to spend their time Kazan (or Ptarmigan) River he :Cell in and strength in becoming the leading with a tribe of Eskimo, who have be- carpenters, contractors, truck garden- come separated from their brethren on ers, dairymen, in this town, instead of the coast to whom they originally be- being too anxious to make stump longed, and have become an inland speeches or go to Congress." tribe. These inland Eskimo have not -Marcus Whitman was only a mis- intermixed witlt. the Indians, but live sionary, be it known, but yet he saved exclusively among themselves.
the vast and fruitful Northwest coast EUROPE. of the Pacific to the Union, when all our statesmen, the Websters, etc., es- Great Britain.-The United Presby- teemed it not worth having, and were terian Church of Scotland has a total about to hand it over to Britain. And membership of 188,706. The mission- the indications now are that through ary income during the year 1893 was the liberality of Dr. Pearsons and others £33,543, besides £4639 subscribed for his name will be linked forever with a zenana work. The European staff consists of 71 ordained, 15 medical, 8 lay -The same magazine gives this evangelists, and 31 zenana mi88ion- among the hopeful signs of the king- aries; who are 888isted by 19 native dom: "Let anyone pay a visit to Ox- pastors, 127 evangelists, and 567 other ford or Cambridge and live for a few agents. There are 102 congregations, days among the undergraduates. He with 165 out-stations and 18,460 mem- will find a stream of true and godly bers, almost double the number of thir- men coming up year by year, far be- teen years ago. In Jamaica 10,692 are yond anything in past times-which to be found. There are 401 members stream is largely fed from what some- in Trinidad and 898 in Tokio. Old regard as irregular agencies, such as Calabar has 461 members; Kaffraria, children's special services, mi88ions 3311; Rajputana, 521; Manchuria, among school-boys, the new summer 2176. The work in Manchuria is work- camps, etc. The supply of laborers of ed in harmony with the mission of the the best cl888 for both home and for- Irish Presbyterian Church. eign fields promises to increase both in -A Scotch minister declares that quantity and in qUality. The Student Scotland could easily spare 1200 clergy- Volunteer Missionary Union is growing men and $1,000,000 a year, and yet be apace, and looks like becoming the perfectly well cared for in spiritual most effective of all agencies for enlistthings. That may all be very true; ing workers for the Lord's vineyard." and yet it too often happens with ministers, as with other men, that those -The London Missionary Society is who cau "easily be spared" are of no preparing a feast of fat things to spread great value anywhere under the sun. before its friends, September 21st-27th At least, may they never be sent to the next, in commemoration of the thrillforeign field. ing beginning just a hundred years be- fore. At the last accounts the Cente- -The Free Church of Scotland has nary Fund, with £100,000 as the aim, 5 stations for Jewish work-3 in Eu- had reached £49,134.
rope and 2 in Palestine. Fifty-eight ASIA.
Christian agents, among them 5 or- Islam.-Mi88ionaries must mind their dained missionaries, 2 licensed preach- p's and q's in Turkey, as we learn by ers, and 3 medical men are employed. this from the Miasioruury Herald: About 1000 children attend their schools "Among the conveniences used by daily. Dr. Shepard, a missionary physician at -Since the opening of the Operative "intab, was a telephone extending Jewish Converts' Institute in London, from the hospital to his home. Dr. 922 persons have been admitted; 70 Shepard is so highly esteemed in Ainhave become missionaries; 23 parochial tab that he can ordinarily do as he clergymen; 13 ministers of other de- likes. But in this case as soon as the nominations; and many others have wire was stretched a complaint was obtained high positions in other kinds lodged with the government against of Christian service. this unlawful thing. It has been found that a telephone is the 'petty abhor- -Our British brethren have a way, rence of the Sultan,' and so the sus- which seems strange to us, of rolling picious thing was put under an injunc- up large sums for missionary purposes tion and reported to Aleppo lind thence by sales of work. A recent Intelligen- to Constantinople, and from the central cer had a table which tells of 861 sales government came the imperative order held last year, with receipts in the dif- to 'confiscate,' paying full price and erent counties of the realm· ranging costs. The machine was packed up from £3 in ib.e Isle of Man to £2276 in and turned over to the government for Middlesex, and a total of £21,551. its full equivalent, and, in the terms of the State Department, 'the incident is of that country, and commenced work closed.' " in 1869.
-But even the Grand Turk has a India.-English physicians give medsoft side to his nature, and on occasion, ical assistance to 14,000,000 natives in now and then, is liable to do something one year. positively handsome. A case of this kind occurred last January, when by -A missionary writes thus of the His Dread Majesty an iracU was issued poverty of the land: "It is, doubtless, to the American Girls' College at Scu- true that there are from forty to fifty tari, a document the most sacred possi- millions of these people who are chronible, which bestows certain rights and cally on the verge of starvation, and privileges irreversibly, and places the are rarely able to satisfy the cravings institution under the especial protection of appetite. It is well known that the of the government. average per capita income of the peo- ple of this land is only about $7. If -" Among the Syrians the fetters of this be the average, what must be the custom are almost as strong as those of minimum 1 To missionaries who live religion. The rule of the Fez cap proves among the people it is a constant source this. For a prince as for a menial, there of wonder that the people can live at is no other head-covering. No law pre- all on their income. I know of many scribes it, and yet all Syrians wear it, who, during several months of even a whatever their creed. The long, flow- very good year, enjoy only one meal a ing garments, which have been worn day, and that a very miserable one." since the time of the prophets, and which make one of the simplest expres- -Eighteen native ministers in the sions of dress, have been abandoned by Northwest Conference of the Methodist the majority of Christians. A Syrian Church have volunteered to relinquish hesitates before he adopts the European their salaries, and trust entirely for costume, but public opinion forbids their support to the contributions of him to adopt the European hat. The their own people. same remarks apply to the izzar or body covering. This white sheet is the sym- -Mr. Hazen writes from South bolof Oriental exclusiveness, and cus- India: "Last year our women 'at their tom in Syria sternly prescribes its use. weekly prayer·meeting asked for 100 The izzar sometimes reveals some olive- additions to the number in our station, tinted faces of much beauty, lit up by and the Lord gave 200. Encouraged a pair of clear brown eyes, to which its by that we have all taken hold and whiteness forms a pleasing contrast. asked for 300 this year, and we have Sometimes, also, when the hands are got them. We asked for 15 souls in occupied, the izzar is drawn into the Manamadura village, and we have got corner of the mouth and held there by them. Of their own accord and witha set of pearly teeth. The izzar is a out any stimulus from us they have useful covering, which excludes the dust maintained a daily prayer.meeting here and sun, though it fills the streets with for three weeks from this inga thering. " a dull, harsh pallor." -The progress in the Laos Mission -The (Jltristian World learns with in all its departments is an inspiration. regret that Rev. Dr. Bruce, of Persia, There are 4 mission stations and 3 outwho is well known as one of the most stations. "So complete and joyful devoted missionaries of the Church Mis- have been the successes," that there sionary Society, has resigned his posi- was no room for discouragement; intion after thirty-six years· of ser~ice. deed, the only discouragement is the Dr. Bruce was practically the pioneer limited number of workers for the conof Christian work among the Moslems stantly increasing work. Last year a new station was established and 5 new workers sent out. In the past eleven
GENERAL MISSIONARY
months 289 have been received into the Europeans, 1.-Lutheran Mi88ionary church. "Record of defeat is not Journal. heard. It is victory in every quarter." -The Indian Witneu of January -This item from the Intelligencer re- 12th gives these statistics of the North lates to a perplexing question in India, India Conference: "Paid workers, and the last sentence indicates that the 1606; probationers, 19,823; full mem- Hindu is not lacking in at least one of bers, 11,126; adult baptisms in 1894, the constituent elements of human na- 5262; children, 2817; Sunday-schools, ture: "The question of burial reform 1071; Sunday-school scholars, Chrisis one which we would fain see our tians, 18,102; non-Christian, 21,202; Indian fellow-Christians seriously con- native Christian community, 39,327; sider. The revered A.L.O.E. was Christian boys and girls in school, 10,- buried in December, 1893, at her own 185; non-Christian, 9793." request, without a coffin. The funeral of the Rev. F. Sandford, of the Delhi -Alas! that Miss Taylor's Thibetan Mission, cost only about five shillings, Mission, after months of sunshine, and so in many places missionaries are should pass under the storm-cloud. It striving to dispossess the minds of con- is not possible at this distance and with verts of the notion that a Christian's the meagre statements at hand to parfuneral ought to cost a quarter's in- cel out the serious responsibility for the come, which it now often does. A girl at least temporary breaking up of the seriously told a lady missionary not party by the resignation and departure long since that she should like to die at of most of the members; though it a certain place mentioned, 'because looks much as if the leader, though full there the girls were so beautifully of energy and determination, was yet buried, in lovely white coffins just like wanting in sweet reasonableness and ladies'-of course not at the expense of other qualities essential to leadership. their relations." It is to be hoped that Mr. Polhill·Tur- ner, of the China Inland Mission, whose -There are 10 women of the English aid she has sought and secured, will be Baptist Society at work in Calcutta able to restore harmony, and that in zenanas, with 9 schools under their due season these pioneers of the Gospel care, and an average attendance of may be able to enter the Closed Land. about 500 scholars. In addition to these there are 7 other schools in the China.-While recently on a. tour villages that lie to the south of the city, among the missions of this empire, Mr. with 220 scholars, giving a total of 16 Baring-Gould was impressed by "the schools and about 720 scholars. great influence of medical work, the heroism of the women, and the devo- -Mr. Chandler, of Madura, reports tion of many of the converts." that the 8 churches comprising the "East Church Union" of that city re- -Taking advantage of the presence ceived into fellowship during ten of scholars at the government examinamonths of the last year 186 new mem- tions in Wuchang, Nanking, and Chengbers. tu, among some 40,000 young men up- ward of 60,000 copies of books, tracts, -During the five months ending Oc· etc., were distributed. tober 7th, since its re-opening, the Dispensary in Guntur was open 13:3 days. -Dr. Griffith John, writing from a. During that time 1914 patients made place some days' journey farther inland 4556 visits. As to class, the patients than Bankow, says that the people were: Eurasians, 5 ; native Christians, "appear to take as little interest in 290; Brahmans, 156 ; other high castes, Peking and Canton as they do In Can- 257; Varsgas, 47; 8udras, 637; Pa- ada and Wales." He has been making a most successful tour in places where riahs, 396; Mohammedans, 125, and no European missionary, but only cate- God, and telling him their own experichists, have hitherto labored. At Pah- ence on similar occasions. So the idol tsze-Nau, Tien.Men, Tsau-shih, and was chopped up and set fire to, as well Mau-kia-po the mandarins were frIend- as all idolatrous papers, etc. Then we ly, the opposition was silenced, and sang a hymn and had prayer. The idol many converts were baptized. At the was destroyed in the presence and with last-named town the ancestral hall was the full consent of Li's wife, grown-up cleared and used for service. Out of son, daughter·in-Iaw, and other chil- 200 candidates for baptism, 66 were dren, besides two married daughters baptized, coming from 14 villages. who had returned upon a visit, and a There are candidates for baptism in 12 good many neighbors-no one raising a more villages. dissenting voice."
-Says the North Ohina Herald in an -The North China Mission of the article on " China Unmasked" : " Such American Board reaches 440 cities, a system of internal rottenness has been towns, and villages. The working laid bare that even her best friends are force is composed of 87 missionaries forced to shake off the dust of their and 76 native helpers, among whom are feet against her, and to admit that the 3 ordained native pastors. The Gospel present process of being ground in the is regularly preached at 43 places. mill is, perhaps, the best thing which There are 27 day schools in the mission, could happen to her. To such a pass with an aggregate of 454 pupils. The has official corruption come that noth- total number of young people under ing short of a complete upheaval and instruction is 1510. At the various dis· breaking down of old systems seems pensaries and at the Williams Hospital practicable. Patching up is worse than in Pang-Chuang the medical work has useless. China has been patched up been carried on. too often, and corruption has thriven in consequence. The opportunity has -Mrs. Isabella Bishop had some arrived when a general sweeping and most perilous and painful experiences garnishing is possible, and the truest during her recent travels in Korea, friends of China will not wish to see Manchuria, etc. "She was sent out of the besom stayed. The entire govern- Korea at a moment's notice by the con· mental gamut must be ulilltrung and suI without money or clothes. The retuned. The Emperor of the future, British Minister's wife at Pekin gave if he desires to shed some lustre on his her some clothes. She was in Man· heavenly origin, will have to surround (,,huria with the Scotch missionaries, himself with some rather more heavenly and shared their perils at the time of advisers. " Mr. Wylie's murder; was nearly drowned in an inundation; her bed -Miss Kolkenbeck, of Sz-Chuen, was wet for three days, and she has had gives this incident: "A man named a bad form of malaria ever since. She Li-wan-uen came to us for medicine, was nearly captured by pirates; broke and pressed us to visit his home. After her arm through the overturning of a dinner he asked us how he was to WOf- cart ; was turned out of Pekin with the ship God. I told him. that the first other European women," etc. She is thing would be to destroy his idols. now in Siberia. , How am I to do that? ' , Put; them in the fire; they are only wood.' 'Shall ]apan.-The Kyoto Training School I do it at once?' 'Certainly; the for Nurses is very happy over the fact sooner the better.' So he immediately that its nurses are so popular in the stood up on a stool, and got down his military station at Hiroshima. They god. Our Christian coolie and servant have been very successful, and have spoke, encouraging him to trust only in borne the strain of the work better than any others who have gone there. At last advices a request for more nurses trouble in Tokyo. Their peace ideas faU bad been received, and the whole senior to fit the state of affairs in Japan. Some class were anxious to respond, but it of the students in their school showed had not been decided how many should sympathy with the war, and gave help go. This success is a fine indorsement to the destitute wives of soldiers who for the school and those connected with bad gone to the front. Difficulty arose it, both foreigners and Japanese.-Lij'6 and the students were dismissed. The and Light. consequence is a complete separation -The Red Cross Society of Japan of all their converts from the missionsends 6 physicians and 12 nurseil with aries.
each transportsteamer conveying Japan- -'Mr. Pettee writes in the Japan ese troops to Korea and China. The Weekly Mail of February 9th, that humanity of the Japanese in their con- 6 evangelists are to be sent to minister duct of this war is doing mOle to break to the needs of the Christians in the down the walls- of Chinese prejudice Japanese army. High officials were than any other outside influence. Three opposed to this concession, but "as hundred years ago the Japanese rav- soon as they were convinced that this aged Korea and plundered its people, was the request of no narrow sectarian- and as a trophy of victory the ears of ism, but the earnest plea of devoutly 3600 victims were brought back to patriotic Christian men of every name Japan. To-day Japan is at war again, they quickly yielded and affixed their but with what a different spirit I seals to the papers. Rev. Miyagawa, -Rev. Henry B. Schwartz, presiding of Osaka-sometimes called the Chryelder, Hirosaki, Japan, says: "Weare sostom of the Japanese pulpit-Princireaping the first fruits of treaty revision pal Honda, of Aoyama College, and in a very great improvement in the Messrs. Aoki, of Kobe, Terada, and passport system. As Y(IU do not know, Yamanaha have been selected as 5 of we have not been allowed to travel in the 6. This event, coming so soon Japan except with a passport. In these after the permission to distribute unrepassports the proposed route of travel strictedly portions of the Scripture in had to be exactly laid down, and in the garrisons throughout Japan, the those palts of the empire where the letter of Lieutenant-General Katsura, passport regulations were strictly en- in Manchuria, promising extra protecforced, no deviation from the described tion to all sincere Christians, and the route was allowed. Now we can get recognition of the superior work of the passports for a year's time, on which Christian nurses of the Red Cross corps, we can travel anywhere at any time in promises much for the advance of the whole empire; and, best of all, the Christianity in Japan. "
, scientific' and 'health' clauses are -In the orphan asylum of Mr. Ishii entirely omitted from the application at Okayama are now gathered 301 orblanks. phans. They carryon a printing-press with 4 presses, and 38 persons are em- -Several of the leading Christians ployed in the office. Thirteen boys are are alive to Japan's missionary duty learning to be barbers. A home for toward Korea, and are planning for discharged prisoners has been opened, missionary service there. It is note- where there are 11 persons employed in worthy that Buddhists are moving in making mats. There is also a carpenthe same direction, and have already ter's school. Sixty-two girls are in the sent a priest to Seoul to examine the sewing-classes, and 111 are learning cotsituation. He has devised a scheme, ton-weaving. Thirty-six are studying very fine on paper, which will cost blacksmithing. A farming colony of $10,000 a year.
~The Friends' Mission has had 30 has just been started. The children work all day, and study at night from formed; there are no more swamps, five to nine o'clock. no more jungles. Besides the build- ings of the station, which look some- AFRICA. thing like a Dutch village, there is a causeway, and a foot-bridge, which is -Great Britain owns in Africa an the astonishment and delight of the naarea of 2,570,000 square miles, almost tives. These works, which are the reequal to that of the United States. sults of a patience and tenacity which it would be difficult to imagine exactly, -And yet Dr. Zahn, mission inspec- are certainly an image of the progress tor of Bremen, concludes that with the which the work of God is making growth of French and Belgian posses- among the Barotsis.-Journal deB Missions, and those of other Catholic pow- sions FJvangeliqueB. ers, after all Protestant peoples will control, at least in West Africa, much -They have had deluges of rain in less th~lll half the area. Zanzibar this autuUlll. Fancy nine and a half inches of rain in ten hours! It -The world is likely soon to look to was still pouring when the mail left. this continent for its supply of gold. and they call these the" lesser rains" ! ! ! For several years the output of Califor- -Central Africa. nia has scarcely risen above $12,000,000 annually, but in Africa the amount has -In connection with the recent Italgrown from less than $10,000,000 in ian campaigns into Abyssinia, an arti- 1890, to upward of $22,000,000 in 1892, cle of peculiar interest appeared in a and to nearly $SO,OOO,OOO last year. recent issue of the Churchman from the pen of Professor G. H. Schodde, enti- -Before returning to his home In tIed" The Hermit Christian Nation of West Africa, Prince Ademayiwa gave Africa." He calls attention to the noa lecture In Liverpool on "The White table fact in this land "Christianity" Man's Fire-Water and its Effects on the has had an unbroken history from the African Race." He said that while early centuries, hnd only this" Switzer· Englishmen have officials appointed to land of Africa" was able to resist the see that their "fire-waters" are sold fiercest assaults which the Moslem pure, the African has to take what is could make. sent him by unscrupulous men, is little better than poison, and is frequently -Mr. Pilkington writes concerning used for mixing with paint, like tur- the languages of the Lake district of pentine! Mid-Africa, Luganda, Lusoga, Lem- yolo, Lahama, etc., that they are dia- -Khama, the Christian king of the lects of the same language; and has, Bamangwato tribe, has recently paid a what he terms, vague hopes of being visit to Cape Town, having never be- able to make a dictionary on the prinfore been so far away from his home. ciple of roots which would combine all He was very much affected by the these dialects. He also has reason to tokens of respect received while there hope that a single Bible will do for all from the whites. this region.
-Lealuyi, the station founded by -An interesting departure, initiated M. Coillard hardly two years ago, on by the Leipsic Mission, is the expatriathe banks of the Zambesi, is situated tion of Tamil converts (pariahs), with on a little hill, raDled only a few feet their families, into British East Africa.• above the valley; it used to be an ex- These are intended to aid largely in the ecrated and detested place, wheresorcer- construction of the mission buildings, era were burnt, and at the time of the in view of setting free the European inundations it was haunted by innu- agents for the Illore direct evan~elistic merable swarms of insects and legions work. pi reptiles. Now the isJaJl.4 is traWl-
The Missionary Review of the World — September 1894
HINDRANCES '1'0 MISSIONS FOUND IN THE WORKING FORCE
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVII. No.I/.-Old Series.-SEP'fEMBER.-VOL. VII. No. 9.-New Series.
HINDRANCES TO MISSIONS FOUND IN THE WORKING FORCE.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
The whole problem of missions resolves itself into two factors: the field and the force-the work to be done and the fitness of the workers. Commonly our eyes are apt to be fixed, perhaps too exclusively, upon the woe and want, sin and suffering, of the countless host as yet unsaved, and even unreached by the saving message. Or, if we look away from the habitations of darkness and cruelty, it is to seek inspiration and encouragement in contemplating the heroic lives of saintly and self-sacrificing missionaries.
There is, however, another aspect of the whole matter which has had far too little candid, careful examination. All real power in missions must find its fountain of energy in a body of disciples at home, indwelt by the Spirit of all power. We must have a Christianity and a Christian life worth diffusing and propagating, else how can there be any real blessing tp far-off lands, however diligent our efforts ~ and whence are to come the heroism, the self-sacrifice that make the true missionary ~ With this aspe.ct of the problem we ought to deal intrepidly and conscientiously as in the sight of God. There is danger of a spiritual agnosticiilm, knowing nothing about our true state. Saul wist not that the Lord had departed from him; the Jews knew not the time of their visitation; and the Laodiceans knew not their own nakedness and poverty, blindness and lukewarmness, but thought themselves rich and in no need, at the very time when God was about to spew them out of His mouth as in disgust!
There are four conspicuous characteristics of modern church life which threaten a virtual apostasy, and to which even professed believers are strangQly indifferent. The prevailing apathy and letha.rgy, like the comatose conditions which precede death, are themselves the most ,alarming symptoms. At risk of seeming hypercritical and having to bear that opprobrious and somewhat indefinite stigma of " pessimism," we venture to give expression to apprehensions and convictions which have grown upon us until they imperatively demand utterance. 1. The modern Church is in imminent peril from secularism. This word is perfectly intelligible ; it marks the drift toward the world that now is-the control of the spirit of that present evil age, which always was and still is opposed to the Spirit of God, who emphasizes the unseen and the eternal.
The true disciple of Christ may be briefly defined as one who looks above and beyond. To him what is below anu present belongs to a lower and lesser realm. So far from doubting or denying the reality of the unseen, it is to him the highest reality, and that" which now is" constitutes but the insignificant threshold over which he steps into the boundless" that which is to come. " The Church is but the collective body of disciples, and therefore, so far as it deserves the name, bears the same marks as the individual child of God; its highest aim is to make real to men the unseen and the eternal. Does the modern Church correspond with this scriptural idea ~ Behold it, so permeated and penetrated with secularism that separation unto God scarcely survives! The New Testament gives a brief definition of the true" circumcision" as embracing those which" worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh j" and it adds a brief outline of the activities of the early Church: " continu_ ing steadfastly in apostolic teaching and fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayers." Contrast, with this, modern Church worship, with its elaborate ritual, stately ceremonial, and artistic choral performances by costly professional musicians; with its proud confidence in numbers and wealth, and in the patronage of the worldly, so that unconverted men sit on its boards of trustees j with its emphasis on good works and alms deeds, and outward forms of organization. May we not say, without intending a parody, that the Church of to-day continues in irreverent criticism of apostolic doctrine, sedulously cultivates social fellowship, breaking bread once in three months, but having church socials, fairs, and festivals with alarming frequency j and prefers, to prayers, an entertaining lecture by the pastor or a conversazione among the members 1 2. Connected with and inseparable from this secularism is what, for want of a better term, is called sensationalism. This is not a correct term, for its classic use confines it to that form of philosophy which makes our ideas to originate solely in sensation. But, in the" dialect of the marketplace," it has come to mean the effort to attract toward Church services by appeals to the sensuous and the resthetic, to excite interest by the entertaining and the spectacular, the oratorical and artistic, or even the humorous and the grotesque. This tendency finds not only apologists, but defenders and advocates in the Church and even the ministry. It is said that, to instruct we must first interest j that we cannot win disciples until we draw hearers; and Dr. Duff's remark is often quoted-that he would stand at a place where two ways meet and slap together a pair of old leather soles if by so doing he could get an audience. Such argument seems plausible, but is it not fallacious ~ What if there lies beneath this whole conception a fundamental error! Does it not rest upon an assumption that the Church is to undertake to draw ungodly souls toward her assemblies? For that position who will show us any Scripture warrant ~ We need to go back to the New Testament and learn the true nature of a Christian Church. Where does it contain one passage in which it is even hinted that the Church is to employ any means, secular or sacred, for the mere purpose of drawing outsiders into her assemblies for worship ~ Dr. Adolph Saphir, that marvellous preacher who kept all London awake by his singular insight into Scripture truth, sounded the alarm against this notion, in the world's metropolis.· He says, "The Church is the congregation of belieVe/'S, and to them God's truth must be :fully unfolded." "As the Church service is in the first instance for God's worship and the instruction and advancement of believers, many things must be explained and dwelt on which unbelievers or outsiders cannot :funy understand, and which they, likely, will misunderstand, and at which they will be offended." •, We have too much adapted our whole service and church life to undecided worldly people." * This false philosophy of adaptation works two ways: first., toward suppression of unpalatable doctrine or truth. Many a truth that is a stepping~stone to a believer is a stumbling-stone to an unbeliever. Shall we deprive saints of a step upward lest sinners fall O'7er it downward? Our Lord did not so. When even professed disciples stumbled at His teaching, He only repeated the objectionable truth in even a more obnoxious form. t One has only to go about from church to church nowadays to find that even in Evangelical pulpits certain so-called" severer," "sterner" doctrines are treated as obsolete. It is a day of prophesying of smooth things j of love versus law, salvation rather than sin, culture more than regeneration, the perfectability of humanity rather than man's depravity and utter ruin. And the pulpit must be in bondage so long and so far as preaching is consciously or unconsciously shaped with reference to drawing or 1'cpelling men. It is a disaster when the " offence of the cross" ceases. Spiritual disciples will no longer be edified when carnal minds arc gratified and satisfied.
A second, and equally serious result is the lowering of the standard of godliness. " The world will love its own," and to draw the world it is necessary to set up a worldly attraction. A magnet draws only iron and steel, and so the Gospel's attraction is regulated by affinity. Every attempt, therefore, to make a service of worship attractive to the natural and carnal man runs at least this risk-that we shall be led to drop out what is distinctively spiritual, and substitute what is distinctively worldly. And the practical result is that every innovation, introduced into church worship and life with a view to drawing the outsider, proves a means of harm to the spiritual character of disciples. We accommodate ourselves to the world … A Memoir of Adolph Saphir, 258, 259. t Of. John 3: 3-11; 6: 111-66• by assimilation to it; but by so much as our fare is more savory to their taste, it loses the godly flavor, the salt of God, and so sacrifices its real relish and nutritious quality to holy souls.
H this position seem extreme, let us test it by the teachings of the "Vord. It is certainly a significant fact that there is not one sentence of New Testament Scripture that warrants us to put before us as an object the attracting of ungodly people to Christian assemblies! If, by creating and maintaining a scriptural and spiritnal worship and life, we may attract them, we are to rejoice. These are legitim8~e ways of drawing outsiders. As the healing virtues of Bethesda drew the lame, and halt, and withered to the pool, let the Church prove a pool of healing virtue, and an armed band cannot keep away those who are conscious of need or yearning for somewhat to fill a void. But we are not to go one step toward the world, even to draw the world toward ourselves. Weare to attract by contrast and consecration and separation, but not by courting and catering and assimilation.
The Church is never contemplated in the Scripture as a " mixed multiwde," for the mixed multitude always falls a lusting and longs for the leeks and onions of Egypt. Its direction of march is always backward, not forward. The Church is a. body of believers meeting for worship, the Lord's Supper, prayer, teaching, mutual editication. Only two passages in the New Testament can be tortured into encouraging such seeking of a mixture of the worldly element. In Luke 14 : 23 we read: "Go out and compel them to come in, " the true interpretation of which has no probable connection with the question under discussion; and in 1 Cor. 1<1 : 23, 24, we read: "If there come in one that believeth not, or unlearned," which supposes au exceptional case, as though the presence of such an element were not ordinarily to be expected. Certain it is that the Church is not contemplated in the New Testament as mixed with worldly elements.
We are not now contending that it is undesirable to have unbelievers present at our church assemblies; but only that it is unscriptural to seek to draw them by unspiritual methods j and that no Scripture authorizes us to set such object before us. Church gatherings are distinctively for godly people, and must, therefore, be primarily conducted with reference to the edification of believers, not the gratification of unbelievers.
Thi8 leaven of sensationalism pervades. our whole church life and threatens to revolutionize the Church itself, turning it into a worldly club. How easily may the new" institutional church" become a worldly" institution" and drop out tJ!e essential "church" feature altogether! The outcry in these days is for attractiveness in worship. Attractiveness to whom? The only beauty recognized by God. is the beauty of holiness; and for khe perception and reception of that beauty no worldly nature has inclination or evifi capacity. We are indeed to seek to make worship attractive to all godly souls; but in so far as it is truly holy and spiritual, will it not be unattractive to those who are not godly but carnal ~ This doctrine of sensational attraction has many forms of application. What is it but sensationalism that demands that even missionary meetings shall be made " interesting" by thrilling stories of missionary triumphs, and that will not listen to discouraging facts ~ We have heard of one missionary whose annual report was sent back with a peremptory order that he should tell of " results" calculated to inspire confidence that missions actually pay! And we hear of another who is said to have resorted to superficial methods of making it appear that there were converts, by leadiug poor victims of superstitition to take certain steps, the real nature of which they knew not. We can hardly credit such statements ; but the drift of such demand is in the direction of dishonesty, tempting workers to present a misleading report of results, or at least to cultivate superficial methods of estimating them. What a condition of things is implied when, in order to arouse and sustain enthusiasm and raise funds, it is necessary to tell sensational stories of conversions by wholesale and represent obdurate pagans as eagerly welcoming the Gospel! What if missionaries dare not tell the truth for fear of losing supporters and contributors! what if no address wiII be patiently heard which does not narrate striking cases of interest and startling conversions !
3. With all else a spirit of indifferentism may be detected. And this exists in two forms. First, under the sweet name of charity, a liberalism prevails that gives away all that is worth keeping and takes in everything and everybody. The subtle spirit of doubt, already referred to, so questions, if it does not deny, the actu~l peril of the heathen as to make Christian missions a needless waste of life and treasure, if not an impertinent intrusion. And there is a standing " parliament of religions," found in the clamor for fellowship with everybody who claims to be a seeker after truth and an honest believer, whatever may be his error. It seems to be forgotten that the " unleavened bread" is compounded of both" sincerity and truth." To say that" it matters nothing what one believes provided he be sincere," is to forget that truth is in order to excellencb and that all excellence is the outgrowth of truth ; were such a maxim true, it would no longer be worth while to search after truth or embrace it when found!
Such indifferentism naturally leads to a second form of the same evil, namely, apathy as to the prosecution of missions among the heathen. No evil is perhaps more widespread and deep-rooted than this. A thousand millions of human beings are yet unevangelized, dyiu~ at the r:ote of one every second. It is simply incredible that forty millions of Protestant church-members can stand by and leave them thus to perish, unsaved and un warned, if they believe in their lost eond'ition. But if Buddhism and Brahmanism, Parseeism and Confucianism, Fetichism and even Pantheism, are to be treated as simply different forms of one great universal religion, it is no marvel that Christian disciples do not bestir themselves, though eighty thousand heathens and pagans die every day, and thirty millions Elvery year. This state of things is the worse because even disciples are so far In- different to their indifferentism. Adoniram Judson, in the crisis of his· lifework in Burma, found the" supporters" of mission work so careless of the needs of the work that the appropriation for the mission was ten thousand rupees less than current expenses required. Instead of any advance, he could not even hold his already gained positions. With a disappointment that bordered on despair he solemnly recorded this, as his" growing conviction :"
" The Baptist churches in America are behind the age in missionary spirit. Thcy now and then make a spasmodic effort to throw off a nightmare debt of some years' accumulation and then sink back into unconscious repose. Then come paralyzing orders to retrench; new enterprises are checked in their very conception, and applicants for missionary employ are advised to wait, and soon become merged in the ministry at home."
And so letters, which ought to have been like a soft and cooling breeze to a heated brow, came upon him like a sudden tornado, sweeping away the plans of missionary evangelism. He said in his agony, "I thought they loved me j and they would scarce have known it if I had died! I thought they were praying for us; and they have never once thought of us !" And so it seemed to the missionary in his unsupportcd work. Vhen he came home for a visit hc found indifferentism hiding behind outward enthusiasm, and his" hand WitS nearly shaken from its socket and his hair nearly shorn from his head for mementoes by those who wonld willingly let missions die" rather thar. for their sake make real sacrifices.
J. Hudson Taylor, iii 1865, asked the privilege of making a brief appeal for three hundred mliaon of unsaved Chinese, at the annual Perth Conference. Those who had the conduct of the conference replied that those meetings were "for edificatior.," and missionary topics could not be introduced.! And when at last twenty milllltes were secnred by him to urge obedience to our Lord's commands, he told of the drowning of poor " Peter" outside the walls of Sungkiang' j* how, when he fell overboard, and Mr. 'faylor sprang overboard to rescue him, but WitS baffled in his efforts, he besought help of some fishermen in a neighboring boat, who met his agonizing suspense with stolid, stupid apathy j and, with a drag net in their hands jnst fitted for the rescue of the drowning man, would not stir to help except as he appealed to their cupidity, and even then too late to save the life that was in peril. And, when the conference was on the alert with surprise and indignation at such unnatural and inhnman conduct, Mr. Taylor thundered out, "Thou art the man !" and applied the incident to the apathy that, at that very conference, hesitatingly permitted any appeal for the millions who were sinking in the sea of sin!
We talk of the need of consecration, of Holy Spirit power, of more liberal giving. All this is a real n~ed. But there is another need behind and beneath all the rest. We need a new earnestness, born of deep convic- * Story of the China Inland Mission, 150-248. tion that millions are hopelessly perishing without the Gospel; and that we have in trust that Gospel with which to rescue and redeem them!
4. This leaven has spread into the Church and developed a fourth evil -destruct,ive rationalism and a corrupting scepticism. And, in conse- quence, Christianity is becoming a cult rather than a creed ; a form rather than a spirit; "a mode rather than a life, a civilization rather than a revelation;" a development along the lines of natural growth, and culture, and goodness, rather than an indwelling and inworking of the holy Spirit.
There is but one hope of breaking away from this delusion and snare. God's saints must set up a thoroughly biblical standard, and the holy Spirit must be exalted in praeticallife. There must be an upward look, a fixed gaze upon the enthroned Redeemer, who still dispenses by the Spirit His ascension gifts. The Spirit of God must be recognized as actually dwelling and working in the body of Christ-the members as truly as the Head -and He must be recognized as the life of God and power of God in that body to make all things possihle.
Nothing is more fundamental to the scriptural conception of the Church of Christ than this ministry and administration of the Holy Spirit. Let faith in the actual presence and power of this Divine Paraclete be weakened, and the world charms us, the flesh masters us, and the tempter triumphs over us. Our vision of the Christ becomes dim, our sense of the powers of the age to come grows dull, and our power to claim supplies of grace and actual victory over our foes suffers paralysis.
The Church as a body has certainly lost Holy Ghost power, and is in danger of losing Holy Ghost doctrine. 'Ve have never yet recovered from the blight of the Dark Ages. Even the great Reformation has been succeeded by more than three centuries of infidelity and indifference. Iniquity abounds in the world, and even in the Church the love of many waxes cold. Two causes which are very conspicuous combine to foster human aversion to the whole supernatural and even spiritual element in the Christian system. On the one hand, there is the natural and carnal man, with its incapacity to apprehend, and its indisposition to accept, spiritual truth; men rebel against the humiliating dependence upon supernatural revelation and regeneration. And, on the other hand, the world sees a nominal Church of Christ, that for fifteen hundred years has claimed supremacy and even Divine authority, pretending to heavenly gifts and miraculous manifestations, even while entering into the most diabolical plots, like the open encouragement of attempts to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, the massacre of thirty thousand French H11o01lenots, and the torture and martyrdom of thirty thonsand saints under the fearful sway of the Spanish Inquisition; men see such a " Church of Christ," resting its kingdom upon the beast, and exemplifying a morality that has been pronounced the lowest type in Europe; and we cannot be surprised at the natural aversion which is thus nurt.ured toward the whole claim of Christianity as a supernatural religion.
For all these evils in the working force one great remedy can be found -the increased power of God's Spirit. It is very noticeable how Christ, as He turns away from apostate Jerusalem, says, " Behold your house is left unto you desolate." Your house! God had always called the temple His house j but now that His Son was rejected in its very courts and about to be crucified by its very priests, it was no longer God's house, but man's. What is a church with God's Spirit withdrawn? Does it not cease to be God's temple and become man's building, a mere human organization ~ One of the most anointed men of this generation-a minister, whose church represents perhaps as near an approach to a New Testament ideal as any that now exists-writes sadly of the prevailing system of worldly church 80nduct: "They have all gone astray, and have altogether become worldly. All this has become so engrafted upon our system that it has acquired a certain sanctity in the eyes of the people, so that they would rather have their trained choir of wo~ldly singers than a new consecration from above! Joseph Parker's translation of the trinity of evil is this: He says, the world, the flesh, and the devil translated into present-day dialect, means society, environment, tendency. How many of the ministers and missionaries of Christ are entangled in the society, hemmed in by the environment, swept on by the tendency! How to be delivered many are asking and do not know."
There is one way of deliverance if we ar'3 bold enough to dare it-separation is the condition of consecration. And it seems to be inevitable to those who would live in God and unto God. There must be boldness enough to stand alone, if necessary, like Luther at Worms, for the sake of a protest against what is evil, unscriptural, unspiritual in church life. Who are there that believe in the Holy Ghost and are ready to accept the conditions within which alone His power is manifested ~ Oh, for a few who cut loose from the world and part company with it that God may have 'Ill sway in them and use them as He will! What a new era of missions would dawn if the Chureh should stand once more on the level of separation from the world and consecration unto God, by the Holy Spirit, which the Apostolic Church displayed!
The annual meeting of the KUl1l.i-ai churches of Japan, anticipated with anxiety both by Japanese and by missionaries, was held at Kobe during the first week of April, and letters from missionaries speak of the meeting as one of unusual power, and of the outcome as altogether encouraging. Seventy churches were reported, including fifteen mission churches, but not including twenty-four additional preaching places. The sessions seem to have been under the lead not of any extremists however eloquent or able, but of calm, level-headed. and most spiritually minded men. The missionaries were not members of the body, but all references to them were most kindly, and the discussions, some of them on stirring topics, were conducted in a quiet and Christian spirit. One missionary says that during the sessions it became " evident that the general trend is strongly and safely within evangelical lines, although the bounds of fellowship will be very wide." It is significant of the spirit and temper of the pastors and churches that it was unanimously voted to ask Mr. Moody to come to Japan for an evangelistic campaign.-Missionary Herald.
THE CELEBRATION OF THE Y. M. C. A. JUBILEE
THE CELEBRATION OF THE Y. M. C. A. JUBILEE.
BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A., LONDON, ENGLAND.
The Jubilee of the Young Men's Christian Association, which began with a service in Westminster Abbey on Friday evening, June 1st, and closed on Thursday, June 7th, in a grand demonstration at the principal entrance of Windsor Castle, ranks as the largest delegated religious convention ever held in the British Isles. The celebration was, in every respect, worthy of the numericsl growth and cosmopolitan character of the movement. Delegates in their. thousands mustered in the world's greatest city, from the United Kingdom and Ireland, with their dependencies; from America and the continental nations; China, Japan, and West Africarepresenting 5138 affiliated associations and nearly 500,000 members scattered throughout the world. As a demonstration of Christian unity, binding together in the superior tie of Christian brotherhood men of many tongues and races, the sight has probably never been surpassed. The tide of London's busy life could not hurry by, altogether unregarding (their usual attitude to conferences), but inquired what the strange commotion meant; and the secular press, for the nonce laying aside its cynical reserve in matters religious, chronicled the leading events of the sessions with a manifestly kindly interest. As the Hon. John Wanamaker in effect observed, we now saw Y. M. C. A. work writ up large in the eyes of the world. It bore the stamp of Church and State. Its patent was heaven's patriotism, and its end to make known how near we are to each other, and how, in our felt oneness in Christ, there was stranger or foreigner no more.
Next to Great Britain and Ireland, Germany took the numerical lead with a contingent of 350, at the head of whom were Count Bernstoff, Superintendent Krummacher, and Pastor Klug. The Swedes were next, numbering about 200, headed by Prince Oscar Bernadotte, whose romantic marriage with Miss Ebba Henrietta Munck will not be soon forgotten. America sent 160 representatives, among them ex-Postmaster·General Wanamaker and Messrs. Vanderbilt, Jessup, Stokes, Morse, and Mott. France was represented by 75 delegates, including M. Andre, Pasteur Appia, and other men of mark. Denmark sent 69 ; and there were also contingents from Norway, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Finland, Russia, Italy, and Spain. There were representatives from Victoria, New South ,Vales, South Australia, ,Vest and South Africa, Canada, India, China, and Japan. Nothing more need be said to show the world-wide description of the delegation.
Naturally George Williams, now" Sir George," was the central figure on the visible foreground; and many and hearty were the thanksgivings and congratulations showered on him during prayer and address throughout the conference. It was strangely felt that the Queen had honored the Y. M. C. A. in her declared intention to confer the bonor of knighthood on its founder; and, as Professor Miiller, from Utreebt, observed, "had honored berself by honoring bim." "Tbere was no fear," he merrily added, " of England ceasing to rule the waves wbile she had among her sons sucb men as Fatber Williams." A cbaracteristic feature of the Y. M. C. A. jubilee was its jubilant cbaracter. Beautiful harmony reigned. There was plenty of animated talk, but no temper-none at all ; not even a ripple of discord. The flow of soul emphasized the reign of love. The tongues were many, but the hearts were one. There was not a trace anywhere of national jealousy, or the faintest show of tbe odium theologicum. The joy of the Lord seemed to rise bigh in every heart-the keynl)te and full swell of the music of praise. And well it migbt ; for wbat had God wrought! How intensive and fruitful bad the original seed become, whicb, dropped in prepared soil some fifty years before, was now in evidence tbrougbout America, England, and the Continent, even to the uttermost ends of the earth. There was, indeed, ground for jubilation in that the little one had become hundreds of thousands, a.nd could show its vital force in the gathering together of such a noble army of representatives from every quarter of the globe. As Prince Bernadotte said at the Tuesday morning session, in a few words of comment on the twenty-third psalm, " I never realizeJ ti1J I came to this conference what a big and large quantity of sheep the LOlc:. Jesus has. "
The jubilee programme, while multiform, was yet mainly divisible into two parts-meetings of conference and meetings of reception. In addition to these the sermons, preached in the leading sanctuaries of the metropolis by representative men, constitute a category of their own. It was befitting that the opening service should be in Westminster Abbey, England's most famed edifice, where lies the dust of so mauy of her mighty dead. The preacher was the Bishop of Loudon. At the cll)se a grand reception was held in Exeter Hall, where Sir George Williams gave a hearty greeting to the delegates. The president is not a man of many words, but he never fails, by his genial and gracious spirit, to anchor himself in all hearts. The formal address of welcome was given, at his call, by Archdeacon Sinclair, who, according to the late Lord Palmerston's luminous definition of an archdeacon as one "who performs arch-diaconal functions," admirably answered to his description of office. In his view, the Y. M. C.' A. accentuates (1) the principle of unity; (2) the great protest of the sixteenth century against the tyrannies and usurpations of Rome; (3) the spiritual priesthood of the laity; (4) the fruitful principle of co-operation; and, finally, the Divine doctrine proclaimed by onr Lord of the brotherhood of man in Himself. In closing, the Archdeacon addressed the German and French delegates in their own languages, reminding the Germans how many ties of blood and kindred and religion they had in common with us; and welcoming the French, who were Englishmen's nearest neighbors, to whom they were glad to extend the hand of Christian fellowship. Lord Kinnaird having replied for the Scotch delegates, and Count Bernstoff for those from the Continent, Dr. Cuyler gave a word of greeting on behalf of the western world: "The America of George Washington sends a cargo of loving salutations to George Williams." The jubilee ship, thus happily launched, with the flags of all nations unfurled, proceeded on her way.
Saturday's proceedings (June 2d) were entirely occupied with meetings of conference, sustained by prayers offered in many tongues. Sir George Williams presided. It has been said that he who knows a foreign tongue has gained a second soul. Happily among the continental brethren there were notable specimens of the many-souled species, such as Dr. Barde, Pastor Klug, Count Bernstoff, and Dr. Carl Fries, who, by their skill in interpretation and variety of language, made ample amends for " the twist in the tongues" of the motley assemblage. This, of course, did not apply to the prayers, which, being addressed to God, needed no interpreter.
Three addresses were given at the morning session in the three leading languages-English, French, and German-by Prebendary Webb-Peploe, Pasteur Appia, and Superintendent Krummacher respectively, on "The Necessity of the Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit in their associations and in their Associated Work." It must suffice that we indicate the line taken by the English speaker, a tall man of chiselled features and spare form. Hear him when one may, two things always come to the frontfervor of spirit and withal It speCUlative tendency-the latter calculated to exercise on the timid a somewhat ghostly effect. The speculative note on this occasion was the increases of the Saviour's power, dating from His kenosis, or emptying of Himself in His incarnation, till the time when, in His baptiRm, He was clothed with the Holy Ghost for the manifesting forth· of His Divine resources. As Jesus received power from the Father, He kept passing on the power received to others as they were ready to receive it. Thus was it in respect of the working of miracles and the casting out of devils. The disciples had this power communicated to them. But the end was not yet. And so He said, ., It is expedient for YOIl that 1 go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come to you j but if 1 depart I will send r-lim unto you." Clearly the Lord contemplated that the disciples should receive, after His death· and rising, that higher accession of " power from on high" which was received, after the ten days of united prayer, in the gloriouR baptism of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. This fact is significant. It is imperatively demanded that the Y. M. C. A. shall be a body instinct with divinity because pervaded by God the Holy Ghost j separated from sin and evil by the power of the Spirit, and (what is even higher) separated by the Rame power, UNTO God and fellowship with Him.
An interesting feature of the morning was the despatch of a telegram to the Queen from the twenty-two nationalities represented, when, as expressive 01 the cordiality with which this was done, the vast gathering joined in singing the opening stanza of the national anthem. Time for luncheon having arrived, the meeting adjourned to a spacious pavilion, nearly 200 feet long and 115 feet wide, which had been erected, that the delegates might have luucheon and tea together, on a vacant piece of ground nigh the Victoria embankment and adjoining the Guildhall School of Music. The hosts were the president and the jubilee council, Lord Kinnaird, Mr. Richard Cory, of Cardiff, and Lady Ashburton.
The afternoon meeting was entirely taken up with reports, which we can only in the briefest possible form summarize. First in order was the report of the International Committee, the beloved president of which is the Rev. G. Tophel, a man of a singularly gracious aspect. This report was a gem of literary expression, and, while statistically cheering, had a worth far above the statistical in its beautiful spirit. It seemed a product direct from the loom of devotion. Next came the national reports, diverse as they were numerous. America far exceeded all other countries in the network of agency and in the results of membership. Germany showed magnificent results, progress having been by leaps and bounds. ,Sweden is next; but Denmark within the p!tst ten years has made rapid strides. Scotland is in the somewhat dubious position of being at the zenith, or, to change the fignre, the tide seems now to waver, as if uncertain whether to flow on or to go back. Ireland's report was gladsome as snnshine and droll to the last degree. " I am glad," said the Emerald Isle delegate, "to be able to bring you glad tidings from the land of bother and blarney. We are still holding the fort-no, we are not; we are out of the fort and are in the face of the foe." In Austria and Hungary the movement is small, but it is taking hold, and the outlook is brightening. Holland's report was a piece of dry humor from beginning to end. In England we do as we like ; they in Holland do as they must. But judging from the lurking mirth in this brother's face, the difference in Holland between liberty and necessity is more seeming than real. At all events, the Holland Y. M. C. A. child thrives on necessitarian diet and all the hardships incident to the terrible " must." In France the work is small, but God is blessing it; whereas in 1889 there were 64 branches, now there are 120. A vein of rich evangelical fervor ran thrOllgh this address, spoken in French by Pastor H. Bach, of Lyons.
After tea in the pavilion, the delegates met again in Exeter Hall at 7 P.M., to hear reports of Y. M. C. A. work of a missionary character from far distant fields. Sir John Kennaway presided; and Mr. L. D. 'Wishard, who had lately visited the Orient on a mission of inquiry, was the first speaker. In Japan there are already fifteen learned institutions which have formed Christian associations. Annual conventions have been held in that land, largely attended, and as a consequence hundreds of students have been converted, many of them now devoting their lives to the spread of the Gospel. Near Pekin Y. M. C. A. work flourishes; and, through the missionary spirit that has been evoked, there is uow a Chinese mission in Zululand. Having spoken of Ceylon !1.ud India, where the enterprise is encamped before the Jericho of " caste," Mr. Wishard closed an address which deserves to rank as both inspiring and eloquent. Mr. Holmes took a survey of Gibraltar, Malta, Damascus, Palestine, and Egypt. In Gibraltar a soldiers' association had been formed. In Malta there was now an association of 170 members. For Egypt a suitaLle worker was needed., but the difficulty was the lack of means. As to Palesti.ne the authorities were hostile. Mr. Holmes desired prayer especially for Egypt and the Holy Land. Mr. Robert McCann emphasized the need of the Y. M. C. A. in the cities of India. The most gratifying fact adduced by Mr. McCann concerned Indore, where an association had lately been formed, mostly of Hindus, which is showing great vitality. Mr. David McConaughy, in a valuable address, alluding to the much-vexed topic of education versus evangelization in India, said that unless this educational work in India had been done, there would certainly be no field in India for the Y. M. C. A. to operate upon. And as to progress, whereas five years ago there was not a Y. M. C. A. member in the empire, to-day there are 3500 members in the 65 associations that have reported.
Special commemorative services were held on the Sabbath-in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in the morning, in Exeter Hall in the afternoon, and in the City Temple in the evening. In addition, Dr. Baumgarten addressed the German delegates in the lower Exeter Hall in German, and Dr. Edward Barde gave an address in French to the French delegates; while at the City Temple in the afternoon there was a gathering of delegates from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, to listen to addresses from the Rev. P. Suden, of Gothenburg; Dr. Fries, of Stockholm; the Rev. F. IV. Steinthal, of Copenha~en ; and the Rev. C. M. Hill, of Christiania.
Papers and discussions supplied an ample programme for Monday morning and afternoon, when Count Bernstoff presided. Mr. R. C. Morse's paper on" The Work 0' the Y. M. C. A. in North America" was an able historical outline of thel110vement in that great continent, with its marked historic periods, statistical growth, and varied developments. What most of all struck us was the story he had to tell concerning the colleges. It would be well if the leaders in the home country noted this. Ve saw llothing of Y. M. C. A. work in Scotch university lift> ; and we are not aware that the English uuiversities are being now laid hold of. But since 1870 " the Association work to students in American colleges and universities has been one of the most significant features of its progress." That the number of colleges embraced should have grown within less than a quarter of a century from 10 to 450, with a membership of over 30,000, is, indeed, a gratifying record. Another point of much significance was "the multiplication of Bible classes both for evangelistic purposes and for the training of young men for effective personal effort." It was cheering, too, to learn that C1tristian young men of the colored race were organizing the work, and thereby extending the king!;lom of God in the Southern States of the American Union. Professor Maller, of Utrecht, followed Mr. Morse with a paper concern- ing "dear Holland," with its 800 branches and 18,000 members. In Holland they have no gymnastics annexed to their associations, nor do they go in for tours or cycling clubs. They are conservative. Regeneration is their central point of interest, and, by way of recreation, they canvass dogmatic questions and lose themselves at times in the mazes of pre- destination and matters cognate.
Mr. Hobbs, of Denver, in a clearly defined speech, told what was doing for the railway men j and Mr. J. R. Mott, of the college associations, said as much in five minutes as most men could say in a quarter of an hour, and said it better, too. The American colleges had certainly a good spokesman in their chosen representative. The other creakers were M. Olandt, secretary of the work among the German young men of New York j M. Monnier, of Paris, who gave an account of what was doing among the students of the Latin Quartier j M. Buscarlet, who reported on the general work in Paris j Baron von Rothkirch, president of the largest association in Berlin j and Mr. E. J. Kennedy, who, having observed that "progress" was the word all round, urged the need of not despising the unit. Rev. F. Brown told how the first Chinese association had been founded in Pekin in 1884, and had grown to eight, which now comprised 400 members. He pleaded for an American secretary for China, who should visit different cities and diffuse a knowledge of the work.
In the afternoon of the same day a paper full of practical suggestiveness, while laden with metaphor, was read by Professor Edward Bardo, D. D., of Geneva, on " The Tree and its Fruits." His object was to illustrate the need of digging about the tree, removing the stones, killing the parasites, letting in the fresh air, and, above all, applying" to the roots the life-preserving salt, without which there can be no health." He said, " You know what this salt is. It is the IToly Spirit. " We may describe this valuable paper as the prose poem of the jubilee.
In the evening the picturesque group of buildings known as the Guildhall was thronged in every part by the delegates and their friends to witness the presentation of the freedom of the city of London to their muchloved president. This time-honored ceremony took place in the Council Chamber, a lofty groined octagonal hall added to the Guildhall buildings ten years ago. Spacious as it is, the chamber was not nearly large enough to accommodate half the wonld-be spectators. The scene was gay and impressive, as the pageant of this world ever is. Upon the presiding chair, attired in court dress, over which was thrown the sumptuous State robes of black and gold embroidery, sat the lord mayor, a short, vigorous, self-m~de man, whi.le on his left was the lady mayoress, and to the right and left the two sheriffs, wearing dressel!l only less gorgeous than his own. In felicitous terms and with great dignity and decorum the city chamberlain, in the name of the corporation, invited Sir George Williams to accept the freedom of the city, quoting as pertinent to the occasion the passage in Proverbs, II Seest thou a man diligent in his business ~ he shall stand before kings." He then handed Sir George a casket containing a scroll recording the resolution of the court conferring on him the freedom. It was disappointing that Sir George Williams, who was received with deafen- ing applause, read his reply ; but no doubt the august ceremony was no mean ordeal. We have not all nerves of steel.
But for the prompt chairmanship of M. Andre, of Paris, the voluminous business of Tuesday morning could not have been compressed within the allotted space. As it was, the elaborate programme was carried out to the tick of the clock. Paper and discussion followed by rule and measure, so that, in the brief space of a single sitting, four papers were submitted, which, if not raked by scathing criticism, were nevertheless subjected to the many-sided test of many minds. Dr. Karl Fries, of Stockholm, in his paper on the" Y. M. C. A. and Foreign Missions," carried apparently the whole assemblage with him. We may take it that the jubilee conference is consentient on this point, that" under no circumbtances should an asso- ciation, or a union of such, start a mission of their own, which would lead to, and has, when attempted, led to serious conflicts and difficulties." Mr. W. Hind Smith dealt, in his paper, with the qualifications necessary for a member of the governing body of an association. The only objec- tion taken to this paper was that the standard set up was so near perfec- tion that we might go forth, ..<Esop-like, with our lantern at midday to seek for the desired treasure in vain. The thorny subject of finance was next treated by Mr. Christian Phildius, of Berlin j and as finance in Y. M. C. A. matters (in England at all events) involves, as its correlative, debt, the dis- cussion which followed turned mainly on that pivot. The collective wis- dom amounted to this : If in debt, pray yourself out of it j if not in debt, do not lightly incur it. The subject of "Higher Biblical Instruction Among Young Men" was finally submitted to the meeting in a thoughtful paper read by the Rev. James Hastings, M.A., of Bervie, Scotland. While a thoughtful paper, we felt that one man's view on such a topic furnished far too meagre data to serve as a basis of discussion. What is called the special or exhaustive study of some one book of Scripture yields, we fear, quite as often as otherwise, scholastic superficialism.
A business meeting was held with closed doors at three P.M. j and, as we were on the wrong side of the door, we can only record the results as unspeakable. A special value, however, attaches to the public thanksgiv- ing service held in St. Paul's Cathedral in the evening, when the Bishop of Ripon preached from the words" What must we do that we might work the works of God~" This sermon was much spoken of, and evidently made a deep impression on the delegates who were in a position to follow it. What a power the pulpit is when adequately filled by a man of gift and grace! It has, and can have, no earthly rival.
We now come to the jubilee day of the jubilee conferenc!l-Wednesday, .June 6th-the day described by Mr. Wanamaker, who presided, as "the great day of the feast." Practically it was the great day of oratory. The chairman was oratorical, and all the speakers took after him. On this day the conference did not meet to discuss or to deliberate, far less to jangle ; no, they met to bask in the sunshine of some of the great and shining lights of both hemispheres, and, above all, to raise their " Ebenezer" in tribute to the Divine leading and blessing hitherto. Canon McCormick, of Highbury, in a manly speech expatiated on the aims of the Association, which were to create and to cement friendship, to benefit the State, and to mould character for time and eternity. Dr. Monro Gibson (Presbyterian) followed in a speech, which would have been too elaborate had it been less popular. The Y. M. C. A. had falsified the prediction, so confidently made in the time of Strauss, that Christianity would soon be played out. But to what were its enormous growth and development due ~ Not to intellect. If they were to make such a claim, no one outside would grant it. Sir George Williams he regarded as a man of ability, but he did not look npon him as another Ignatius Loyola. No; the power was of God. " Search into it with all patience, the result will be a demonstration of the presence and power of the living Christ." The proceedings culminated in Dr. Cuyler's (of Brooklyn) address, upon" One Master, One Book, One Purpose, and One Heaven-sent Power. " The speaker's lips touched eloquence at every sentence as, with resounding voice, he descanted on his fourfold theme. It was no small treat to listen to one whom the chairman described as " the tallest man of America."
We have no space to recite the illuminated addresses presented to Sir George Williams, and can only glance at the jubilee celebration in the evening, which was one of the most remarkable demonstrations ever held in the Albert Hall. As seen from the side of the great organ, the spectacle of the closely packed ranks and tiers of the congregation was one not to be forgotten. Just below was the Swedish male choir; to their right and left the ladies of Mr. William Carter's choir, forming two large squares gleaming in lustrous pink and white; below were the speakers partially screened by palms, ferns, and flowering plants, while the vast interior was filled by an audience of 10,000 people from the floor to the topmost gallery. Music and physical exercises occupied the first hour and a quarter. The meeting opened at eight P.M. with the one hundredth psalm, to the familiar melody, " Old Hundred." Prayer followed in German, French, and English. Lord Kinnaird then rose to nnveil and present to Sir George Williams a marble· bust of himself, which, with an illuminated address, was given by the English National Union of Christian Associations. The presentation was made amid tumultuous cheering. Modestly, and in ejaculatory sentences, but at considerable length, Sir George acknowledged the presentation. Prince Oscar of Sweden followed with a few words of congratulation, and ended by calling oil· the Swedish choir to express their gratitude for the hospitality shown them by rendering the ninety-second psalm. Canon Fleming gave the next address, in which he averred that heresy never came from workers, but always from idlers. The Hon. John Wanamaker, in a short speech, declared that in the States there was but one titled man, and he was Sir George Williams. Mme. Antoinette Sterling next sang "He Leadeth Me," and afterward said, " Dear brothers and sisters, let us have but one country-God's country; let us have but one Church-the great invisible Church; and let us love our Father, Mother, God, with all our heart and soul, and our neighbor as ourselves." The point of sensation, however, and, iI,l our judgment, the point of bathos, was reached when Dr. Parker said that he had an announcement to make respecting the next jubilee. The hush for the moment was awful. But the suspense was relieved when he added that fifty years hence the Bishop of London would preach in the City Temple and the pastor of the City Temple in St. Paul's Cathedral! The obtrusion of this trifle was greeted with applause, and-can it be believed ?-was seriously argued on the august~ ground that the Son of Man wall comin.q. After this it was quite time that the gas should go out, and the limelight views should illustrate the rise and progress of the Young Men's Christian Association. The Hallelujah chorus and the benediction closed this great day. A trip to Windsor Castle and grounds, by the kind permission of the Queen, formed, on Thursday, June 7th, a fitting finale. The day was bright, all hearts were glad, and Christian fellowship reigned. The farewell meeting, held at the principal entrance to Windsor Castle at five P.M., was most impressive and touching. Both Mr. Peploe and Dr. Cnyler were much moved in uttering the farewell word, which had to be spoken, and was well voiced by those on whom the honor devolved: " Days come and go in joy or woe; Days go and come in endless sun.
Only the eternal day shall come, but never go ; Only the eternal tide shall never ebb, but flow.
o long eternity, my soul goes forth to thee !"
As a part of this permanent memorial of the Y. M. C. A. Jubilee, it may be well to record some leading facts.
Sir George Williams was born in Somersetshire, West England; became apprentice in a dry-goods house in Bridgewater; was early led to Christ while working in this capacity, and from the first made the conversion of young men his aim.
In 1841 removed to London, became junior assistant in the dry-goods house of Hitchcock & Co. There he began a meeting in a sm~ll dormitory on th" premises. This was the very inception of the Y. M. C. A. move- ment. On June 6th, 1844, the first association was organized, then COIl- fined to this mercantile house. The manifest success of this initial society led to similar bands in other mercantile houses, then to a joint meeting and the organization of a general association for the metropolis. Out of so small beginnings great movements grow. A. T. P.
KOREA TO-DAY
KOREA TO-DAY.
BY REV. H. G. UNDERWOOD, D.D., SEOUL, KOREA.
Almost a year ago it was our privilege to set before the readers of the MISSIONARY REVIEW" The To-day from Korea," and to show -how plainly by providential openings and by special calls to individuals and societies God was saying to His Church, "Go work to-day" in this land; and it is our thought now to give few facts on " Kore3 To-day" that will set forth the present status of mission work and of affairs in general in this land.
During the last few years there has been a large increase in the force at work on this field, several of the earlier missionaries having retUl'ned from furloughs, and quite a goodly number of new recruits having arrived from time to time. The older missionaries have gotten well into harness again, and the new arrivals, having buckled down to the study of this difficult language with a right good will aud the spirit of prayer and perseverance, are already beginning to take their full share in the work of upholding Christ by preaching, teaching, healing the sick, and living Christ among these benighted people. The longer we live in this land the more we see of the habits of the people, the better we become acquainted with them and their customs ; the more do we realize the degrading influences of heathenism, or, rather, should we say, of depraved human nature, without any true conception of God and unhelped by the restraining influence of Christianity.
The task that is before us is stupendous if for one moment we forget that the arm of an ALMIGHTY GOD is to accomplish the work, and that. we are but His heralds to proclaim His message, knowing, however, that if we proclaim it faithfully Ris Spirit will do the work. If you were to ask me as to the outlook in Korea, I would say, with the old veteran, when asked a similar question, "It is as bright as the promises of God." God knows no such thing as failure. Success must and will follow the faithful preaching of His word.
First, then, as to the present status of our forces. During the past year several have been providentially called away. Mr. Fenwick, of Canada, bas gone on a furlough, and as his heart and sympathies are thoroughly enlisted in .Korea, he will probably return. Mr. and Mrs. Ohlinger, of the .Methodist Mission, after the sudden death of their children, snd Dr. and Mrs. Brown, of the Presbyterian Mission, and Mr. and Mrs. Mackay, of Australia, after prolonged sickness, have left Korea, probably not to returfl; and Mr. C. Johnson has changed his field to Japan. Additions, however, have been made which more than counterbalance these. The total nnmber of workers is, then, 26 married men, 14 single men, and 18 single ladies distributed among the TWELVE TO SIX· 'rEEN MILLIONs in this land. Work is carried on from various centres, of which the one at Seoul is the principal. Here all the larger societies having work in Korea are represented. Here have been established schools, hospitals, dispensaries, printing-presses, churches, and chapels, and from this city medical and evangelistic trips into the interior are constantly being made. From time to time classes are gathered for theological and biblical instruction of the ' more intelligent and active among the Christians, who are then sent out to tell to others what they know of a Saviour's love. During the past year the opening of street chapels and the starting of out-door services has been vigorously prosecuted with a large degree of success. Daily services have been held for a good part of the year in different parts of the city, on the public highways, and in the villages around Seoul, where great crowds have heard the Gospel. At the Sunday services the street chapels have been packed Sabbath after Sabbath with attentive and, in some cases, apparently eager listeners. It has nl)t been all plain sailing; opposition has been met with from individuals here and there; but it has been mainly a noisy attempt at coutroversy, as when, while speaking of man's sinfulness, one interrupted with the claim that he led a holy life. Following Dr. Jacob Chamberlain, I appealed to his neighbors, and overwhelmed by their jeers and laughter, he subsided, and troubled me no more that day. When, a few days later, he interrupted me again, I reminded him that Christ came to save sinners and not the righteous, and that, therefore, as he was holy, the Gospel was not for him. He was silenced at once, and though a regular attendant upon our services, has never attempted an interruption since. Among the converts of the past year has been one known as LITTLE YI, ignorant and illiterate, of whom it was said that he did not know enough to be a gateman, but who bids fair to be a power for God in the building. up of a native church in this land. In relating his experience, he tells how, at the start, when he first heard the Gospel, he thought it was nothing but a story ; but that God spoke to him and told him that it was for him. Ridiculed, subject to petty persecution, classed as one daft, he still held firmly to Christ in spite of all ; and last summer, when his little baby brother lay at death's door, the doctors, sorcerers,and blind men having failed (he had told them all along they would fail), he besought them to call upon .Jehovah, but they refused. The little one, accordins to Korean custom, was dressed in its grave clothes and laid out to die. He again asked them whether they would believe in .Jehovah if He would save the little one. On their assenting, he said, " Then He will." Despite the fact that the babe seemed breathing its last, and the mother and sister proclaimed that further effort was nseless, as the child was already dead, calling upon them all to unite with him, he poured out his heart in prayer to the one true God, and the little one's life was saved. The paper prayers and offerings to the honsehold gods were destroyed, and from that day the whole family have been worshippers of the one true and only God. Of Little Yi it must be said that " he cannot but speak the thinfl8 whick he hell seen and heard." He goes everywhere preaching the Gospel and calling upon men to repent. lIe never hesitates to openly rebuke sin, :md his very impetuosity and earnestness has often aroused animosity and ,yun for him stones and blows. This, however, cannot stop him. Armed with packages of leaflets and tracts, he went down one afternoon to the " Big East Gate," where he knew there would be a crowd. Faithfully he preached; his voice gave no uncertain sound j and soon stones and blows fell thick and fast. Finally, hatless, sore wounded, his tracts torn to pieces and scattered to the winds, he was sent off with the injunction not to return. Bright and early next morning, with a new batch of tracts, he was found at. the same place, with undaunted zeal proclaiming his steadfast faith in Christ.
The younger missionaries have been going heart and soul into evangelistic work, notably Messrs. Noble and Moore. Impatient of the necessary delay for the acquirement of the language, they have thrown themselves from the first enthusiastically into the work of preaching Christ, however lamely or stammeringly, utterly indifferent to the smiles called up by their broken Korean, thereby gaining with every effort new facility in speech and winning souls to Christ. Mr. Moore makes daily trips to the suburbs, walking from village to village, and by his loving spirit (I have seen him put his arms around a drunkard) is dissipating prejudice and winning a way for the Gospel.
Medical work has been carried on by both men and women physicians in the Methodist Episcopal, the two Presbyterian, and the Church of England missions both in and around the city with increasing popularity. The Presbyterian mission is to be congratulated in the accession to its medical force of Dr. O. R. Avison, of Toronto, a man of long and wide experience, who gave up his position as professor and lecturer in the Toronto University Medical College, and his large and lucrative practice, to come out, with his family of three little children, to use all his talents and experience solely in the cause of Christ in medical mission work in Korea. The fact that he, a Canadian and a Methodist, was appointed by an American Presbyterian board without being asked one question as to his" theological opinions;" on the contrary, being told that they did not want to make a Presbyterian of him, gives the direct denial to the statement of one of your correspondents from Tokyo, Japan, that the first question of the boards is not as to fitness for work, but as to theological belief. As to the plans of other regular boards I know not, but as to the Presbyterian Board Itt the north, the first question is not, "Are you a Calvinist~" but concerns simply and solely a man's fitness for the work of preaching Christ.
One of the features of the past year has been the opening of The Shelter, a hospital for the numberless outcast KOlean sick. It is a custom quite common in Korea to turn out of doors men, women, and children when they become seriously sick, and more especially when attacked by the-to the Korean -much-dreaded "Yaim-pyung," a species of typhus fever, resulting fatally in most cases among the Koreans. These poor creatures, turned ,out of house and home, seek the protection of rude huts made of a few sticks covered with straw mats or sacking, and dependent for suste- nance solely upon the charity of passers by, or what their friends can collect by begging j with absolutely no medical treatment, they are left to live or die, humanely speaking, according to the strength of their constitutions and the severity of the attack.
Returning to America in 1891 with the full intention of making the raising of funds for a hospital for these outcasts the main work of my visit home, I was led to put this aside, and to present simply the cause of Korea and missions in general. However, entirely unsolicited except of the Lord, the means were placed at my disposal. Early in the year a beautiful hill-side, with a small house, were purchased, and before we had time even to make any of the necessary repairs, applicants came crowding in. Here these poor people are taken in, provided with shelter, if they have no means, with nourishing food, and with good medical attendance. Up to the present date no patient has died of the much dreaded native fever, and we believe that God will use this institution for the healing of soul as well as body. A dispensary in connection with this in the main street is now in process of erection, and a chapel alongside will be built as soon as the funds are forthcoming. The institution is entirely undenominational, dependent upon no board j but we believe that the Lord, who sent the funds to start it, will also provide the means for carrying it on.
For the past two or three years the Methodist and Presbyterian missions have been planning for the opening of the large city of Pyeng Yang, in the north, as a mission station, Mr. Moffett, of the Presbyterian mission, and Dr. and Mrs. Hall, of the Methodist mission, being appointed to that work. Quietly they have for some time past been pushing the work, winning their way to the hearts of the people. But" the worst city in Korea" cannot be won for Christ without a struggle. The evil one will not quietly allow the Gospel of the liying Christ to gain a foothold j and early this spring the storm broke. Mr. Moffett was temporarily away at the capital. Dr. and Mrs. Hall (both M.D.'s), with their little babe, were the only foreigners in the city. Without any warning an order was issued one night for the arrest of all the native Christians and of all Koreans in foreign employ. Dr. Hall's own house servants were arrested and thrown into jail. The doctor and his wife were ordered out of the city, and the governor positively refused to give them any protection. Mere arrest in Korea is no small thing. It means beating for hours for the sake of extortion, jeers, taunts, indignities of all kinds. To the innocent and guilty these are alike meted out, according to the avarice and caprice of the police, the brutal jaiJers, and the inhuman professional " beaters."
On the night when the order was issued, Mr. Choi, a man who has become a marked follower of Christ, in that whereas before he lVas a drunkard, libertine, and gambler, who gave way to all his worst passions, he is now a new man and lives a changed life, was arrested and brought before the local magistrate and asked why he had given up the religion of his fathers and degraded himself by professing this vile religion. He replied that he was not degraded j that his life before and after finding Christ was well known to them all, and that it was the power of this new religion that enabled him to lead the life he was now living. With a few threats, and a strict injunction to have no more to do with the foreigners and their re- ligion, he was released.
On that night the regular prayer-meeting was held, and he went straight from the magistrate there and told of all that had passed. They read and talked one with another of our Lord's words: "Be not afraid of them which kill {lie body, and after that have no more that they can do," and strengthened and comforted one another with such words. After prayer to God for help, they retired for the night. Before daybreak constables arrived, and after taunting, insulting, and beating all whom they found, and demanding large surns of money, they bound them with the red cord, the sign of a capital offence, marched them through the streets and threw them into jail, and soon had them fast in the stocks.
Similar arrests had also been made on Dr. Hall's premises j and, early in the morning, leaving his wife and baby alone, he went to the telegraph office and sent word to the capital of the state of affairs, and the matter was at once placed in the hands of the foreign representatives and laid before the throne of God in united prayer by the who~e missionary body. In th~ mean time, the poor brethren in Pyeng Yang were suffering most severely. After cruel beatings with clubs they were placed in the death cell and finally carried before the magistrate, who demanded, on pain of death, that they should curse God, renounce Christianity, and promise to have no more to do with foreigners. As the blows fell hard and fast, amid the taunts of the bystanders, with life almost erushed out by famine, exhaus. tion, pain, and terror, the trial was indeed hard j but God was with them, and though one or two of the Christians did, after long resistance, finally promise, under this severe mental strain, to have nothing to do with the foreigners, not one cursed God. The two prisoners who did curse God were simply employes of foreigners for secular work, and not professing Christians. The pressure brought to bear by the British and United States governments at last secured the release of the men. Before this, however, Mr. Moffett and Mr. Mackenzie returned to Pyeng Yang, travelling night and day, and Dr. Scranton soon followed.
At present all is again quiet. Dr. and Mrs. Hall courageously adhered to their rights and their duty and refused to leave the house, claiming their ri[ht to occupy it regardless of the will of the governor-rights which, according to the treaty, are ours, from the fact that the Korean Government has already allowed Japanese and Chinese and an American merchant to own property, and some ~f them to r€lside in this city. The position .f foreigners in Pyeng Yang and of native Christians is stilI unsettled. We
HAVE CHRISTIAN MISSIONS FAILED IN INDIA?
believe that this persecution will redound to God's glory, and it behooves all Christians to pray that He who rules the nations of the world, and can control the hearts of all men, will so overrule those in authority in this land that, whether by persecution and trial, or by governmental favor and peace, His name may be glorified and His cause magnified. The people in the main are still ready and willing and glad to hear us j it is a few of the officials who oppose. Let us praise God that the light is already breaking, and let us all at home and abroad pray most earnestly: 1. That the missionaries now in the field may all be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit that they may be God men.
2. That the native Church may grow daily in faith and in numbers. 3. That God will send more laborers into the field.
HAVE CHRISTIAN MISSIONS FAILED IN INDIA 1 BY REV. E. M. WHERRY, D.D., CHICAGO.
Once or twice each year the Christian public is assured that Christian missions are a failure. Sometimes this news comes to us from some officer of the army or navy, who has reported the result of his observations in some seaport town of Japan or China. At other times this dispiriting news is brought to us by some traveller who, having spent a few months in the East, is enabled to contradict all the reports of the world's missionaries, and even to belie the statements of many Christian laymen who have spent their lives in various secular callings on mission ground. Once in a while some" intelligent native" of the Orient, a Japanese Buddhist priest, a Syrian adventurer, a Hindu with a high-sounding title, or, mayhap, a Zulu chieftain finds his way to our shores, only to discourage us with his positive assertion that our missionaries are accomplishing nothing, and that we are wasting our money in a vain attempt to do the impossible.
Quite recently we have had among us a number of Hindus, who posed in gorgeous robes as representatives of the various religions of India. They were entertained in Christian homes and welcomed on the platform of the Parliament of Religions by a Christian public. They were everywhere received with a kindness and courtesy unknown to them before. Some of these gentlemen have been moved to improve the opportunity to enlighten us upon the subject of foreign missions in India. Some have appeared as lecturers, posing as scions of royalty before a credulous people j others have received access to the columns of our newspapers and reviews. An article in the Forum for April, from the pen of Mr. Virchand R. Gandhi, is before us, entitled" Why Christi.an Missions have Failed in India. " The writer of this art'cle does not exhibit any antipathy toward the missionaries which he does not show toward all European beef-eaters and cow-killers. Indeed, he speaks kindly of their efforts to educate the mass~s, and he gives special praise to them for making known to the Western world the languages and literature of the East. He is, however, apparently assured in his own mind that, however zealous their endeavors, their labor has been In vain and their mission a failure.
,t He tells us that not a single true Aryan has been converted in these three or four hundred years;" that" when the missionaries found they had failed most of them abandoned their efforts and betook themselves to a more laudable undertaking, the education of the masses."
Of this education this writer asserts that r' it produces sceptics and agnos- tics by the thousand, but never a Christian." He ends his article with the assertion that the labor of Christian missionaries is wasted labor j and yet this learned Jain, this delegate to the Parliament of Religions, has not gi"en us one single iota of proof for his statements. He has not cited one single fact nor quoted a solitary authority. He speaks, as it were, ex cathedra, and seems to expect a credulous American public to accept his dictum without question! A Brahmin Christian friend of the writer, ,after having twice visited America, was asked what he thought of the American people. He promptly replied by saying, " The most gullible people under heaven." The fact that many intelligent Christians have had their faith in foreign missions shaken by such writings as these under notice seems to justify the opinion of my friend. Perhaps it is fair to these sceptical Christians to say they never had much faith in missions.
To return to Mr. Gandhi and his article, let ns examine the reasons given for the alleged failure of India missions j and, first, we are told that the very idea of converting a Hindu to Christianity is absurd; we are told that" the radical differences between the Christian and Aryan relig- ions are not, perhaps, clear to most people j but those who have pondered on this subject see the all-sufficing nature of Hindu philosophy, how the simplest mind can have its cravings satisfied, how the intellectual giant can accept their reasonings j and they do not wonder that Christianity, with its narrow and intolerant dogmas, makes such little progress among the Hindus." Christianity holds to the doctrine of "an extra· cosmic Creator standing aloof from His creation." It teaches a doctrine of fear, so that the hope of salvation from the anger and wrath of this Supreme Being rests upon "fulfilling His commandments," while " to people un- accustomed to religious and philosophical thoughts, they may appear as fostering the idea of love and brotherhood," it is really a religion " devoid of humane practices." On the other hand, "the Hindu philosophy"
and religion, based upon the Vedas, is filled with " the idea of one God of nature, a permanent essence underlying the whole universe, material and spiritual, of which the various forces of nature are merely manifestations. " These teach men " the essential identity and oneness of the intelligent cosmos." These teach men to " look with equal love upon a Brahmin full of learning and righteousness, upon a Chandala (the lowest of castes), a cow, an elephant, or a dog." "The philosophy of the absolute does not respect caste or creed, color or country, sex or society. It is the religion of pure and absolute love to all from the tiniest aDimalcule to the biggest man." Of course it would be absurd for an enlightened Hindu to abjure such a religion-or rather philosophy-in order to accept the narrow faith of the Christian, with his personal God and Supreme Ruler. Of course it is absurd for the blind to say they see.
This writer reveals what is true of almost all non-Christian Hindu writers, that he fails to grasp the Christian's thought of God or the Christian plan of salvation. He admits that the Christian doctrine is good so . far as it goes, but he is offended because Christians decline to recognize the cow, the elephant, and the dog as brethren, and because they insist upon seeing a difference between the spirit of " the animalcule" and" the biggest man." The Fatherhood of God, ill which the Christian glories, is not sufficiently comprehensive to suit the Hindu. The Christian's God is too personal and therefore limited by certain attributes, and these " human attributes," to be ever acceptable to India's people of philosophic mind.
Mr. Gandhi, however, insists that India's philosophy has taught its wisdom to all ancient nationalities. He says: "The ancient kingdoms of Chaldea, Assyria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome had accepted the spiritualistic philosophy as found in the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Yoga system." And yet these ancient philosophic peoples, according to Mr. Gandhi, early in the Christian era accepted of Christianity. "Christianity," he says, " spread in the Roman Empire, and mingling itself with the older religious sentiments of Egypt and Greece, it spread through Roman influence in the whole of Europe."
It would appear, therefore, that ancient Christianity triumphed over the philosophy of Greece and Rome, notwithstanding that that philosophy was borrowed from India. Moreover, this Christianity had the genius of " mingling itself" with this philosophic system, and if it has done so, how comes it to be so very unsuited to the mind of philosophic India 1 Does not its doctrine of the immanence of the Divine in the universe seem to fit into the thought of God as "a permanent ess~nce underlying the universe" q Does not the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ fill the want of India with its doctrine of Avatars q Does not its doctrine of sacrifice compliment the doctrine of sacrifice everywhere present in the Vedas, not to mention many rites of the Brahminical religion of the present day ~ So much for the theory of Hinduism. Now for a few facts in rebuttal of the assertion that no real Aryan has been converted to Christianity. A statement like this coming from a man of Mr. Gandhi's intelligence fills Ils with amazement. Surely Mr. Gandhi sat on the platform of the Parliament of Religions and heard the clear testimony of Miss Jeanie Serabje, as to her Christian faith and that of her father, who suffered the loss of all things for Christ's sake ~ It is hardly possible that he should not kno~ of the Rev. Narayan ShesMdri, the Rev. Appoji Bapoji, the Rev. Nehemiah Goreh, Rev. V. Karmarkar, and other distinguished Brahmin converts to Christianity, many of whom live in Mr. Gandhi's native city. Of the hundreds of mission stations in India, there is not one without its converts from the noble or Aryan race. We have n<?t mentioned the many converts from Islam, which claims sixty millions of India's people. We have passed by the hnndreds of thousands of converts to Christianity from the low-caste rar-es of India. Although these are not "true Aryans," . they nevertheless witness to the success of India missions.
The only other reason given by Mr. Gandhi for the" failure of missions" in India is that of the conduct of Christians. "The conduct of the early Christians in India," says he, " was anything but holy; nor was the conduct of the officials of the East India Company exemplary." Some of these were " a disgrace to their nation and their religion." Still " they were, after all, the pioneers of Christianity in India." Now, so far as the inconsistency of European nominal Christians is concerned, we will not dispute with Mr. Gandhi. Undoubtedly such men always have been, are now, and always will be a stumbling-stone to many; but Mr. Gandhi knows that they do not represent the conduct of real Christians. He says: "Well may their brothers disclaim any connection with them and denounce them as defiers of religion."
But the conduct of Christians and even of Christian missionaries, according to this writer, ,is on another account reprehensible and even abominable. These Christians are" meat-eaters and wine-bibbers. " They are" representatives of nations who fatten and kill for selfish gratification millions of hogs and steers a day! That these missionaries should preach humanity to an already humane community is beyond the comprehension of the Indian mind !"
Here is a real stumhling-block. Cow-killing and beef-eating are to the Aryan race of India as cannibalism to the Christian. Perhaps the missionaries should abstain from meat for the sake of the weak brother for whom Christ died. Many missionaries have don& so. Some do so now. As Mr. Gandhi says, Christianity does not require a man to eat flesh. Thousands of Hindus have become Christians who have never eaten cow's flesh. None are urged to do so; hence this objection to the religion of Christ has less weight than it has been credited with, and cannot account for the failure of missions, if failure there be.
Mr. Gandhi is distressed by the rapid growth of materialistic thought in In(iia. He admits that" university education in India is so thoroughly materialistic and so mercilessly iconoclastic, that it shatters not only the idols of superstition, so called, of the Hindu, but so affects the mind that it cannot receive any religion at all. "
There is something pathetic in these words of Mr. Gandhi. He voices
TIME AS A FACTOR IN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
the thought of orthodox Hindus of every name and creed. From his standpoint the outlook is gloomy indeed. Educated India has lost faith in tho pantheism of the orthodox creed. The spiritualism of Brahminism, J ainism, arid Buddhism is fast losing its hold on those educated in government and mission schools and colleges. With from fifteen to twenty thousand youth going up annually to the university entrance examinations, with the country flooded with the literature of Western science and religion, with the daily and weekly newspaper and monthly magazine everywhere read, is it any wonder orthodox Hinduism should be troubled ~ Instead, however, of this being a reason for the failure of missions, tltis result ill largely due to Ohristian influence and missionary effort. Reforms have everywhere been inaugurated. The cruel practices of the suttee, of child marriage, of infanticide, of the treatment of widows, of self-torture and suicide of religious devotees in the Ganges or under the wheels of Jagarnath's car, are deprecated and repudiated by multitudes in India to-day. Religious reforms like those of the Brahmo Somaj, the Arya Somaj, the Prarthna Somaj, etc., espoused by scores of thousands of educated Hindus ARE ALL MONOTHEISTIC in character. India is turning away from the "impersonal essence" to a personal God, a prayer-hearing God, and many who have not espoused Christianity have learned to reverence the pure and holy Christ of the Gospels. With a Protestant church numbering six hundred thousand members, with adherents enough to make a million souls j with one million Roman Catholic Christians, besides many thousand Syrian and European Christians resident in India; with a force of eight hundred European and three thousand native preachers and teachers; with schools and colleges for boys and girls containing over three hundred thousand pupils j with half a score of Bible and tract societies publishing millions of pages of Christian books; with the trend of India's thought in monotheistic channels, it is hardly true that Christian missions have failed in India.
TIME AS A FACTOR IN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.
BY REV. ARTHUR H. SMITH, SHANTU)oG, CHINA.
II. It is not our purpose to discuss the various difficulties which must be overcome in the evangelization of the world. If it were so, we should lay s~ess upon the numbers and the solidarity of the non-Christian races, and • the' antiquity of their religious systems, their intense and often bigoted conservatism, and especially upon the fact that the behavior of so-called Christian nations in international relations has furnished and still furnishes one of the strongest arguments against the religion which those nations profess and teach. Passing these considerations as too obvious to require elaboration, let us pause for a moment to contemplate a fact which is at a distance mucIi.' less conspicuous, and which without attentive consideratiou cannot be understood. It may be called moral inertia. This is the con- dition of multitudes in lands nominally Christian, and it is this fact which imparts to work among them its most serious difficulties. In such lands the term connotes a class of men who seem to be impervious to religious truth and whom we rightly call Gospel.hardened. The old New England theologians had an expression of their own for this condition ; and in a volume of sermons by Dr. Tyler, of Hartford, may be found one on " The Sinfulness of Stupidity." The backslidings of professed Christians and the ., stupidity" of the impenitent form the greatest obstacles to the triumphal march of Christianity in ChriRtian IandR.
But in a country like China the" moral iuertia" of the most intelligent of the popUlation is a condition altogether different from anything to be found in a Christian land. God has been forgotten for so many ages that the very capacity to conceive of such a being appears in many cases to be almost wanting. Your doctrine, we are told, is " more true" than ours, the conception of mutually exclusive contradictories being wholly lacking. A thorough Confucianist, although he had heard Christianity explained many times by a native scholar who had taken a literary degree, was un. able to keep in mind even the outlines of the new teaching, so that his Christian acquaintance at length bestowed upon him the nickname of " the expcrt forgetter." His was a typical case. To him Christianity was nothing more than an abstraction, a technicality of no practical importance. Such persons find the same difficulty in an intelligent comprehension of its inner substance, which some of us do in recollecting and comprehending 'Lhe technical terms whieh have recently come into vogue with the introduction of electrieity. .And just as most of us feel no call to study into the theory of electricity or to learn for ourselves its practical applications, so the Confucianist cannot see that there is any reason for his troubling himself to acquire the principles of what he often styles" a commonplace ceremonial. " Indeed, nearly everyone of the various kinds of " Bias" enumerated by Mr. Spencer, in his" Study of Sociology," operate to keep the Confucianist from meddling with Christianity at all. Against it are arrayed the Bias of Education, the Bias of Class, the Bias of Politics, the Bias of Patriotism, and the Bias of Theology. For it there is-nothing. Against it are the Desires of Happiness, of Knowledge, of Power, of Possession, of Society, and of Esteem. For it there is-nothing. Heredity, Education, and Environment are a threefold cord not easily broken, and by this cord he is held to his past as with hooks of steel.
There are thousands, even in Christian lands, who say they" believe" in Christianity, who yet will not take a step in the direction of its duties. " At present," said Sancho Panza, when Don Quixote urged him to complete the penance of three thousand lashes by which he was to secure the disenchantment of Dulcinea del Toboso, and her elevation from a lowly estate to wealth and grandeur, "at present I am not in the humor. I promise to flog and flay myself as soon as ever I feel so inclined."
Cognition does not lead to action. In order to accomplish this, it is necessary to excite favorable emotions to act as adjuncts. But in the introduction of Christianity among heathen no task is more difficult.
The Scotch parson who is reported to have taken the woman of his choice for a walk, and ill passing the family graveyard to have turned to her with the question, " Wad ye like to be buried there, Jeannie 1" is a type of what we must often appear when we seek to woo men to embrace a foreign, a despised, and a rigid system of faith. "Do you wiElh to be criticised, ridiculed, hated., cast out of your family and clan, and to lose all that other men esteem of value 1 Then come with us, and we will do you the maximum of harm and the miuimum of good."
A New Hampshire college student who was acting as a book-agent tried to get subscriptions among the workmen in a marble quarry, and was answered in French by the first man whom he encountered, in Italian by the second, and in German by the third. Neither of them understood what the young man said, nor would have taken the book if the question had been apprehended. It is not otherwise in preaching the Gospel to the heathen of any race. Our very dialect is unintelligible. In Chinese tho same word is used both for venial offences against. propriety, for crime, and for punishment. W·(, have known a crowd gathered to listen to a foreign missionary rapidly dispeised by his announcement to his auditors that they were" sinners" (criminals), upon which, taking him for a deputy from the provincial capital to make inquisitions and arrests, they all fled, except one bolder than the rest, who stoutly defended himself against such .landers.
Theoretically, no doubt, it appears perfectly feasible by repeated explanations to make thl3 elQmentary truths of Christianity comprehensible to any mind in its normal condition, for God hath not left Himself without witness in the hearts of men. But the time required for this comprehension is not to be measured by hours, but rather by months. We have heard an intelligent man who had been staying in a hospital for two weeks, daily listening to pointed and conversational explanations of the most primary truths of Christianity, when at the end of that time he was asked if man could see God, replied, "Certainly j" and being pressed to say when and how, he pointed to a cloud, with the remark, "That is God, is it not 1"
Polytheism, pantheism, and atheism are the common constituents of the" broth of besotment" in which the mind of the Chinese has for ages been steeped, and with which for ages it has been saturated. The result is the apparent effacement of the spiritual faculty, as the inscription on an ancient coin has been rusted away beyond recognition or worn off by mere attrition. From a spiritual point of view) the Chinese have become eyeless fish in a Mammoth Cave, too often only a slight and superficial cicatrix remaining to mark the spot where spiritual vision might have given illumination. To a nation of thorough-going materialists all talk of bliss in a future life, with nothing appreciable to hope for in the present, appears like a check drawn upon the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They think of Christianity as the newsboy did of life insurance, which he said was a plan to keep a man poor as long as he lived, so that he could be rich after he was dead.
One of those newspaper paragraphs which float about on every breeze has recently declared, we know not with what grounds, that" ten millions of grip microbes can live in half a cubic inch of space, and are so hardy that it is believed they exist very comfortably in a solution of ninety per cent of carbolic acid." Of the" grip microbe" we make no affirmation j but that this is a substantially correct account of the" microbe" of heathenism we have not the least doubt, as witness, for example, the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians.
An experiment was once tried to test the rock in one part of the Rammelsburg Mine, in the Hartz Mountains. A man was directed to bore for a blast. After working assiduously for eighty-eight hours, in periods of eight hours each, he had only reached the depth ojfour inches, but had worn out one hundred and twenty-six borers, and dulled two hundred and twentyseven others / Heathenism is a rock harder than any which encases copper. It can be excavated only with Divine implements kept sharp at the forge of a heavenly fire.
Spiritual faculty once lost is not easily regained. A lad once saw a party of workmen riveting a steamboat boiler, with deafening reverberations at every blow. Wondering how the man who held the inside hammer could bear such a concussion upon his tympanum, the lad waited until the man came .out, and then asked him, but got no reply. At last, when the question had been repeated two or three times, another workman remarked, "Oh, it is of no use to talk to him ; he has been stone deaf these twenty years /"
In one of Professor Raymond's interesting tales there is a story of two mountaineers in the wild West, who made a bet as to the capacity of the ice in their respective canyons to resist the sun's rays. One of them claimed that a piece of ice of ten pounds' weight from his region would be longer in melting than any ten pounds which the other man could pit against it. This seemed so unlikely that much excitement ensued when the trial was made, and the two pieces .of equal weight were placed side by side. But when one pf them was wholly melted there was a large chunk of the other still as unsubdued as ever. Upon which the challenger remarked in triumph, "I tell ye, boys, the ice where I live is cold!" All heathenism is " cold," but some of it is colder, weight for weight, than other varieties, and SOme will take a long time to melt, however hot th) sun to which it is exposed. The combined effect of the various characteristics of heathenism which have been named, as well as of others which cannot be specified, is to make a dense jungle of obstructions through which Christianity must gradually cnt its way, little by little. Heathenism is like that mighty dam of logs in the Red River, extending for many mites above Shreveport, La., having for ages blocked that stream. Many futile efforts had becn made to remove it j but it was not till 1873 that the enterprising Lieutenant Woodruff succeeded in cutting a channel through it. No one can say how it came to be there. Its complications are past following out j trees, logs, and brushwood in one mighty tangle, but its existence was an absolute bar to navigation till a way had been forced through it. It is impossible to overrate the opposition which heathenism offers to the Gospel. It is impossible to exaggerate the actual hostility of the heart of man to a revelation from heaven, with its challenge to immediate repentance. We have sometimes seen a dog iu a Chinese inn yard licking an empty tin which lately contained preserved meat. Would it be possible to captura that dog, and by a process of explanation force him to comprehend the history of the contents of the tin before a little of it reached his mouth j Can he be made to understanCL who Mr. Armour is, and the nature of hi!) slaughter yards and packing-houses 1 Can he easily learn anything beyond what he already knows-that licking the tin is a relatively agreeable ex· perience, and being beaten for it a relatively -lisagreeable one ~ Not less difficnlt is it to convey to some human souls, but by no means to all, a conception of the distant heaven whence those souls are said to have come and of the God who sent them.
To many readers this will doubtless appear to be but the wildest caricature of the truth, and it must be admitted that the analogy is inexact. The statement is too weak for the facts, which are, after all, best depicted in the words of the apostle where he speaks of mankind as being" dead in trespassel and ,ins." Only the Divine breath can rouse the dead.
We live in an age of " push" and" dash," when it is the fashion to attempt great enterprises with a limit fixed beyond which they are not to be delayed. There is great temptation to set about the evangelization of heathen lands in this" around-the-world-in-eighty-days" spirit, and the result must be inevitable disappointment. "They say," remarks Emerson in one of his lectures, "that by electro-magnetism your salad shall be grown from the seed while yonr fowl is roasting for dinner j it is a symbol of our modern aims and endeavors, of our condensation and flcceleration of objects; but nothing is gained; nature cannot be cheated j man's life is but seventy salads long, grow them swift or grow them slow."
For qnthusiasm in the work of missions we have the highest respect. The motto of Carey, the pioneer missionary, was an inspired one: "Expect great things from God j attempt great things for God." Without this spirit nothing ever has been done or ever can be done. As far as it has gone, the missionary enterprise, taken as a whole, is a great success; and it is its own best answer to its critics. . Among the first generation of native Christians in China, especiaIIy among the preachers, there has undoubtedly been a great mortality as regards their religious life ; but so it was among the twelve apostles among the churches which they planted, and in all churches in all ages since. Some fall away, r.Jultitudes misT understand the true nature of the faith which they havc accepted, and depart from it. But so they do in Christian lands against incomparably greater lig4t. Let us not complain of the" comparative failure" of missions in China, or in any land, when we consider the trifling aggregate additions made to our own home churches. It has been shown by statistics that the average additions to the Presbyterian churches of the United States for four years (from 1885-89) was three and nine-tenths per cent; for the Methodist Episcopal churches for four years (1883-87) three ~nd three-tenths per cent; for the American Baptist churches for the same four years, three and one-tenth per cent; and for the congregational churches for ten years (1879-89) two and one-tenth per cent. That all these figures are accurate is not claimed, but they are probably approximately so. If they mean anything, they mean that there i"l before the churches of the United States a great work to be done in their own land, and it certainly ought to suggest by comparison that there is a much greater task before them in lands WhICh are non-Christian.
The Spirit of God is plomised to the Church in all ages ; and this promise is in every age redeemed. Among converts from heathenism in China, as in other lands, have been some of the brightest ornaments of the Church. They have come through temptations and trials which we cannot comprehend, and against which there is no certainty that we should have been proof. The greatest stress ought to be laid upon this fact, for it is a vital one. At the same time, it is essential to bear in mind that such cases are altogether exceptional. The bulk of the converts from heathenism cannot rise at once to a height of Christian living, but must grow to it, as all neophytes do and have ever done. It is no disparagement of the Word or of the promises of God to make this affirmation, for, as already remarked, it is made by our Lord Himself many times and in many ways; and it is confirmed, in our view, by all the history of the Church universal and also by the laws of psychology. Given a Divine revelation, and the promise of the supernatural aid of the holy Spirit, the most essential requisite in the evangelization of the race, or of any part oj it, is time.
The present generation of native Christians may be and rna)' do much, but their children will obviously be able to be and to do yet more. There is a vast difference between coming into Christianity from thc gross darkness of heathenism and a coming into it under Christian parents and through early a,ssociations. There is much more hope of a generation that has been altog~ther cut loose from idolatry before any of its members came to a conscious existence than from a generation which is steeped III the carbonic acid gas of heathen practices.
The children of the Christian children will be in It still more favorable position, for by that time heredity, education, and environment, all of which now tend to strangle a convert before he can bear any fruit at all, will have been transferred to the side of Christianity.
When this third generation shall have come, then will the rea~ effect of Christianity in any land first be seen. Then only will Christianity be able to achieve all that it can hope to achieve at all. Distinguished successes it may and must have long before that time; but these successes are as nothing to what will follow. By that time the mountains will have been levelled, the valleys will have been filled up, and the kingdom of God will have come in a way and to a degree whICh our present feeble faith cannot grasp. There is a profound significance in what is said in Scripture of the " third and fourth generation, " and in the frequent allusions to " chilo dren's children." Within a pet·iod shorter than these words imply, in our view Christianity has no adequate opportunity to show what it is or what it can do.
That these ideas, so opposed to much of the current teaching in regard to the propagation of Christianity, will meet with general acceptance, we do not expect. What we do expect may be indicated by a reminiscence of the Civil War. When the fleet of Admiral Farragut was entering Mobile Bay one of the captains sent a man forward to throw the sounding line, for the water was becoming alarmingly shallow. "Twelve feet!" "Eleven feet Itnd a half!" "Ten feet!" "Nine and a half !" were the calls which reached the ear of the sturdy old admiral. "Call in that man," he shouted to the captain; "he makes me nervous."
Two different objections are likely to be made to these positions. First, that they render missiona;:y work altogether too easy. If the rnost important results of what we are now doing in heathen lands are not to be realized until the third generation, why need we work so hard toiling all night to catch comparatively little 1 To this it is to be replied that for the results of our labors we are not responsible, only for doing the work itself. Provided we do our duty, whether God chooses to use a single generation or a thousand, is no affair of ours. That duty, as has been often pointed out, is unquestionably in the direction of greatly enlarged efforts. So far is such a view as we have taken from making missionary work easy that it greatly increases our sense of its importance by showing that it is essential that the foundations be laid deeply and well, for the superstructure is to be long in building. Pioneers in missionary work are the sappers and miners of the army of the Lord preparing the way for the advance of His triumphant host. Those who are in the forefront of the battle will some of them resemble those Russians at the siege of Schweidnitz, who fell in such enormous numbers that their dead bodies filled up the ditch, and over their corpses the rear ranks marched to victory. We are engineers laying deep the caissons of Brooklyn Bridges, over which at some fnture time nations and races are to enter into a land of promise. Weare driving into deep morasses piles upon which will eventually rise cities which shall be populous in the kingdom of God, though we may never see the day. So far is this from being an easy task that it is perhaps the most difficult to which men can be called, and it requires all the grace which even the promises of God offer.
But, on the other hand, it may be objected that the view here presented is much too discouraging; that upon these terms no missionaries can be recruited; and that if ultimate success is still so distant it will be difficult to get the home churches to carry on the work already begun. To this we reply that we are "confronted with a condition and not with a theory." Here are the facts, what shall we do about them ~ That the Church is easily discouraged, despite its grand opportunities, may be and probably is but too true, but she has no occasion to be so, and would not be so if, in the might which God supplies, she arose to do the work to which God has set her. But to suppose that the Church will neglect the work abroad because she finds it harder than was expected is to do great injustice to the Church. The more the greatness of the enterprise is apprehended the more energy will be put forth. It was not till the North became convinced that the suppression of the military force of the Confederacy was a gigantic task that the North was fully aroused and all its strength exerted. It is now clearly perceived that the wisest patriots were those who expected and prepared for many years of conflict, and not those who indited and echoed the" On to Richmond" articles of the impatient press.
The future work of the evangelization of the race will be mainly done by those who are still young. To believe that they will refuse to enlist because the labor is severe, and because there is no discharge in that war, is to do violence not only to all Church history, but to the history of civilization as well. It is the hard tasks which call out the undaunted spirit.s. The quests of the sources of the Nile, of Arctic passages, of the secrets of heaven and earth, are stimulating in proportion to their difficulty.
Two things the Church imperativdy needs: a full kllowledge of the facts about the work of missions, and a baptism of the Spirit of God. Much has been already accomplished, but far more remains to be done. " I have written to you, young men, because ye are strong. " Who will volunteer for the Lord's work, fulfilling His last commission to go abroad into all the earth and preach the Gospel to the whole creation ~
THE NEED OF THE NATIOl'fI!
THE NEED OF THE NATIONS.
BY GEORGE D. DOWKONTT, M.D.
What is the one great need of the nations? Doubtless the Gospel; but the Gospel as Christ, its founder, preached it, not by words only, but by works only. "If ye believe not My word3, believe the works," said He.
In reading the life of the Son of God, as set forth in the Gospels, one is impressed with the fact of the Saviour's care for the whole being of man, body and soul. He was anointed to "preach the Gospel to the poor," but also to ,. give sight to the blind," etc., and true to His divine character and commission, "He went about doing good;" the result being that " great multitudes followed Him," and " He healed them all. " He also sent out eighty-two men, and each and all of them were to " heal the sick" and " preach the Gospel." He told His hearers of the " place" He was going to prepare for their future enjoyment; but He also pointed to the lilies, the sparrows, and the very hairs of their heads, to illustrate His Father's care for their perishing bodies in the here and now, and asked, " Are ye not much better than they q"
What a lesson, too, was and is conveyed in the case of the Good Samaritan, the priest and Levite, and the wonnded man who " fell among thieves"! The priest and Levite so occupied with the spiritual needs of men as to "pass by on the other side" the wounded man! Strange to say, although He told the story of the Good Samaritan, and bade those not possessed of miraculous power to do as He did by using what they had, the Church of Christ has largely lost sight of that fact.
And yet the lesson has been before the Church repeatedly, as in the experience of Dr. John Thomas, Dr. Carey's predecessor and co-worker in India, Dr. Peter Parker in China, Dr. David Livingston in Africa, as well as many more.
It is a matter for encouragement, however, that to-day the Church is opening her eyes to these things, and that, instead of only forty medical missionaries the world over forty years ago, there are now some four hundred, eighty of whom are women.
And yet it may well be asked concerning them, "'What are these among so many?" The working force is not more than three hundred and fifty among one thousand millions or more-an average of one to three millions-whereas in the United States there are over one hundred and twenty thousand physicians to sixty-five millions, or one to every five or six hundred.
We have our almshouses, hospitals, and lunatic asylums, but such places are not to be found in heathendom. In all China up to the present time not a single lunatic asylum exists, even as a Christian beneficence. Chained as dogs to a kennel, buried alive, or tortured is the lot of lunatics there. But some may ask, "What need is there for medi" – ""l.i.ssiona.- ries ; have the heathen no doctors of their own~" Indeed they have doctors of a kind. "The dark places of the earth," though, are still " the habitations of cruelty," and of such cruelty as may scarcely be mentioned, much less appear in print. Think of the amputation of a limb by means of a chopper, and the stump thrust into boiling pitch to stop the bleeding, and that all without ether or chloroform! Yet this is being done in Arabia. Think of a child's hand being cut off her body to make a broth for a dying parent! Yet this is done in Korea. Think of women, after maternity, being literally roasted for days before a fire, until, as one lady missionary in Siam testified, " this woman's body looks like roasted pork." Think, again, of the witch doctor in Africa, who does not attcmpt to curc disease, but only to find out who caused it, and then tortures that one in a variety of ways-by slow roasting for forty hours; by being cut in pieces while yet alive and fed to fishes; or "staked out" on the ground near ferocious animals or ants, who eat the flesh off the body, but not too quickly, life generally lasting for forty. eight hours! Yes, they have doctors indeed-doctors with a vengeance! So thousands, yes, millions, perish ycar by ·year. Think of the poor creatures in China rubbing images of mules or other animals into holes, as they seek in vain to get relief from their pains by applying the affected part of the body to the corresponding part of the animal in the market place.
Think of a so-called" doctor" in India rubbing the ends of the broken bones in a poor girl's leg daily to effect a cure! Of a man in North Africa, suffering from rheumatism ,having a hole burned through his foot with rcdhot irons " to let the disease out " !
Does it not make one shudder to hear of these things 1 If so, what must it be to suffer and bear them ~ And thousands upon thousands are sending up their cries to Heaven Lor relief for their pains.
Space will not permit further dilation upon this aspect of the subject; enough may have been said, however, to show even persons of only juvenile years and intelligence that the man or the woman who can go to these people with the knowledge and relief afforded in Christian lands by scientific medicine can and will exert a power and occupy a place that nothing short of the miraculous could give them ; indeed, the practice of surgery and medicine is to them miraculous. To give a person sight who has been blind for twenty years or more, to put a patient to slecp, remove a tumor of thirty or more pounds in weight, or a diseased and rotting limb, certainly is to work miracles in their sight.
No wonder that where the missionary who only went with "the Word," even though it be the Word of God, could not get an entrance among the people, and would be driven out, the man who went with healing for the poor suffering body was welcomed by all, and his message also received.
How can they do it ? is a question that has often occurred to the mind of the writer concerning those who go out to these lands and find themselves surrounded by scores or hundreds of poor suffering ones to whom they can afford no relief as they clamor for it. True, they can tell them of that "land beyond," where "there shall be no more pain"-blessed truth to us !-but what to those people? They know nothing, they care nothing about a future state ; they do CQ)·e about the present one, and they may well ask those who tell them of the future, " Why not give some of that promised relief here and now 1" This the Saviour did.
How can they tell these people of the Savio.ur who went about" heali ng all manner of diseases," and yet do nothing to relteve their pains? Surely they must omit references to such experiences in the Saviour's life, and not tell of the care of the Heavenly Father, who feeds the birds and clothes the lilies. To be in the midst of such suffering and be unable to relieve it must surely be the most excruciating torture to the heart of a truly Christian man or woman, while to go among such sufferers, dry their tears, cure their diseases, relieve their pains, and save their lives is a luxury angels would like to enjoy.
How can they do it .g Well, many of them cannot stay long at it. They return back home to get the knowledge and means to give relief, as many known to the writer have done, and then they gladly go back again to their fields of labor. Not only so, but think of the missionaries themselves, hundreds of miles from a doctor, wives and children with them. How much of time and money has been sacrificed and valuable lives lost cannot here be told. The trading companies of Africa, or India, or China see to it that their employes are medically provided for, and the Chinese Government pays large salaries to physicians to care for only four or five of their European or American agents stationed at a port. Shall the children of the world be more pitiful, as well as more wise, than the children of light?
How can they do it? may also be asked concerning those who turn a deaf ear to the calIs made upon them to " help the helpless." How can they live in luxury, adorned with diamonds, and hoarding their wealth, and know of this terrible suffering and need, and neither give nor do anything to stop it, and yet call themselves Ohristians, followers of Him " who, though He was rich"-how rich 1-" yet for our sakes became poor" ? How will they meet Him by and by and hear the welcome " Come ye blessed. I was sicle, and ye visited Me" ~ "Will they hear those words ~" may well be asked.
In view of the facts herein stated, it is evident that many thousands of lives have been lost, in addition to all the suffering endured, that might have been saved by the use of such means as we have in onr possession. The question arises, " Who is responsible ~ and of what crime are they guilty ~"
There are many who will ask and argue as to the future fate and state of the heathen who will not lift a finger to alter and ameliorate their present terrible sufferings. What a mocleery 1 Let us leave the future with
THE BIBLE IN MANY TONGUES. [Septembel'
Him who has said, " Go, preach the Gospel to every creature;" but meantime let us preach, and teach, and heal even as He and His disciples did ; so shall we really" follow Him," and become" fishers of men."
Is it not passing strange that, in view of these facts, teachings, and truths, that in all " this round world" there does not yet exist a medical missionary college where young men and women can be fully trained and educated? It is hoped, however, that this will not long continne ; some are hoping, working, giving, and praying to this end; and surely He who has touched such hearts so to do will also touch other hearts who may give of thcir wealth to this end.
We have our many theological seminaries and various other schools for Christians of different denominations, and yet not one medical missionary colIege* for all of them. Will you not help by your prayers, and ask, " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ?" and" Vhatsoever He saith unto you, do it."
THE BIBLE IN MANY TONGUES.
In "The Manual of the American Bible Society," Rev. Albert S. Hunt, D.D., one of the secretaries of that organization, has collected a number of curious and interesting facts concerning the publication and circulation of the Holy Scriptures.
In commenting on the progress made in Bible work, the manual says that the British and Foreign Bible Society, in 1892, published a list showing that the Scriptures had been printed in three hundred and four languages or dialects by that society, either wholly or in part. This list omits about fifty versions prepared under the auspices of the American Bible Society and other similar organizations, which the British and Foreign Bible Society has not undertaken to circulate. It is estimated, therefore, that there are three hundred and fifty languages or dialects which have received some portion of the Holy Scriptures.
The American Bible Society has aided in the translation, printing, or distribution of the Scriptures in the following languages or dialects : Hebrew, Greek, English, Gaelic, Irish, Welsh, French, Spanish, Hebrew-Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Hebrew-German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Latin, modern Greek, Albanian, Roumanian, Servian, Bulgarian, Slavonic, Russian, and Reval-Esthonian; Turkish, Osmanli-Turkish, Grreco-Turkish, Armene- Turkish, ancient Armenian, modern Armenian, Koordish, Azerbijan, Arabic, ancient Syriac, modern Syriac, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu, Canarese, Tamil, Marathi, Pahari, Kumaoni, Gurmukhi, Siamese, Laos, Mongolian, Burmese, Chinese (classical), easy WenIi, Chinese * Those wishing to know more upon thia subject can address the writer at 118 East Fony-1!tth Street, New York O1t1. (Mandarin), the Foochow, Swatow, Shanghai, Soochow, Canton, Ningpo, .llld Amoy colloquials, Japanese, Japanese (Kunten), and Corean; Hawa- iian, Ebon (Marshall Islands), Gilbert Islands, Kusalen, Ponape, Mort- lock, and Ruk ; Dakota, Muskokee (Creek), Choctaw, Cherokee, Mohawk, Seneca, Ojibwa, Delaware, and Nez Perces; Zulu, Benga, Grebo, Mpongwe, Dikele, Tonga, Umbundu, and Sheetswa ; Creolese, Arrawack, and Aymara.
The aggregate circulation of Bibles by the thirty Bible societies amounts to over two hundred and forty millions. Of these copies more than four fifths have been issued by the American and the British and Foreign Bible Societies. The number seems immense; and yet this would be but one copy to each six persons nuw dwelling on the face of the earth. There is abundant work yet for Bible societies.
****** *~ The work of Bibla societies in promoting the circulation of the Holy Scriptures in other lands-Christian, Mohammedan, and pagan-is impeded at almost every point by the reluctance of the nations to receive the gift that is proffered them.
The Church of Rome, wherever it is dominant, discourages the reading of the Scriptures by the faithful, condemns as corrupt all editions which are not annotated by the Church and issned with ecclesiastical sanction, anathematizes all who buy or read "Protestant" Bibles, and so' far as possible secures the arrest of Bible colporteurs and the confiscation of their books.
In the Levant, the Moslem power, alert to protect the followers of the prophet from apostasy and jealous of the growing intellige!lce and prosperity of its Christian subjects, throws innumerable impediments in the way of the sale of Bibles which its own censors have stamped with their approval, and laughs at every protest and demand for indemnity. In a recent letter Mr. Bowen writes : A colporteur has lately been sent as a prisoner from Afion Kara Hissar in Constantinople. Weare not permitted to have any communication with him, nor have they been willing to give us the slightest information as to the nature of the charge against him, and as to the whereabouts of our books we are in total ignorance. This makes two recent cases which call for immediate settlement.
In Japan it may be truly said that the Word of God has had free course and been glorified; but the anti-foreign sentiment there is still rife which despises Christian missionaries and the books of their religion and confidently proposes the expulsion of all foreigners from the land.
In China the conceit of the educated and dominant classes is such as to relieve them from all fear that a foreign religion can make a headway against their own traditional beliefs, and the Bible colporteur encounters indifference rather than official hostility; but this supercilious tolerance of foreigners as an unavoidable evil may easily become direct antagonism uuder the provocations to which the Chinese are subjected in the United States.
LETTER FROM JAPAN
The fact is that the Bible societies are offering to the nations a book which is above all price and which is necessary for their enlightenment respecting truth and duty, and they despise the gift, loving darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. None the less is it the duty of the Christian nations to "hold forth the word of life," and offer to all mankind the law of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which are able to make men wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
* ~ of * * * * the ** the Bibles The seven the world are the Koran of Mohammedans, Tri Pitikes of the Buddhists, the Five Kings of the Chinese, the Three Vedas of the Hindus, the Zendavesta of the Persians, the Eddas of the Scandinavians, and the Scriptures of the Christians.
The Koran is the most recent of all, dating from about the seventh century after Christ. It is.a compound of quotations from both the Old and New Testaments, and from the Talmud.
The Tri Pitikes contain sublime morals and pure aspirations. Their author lived and died in the sixth century before Christ.
The sacred writings of the Chinese are called the Five Kings, the word "kings" meaning web of cloth. From this it is presumed they were originally written on five rolls of cloth. They contain wise sayings from the sages on the duties of life, but they cannot be traced further back than the eleventh century before our era.
The Vedas are the most ancient books in the language of the Hindus, but they do not, according to late commentators, antedate the twelfth cen- tury before the Christian era.
The Zendavesta of the Persians, next to our Bible, is reckoned among scholars as being the greatest and most learned of the sacred writings.
Zoroaster, whose sayings it contains, lived and worked in the twelfth cen- tury before Christ.
Moses lived and wrote the Pentateuch fifteen hundred years before the birth of Christ; therefore that portion of our Bible is at least three hun.
dred years older than the most ancient of other sacred writings.
The Eddas, a semi-sacred work of the Scandinavians, was given to the world in the fourteenth century.
A beloved missionary in Japan writes as follows of himself and wife: "Within the past few weeks we have received a priceless gift. It is this-love for the Japanese people. HeretoforEl, we had wanted to love them; but while two years ago, with the gift of deliverance from sin's dominion, we received a deeper love for God and fellow-Christians, until recently there has not been the spontaneous and continuous outgoing of the heart toward the mass of the people among whom we live and labor. Praise God that He has bestowed upon us His own love with which to love all-all for whom He died-in the person of the Son of His love. Praise Him, too, for His Spirit, who sheds it abroad. 'The love of God hath been poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost' (Rom. 5 : 5).
" It is with shame that we look back upon the six years of comparatively unsympathetic and loveless life which we have spent in Japan. These words may sound too strong, but they are spoken advisedly. Nor do we even now feel that we have already obtained to the full of this gift; we seek for more and more of this Divine passion for the poor, the suffering, the wretched, the ignorant, and those that are out of the way-the sinful, the vicious, the unthankful, and the evil.
" Another precious lesson that the Lord is teaching us is that it is through daily bearing of the cross after Him, actual fellowship with Him in His sufferings and death that we are to manifest His life and proclaim His Gospel, 'Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh' (2 Cor. 4: 10, 11). It has seemed to us that the words 'body' and 'mortal flesh,' fellowship with Christ in His death, cannot be narrowed down to a merely spiritual process or attitude-the death of the will, selfish ambition, counting all things refuse and dross while possessing bodily comforts and luxuries, etc., not being engrossed, not setting our hearts upon them ; it is also-and perhaps can be said, upon the authority of Scripture, to be first of all– actual bodily suffering, privation, poverty, ' suffering the loss of all things.'
" And it is by this physical conformity to Christ's crucifixion that we best proclaim His Gospel (2 Cor. 4 : 7). This treasure (verse 4), 'The glorious Gospel of Christ,' we have in earthen vessels, and it is in these vessels that we bear about His ' putting to death that in them His life may be manifested.' (See chap. 6 : 3-5.) Through patience in trials of all sorts. And again 2 Cor. 11 : 23-28, where we are told what it is that characterizes a minister of Christ-labors, stripes, imprisonments, deaths, beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, freIJuent journeyings, perils of waters, etc., weariness, painfulness, watchings, hunger, thirst, fastings, cold, nakedness, the care of all the churches.
" If it is through these very things that we are to fulfil our ministry, then let us not shrink, but rejoice, inasmuch as we are partakers of Ghrist's sufferings. Though our inward consecration may be deep and real, it iii one thing to have all on the altar and even bound with cords to its horns, and another to have the knife and fire applied which slays and consumes the life. 'A sacrifice is not a complete sacrifice till the life has been consumed.' And then the next step-to illustrate practically before the eyes of those whose yet imperfect vision can neither penetrate to our heart state nor, through the veil that hides our Lord, to the life of Him who had not where to lay His head; and to do this we must be able to point to His marks in our own hands and feet. 'I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' "
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND OONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Present Situation in Japan. autonomy-are still binding on the na- tion. Of course, until Japan should BY J. H. DE FOREST, D.D., JAPA~T. ha ve codes of ci vii and criminal law What I have to write can best be worthy of the civilization of the nine- gathered around the three words, anti- teenth century, Western nations could foreign, anti· 0 hri8tian, and anti-mi8- not put their nationals under Japanese sionary. jurisdiction. But now they have all 1. .A.nti-jO'J'eign. It is natural that neccssary systems of law, and, in my there should be something of a dislike judgment, there is no reason why the of foreigners. One of the first things I hated ex-territorial system should not saw twenty years ago, on landing in be done away with and the power to Yokohama, was a dog·cart with an Eng- control their own tariff restored to them.
lishman In it holding a long whip. As The trouble now, however, is not so he drove by us, without any provoca- much with foreign nations as with Japan tion whatever he strnck my jinrikisha itself. The government there never has man a cruel blow across his neck, which been in the least anti-foreign. The en- instantly showed a welt as large as my lightened statesmen of Japan know the finger. In indignation I looked for a difficulties that always inhere In all in- stone, but they were all tied down. ternational questions, and they always Not all foreigners, to be 8ure, are so take a broad view of all these problems.
unjust, nor do all look with contempt But the Diet is hostile to the Cabinet, upon the Eastern races. But there is and tries every possible way to discredit no denying that we English-speaking and overthrow it. The Diet of Decem- peoples are masterful and aggressive. ber, 1893, brought forward an appar- Said an Intelligent Christian Japanese ently anti-foreign address, accusing the gentleman who had been around the Government of allowing foreigners to world: "Everywhere I go I see the go far beyond what the treaties allow, English flag; and I hate it, for it is al- and urging henceforth the strictest pos- ways a threatening sign of the subjuga- sible enforcement of them, so as to em- tion of the whole East. And yet there barrass foreigners as much as possible.
is one thing I immensely admire about The Government promptly dissolved the English-they act as though the the Diet and ordered a new election.
whole world were made expressly for The new Diet has recently met, and a them. There are no mountains nor telegram has come announcing its disso- oceans that they do not delight to con- lution. It is probably for the same rea- quer. They do not know the word im- son the action of the Diet tends to in- poB8ibte. And I wish our people of crease an anti-foreign sentiment, and Japan would cultivate that same spirit." the Government is resolved not to per- It is not to be wondered at that When mit it.
the aggressive nations of the West set It Is safe to say that while there are foot on the soil of Japan the people Japanese who hate foreigners there is there should shrink from too close con· as yet no such national anti-foreign feel- tact. and should regard us with more ing as exists in China. The Diet is or less of dislike. I think the one great using this nationalistic feeling in order cause of the so-called anti-foreign sen- to overthrow the clan government timent in Japan is the fact that treaties rather than to drive out the foreigner.
which were never meant to continue in If the present Government I!hould an- operation more than five years-treaties nounce that the treaty had been revised which deny to Japan tariff and judicial with anyone of the leading powers and that the honol' of Japan was guaranteed, selves is by studying the methods of the anti.foreign feeling would disappear Christian missionaries and then imitat- largely within a week. It is more ac- ing them. We started Christian papers curate, therefore, to speak of the 80· and magazines, and now they have alcalled anti-foreign sentiment, since it is most dozens of them. We held huge as yet superficial. theatre meetings with the ablest of speakers, and they have followed suit 2. Anti-Ohri8tian. While the con- all over the empire. We build Young stitution of Japan guarantees religiOUS Men'S Oh1'i8tian Associations, and they liberty within the limits of public safety, organize Young Men's Buddhist Assoit is undeniable that the two powerful ciations. We start Christian summer departments of education and of war schools, and the next year we hear of seem to discourage any acceptance of Buddhist summer schools. We have a the Christian religion. There are Chris· Christian marriage ceremony, and they tian professors in the Imperial Univer· are beginning even to imitate that. sity, and also Christian teachers and students in Government schools, as well So that they are well following their as Christian officers and soldiers in the old proverb, " Learn from your enemy." army; yet it is true that Christian teach- As a nation Japan is more Buddhistic ers and students have found it often very than anything clse; and it is this Buduncomfortable to be known as Chris- dhistic element that tends to make certians,and large numbers of them have de- tain government departments seem serted the churches, though they almost hostile to us. Nothing is more natuuniversally assert they have not given ral than an anti·Christian sentiment in up their faith. A certain general ex- any non-Christian nation. pressed the conviction that Christianity would undermine the spirit of loyalty S. Anti·missionary. There is a growin the army; and though he issued no ing spirit of independence in the native military order to that effect, yet his ad- churches. They feel that ex-territorialvice was so influential among his soldiers ity in religion is as bad as the same in that scores of them have ceased going international relations. They will not to the churches. have missionaries to rule over them. They are bound to make their own When two such State departments creeds and have their own forms of seem to be hostile to any active profes- church government. They will not sion of the Christian faith it is very easy consent to take any of our denomito see why the churches of Japan fail national names. to increase as they used to do. When we add to this the strong opposition of This, indeed, is the best proof that Buddhism, the marvel is that Christian- Christianity is getting a hold in Japan. ity can add three thousand new names It may be a little uncomfortable tor us annually to its roll. Buddhism is mak- missionaries, but it is vastly better to ing every possible effort to defeat the have the native Christians rebelling new religion; and yet all the while Chris- against being under foreign missiona-· tianity is powerfully affecting Bud- ries and claiming the right to manage dhism. Said a recent Buddhist maga- their own affairs than it is to do tamely zinc: "The greatest movement of the what we suggest. Seven years ago we twentieth century will be not a com- missionaries were fairly in the front in mercial one nor a military one, but the evangeli8tic work. In the great theatre nations of the West will invade the East meetings some missionary was always with great armies of Christian missiona- given a prominent place. But now he ries, men and women, backed up by is chiefly conspicuous by having no the wealth of Christendom. We must place assigned him, unless it be the arouse ourselves to meet them." And honor of dismissing the audience with one way in which they arouse them- the benediction. I must confess the blame largely rests with us in that we have not sufficiently mastered the diffi- itor of one of the large dailies in north- cult lauguage so as to be able to speak ern Japan speak, as he expressed himself side by side with their gifted pastors in a public meeting of farewell for Mrs.
and teachers. DeForest and myself : Seven years ago we were well ahead ,. The message I beg you to bear to in puhlication work. The missionaries' the people of America is this: Christian books were having a wide circulation, missionalies have now been working though they were receiving consider- here a full generation. There are hun- able criticism. But now missionary dleds of men and women who have publications are left far In the rear, and brought half a million dollars annually native Christian authors arll reaching here to establish Christian schools and wide circles of readers that the mission- churches. And how much have they ary never would be able to touch. accomplished? Really, when we see Seven years ago we were eagerly they have gained only a few tens of Bought after as teachers, and many a thousands of converts, we can only be missionary was virtually at the head of sorry for them and must calltheir work some boys' or girls'school. Now that a failure. And yet, look all over Japan.
is all changed. Native Christian teach- Our 40,000,000 to-day have a higher ers have almost all the leading posi- standard of morality than we have ever tions. Thus in these three great lines known. There is not a boyar girl of missionary work we have been dis- throughout the empire that has not tanced by the natives. It leaves us in heard of the one-man, one-woman doc- something of an uncomfortable position, trine. Our ideas of loyalty and obedi- and has raised the cry of anti·mi88ion- ence are higher than ever. And when aru. Butif you ask the Japanese Chris- we inq~ire the cause of this great moral tians about this, they one and all em- advance, we can find it in nothing else phatically disown any anti-missionary than the religion of Jesus."
feeling. But they freely say: .. We have learned to distinguish between missionaries. We want no more mis- Germany's Part in Missions to the sionaries to come here with the purpose Heathen. of showing us how to do it and of II.Ssuming authority over us in any way. BY DR. D. WANGEMAN, BERLIN, GER- But we do want many more broad- MANY.
minded men and women who under- We must look upon the well-known stand how tO'see things from our stand- August Hermann Franke, the celebrated point, how to sympathize with our founder of the orphan asylum at Halle, Ideals, and who are willing to work as the father of the evangelical heathen with us instead of over us." The Jap- missions. For though as early as the six- anese regret the withdrawal of any mis- teenth century a feeble beginning was sionary who has been there long enough made from Genoa, and in the middle of to gain the language, and who is will- the seventeenth century Peter Heyling, ing to make sacrifices for Christ's sake from Lubeck, worked for some time in in Japan. 'l'hey have recently sent a Abyssinia, and an Austrian, Sir Wels, request to those able men, Drs. Amer- founded a "Jesus-communion" for the man, Imbrie, and Knox, to come back benefit of the heathens, all these begin- to the fields in which their influence is nings had but little success. At the end so great. We missionaries are very of the seventeenth century the Society sensitive, and things look anti-mission- for the Propagation of Christian Knowl- ary to us when the Japanese have no edge was founded, but it, however, such thought. gave its means especially to the Eng- And as for the progress Christian- lish colonies. The two first-named un- ity has made in Japan I will let the ed- dertakings died in a short time, while the mission work of August Hermann eighteen marks {d Ms pocket, began Franke has brought lasting fruit to this day. their voyage to the poor negro slaves on St. Thomas, in the West Indies, The latter sent in the year 1705, after with unswerving tenacity made the having received a call from King Fred- poorest of all heathens the object of its erick IV. of Denmark, the first two missionary labor. Its second field of evangelical missionaries, Ziegenbslg and action, commenced in 1733, was the icy Peiisschau, to Frankebar, and conduct- Greenland, where the two brothers ed and controlled their mission work Hach began to work in 1735. They personally, 80 that the mission society chose also the most unhealthy part of the of Halle was the first that did real and world, Surinam, where, in the first year lasting work among the heathens. Zie- of their labor, 39 missionaries and 71 genbalg had to struggle against many wives of missionaries died of the malaobstacles which the Danish commander rious climate. After this they tried to laid in his way, yet he was able, as early as bring the Word of the cross to the en- 1707, to build the first Protestant church tirely degraded Hottentots and Kafirs in the heathen world; and he acquired, in South Africa. Then they went to by his iutense activity, in word and Labrador, to Demerara, to the Himalaya, writing, in the work of evangelization, and at last into the northern part of the the name of an apostle of the Tamuls. lakes of Nyassa, into the fever lands. After his death, in 1719, Fabricius fol- It seems to have been their design to lowed in his footsteps, and was espe- choose just the most dangerous and uncially acUve in translations of tlie Bible successful parts of the heathen world for and in the composition of church hymns. their field of action. If there was a breach But these two were far surpassed, in the somewhere, there were at ollce others to eyes of Christians and heathens, in re- fill it up, and with the most modest gard and influence by the far-renowned claims for their own maintenance, they Christian, Frederic Schwartz, whose have worked with unfailing perseverwork has extended itself into the new ance, and conquered at last, by their paepoch of missionary labors. He died in tience and humility, the prejudices of 1798. the white and black men; so that the Brudergemeinde, that consists only of The founder of this mission of Halle 30,000 souls, counted in the year 1891 has also given his characteristic stamp 90,444 baptized Christians from among to this work. He was the father of the heathens, who received spiritual pietism-that is, of the true pietism that care from 161 European missionaries, -thinks it essential for a truly believing 28 ordained and 1072 unordained col- Christian to show forth his faith by the ored native helpers; in their 243 fruit of a holy life. schools they count 20.481 scholars; and for this large field of work they We look upon the Briidergemeinde spent 484,952 marks, given in Europe, as a branch of the mission of Halle. and 943,825 marks,. which were won Count Zinzendorf founded, in his six- chiefly by industrial undertakings in teenth year, when he was still a scholar foreign countries. After a period in of the predagogium at Halle in the year which rationalism penetrated into the 1716, with some friends of his, and stimu- Brildergemeinde, there came a time of lated by the reigning spirit of the insti- relaxation; but since the middle of this tutions of Halle, the so·called Senfkorn century it has arisen to a new zeal, and Orden, the members of which took upon has, though the work of only laymen, themselves the work of carrying the notwithstanding all their zeal and faith- Word of God to the ends of the world. fulness left many a void, founded its The Brl1dergemeinde has, with endless own seminary for the education of missacrifices and privations, since August sionaries, and has become,' in its quiet, 21st, 1732, on which day Leonard Dober and David Nisschmann, each with only modest, humble, steady, and self-sacri- (for 1891, 800,138 marks from the fa- ticing way, a model of healthy mission therland and 237,045 marks from the work, and may remain so to the end. mission territory) are paid by industrial The Briidergemelnde began its work and commercial affairs, which also creat- at once in a living faith by sending out ed welcome industrial branches for the its missionaries to the heathens with only newly baptized Christians. It worl,s a few pennies in their pockets. Germany (1891) on 55 mission stations, with 133 is-and particularly at the beginning of European missionaries and 39 ordained the century was-a poor country, and and 289 unordained national helpers.
could therefore not keep pace with its In its 297 schools 10,800 pupils were in- rich English neighbcrs in at once erect- structed. The whole Dumber of the bap- ing and sustaining missionary stations; tized was 24,662 souls.
it gave what it could and had, and this In 1848 Spittler, the father of the was not the worst and least essential Basel Mission Society, founded a new part; it trained and educated missiona- missionary institution on the opposite ries, who then entered into the service _ side of Basel, in the former cloister of of the English or Hollandish mission the holy Crischona, because in his eyes societies. So the pious pastor Jaenicke, the way of life in the old institution of the Bethlehem Church, founded in was not unpretending enough, and he Berlin, in 1800, the tirst mission semi- let his pu pils do a great deal of field nary out of which renowned men went work. and their meals were very sim- forth. I only name Rhenius, Schmee- ple. He intended to found twelve sta- len, Pacald, Helm, Ebener, the two tions with the name" Apostle Street, brothers Albrecht, and Giitzlaff, who between Jerusalem and the Gallas in all worked in the service of the English Abyssinia. " He not only did not mission societies, and among 96 mis- reach his number twelve, but some of sionaries there were 28 pupils of Jae- the already founded stations declined, nicke's. After Jaenicke's death, in so that at last only two missionaries 1827, his mission school came into the were left in SBoah to do their work hands of the Berlin Society No. 1. among 400 Christians, who live in the The mission school at Basel, which midst of the Gallas, but are Christians Spittler founded in 1815, trained a much only in name. Their pupils are sent as greater nnmber of missionaries, of which evangelists through German-speaking 94 pupils, the lesser half only, remained districts, particularly to America. Such in the service of the Basel Mission-the separate branches of mission work sel- rest went especially to England; but dom fulfil their real aim, and rob the since England educates its own mis- chief tree of its necessary strength.
sionaries to America, Bremen, Russia, A third missionary centre was created Holland, Brazil, and Australia, Basel by an appeal which Professor Neander remained only for a short time solely a sent forth at Berlin in the year 1823, mission school. It soon began to oc- where, on February 29th, 1824, persons cupy by itself mission territories and to of high station-lawyers, clergymen, send missionaries there. The society and officers-united in a Society for has its chief territories in South India the Propagation of the Gospel Among (Malabar), China, on the Gold Coast, in the Heathen. In the tirst years this West Africa, and in the Cameroons. It company also furnished already existing has also bravely faced the greatest diffi- missionary institutions with money culties and hindrances. During the tirst (Basel, Halle, Jaenicke, the BrUder- ten years it saw 16 missionaries sink gemeinde); but in the year 1829 it into the grave, but at last, the seven- opened its own mission school, and sent teenth was able to take root and the in 1833 its tirst missionaries to South Af- misllion could make greater progress. rica. There it developed itself in a The immense expenses of their work greater style. At the time of the initiation of the present director it counted !leminary at Basel. After having, not- 1666 baptized Christians in 20 partly withstanding its unspeakable losses, newly founded stations and 30 missiona- founded 'up to 1891 three stations, with ries. In 1891 it counted 53 stations with 897 baptized Christians and 10 mis- 24,537 Christians and 72 missionaries. Its sionaries, it has lately made a new 140 schools were visited by 4179 pupils. s~rt. In consequence of observations which A year later (1837), as the North Gerthe director made in the course of two man Mission Company separated itself journeys of inspection, the field of action from Berlin, there arose in the commitwas divided into six dioceses, and the tee of Berlin one deploxable division, activity of the brothers was regulated because the well·known Pastor Gossby detailed mission rules. Another ner, who found that there was too much 1ield of work was added in 1891 on the governing and studying in the mission northern borders of the lake of Ny- seminary, and wanted mission work assa, where the company worked to- done under the sole direction of the gether in brotherly unity with the Free Holy Ghost, and particularly by prayer, Scots and the missional ies of the Briider- took his leave of the committee of this gemeinde for the benefit of the people of company and began to work by himself. the Wakonde. (Since 1892 it has ex- He founded, a few years later, a sepatended its work to the Mashonaland.) It rate mission society of Berlin, now appeared at the beginning as if Berlin called the Gossner Mission, or Berlin should become for the north of Germany II. He furnished a number (more than what Basel was for the south-a central 160) of scholars with the rarest knowlpoint for the newly awakened missionary edge, and gave them over to other misinterest in Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover, sion companies to be sent out, or he Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Con- sent them himself with very scant means senting addresses and contributions to the heathens. Most of them were came from all sides, but difficulties never heard of again; only at one point, arose which frustrated this aim. The among the Kohls, in the East Indies, principle which the Berlin Mission the prayers and the faith of this man of Company had always kept up, that not· prayer have taken root and brought withstanding the great confessional dif· blessed fruit. He had, in the year 1891, ferences Christians might work together after many thousands in his field of under God's blessing. was for the first action had been lost by the seduction time given up, and in the year 1836 a of the Jesuits and other influencf:'S, still North German Mission Company was 39,000 Christians, who were provided for founded, which had a confessional Lu· in 16 stations by 10 missionaries and by theran stamp. It 800n chose its seat at a great many native helpers. Gossner Bremen. where it took a more united received his means as long as he lived form, with chiefly Reformed elements. from his friends in Prussia and in Eng- After having made several attempts in land; after his death in 1858, the lead- Australia and in the East Indies among ing of the mission went into the hands the Telugus, it has latterly concen- of a committee, the head of which was trated its activity upon the domin- the well-known general superintendent, ion of the Ewes in West Africa. There Dr. Biichsel. Gossner's leading thoughts the faithful brothers work with touch- had now to accommodate themselves to Ing tenacity and courage, though those of other mission establiRhments. they can generally not stay longer The studies of the pupils were regulatthan two years, and must then either ed, fixed incomes given, auxiliary socie_ succumb to the enemies or return ties were organized, but the income is home with broken health. The society scarcely large enough to pay the growdoes not train its missionaries itself, ing expenses. but takes them from. the large mission In the year 1842 a ladies' committee was formed at Berlin under the name 6 helpers, and has won some hundred of Ladies' Committee for the Christian souls from among the Mohammedans. Education of Females in the Orient, with the purpose of training young In the year 1884 a General Protestant ladies partly to do mission work directly Mission Society was formed, built on a among the women in the Indian zenanas very free doctrinal foundation, which or indirectly by teaching in English and stretches its branches throughout the American schools and orphanages in the whole of Germany and Switzerland. hope of winning young girls for Christ; Its first tendency was to influence the and the committee also sends money to Chinese and Japanese more by learned help the mission of Christian women in expositions in schools than by personal South Africa and in Palestine. Up to conversions; but it has lately acknowlthe year 1891lt had sent forth 15 young edged that the method of the older misladics, and had in this same year an in- sion society was also not to be despised. come of 11,713 marks. It won on 2 chief stations 350 converts, counts in its schools 120 pupils, and has Another Women's Committee for a yearly income of about 40,000 marks. China was formed during the presence of GiitzlatI in Germany in 1850. It en· Finally, the winning of German colotertains a foundling hospital with about nies gave birth in 1886 to a new mission 90 foundlings at Hong Kong. which company under the name of the German also gives hospitality to travelling mis· East African Mission Company, which sionaries; its income amounted in the started on the principle to further misyear 1891 to 30,401 marks. sion work particularly with the aid of nursing the sick, spent the greatest part Thc presence of Giitzlaff also gave of its ample means (109,053 marks) in birth to three German Congregations building hospitals in Zanzibar and Dar for the evangelization of China. Giitz- es Salam, and has only lately begun to laff, who overtaxed the mission forces found missionary stations, which at the of Germany, had conceived the plan time are in their first development. that each Prussian province-that is, each Gelman land-should make one So the mission work, which originally province in China the field of action for had been done by the one mission com· their missionary activity. Three prin· mittee of Berlin 1., had divided itself cipal committees at once, in Berlin, Stet- into 10 branches. This was disproportin, and Cassel began this work in 1850 ; tioned to the number of mission friends; but their zeal soon became very faint. misunderstandings arose because some Cassel left off altogether; Stettin united branches tried to penetrate into the itself with Berlin, but the two together field of work of the helping commitwere not able to provide even for the tee, Berlin 1.. and so rob it of its means. small mission territory of China, and This was, though perhaps the variety surrendered it to the Rhenish Com- of the work occasioned a greater activipany; and as this company, too, had ty, and, on the whole, more souls were great financial difficulties, it gave up won than might have been the case if its work partly to Basel, partly to the direction of the Berlin work had the great mission company of Berlin I., remained in one united administration, which now works on 4 principal stations a great hindrance to the work, from with 7 missionaries, and has collected which its development has severely the sum of 670 baptized Christians. In suffered. Berlin 1. has unhesitatingly the year 1852, by the instigation of kept to its task with an almost hard Bishop Gobat at Jerusalem, a Jerusalem tenacity, which won for it the admira· Committee was founded, which takes tion of foreign missions. It never care of the Christians and Mohamme· stepped backward in the once-underdans in the Holy Land. It keeps for 2 taken task in Africa, and counts now stations and 3 schools 1 missionary and every year more than 2000 baptized Christians, a number which equals the whole sum of the baptized of the first in their hut on which the wood is chop thirty-five years. ped, and sing and pray with crowds of their Roman neighbors; when peasants The Evangelioal Ohuroh of Italy. carry their New Testaments in their pockets that at the dinner hour they [Extracts from an addre•• before representa- may read and speak of Jesus to their tives of the Evangelical Chnrch of Italy, by neighbors and companions on their J. T. Gracey.] threshing floors; when a young church is aggressive, earnest, bold, and diligent "The salutations of Protestants in after this fashion it will thrive under France, Switzerland, Germany, Bol- persecution and grow on excommuniland, and Belgium at your General As- cations. When one church can dissembly in Florence, makes it needless tribute 200 Bibles and Testaments and that I salute you. Such splendid moral 2000 tracts in a year, and children are endorsement as you have from the Free gathered in Sunday-schools, there will Church of Scotland, the English Pres- always be the growing result that ,. exbyterians, the Evangelical Continental treme unction" will be discarded at Society, the National Bible Society of death, and yet your people will die Scotland, and the American Tract So- well, saying, as a dying church-memciety renders useless any commendation ber did to Angelina, ,. I am satisfied to of mine." have known Jesus. I possess Him in my heart. He is my Life, and I long But you are not in much danger of for the moment when I shall be with the ., Woe, when all men speak well of Him." you," for in Farano the papists have antagonized you with the compliment It is a great triumph that the hospiof a series of sermons prcached against tals of new Italy are, by the strong arm your young church. You have had a of the law, thrown open to you, and that like redemption from the curse from a you have been permitted to minister to Professor of Philosophy and Law in the the companions of Gavazzl and Gari- University of Naples, in a four hours' baldi; and that it is in vain the papal contention in a public meeting; you power ties up its bells and excommunihave been jeered and sneered at by a cates a VI" ilOle community from cemeswarm of young pl"iests, while burying teries. Your mission is to the masses of a beloved aged sister, as if you were the people, and yet you need not disreburying criminals. You have been in· gard the fact that among your converts sulted, threatened, and stoned. The are ex-priests of learning and high posimartyr record of the" Free Church" is tion, Dominican and Capuchin friars, not completed while position, employ- and that you enroll on your church ment, and daily bread are at stake with records the mayors of more than one hundreds who do, and other hundreds Italian city. who would, choose to join your ranks. A half hour of a shower of stonell, I have spoken of the outside sympaexcommunication for attending a Prot- thy and support you have received from estant funeral, and stealing the little men like the Earl of Aberdeen and corpse of a baby and hiding it under a others over Protestant Europe; but Ire· table to prevent Protestant burial are joice equally in the indications of selfamong the" all thingll" that work to- support. In the old university town gether for good to the young Evangeli- of Bologna, the most important town cal Church of Italy. after Rome under the sway of the popes, your young and not wealthy church has There is a heroic element which shows given an average of $6 apiece for their the inherent power of this young church work J That looks like self- Church. When wood-choppers by trade support of a vigorous kind. in Naples can make a pulpit of the block The question of the redemption of Italy is not a political one. It is not of God's people, and from the begin. settled by the existence of a free Church ning the Spirit of God has rested upon in a free State merely. To.day Europe the work. Requests have come for the recognizes your right to be in Italy, but extension of the work. which have reo it may deny it to·morrow. The politi· sulted in the establishment of three cians of Italy, not to say its statesmen, branch seminaries, one. in Cape Colony, aTe in danger of compounding with the one in the Orange Free State, and one Church if it will only recognize a politi. in Natal, while a fourth is asked for in cally free Italy; the priesthood is no whit the Transvaal. Twenty.five of the wiser than before, while their moral Huguenot daughters are now engaged apathy is still represented by the saying in missionary work. About five hun· of a Bavariau schoolmaster: " A drop of dred have gone out as teachers from holy water is better than all philosophy." Wellington alone during the twenty years since the seminarr was estab· The ills of Romanism are due princi· lished. The mother seminary at Wei· paUy to its ambition to be the only mas- lington is already doin$: college work, ter of souls and conscience. The cor· and is requiring new buildings, library, ruption of the confessional produced the etc., for a very considerable extension revolt which made :Italy a free politi· of the work. For all these things we cal State. And Rome's corruptions are are glad of the sympathy, prayers, and found to an execrable degree wherever co·operation of God's people every· where, and to Him we are looking " to supply all our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
it Is unchecked by the presence of Prot.
estantism. THE DEAD CHURCHES OF THE EAST.
-Rev. G. C. ReY:lOlds, M.D., of East- ern Turkey, speaking at the Interna· MOUNT HOLYOKE SEMINARY AT CLIF· tional Missionary Union, explained the TON SPRINGS.-There were present at relative importance of missionary work the last International Misliionary Union among the Nestorians and Armenians.
nine graduates of Mount Holyoke Semi· He said: "Just as the Jews possessed nary. Mrs. Webb, who spent nineteen an importance out of proportion to years in India, left the meeting to go their numbers, or the size of their coun· to South Hadley, to attend the fiftieth try, so in the early Christian centuries anniversary of her graduation. Miss the Lord planted these Christian Eastman, another graduate, spent four. churches in the regions surrounding teen years in Burma. She is at pres· Ararat, the second cradle of the race, ent in Rochester, reading the proof of a to be His witnesses among the sur· reproduction of the Burmese Bible. rounding pagan nations. Lying in the Miss A. P. Ferguson, who founded track of the advancing hordes of Islam, the Huguenot Seminary at Cape Town, . they refused to accept the new faith, South Africa, on the plan of the Mount and during all the ages since they bave Holyoke Seminary, speaking of this held firmly to the Christian name. But educational work, said: In 1872, with the lapse of ages need had come through reading the life of Mary Lyon, for reform in these churches. Super.
Rev. Andrew Murray, of Wellington, stition had taken the place of spiritual. Cape Colony, was fired with the desire ity, religion had been divorced from to found a Mount Holyoke Seminary morality. Dense Ignorance pervaded in South Africa for the daughters of the land. The Bible was an unknown the European colonists. About three book. So the pioneer missionaries gave hundred Huguenot refugees who had these peoples translations of the Bible fied to Holland were brought to South into their own tongues. They opened Africa over two hundred years ago, schools for the children, and Instructed and have been to Africa the earnest reo the adults. Some hundred churches liglous element that the Puritans have have been organized in Persia, and been to America. In answer to his ap- more than that in Turkey, centres of peal, Miss Abbie P. Ferguson (the speak· Gospel light, to irradiate the land. er) and Miss Anna E. Bliss, graduates But better than this, evangelical ideas of Mount Holyoke, opened the Hugue. have permeated the masses outside the not Seminary at Wellington in January, Protestant faith, and the Bible has been 1874, on the plan of Mount Holyoke. very generally scattered through the The Huguenot Seminary was founded land. Such results, for these peoples in prayer. The first teachers believe alone, are no insignificant fruitage of they were drawn thither by the prayers these years of labor and expenditure. But it is mainly that these peoples may from its superstitious rites is thought again become missionary churches that to be a breaking _ay from loyalty to this work has been done. The Nesto·· national existence. rians very early sent their missionaries " The work that has seemed possible to the far steppes of China, as rock- and has been accomplished has been hewn inscriptions still bear witness; the iufluencing of indIviduals and famand to-day one of the most successful ilies (1) through our schools. To illusworkers in the most difficult field of trate this, incidents were related of the Russian evangelization is a Nestorian opening up to the missionary through graduate of the seminary at Oroomiah, our pupils of families of influence in and with him are associated Armenian the city of Kustendie, Bulgaria. (2) Christian workers graduated from the Through the press. For example, the Protestant schools in Turkey. The newspaper, Tlw Morning Star, has Turkish evan~elical churches are doine; found its way into the remotest villages an efficient mIssionary work among the where missionaries never go. And (3) Koordish-speaking people, and are put- by the simple proclamation of the Gosting the Bible into the Koordish lan- pel from viIla&,e to village in the apo~ guage, so that it may become accessible tolic way; to Illustrate which some ac- to the Koords themselves." count was given of how new and pio- Rev. J. Henry House, D.D., of Bul- neer work was entered upon in new garia, speaking to the question, " What villages by an implicit and simple re- can be done within the Grcek Church liance upon the Holy Spirit to prepare for its reformation ?" said: .. A clear individual hearts for the reception of statement of a difficulty is often the first the good tidings which the missionary step in its solution. What, then, is the carries with him." difficult problem before us ? It is the in- Rev. J. L. Barton, speaking of work fusing of spiritual life into an ancient in Central Turkey, said: "The home and beloved Christian church that has and society are bein&, rapidly transbeen overloaded with superstitious rites formed through the lDfluence of the and ceremonies. There are three strik- Gospel, as it is taught and preached ing difficulties in the way of accomplish- and lived, and we may confidently hope ing this work: that a reconstructed society will come " 1. There is prevailing in the Greek up out of the old dead Christless re- Church the di vorce of reli&,ion from mains of this most magnificent civiliza· morality. To be religious IS to per- tion, and this land yet become a Chris- form certain rites and ceremonies punc- tian land. We see tokens of this on tiliously, and a lie or a theft or an oath every side; it comes to us upon the would not take away religious charac- breeze; it is like the dew, distilling ter if the ceremonial duties laid upon itself into every form or life there.
one by the Church were scrupulously Foundations are laid and the Lord is observed. This was illustrated by inCI- building upon them. The enrolled Protestants are about fifty thousand. dents from common life. " 2. The second great difllculty to be while the evangelized can truly be placed met is the condition of the clergy. It at twenty times that number. Evan- is divided into two grand divisions, the I'elical ideas are filling the land, and upper and the lower branches of the lDstitutions of Christianity are becomhIerarchy. The parish priest and all ing identified with the very life of the below him fall into one of these divis- country. " ions, and all above the parish priest Miss Rice, who spent twenty-two fall into the other. The lower clergy years in Persia, and was associated with are often simple and ignorant, and one Fidelia Fiske in the establishment of can easily love them when one sees in the seminary at Oroomiah, was at the them an earnest desire to read the Scrip. Clifton Spring meeting.
tures and learn their duty; but any at· tempt by them to preach the simple Miss Ella J. Newton, writing from Gospel would be met, doubtless, with Foochow, China, May 5th, says: "Eduoppo~ition of the upper clergy in whose cational work is growing popular; our iron grip they are, and the upper clergy, schools were never so full before, and while sometimes educated, are often from our overcrowded house we turn tarnished with the corruption so com- away those for whom we have no room.
mon in high life in Europe, and so the The Christian Endeavor Society has most difficult class to reach. taken firm root in China. Last Novem- " 3. The third obstacle is the fact that ber we had an enthusiastic rally of our church organization has been largely a Foochow societies, and next month the political organization for the support first general meetinl' for all China is to of national spirit, and any departure be held in ShanghaI,"
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
lIt.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Japan,* Xorea,t Medical Missions.f THE YEAR IN JAPAN. cliques, impossible of strong action save BY GEORGE WILLIAM KNOX, ENGLE- in opposition. Heretofore strong par- WOOD, N. J. ties have proved impracticable, fractions always breaking off when victory bas In Japan the conditions, social, politi- come near. cal, religious, reported last year (vol. vi., No. 10 of this REVIEW) continue with SOME INCIDENTS.
slow development. The public worked itself into high Again the year in things material has excitement over the killing of the Ko- rean refugee, Kim·ok.Kyun, in Shang. been uneventful; seed time and harvest hai, and the attack on his associates in have not failed, nor human misery and Japan. These men had found safe ref· want-these being not worse perhaps uge in Japan; but Kim was lured to than in the past, only more vocal in our China to his death, and the public be· era of free press and much talk. Disas- lieved the Korean Government had ters of the greater sort there have been sought the murder of him and his as· none. sociates, a supposition rendered proba· POLITICS.
Politics have been more furious, if ble by the rewarding of his murderer.
that were possible, than before-more So clamor arose over this invasion of unreasoning, fiercer, more hopelessly en- the nation's sovereignty, made louder snarled. In no wise can it profit to fol- by a party which has long sought pre- low in detail; but two points demand a texts against Korea. The incident is word. not ended yet, but satisfactory atone· The anti·foreign agitation waxed loud ment to wounded dignity will be made, in press and platform, and in the Diet no doubt.
sought some tangible result, which, of The Emperor and Empress celebrat· a negative Bort, was had-the Diet ed their silver wedding in April with getting itself dissolved. An appeal to much splendor, rejoicing, and congratu- the country followed; but the anti-for- lations. The event shows how far Japan eign combination failed of a majority in has moved from its old ideas, for never the new House, and now the agitation before was such possible. The Emperor wanes, its advocates eager to explain is personally but little known. Opin- themselves as only anti· present treaties, ions differ widely as to him and his and not against the West. So comes a share in the transformation of his land, truce, but peace only when the treaties but his reign is associated with the glo· are revised. ries of these years just past. The Em· In the elections one group made great pless has interested herself in the wel- gains and almost secured a majority fare of the people, and is honored and of members-a party almost strong beloved.
enough to govern. That brings party The people in spite of anti.foreign government nearer, with all its mo· agitations are keen to stand well with mentous consequences, good and bad. the world and to show their conformity One of the greater evils of the present to Western standards. Their sensitive- strife is the multiplicity of groups and ness was illustrated by the treatment * See also Pl'. 205, 222 (March), 227 (April), accorded the Rev. N. Tamura and his booklet, "The Japanese Bride." He 365 (May), 679, 680 (present Iseue). brought it out in the United States last year, and its outspokenness is not at all t See Pl'. 460 (Juue), 595,606,628 (August), 658 ill li:ne with the eulo,gies of Sir Edwin (present issue).
t See Pl'. 281 (April), 67:; (prelent issue). Arnold and other foreigners on Japan- members. But, on the other hand, ese womankind. The public almost had Buddhist writers complain that all this a fit, and the author was everywhere is superficial; that time is wasted in denounced. I read no attempt to dis· philosophical discussion; that faith is prove the facts set forth beyond mere small and the priests immoral. This denials and assertions that he overlooked charge scems proved by the establishthe difference between past and present. ment left behind by the late chief priest But his chief offence was this-that he of the leading sect-a wife and a numexposed the weak points of his people ber of concubines; and this man had to foreigners and in a foreign land, and been the "living Buddha," adored with proved himself no patriot. Had he Divine honors. A root and branch ref· sought our reformation, it was urged, ormation at home in faith and morals he had confined his strictures to the na- and a return to the simplicity of Sakya tive tongue and press. The Govern- Muni is urged as the condition precedent ment forbade republication in Japan, to successful work abroad. There is and no defender arose, least of all the recognition, too, that Christian among the Christians, who felt that oc- morals, at least as practised, are supecasion had been given for the Buddhist rior to their own. taunt, " We always said that Christians want patriotism, and this book proves THE TEN RI KYO. it." It was a nine days' wonder, and passed, the feeling lingering that too Wonderful is the geneilis of religions I much had been made of a matter incon- A woman in Oentral Japan a few years siderable. ago started a new one compounded of elements Shinto, Buddhist, and perhaps THE BUDDmSTS. Christian. The gods-ten of them- were Shinto in name, but in nothing else The Buddhists show much activity. -remarkable personifications of forces Encouraged by the Parliament of Re- and abstractions, fluidity, attraction, reo ligions, they mistook the attitude of the pulsion, etc., all ten bound together American people from the cordial re- into an indistinct monotheism. And ception given to their delegates. Now these gods work miracles among the one of them is busy collecting funds cripples, blind, and diseased, and prompreparatory to a foreign mission to the ise a speedy millennium, when all the bcnighted Occident. Missionaries had faithful shall reap a thousandfold and already gone to China and Korea with- live in wealth, happiness, and peace. out results reportable as yet. One who travelled as religious explorer in China Converts are gained in multitudes reports a deplorable condition, with from the lowest classes, and temples are Taoist superstition prevalent, Buddhism built or building in many towns. The dead or dying, and Confucianism only sclf-devotion manifested and the comfor the learned. He exhorts his coun- fort gained astonish one. trymen to relight the lamp of truth in the land whence its rays came to them. AMONG THE CHRISTIANS. Priests have gone to care for Japanese souls in Hawaii, and altogether a mis- During the year there were revivals, sionary revival seems at hand-Bud- here and there, especially near Nagoya, dhism being missionary of right, though and in several places a special spirit of such spirit has been dead for centuries. prayer. A few congregations have Nor are signs of revival at home alto- made solid gains. Theological discusgether wanting; the huge debts of three sion continues very prominent, though great temples have been paid, philan- many recognize its no-profit. A recent thropic work-hospitals and the like- re8Ume says there are three attitudes is carried on, and a Buddhist temper- toward the new theology : First, some ance league. reports sixteen thousand highly educated men strongly advocate it; second, some strongly oppose it; third, the large majority, neither advo· cating nor opposing, carryon their dained helpers have increased from 460 work, desirous of peace and the preva- to 665, an increase quite disproportion. lence of liberty in the Church. ate to work done or prospects for the year to come. At least in its organized form liberal Christianity seems not better fitted to But one should not take the table too the Japanese than the old-fashioned seriously. At best it gives only a rough sort. Unitarians and Universalists make and badly added view of results, not slow progress, though the dedication of quite without significance to one who a hall by the Unitarians in the spring knows the field. This year it means called forth compliments. only this-the churches have made no advance, but have fairly held their own The Tokyo Y. M. C. A. has a fine in circumstances of much discouragehome, built with money collected in the ment, and are ready for an advance in United States by Mr. J. T. Swift from the next campaign. men too modest to let their names be kDown. The building is large, well PROVIDENCE IN MISSION WORK. made, adapted to its purpose, the most striking in Tokyo devoted to Evangeli- Such periods of waiting and ot comcal religion. parative failure teach us again that it is God who gives the increase, and that THE STATISTICS. He holds the times and seasons in His hand. Man schemes, works, frets, The table of statistics shows the un- hopes, fears, but the work is of God eventful nature of the year. There is and unto Him. In missions, too, man small advance anywhere, and one fears proposes, but God disposes. All plans, that even this table is too favorable. It polities, endeavors just now are fruithas been compiled carelessly with mani- less, as a little while ago all bore fruit. fest errors in addition, and such want The most cursory review of mission of correspondence between the figures work shows how far beyond man's conon its face and the names on its back as trolls the current which bears him on. to discredit it. If the simple directory of missionaries is wrong, what guaran- IN THE BEGINNING. tee have we for the figures we cannot check? Japan was opened to the West in 1859, and the ChUICh responded to No new mission has been added to God's call, but the missionaries could the too long list, nor has the number of only stand and wait. They could premissionaries increased, the apparent gain pare for coming labors; but as they disappearing on the application of a lit· studied and waited men called them tIe arithmetic and comparison of back idle, said they were doing nothing and page with front. The total of church- wasted the gifts of self-denying folk at members is given as 37,398, an apparent home. But the missionaries did what gain of 1864 for all the missions for the men might do and stood in their lot year. But the gain, small as it is, is too until the time should come. large. The Church of Christ (Presby. terian Reformed) shows a loss of 64, and THE OPPORTUNITY. 8 careful revision of rolls would reduce the net gain in all the churches to zero As come it did, after many years. or worse. The gifts for church pur- Again it was God who made the wrath poses show a small decrease, but remain of man to praise Him, and out of cirsurprisingly large considering the gen- cumstances most hostile and hopeless eral want of life. The number of or- opened wide the door of opportunity. dainedJapanese has fallen off 206 now Then the missionaries went everywhere, joyfully preaching the Word. They 8S against 233 a year ago,* while unor- were not more zealous, consecrated, or industrious than before, but God gave • Can the number 01 ordained ministers in the M. E. Church have fallen from 82 to 35 aa reported f Iml'oBslble, we think. the increase. Converts were multi- must reform, and China keep hands plied, churches established, ministers off I Political pressure at home makes ordained, schools filled to overflowing. Japan the readier for foreign war. For The nation seemed born in a day. Noth· twenty years a party has urged a ing was too great for hope and faith. "strong policy" toward China and THEN A PAUSE. Korea, and the present agitation aids this party. Many politicians think Again. after years, a change. The blood-letting the only remedy for the causes were many-social, political, fever of over-excited and vehement pa- literary-and all beyond our control. triotism.
The schools were half emptied, the Tokyo has been severely shaken by churches no longer thronged, the Dum- an earthquake. An hundred persons ber of baptisms small, the love of many are reported killed. Mission property cold, utmost zeal and wisest plans fruit- suffered, but no missionary was hurt.
less. This still continues; but give way it will by and by to a new harvest time. Statistical Notes OD Japan, Eta. Every expedient is tried, meanwhile, and the blame is not with missionaries JAPAN (alias Dai Nippon, the Sunrise nor with native ministers and churches. Kingdom, the Land of Great Peace) is They are not less earnest than in the composed of from 3000 to 4000 islands, times gone by ; but now God calls for though only four are of any consider- patience, endurance, hope, prayer, and able size. This empire stretches along faith from the Church in Japan and the the eastern coast of Asia well-nigh Church at home. In His own time from Kamtschatka to Formosa, includ- once more faith shall turn to sight. ing the Kurile Iblands at the north and It is not in discouragement that we the Loo Choo Islands at the south. If thus turn to God, but in perfect peace a quadrilateral were drawn large and trust, rejoicing to believe that He enough to contain the realm of the guides and rules, and that His plans Mikado, it would measure 8700 miles and wisdom are not as ours. by 1840, and would cover nearly 16,- " God doth not need 000,000 square miles, though the land Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best surface is actually but about 150,000. Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him beBt. Hia The coast line measures over 40,000 state miles. At one point a narrow strait Is kingly; thousands "t His bidding speed, separates Japan from Korea, and at an· And post o'er land and ocean without rest; other the distance is but fj miles across They also serve who only stand and wait." the water to the dominions of the Czar_ PQ8t8C1'ipt.-Since writing this review The population is about 41,000,000, of the year three events of importance massed mainly upon these three isl- are reported. ands: Hondo (the Niphon of former The Diet has been dissolved again. days), with 30,000,000; Kiushiu, 6,100,- The opposition says it will fight its bat- 000 ; and Shikoku, with 2,830,000. Six tle in two issues : government by par- cities contain more thim 100,000 inhab- ty; and a strong foreign policy. We itants, Tokyo leading with 1,315,000.
may look, therefore, for a renewal of Seven hundred newspapers and maga- the anti-foreign agitation. zines are sustained, and 18,000 books or War hilS begun in Korea. Japan de- booklets are produced annually. The clares her subjects and interests threat- primary schools number 26,000, and ened by Korean misrule and the conse- those of middle and higher grades, 1800.
quent rebellion. Further, she objects The navy has 35 warships, and in the to China's interference as against the army are 270,000 soldiers.
.trelltybetween the two empires. Korea Though Japan was opened to the entrance of Occidentals as far back as Bupply the labor upon the great sugar 1854, Protestant Christianity made its plantations.
advent only twenty-one years ago. According to the census of 1890 there 'l'he following table relates to the work were but 2292 Japanese in the United of about thirty missionary societies, Statll8-mainly upon the Pacific Coast.
and will show what steady and encour- Since that date they have increased to aging progress has been made during perhaps 5000. The Methodist Church the last eight years. It will be noted opened 0. mission among them in 1877, that concerning nearly every item the and is now ministering to these stran- figures have doubled, while at two or gers in San Francisco, Sacramento, and three points they have increased three- Los Angeles. In San Francisco a fold. church of 350 members has been gath- ered, and the Presbyterians have about g ,; ~ ., ., ,; ,; ~ ~ 100 communicants. Considerable work for this class is also done by missions ·"c !!; 0:1 0:1 ,,CC"""…II p., ';"1 for the Chinese. aJ " ! . . oS'd oS 0 "'l:l Ohin688 began to flock to our shores 'd soon after the discovery of gold in 0:1 ..~.. ri g California. nor did the stream reach its '" flood until they had added 130,000 to . 0 ~ our population. The last census found ,but 106,688 remaining, of whom 95,477 '1il were west of the Rocky Mountains. By the restrictive legislation of recent ~ ·S .. I ~ years the total is further reduced to " . . ~ ~ "0; about 80,000. New York City and Ii1 ~ 0 :z; 0 p t"
– -0 — – — – – – 188fi••• 128 85 50 211 19a — 93 14,815 3,640 1887… 14B 108 69 316 221 102 18,019 5,020 IH88 .. 177 124 72 3~4 249 142 23,M4 6,950 1889… 200 171 84 448 274 185 28,977 5,007 1323 1890… 214 ]89 98 423 297 129 30.820 4,431 IS91… 209 178 97 881 365 157 88,390 3,718 1892 . . . 219 201 119 537 283 35,5<14 8,731 1893… 228 216 128 545 877 286 37,898 3,800 Brooklyn together contains some 8000, In estimating the victories of Chris- of whom about 300 bear the name of tianity over paganism in Japan, due ac- Christians. The Presbyterians, North count must be taken of what has been and South, the Methodists, Baptists, done by the Roman CathoUc and Greek Congregationali!ts, and two or three churches. The latter organization has other denominations, as well as the gathered more than 21,000 adherents, Methodists and Presbyterians of the and the former 46,680. If to these are Dominion of Canada, sustain missions added the Protestant native Christians for the Chinese at various points on the (those who have abjured the worship Pacific Coast, almost everywhere with of idols and put themselves under the excellent results. Probably not less care of the missionaries), a total is than 5000 Chinese in America have ac- gained of at least 150,000. Francis cepted Christ as Saviour, of whom a Xavier was the Pope's apostle to the large proportion have since returned to Japanese, and began his work in 1549. Itheir native country and are spreading Such was the zeal of his successors that there among their benighted neighbors by 11314 the Christians are said to have the glad tidings of the great salvation.
numbered at least 1,000,000 ; but by a long series of terrible persecutions the At the International Missionary Union faith was at length practically extir- .. nugget" session, the suggestion was pated and almost forgotten. made that Dr. A. '1'. Pierson should be asked to go round the world on In recent years emigrants from these an evangelistic tour among the misislands have become an important ele- sions. Miss Ferguson. of Cape Colony, ment in the Hawaiian Islands, since at once spoke out her hope that he they number there some 25,000-more might go by way of South Africa, and than a quarter of the whole population. Miss Ben Oliel, a Jewes8 of Jerusalem, With the Chinese and Portuguese they immediately responded that of course he would" begin at Jerusalem."
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
A veteran missionary writes (enclos- The plague of the black death in ing $5 for the Student Volunteer Fund, China has assumed alarming propor- by which we seek to supply the REVIEW tions. It swept over London two cento candidates for the field): "The let- turies since, and reappears at times in ter of Dr. Seymour, our young broth- the Levant. It is a fever, with severe er in China, which appeared in the last glandular swellings, is thought to be MISSIONARY REVIEW, touched my highly contagious, and the death-rate heart. A voice came to me at once say- is very high. In seven days as many ing' ' Go thou and do likewise.' With hundredS died in Hong Kong, and more the check which I enclose (I wish I than a hundred times as many lied becould afford to make it larger) there fore it has died by it. It attacks anigoes a prayer that the $500 you need mals. Over 20,000 rats had to be gathto 'make up arrears' may soon reach ered and buried in the city. The Chiyou. nese officials seek to conciliate the evil spirits, to whose machinations they trace "The longer I live the more I am im- the awful visitation; and the superstipressed with the importance of 8p1'ead- tious natives parade the streets with ing information in regard to the true josses, burning joss sticks, and firing condition of the world. It pains me to crackers. To purge the city of its horhear some pastors of our New England rible filth might do some good, but churches. expreRsing doubts whether these other measures are of course hopethey can afford to take THE MISSION- less.
ARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD. r tell A dispatch appeared in the daily journals lately stating that 400 Circasthem emphatically they cannot afford sians and Druzes had been killed or to do witltout it. They do not realize wounded in II fight in Syria. To Dr. how rich it is in facts-stirring facts Jessup's eyes it was a flash of light from all parts of heathendom. I hope away in the East, revealing conditions there will be a change in this respect which were not unexpected to him and soon. How much we need a revival of which he well understands. He finds misBiollpry learning! The Lord aid the explanation of the fight in a politi· you, dear brother, in your good work. cal movement which has been steadily promoted by the Sultan of Turkey, and " JOSIAH TYLlilR. " by which the Sultan is endeavoring to supplant the Bedouin tribes of the Mrs. Sarah }t:. Wood, of New York, Hauran by a Circassian population who whose beneficence has been exhibited are loyal to the Sultan, and who are in many other directions, moved by the gradually taking possession of the rich same appeal for the Volunteer Fund, lands over which the Bedouins have has encloaed ten dollars with a similarly ridden in former times, simply to make helpful note, which is more encourag- forays on the poor peasants. The ing even than the money. But still Arabs, and also the Druzes in the rethis deficiency of nearly $500 stares us gion of Mount Hermon, claim that these in the face and prevents our supplying fertile fields on which the Circassians to the students the number of copies in are planting their homes and building demand. So fruitful has this benevo- villages are their pasturage grounds, lent distribution of the REVIEW to and they are lighting off the intruders. young men already proven, that the The Circassians have held their ground editors estimate that, for every ten dol· as yet, but hostilities often break out, lal'& thu8 eI1Jpended, one new offer lw,8 been made for the mission field by some student thus stimulated to self-sacrifice.
A.T.P. and the dispatch is simply the brief rec- beautiful site where rest his ashes. ord of one of the battles of the contlict. This is one of the highest, it not the highest expression of esteem in China. ~e died on Saturday evening, trying to SlDg, Sequel to the Story of Ling Ohing Ting. .. •All worldly affairs to-day do away, To·morrow perfectly keep the rest day.' (See Volume 4, p. 257.) The following is the sequel to the He has 'perfectly kept' the rest day for nearly a score of years. It will be Ling Ching Ting story of the converted a season of deep interest when we shall opium-smoker, published in these pages be permitted to ask him about Hok- chiang prisons as chapels and barred some time ago: windows as Bible stands. May God .. I have visited the site of Ling's im- give us another Ling Ching Ting, no Yrisonment scores of times. The story matter about the rasp,Y voice, whose have from his eldest son, a tender- first attempt as a Christian was to comhearted, meek, and faithful worker. mit the Bible to memory. His second son has more of Ling's lion .. F. OHLINGER."
voice and fire. It was noised broadcast throughout the city that the Christian preacher would return and preach at Mr. Frederic Perry Noble, one of our the corner where he had been rotten- esteemed contributors, kindly corrects egged and stoned, and that the yamun runners would be on hand to drag him or supplements a statement in the July to prison. The whole population was REVIEW, pp. 540 and 559. He says: on the qui 'Vioo to see what would hap- " In 1825-27 Clapperton reached Ropen. In due time Ling appeared as koto in Soudan from the south 'Via the usual, violently clutching his closed Bight of Benin and the Niger Valley, Bible. He spoke a few words and then while in 1830 the Landers rowed down began to read. Rotten eggs and stones the Niger from a point above its jUllCresponded to every word. 'I he runners tion with the Binwe into the delta. In seized him and dragged him through 1885 Thomson went 1000 miles up the the excited crowds to prison. The hill Niger to Sokoto and Gandu. As to behind the yamun, rising gently to the railways, that from Cape Town runs to height of the building, was crowded Johannesburg, 1014 miles away, and to with spectators. Ling saw his oppor- Preteria, two hours' ride beyond, while tunity. The barred window faced tow- the road has already been built across ard the hill. He had not lelinquished the northern border of Transvaal." that characteristic clutch on his Bible.
With his opium-smoked, raspy, sancti- fied voice he read:' But none of these things move me, neither count I my A. Y. Smith, of Louisville, Ky., life dear unto myself, so that I might writes April 23d, 1894 : finish my course with joy, and the min- istry, which I have received of the Lord " It will be conceded that it is of the Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace utmost importance that the Scriptures of God.' He had not spoken long (but be placed in the hands of the heathen. so loud that he was heard in every room There is the great difficulty connected in the building) when the magistrate with the case. In the first place, the exclaimed: 'Let that man go; he does great mass of the people of Asia and more harm here than outside! ' most European countries are illiterate "Ling is buried at the west end of and unable to read their own language. the district (county), on an ~levation Then there are languages and dialects from which the city (Hokchiang) and that have no written character. The many of the larger towns may be dis· result is that the missionaries in some tinctly seen. There are more Christians instances will have to invent an alphain this region than may be found on a bet, translate the Scriptures into it, and similar area anywhere in the empire then teach the people to read It. Of field. He considered the island of course this will entail a great work and Lamyit his home, and his .aearest rela- will delay the evangelization of the tives lived there when he died. He world.
might have closed his career there, but "Science has right here given us a insisted that he 'must die' at his post. means of overcoming this difficulty_ So the heathen insisted that he must be Though it takes long study for a person buried at his post. and donated the to learn a written language, anyone, however ignorant, can understand his gods is all there is to Christianity, inown tongue by hearing it spoken. This stead of being merely the first step_ science has enabled us to produce. I re- And this came upon them with such fer to the phonograph. If missionaries power, and men whom we loved and or heathen converts were to speak the trusted were so moved by the power of Scriptures into a machine, it would re- the Spirit, that they broke down and peat it right back, and the most igno- told how they were doing this and that rant could understand. Many would of which no one knew, J;lUt they could listen to a talking machine who would not get peace till they had confessed not hear a person read. Then in many before men. Our young helpers, as Eastern countries women are kept se- well as the older, have had such a blesscluded from the gaze of men, and it is ing that we look for great harvests. not considered reputable for women and One of them said: 'All these years I men to be together, or women to be have been preaching Christ, as though seen in the presence of men. The pho- He were a foreigner, but now I haTe nograph would come in right here. It found Him as my Saviour, a new could be taken into the privRp.y of the friend. ' A young believer was so over- Asiatic home, where a man could not. come to find that his grandmother did Then it would no doubt be cheaper than not believe in God that he wept. That sending a person to a place for the pur- made the old woman think it must be pose, and would receive attention where very important, since he could feel so a person would not. deeply about it; and she went and found another old friend, and they .. Of course phonographs and wax talked it over and concluded they mu~t tablets would cost money, but so do know more about this Jesus doctrine, missionaries and written Scriptures. and came over to us to learn. They Nevertheless it is probable that it would listened, and such readiness to hear and amply repa, any expense. Two or believe I have seldom seen. The spirit three families could listen from one of understanding came to them, and phonograph, or a few could be kept in they accepted it like children." a church or chapel for anyone to come and listen to. Referring to the editorial notes In the July MISSIONARY REVIEW, MIss •• From these and other reasons that Ross Taylor says: "Rev. Herbert will readily suggest themselves to you, Withey is of age, and a regularly or- I think you will perceive the immense advantage that will accrue from the dained minister. The William Mead use of the phonograph in foreign coun- who is in the list is not the one who tries to disseminate a knowledge of the Scriptures. You of course understand died. Julia Mead is not a child, but a that the Protestant Christians fOlm R successful missionary teacher, and Willvery small proportion of the population iam O. White, far from being a trader. of the world. Hence, it will take a great deal of expense and effort to evan- is a regularly ordained Methodist mingelize the human race by the usual ister, who has seen five years' service means." on the Congo." A letter from Miss Nellie N. Russell, Truly said that great soldier and brilldated Cho Chin, China, April 5th, and iant senator, General Foy, who knew addressed to Mr. Moody. says: all about it: "Jesuitism is a poignard with its hilt in Rome and its point , .. The city of Peking, or parts of it, have been stirred and aroused as some everywhere." The hilt is handled by of the oldest missionaries say they never expected to see it. For some weeks the successor of Loyola, but the thrust past the Spirit of God has been poured out in a very special manner, and we is at the heart of nations. Woe to the have seen Chinese, broken down and in tears, plead with God for forgiveness. people whom mere decoy ducks can Men have confessed their sins to one cajole, while its insidious legions are another and in public, and there has been such a movement as has made all desolating a country by cabals and seour hearts rejoice. Of course it also cret machinations first, and when these means bitter persecution in some in- fail, then by fire ~nd sword, by revolnstances, but God has given grace to tions and anarchy, as the last resort of them to stand firm and true. Our con- .. rule or ruin."-Selected. verts make a great mistake when they think giving up the worship of false The French Catholic Bishop Au- " To this must be added the follow- gouard of the South Pacific Islands de- ing Declaration of His Highness the scribes, in a letter addressed to Cardinal Sultan to Sir Stratford Canning, at his Ledochowski and published in the audience on March 22d, 1844 : ) Lyons &lut Publique, his horror at find- " , Henceforward neither shall Chris- ing that the dish set before him, at a tianity be Insulted in my dominions, banquet given in his honor by one of nor shall Christians be in any way per· the island chiefs, consisted of the young- secuted for their religion.' "
est and plumpest of the chieftain's wives, whom he had seen tull of life and Up to the present time physicians laughter earlier in the day. What add- have sought in vain to explain the curied to the prelate's dismay was the fact ous and generally fatal West African that when casually asked by the chief, disease known as "the sleeping sickduring the course of the morning, which ness." The victim gradually gives of the wives he thought the most attrac· way to somnolence, the general health tive, the right reverend father, with at first remaining fair, and the only abheedless politeness, had pointed to the normal symptom being a dropping of very woman who was later served up, the eyelids while awake and a tendency cooked and dressed, as the plat d'lwn- to sleep at unusual noms. This tenneur. The same newspaper, which is dency increases till finally the sleep is the official organ of the Roman Catho- constant, life seeming to have given lic missions under the control of the way to a sort of insensitive fungus de-I Propaganda Fide, gives extracts from velopment. Finally food can no longer the report of a priest on the river be taken, and in the end death results Ubange, in Africa, who relates that from exhaustion and starvation.. It has slaves there are sold alive on the public been suggested that the disease is a market for use as butchers' meat. Pur- form of blood poisoning arising from chasers unable to afford an entire slave ingestion of a fungus growing on grain, buy an arm, a leg or the head, and but this lacks proof. The cause of the mark it with a piece of white chalk, complaiht, in fact, may be said to be after which the unfortunate victim yet wrapped in mystery. thus partitioned off is slaughtered, and the pieces as chosen betorehand distrib- Mr. A. N. Baker, of the South Afriuted among the butcher's customers."- can General Mission, writes from Swa- Selected, zieland, giv:':'g some Interesting details The following "Official Declaration of his evangelistic tour.
of the Sublime Porte, relinquishing the Makoti is one of the converts at the practice of Executions for Apostasy" Mahamba kraal, an important man in is a very important relic of history: the kraal, very humble, perhaps fifty years old, middle sized, with an old red " (TRANSLATION.) soldiers' tunic down to his waist, a bat- tered slouched felt hat on his head, bare " It is the special and constant inten- legs and feet. '£he angels of God rejoiced tion of His Highness the Sultan that his over dear old Makoti as they heard him cordial relations with the High Powers say, "Yes, I love Jesus, He takes care be preserved, and that a perfect recip· of me (literally keeps me going) every rocal friendship be maintained and in· day." On Sunday afternoon, April creased. 1st, he and two other converts held up hands as a lifelong pledge against Kafir .. , THE SUBLIME PORTE ENGAGES TO beer. When they came out of the meet- ing one of Makoti's wives began to TAKE EFFECTUAL MEASURES TO PRE· taunt him. "What a foolish thing you have gone and done. What will you VENT HENCEFORWAnD THE EXECUTION do when the beer pots are standing all around you, and everybody else is AND PUTTING TO DEATH OF THE CHRIS- drinking 1" Listen to this glorious an- TIAN WHO IS AN APOSTATE.
" , March 218t, 1844.' swer: "I have asked the Lord to wash know that or I would not be sitting the taste of the beer out of my m.outh, here." .. He d068 not believe in gin." so that when I see it I shall have no de- .. You never said a truer word, but sire for it." what can I dn? I must keep my hold Another man, lately converted, ran on the queen and people, and my endown to Mr. Baillie to hear whether he emy has been using this weapon, and mig!lt, consistently with his new pro- I must use it." .. I thought you said fession of faith, adopt the head-ring or you were a man?" .. 8.0 I am. or kehla, which the head man wanted to .. Well if you saw three tiny little in- invest him with and which is looked nocent white children come in here, upon as a great honor. and a white man were to pour out three One evening one old woman drew glasses of poison and hand them to them, my attention to a child singing. Just teIling them it was nice, would you not behind me sat a young woman with a take him by the throat and pretty well baby boy of about three years, singi.ng shake the life out of him? And yet in his broken baby fashion. .. AUeluiat! ;rou gain an influence over these poor, umkulu umbU80 ke JIJJlU" (" Hallelujah 19norant Kafirs (mere children), and go great is the kingdom of Jesus"). A and put that into their hands which thrill of joy shot through mv frame as will curse them both body and soul." the mother, with beaming face, said: .. Then burn the stuff " said he, with a •• You see we are teaching .our children volley of oaths. I needed no second 't.o love Jesus. He will be a teacher invitation. We carried out one case, when he grows up." God grant that and then Michael, in much fear and mother's desire. trembling and many whispered cau- These women and girls–so great is tinns, helped to carry out the remainder, their fear of .offending their superiors including the two flasks on the table.
and so heavy the fines and punishments The trader called for a hatchet and had -that they dale not do anything new the cases pryed open. I split up the before the king has shown the way. lids and laid them for burning. He All appeals for an open decision fnr fetched the fire, and we then set to and cnnfession of Christ were met by a work and demolished the ugly black prompt reply: "We dare not until the demons. The most pitiable sight was king has shown the way." And yet at to see the sad look on the faces of the the clnse of one of my meetings one of natives standing round, showing how the big girls came up and said: "We they loved the vile stuff. Next day we do lnve your God, and we are listening vi8ited him again and had a very bless- with our hearts as well as our ears." ed personal dealing with him. Not a There was a remarkable case of the single oath passed his lips. He told us convicting power of the Spirit. A of his people-Quakers in Belfast-and trader, living near the queen's kraal, when we parted accepted mv little Bible greatly addicted to drink, was a fearfnl as a memento. Our God doeth wonblasphemer; the .oaths rolled out of his ders. Into His hand we have commitmouth. I found him sitting on the ted our brother. kartel half drunk, raving in a drnnken We paid a visit to the old queen dowway about the state of the cnuntry and ager, still the principal power in Swazie- interlarding every sentence with great land, although losing it daily now that oaths. On the table stood two gin the young king Is nearly of age. The fiasks, one nearly empty, the other just money chest (treasury) with nearly five opened. Near by sat the old queen's thousand sovereigns was sent to the son and a young chief, both slightly young king just before my visit, part stupid with liquor. After he had ram- of the proceeds of the innumerable con- bled on a bit, Michael asked him to cessions granted by the late king. After give him the two flasks on the table. a few preliminaries with the Indunas.
"What's the use?" was the reply; in which I learned the proper saluta- "look, there are five cases, enough to tion to give on entering the royal pres- drown myself in." I sat there speech· ence, we were ushered in through variless, my whole soul moved to think of ous byways and passages to where Her the mischief that accursed stuff would Majesty sat. I had intended to addres~ do to those poor, ignorant savages, and her as the Lioness of Swazieland, but feeling my utter helplessness, I looked by addressing the Induna, and saying up to God and asked what He had for I wanted to see the Lioness, he replied. me to do. I looked him steadily in the "Oh, you mean the She Elephant."
eyes, my heart so fnll that I could have This gave me the cue. burst into tears. He said: .. What are There Her Royal Highness sat under you looking at me like that for?" and an unimposing awning upon tapestries the following colloquy tnok place. or carpets. Her royal feet were en- .. There is a God in heaven." "I cased only in nature's habiliments, snd the ankles slightly swollen with rheuma- selves out of the royal presence. But tism. Very stout in figure, she bas a now three InduD8.S clamored for a shill· pleasant, dignified, and queenly face ing each. Turning sharply round, I and a broad, intelligent forehead. I sa- said: "I am surprised. Are there luted her with" I come to pay my reo three paupers in the very presence of spects to the She Elephant of Swazie· the queen? I have one shilling (I had land." With a pleasant smile sbe bent taken good care to bring only one), but forward and extended her hand, which that is for the She Elephant." In· I immediately clasped, dropping upon stantly the two royal palms closed over one knee in true knightly fashion. the coveted coin. Oh, that they werfl Sitting back upon my heels, I took ad· as eager for the treasure that fadeth not vantage of my friendly reception thus: away! Just outside the enclosure .. Sbe Elephant, we are a happy people. stood a buck.wagon quite new, such as While others are content to have an in· is used here in transporting goods.
heritance of money and cattle and tem· This is the royal equipage. For fifteen porary power, we enjoy an inheritance miles before I reached our station I with the King of kings, to whom the could see the villages all along the hill· money and the cattle and all power be· sides crowded with people, all ignorant long/' .. Yes," said she, "you must of the Gospel and still unreached, being be a happy people." "Do you know, quite beyond the radius of our sister's She Elephant," said I, "what the wa· visits. There is a splendid opening for ter of life is? Let me tell you by a another station about ten miles north of parable. Four young natives left their our present station, and worked in con- homes away beyond the Zambesi and junction with it. The sale of strong travelled all the way to Johannesburg drink to the Swazies is prohibited, but to work for money. They earned large it is obtainable by them a.ll over the wages, and at length, with full purses country.
and boxes containing precious things they had bought, they set out on the The St. Petersburg correspondent of homeward journey. They reached a part the Daily Telegraph writes: "A very of the country where water is exceed· lurid light has just been thrown upon ingly scarce; so carefully filling these the life and superstitions of the Russian water bottles they went on their way peasantry by the perpetration of a grueuntil they drew near to a place where some crime, in the name of what they tbey had rested by a fountain on their take to be Christianity. A rich, popu- down journey. Depending on this foun- lar farmer died rather suddenly in the tain, they drained their vessels of the village of Sooroffsky. He had been water left, but on their arrival at the spot seen in the enjoyment of excellent they found the fountain dried uP. be- health on Thursday, and was found hind and before nothing but a long arid dead in his bed 011 Friday morning.
waste. In dismay they pushed on in He was prayed for and duly' waked: the burning sun till they dropped ex· after which he was carried to the grave. hausted and perished from thirst. The Almost all the inhabitants of the vil· next passers·by found the hoxes and the lage, inclusive of the priest, followed money, but the bones of the owners him to the churchyard. Just as the scattered far and wide. Just so is it body was being lowered, the lid, which with the soul. Money and precious had been fastened rather loosely with things and cattle and power cannot sat· wooden nails, hegan to rise up slowly isfy its thirst. There comes a time and detach itself from the coffin, to the when, possessing all these, it perishes indescribable horror of the friends and for want of the water of life." The mourners of the deceased. Then the queen up to this point listened with dead man was seen in his white shroud close attention, silencin/li some chatter stretching his arms upward and sitting among the women and girls behind us ; up. At this sight the grave·diggers let but now an old Induna, who had evident· go the cords, and along with the byly given a sign that the interview had standers fied in terror from the spot.
heen long enough, instantly ejaculated, The supposed corpse then arose, scram.
" Let us go." Whereupon Her Majesty bled out of the grave, and shivering raised her mantle to throw over her from the cold (the mercury was 2° be- shoulders, and there was no mistaking low zero Fahr.), made for the village as the meaning of the sign. I pleaded for fast as his feebleness allowed him; but a short prayer, and she evidently was the villagers had barred and bolted willing, and cast a pleading glance at themselves in against the' wizard,' and the chamberlain, but he was iuexora· no one made answer to the appeals he ble. So with a farewell "May we made with chattering teeth to be ad. meet in heaven," to which the response mitted, and so, blue, breathless, trem- was, "May it be so," we bowed our~_ bling, he ran from hut to hut like a ra~ in s burning room seeking some escape the Gospel whom the Lord is pleased from death. At last fortune seemed to to ' draw' to do so-is pleased to ' call.' favor him, and he chanced on a hut I have even read of Indians in North the inmate of which was an old wom- America walking 2000 miles to learn an who had not been to the funeral, from the white men, the Indians having and knowing nothing of his resurrec- heard that the whites had a better re- tion, had left her deor unbarred. He ligion than they. Yes, compared with opened It and entered, and, going up the Indian tribes of South America the to the stove, seemed as if he would Indians of North America are provided get inside it if he could. Meanwhile, for, or are being so. Will you stir up the peasants gathered together, armed the true Christians of the States to visit themsel ves with poles and stakes of with the message of life the Indians of aspen wood-the only effectual weapon South and of Central America ?" in a fight with a 'wizard '-and sur- rounded the cabin. A few of those "The Great Closed Land" is a very whose superstition was modified by faith in the merits of modern improve- attr'lctive and compact work on Thibet, mentsalso took guns and pistols with them, and, the door being opened, the by Miss Annie W. Marston, sister-In- attack of these Christians against this • devil'. ally' began. The miserable law of Cecil H. Polhill·Turner, written man, dazed by all that had happened .that morning, and suffering from cold with a view to encourage and stimulate and hunger, was soon overpowered, and hilf neighbors, with many pious Intelligent, definite prayer for Thibet• ejaculations, transfixed him, though alive and unhurt, with holy aspen It is very attractively prepared and emstakes to the ground in the court before the hut. When things had reached bellished with fine illustrations, and will this point the priest, who had recovered s(mewhat from his terror, came be welcomed by any who desire to get upon the scene with a half-developed idea that perhaps, after all, the alleged a knowledge of this hermit nation. It corpse had bl'en plunged in a lethargic sleep, and might recover and live as is published by S. W. Partridge & Co., before. But he found the unfortunate man pinned down to the earth with the London. aspen poles, with no manner of doubt about his death. The police superin- John Wesley said at the close of life: tendent (Stanovoy), who lived close by, "After having served you between then arrived, and also saw the murdered sixty and seventy years. let me add one man, and made inquiry into the man- word more. I am pained for you who ner of his death. The peasants had are rich in this world. Do you give all gone to their dally work, leaving the you can? 'Nay; may I not do what body according to the requirements of I will with my own?' you reply. the superstition prevailing in Russia, Here lies your mistake. It is not your until sundown, when they intended to own. It cannot be, unless you are lord draw out the stakes and throw the of heaven and earth. Who gave you corpse into a bog. Cases of this kind this addition to your fortune? Do not are of not unfrequent occurrence in you know that God intrusted you with Russia. The'press is taking the matter that money for His work? ' But I up, but is not sanguine of attaining per- must provide for my children.' Cermanently satisfactory results, which tainly. But how? By making them cannot possibly be achieved until a fair rich? Then you will probably ruin and impartial trial shall be given to them. 'What shall I do then?' Lord, education." speak to their hearts, else I speak in vain. Leave them enough to live on. Robert Arthington, of Leeds, writes : not in idleness, but honest industry, .. I wish most earnestly that the real And If you have no children, upon Christians of. North America would what principle can you leave a groat give the Gospel to the Indian tribes of behind more than enough to bury you? the southern continent. I think that What does it signify whether you leave the Lord has made or is making suffi- ten thousand pounds or ten thousand cient provision providentially for the boots and shoes? Haste! haste! Send Indian tribes of North America, so that all you have before you to the better virtually and practically all may know world."
Apropos of the above, the late Charles Pratt said to Dr. Cuyler some years ago: .. The greatest humbug In the world is the idea that money can make a man happy. I never had any satis- faction with mine until I began to dQ good with it…
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts a.nd Translations from Foreign consecrate the heart to Christ. It is Periodioals. not too much to say, therefore, with the Bible in our hands, that there is a BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, wonderfully close relation now existing between t.he commerce of the sea and MASS. the cause of Christ all over the world. " -Rev. C. J. JONES, D.D., in Sailor', MISCELLANEOUS. Magazine.
– " The Old Testament is full of germ -" A remarkable utterance from the thoughts recorded thousands of years Jewish world, which is, to our thinkago, which are found flowering into ing, a sign of the times, if it is not altoperfectness of the New Testament. gether a unique phenomenon. Mr. Purposes and promises are there pro· Claude Montefiore, who lately was Hibclaimed which tind their realization and bert lecturer, and is one of the editors fulfilment in the unfolding of the later of the Jewish Qua?·terly. in reviewing revelation in which the germinal prom- , for the tirst time a book dealing with ise of Paradise expands into the New the New Testament,' speaks of Jesus Jerusalem of the Apocalypse. as 'the most important Jew who ever lived, who exercised a greater influence .. Many of these • exceeding great upon mankind and civilization than and precious promises' are associated any other person. whether within the directly with the maritime commerce Jewish race or without it.' We believe of the world, the far-reaching enter- the Expository Time& is right in declarprise of which is closely related to the ing that such an attitude toward Jesus cause of God and the extension of His is altogether new for a Jew who still kingdom among the nations. Tarshish remains within the bosom of Judaism. and Tyre and the isles of the Grecian That a Jew should place Jesus. whom archipelago, though they intended it his people have so long contemptuously not, were agents employed to carry out called 'the hung,' above Abraham. the Divine plan for the subduing of Moses, or David, shows to what a length the world to Christ. Just as Babylon the modern movement among the Jews is used to represent the world-power, has carried some of them."-Olturch of and Zion or Jerusalem the spiritual Srotland Record, quoted in Indian Stanpower, so it was promised by Isaiah, dard. the prophet of evangelism, that •the merchandise of Tyre' should be 'holi- -A Sumatran applying for baptism, ness to the Lord,' and the ships of Tar- being asked if he was fixed in his resoshish the first to bring the sons of the lution, answered: "For me there is Church from afar, their silver and their only one sun. When that is risen, I gold with them unto the name of Jeho- have no need to be looking about for vah. another. "-Rheni8h S. Mauazine.
.. What Tarshfsh and Tyre were to – We have been shown by Mr. S. C. the Old Testament civilization, that is Bartlett, Jr., a few copies of The Bijou New York, London, Liverpool, and all oj Asia, written in a very curious, but other mercantile cities of our own day, usually intelligible English, and con· to the increase of the Church and the taining some points which it may be evangelization of the world. It is de- well to note. The editor cannot be creed that through the conversion of blamed because his vernacular instinct the wealth and the influence of modern in English is not sufficient to show him commerce, sanctified and inwrought by the Holy Spirit, the nations of the earth are to be brought to bend the knee and
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLA'fIONS
that he has chosen an English title for vine existence or helpfulness. Deliv- his paper which is not English, and ery from the endless cbain of new which communicates to it an indescrib· births (to which invincible human in- able air of finicalness and pettiness. stinct will still attach tbe sense of per- 'The periodical is hardly of such solidity sonal identity) is a matter absolutely or importance as to require ~ graver of self.help only. Spiritual pride finds title. If its intellectual strength were its apotheosis in Buddhism. 4. There equal to its malignity toward the Gos- is the common assumption that Sakya- pel, the case might be different. We muni, or Siddartha, is the Buddha of note a few points. the present era. The nearest approach It is natural, but hardly excusable to devotion and to the idea of grace is that the editor persists in maintaining gratitude to him for his benignity in'
us in our popular error, that thele are remaining for a while out of Nirvana, 400,000,000 Buddhists in the world. in order to enlighten his brethren. It He knows, of course, as Dr. Legge has is true, the historical figure of Siddar· shown, that 100,000,000 is a fairer esti. tha (if it is historical) seems to be more mate. No one is properly a Buddhist vivid in the south, and the di vinized whose religious sentiments and prac- idealism of Amida Buddha in the north.
tices are not predominantly controlled Still the difference appears to be second· by Buddhism, aud tried by that test, ary, not fundamental.
the great bulk of the Chinese are not Buddhists, any more than those Uni- -It is well known that when a wom· tarians are Christians who lead indiffer· an abandons Christianity, she common- ently in their assemblies the Bible, the ly entertains a malignity toward it of "Koran, and the Zendavesta. No one is which a man is less easily capable.
a Christian or a Buddhist who does not Thiil is no way true of Miss Frances at least avow himself one; and tried by Power Cobbe, but she remains alto· this sufficiently elastic test, both relig. gether within the Christian circle of ions would need a new census. belief as to God, holiness, immortality, It is known that there are profound and Christ as the Regenerator of man- differences between northern and south· kind. She is, therefore, considered, ad ern Buddhism. Some have doubted extl'a, essentially a strong Christian.
whether they are now really one relig- This intense malignity, however, is ex- ion. Comparing a .}ong letter from emplified in the fullest meaSUIe in a Siam, however, with the Japanese state· certain Sarah Jane B" who writes for ments, they appear to be fundamentally a Boston paper, called The Buddhist the same. 1. The simplest statement Ray, a series of" Don'ts," as cautions of Nirvana, after all, and its original to Americans in talking about Bud· meaning, as scholars say, is given in dhism. Many of these cautions are the !:!iamese letter-namely, a dying off quite in point. For instance: " Don't as of a flame from a lamp, so that there call the Hindus Buddhists. Don't be· is no new birth. This statement in lieve that Buddhists 'swarm in the lucidity eontrasts very favorably with streets of Boston.' Don't think that the complicated and unintelligible en· the abbots and monks of Buddhism are deavors of the editor to make out that priests, and that the order of ascetics is Nirvana is at once existence and non- lL church. Don't call everyone born existence. 2. There is a common de· in a nominally Buddhist land a Bud· nial of the soul, as an entity capable of dhist." The malignity reaches its clio surviving death. Rebirth is not a new max in these: " Don't try to persuade a birth of the same individual, but a new Buddhist that the woman of the Occi- birth resulting in some inexplicable dental family is better off than the way from the former individual's acts. woman of ~he Oriental harem, "
3. There is an emphatic denial of Di· "Don't be loud about the 'intelli-
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
gence' of a man who sends mission- them, The kingdom of God is come aries to convert Buddhists to Chris- nigh unto you.' Those early medical tianism." But, above all, in these missionaries were clothed with healing two: " Don't ask a Buddhist to accom- power, miraculous, swift, effective; a pany you to a prayer-meeting, a slaugh- power not possessed in permanency, ter-house, a grog-shop, or any other bad however, but temporarily as their Mas- place." "Don't, for pity's sake, send ter saw fit for His own glory and their your children to Christian schools, or good to entrust them with it; a power to any place where Christian influence which was intended to magnify their prevails." Master's omnipotence, His truth, His That malignant hatred of God, and compassion, and the fulness of salva- of His Christ, and of His kingdom, tion to soul and body, which He was which is beginning to develop itself in ready to give in His kingdom to all Christendom, and to make itself ready who would receive. Every healing for the final and conclusive struggle, is miracle was a sign and a seal of the not yet prepared for its consummate whole breadth of salvation.
organization, under that one head who "The modern medical missionary, is to be in the especial sense Antichrist. according to this theory, is also a man It must be, therefore, quite an advan- clothed with healing power; a power tage for many of these forces of the linked with those early gifts in that it Pit to shelter themselves for the time is the direct fruit of the presence of the being under the name of an ancient and spirit of Christ among men; a power extended religion, originating quite in· which, wherever and in whomsoever ex- dependently of the diabolical ends to isting, is one of the marvellous gifts of which these now enaeavor to turn it. God, which under the administration We are yet, in all probability, to see of the Spirit has been slowly evolved among us an intensity of fiendish ha- through the centuries of the Christian tred toward the Most High and His era till now it is a magnificent inherit- people of which we, in our nerveless ance, and in the hand of increasingly good-natUle, are as yet unwilling even exacter knowledge moves with ever to admit the possibility. surer aim to meet and wrestle with and overthrow disease; a power which is -Medical Missions speaks of two rapidly culminating to its destined theories of medical work. "One divides measure of perfection at the very hour a medical missionary's work into two when, as in the first century, the word categories, one of which is medical and has gone forth that to all the world the philanthropic, its aim being to gather Gospel must be preached; a power kindly disposed crowds; while the which is not temporarily but perma- other is spiritual and missionary, and nently present in the Church, and which seeks to lead men and women to Christ. is to be possessed in constant union and According to this theory, medicine is under the direction of the Spirit for the a mean& to an end, and if the same end service and glory of Christ.
could be reached by any other plan, as, .. According to this theory, medicine for example, by daily doles of bread or is not a meana to an end, but is an in- by gifts of cash, it would make no dif- tefll'alfactor in the one work of present- ference to the Church as long as an ing Christ to the heathen.
equally good Gospel onportunity were " Along the lines of slow and diligent secured. and patient study the modern Christian "The other thco':y is:;his, that a student enters upon this possession of medical missionary is the modern rep- healing power, and goes forth into the resentative of the men sent forth by midst of heathenism to reveal in deed Christ in the days of His flesh with the and in word the Master whom he serves instruction, , Heal the siCk allJ oay uuto as a mighty and compassionate Saviou"
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
whose salvation embraces both soul and -The Harvest Field quotes from body, and who permits to His servants the North India 0 hurch Miuionary to-day, by every healing act they per- Gleaner a letter from Dr. Baumann, as form in His name, to evidence forth and follows: "Yesterday I had the happi- to seal the power, the character and the ness of baptizing a young Mohammedan extent of His salvation." and his wife and three children. He The editor well dwells also upon is an educated merchant who dealt in "the marvellous concentration of our kinkaa, or clotll interwoven with silver Lord's visible activities against sin and and gold threads. By embracing Chris- Satan, as shown in His constant con- tianity. however, he has become a beg- flict with disease and death in the hu- gar, as his father has disinherited him man body_" It is Christ still doing and thrust him out of the house, with the same in slower processes, as it is nothing on him except his clothes.
the Spirit of Pentecost still using the But he has counted the cost, and is tongues of men for extending the king- happy in the exchange he has made.
dom, though in slower prOCe!!SeB_ He has been coming to me for the last eleven months secretly for instruction, -" In the Jammalamadugu taluk and many have been the efforts to in- the Society for the Propagation of the duce him to give up Christ, partly Gospel has been working, as well as made through Moulvies, partly through the London Missionary Society. Some the tears of his father, but grace enabled friction was likely to arise, and the him to remain firm. By this baptism matter was referred to the Bishop of a ripple has been caused on the stag- Madras, who carefully considered the nant waters of Benares."
matter, and gave definite instructions to the S. P. G. missionary on lines that -The foolish woman Mrs. Besant may well be followed wherever soci- has come round to a new phase of ab- eties work side by side. The town of surdity. The Harvest Field remarks: Jammadalugu being the chief centre of "Mrs. Besant seems to have taken to the district is to be open to both mis- Hinduism and all its dogmas most sions, but the rest of the field is to be heartily. She believes in the Hindu divided between the two societies_ The gods; she tells Hindu audiences that missionaries or agents of one society are she was a Hindu pandit in a former not to begin work in a station occupied birth, and is visiting her own land after by an~ther. A village is regarded as a sojourn in tho West, where she was occupied where there are three famllles incarnated to know the nature of the or fifteen persons belonging to a mis- materialistic civilization of those re- sion, where there is a catechist or teach- gions; she upholds the caste system as er stationed, or where the agent of a a necessary part of the law of Karma, mission has systematically visited the those in the lowest caste being there as village for two years, not less than six a result of their former works. It is times a year_ The Christians shall have no wonder that she gets crowded audi- freedom of choice as to which mission ences to listen to her. She is a forcible they shall join, but in case of change a speaker ; she knows how to adapt hero, reference should always be made to the self to her audiences; and hence they missionary in charge, in order to secure do not hesitate to call her Saraswati, the maintenance of discipline. The the Hindu goddess of learning. She same rule will also apply to agents. very calmly dogmatizes upon what is These regulations are most sensible and incapable of proof, and many are being should lead to harmonious working. led away by her dogmatic utterances This would not follow if the two mis- upon speCUlative philosophy, Her vis- sions were indiscriminately mixed up it will doubtless revive for a season in the villages."-Harvest Field. the waning influence of Theosophy,
GENERAL MISSIO:!lARY I:!lTELLIGENCE
and there will be an increasing oppo- Meu, some 120 miles from Hankow.
sition to Christianity as a result. Mrs. In this place twenty-two adults have Besant does not hesitate to sneer at been baptized, the firstfruits of Tien- Christian missionaries, and to warn the Meu to Christ. On his recent visit Dr.
people not to send their children to mis· John sought to purchase a building to sion schools. The Theosophists know be used as a Gospel hall. The main that the only opponent they need fear opposition came from the opium-den is Christianity, and they openly avow quarter; but it was of a malignant and it. This should encourage all Chris- determined type. Dr. John, however, tians to continue their efforts to en- was not to be foiled. Undeterred by lighten the people of India and seek to disheartening circumstances he returned deliver them from the endless mazes to the charge and succeeded at length and mystical teaching of Theosophy." in winning his cause and humbling the foe. Quoting the proverb, .. He that English Notes. will have a cake out of the wheat must tarry the grinding," he says: ., It is so BY JAMES DOUGLAS. emphatically here. Nevertheless, pa- tience here, as everywhere, is a power. London Missionary Society.-This so- It was necessary to wait two years beciety has suffered a Severe blow in the fore attempting to fix ourselves at removal by death of Dr. Roberts, of Pah-tsze·Nau, and then to wait a whole Tientsin, at the early age of thirty-one. week, and that in the midst of very A ripe Christian and an able medical trying circumstances, in order to see practitioner, he was originally designed the attempt crowned with success." to be the late Mr. Gilmour's companion in labor among the Mongols. This The Leper Oolony at Isoa'IJina, Mada· hope, however, if not nipped in the gascar, which was opened on February bud, was disappointed in the moment 1st, has now twenty inmates. So glad of realization; but it was not personal were they When they found that they considerations, though his health suf- were to be treated as human beings in fered at Chaoyang, which turned him the Christian name, that some of them aside from his original aim. •• The actually attempted to dance, notwithdeath of Dr. Mackenzie, and the conSe- standing their toeless feet. One of quent urgent needs of the hospital in themselves, a Christian named David, Tientsin, led the directors to transfer has been by them unanimously elected as Dr. Roberts to that station." The ap- overseer, and has entered with vigor pointment was eminently suitable. Dr. on the work of teaching to read, sing- Roberts was a man of even temper and ing of hymns, the Catechism, the Lord's of a beautifully Christlike spirit. The Prayer, the Ten Commandments. and Chinese, as well as his colleagues, were the Apostles' Creed, with explanations. won by him ; and many of his patients " Who knows," he says, "but that for bless God for" the double cure" given this purpose God has sent this degradto them through his care. ing malady upon me, as He sent Joseph into Egypt to save his brethren." He " Inching" Along in Oentral Ohina. has become quite the pastor, philoso- -In this month's Ohronicle (July, 1894) pher, and friend of his companions in there is an admirable letter from the their dark and cloudy day. pen of Dr. Griffith John, of Hankow, under the above heading. It illus- Church Missionary Society, Oeylon.- trates the need of patience in order to The Tamil Coolie Mission, begun by the conquest. A small Christian colony Church Missionary Society in 1854, on , has been founded by Dr. John, after the invitation of a few coffee-planters, two years' labor, at Pah-tsze-Nau, a has issued its twenty-eighth report.
market town in the district of Tien- Under the 'supervision of three Euro.
ENGLISH NOTES
pean missionaries, it employs 2 native among some of their neighbors. Un- clergymen, 34 native catechists, 34 happily the vice of opium-smoking is schoolmasters, and 7 schoolmistresses. now working its direst evil upon the'
The total number belonging to the con- people throughout the province. A gregation, including 771 children, is problem not less difficult concerns the 2270; the average number who attend large Mohammedan population who the Sunday services, 831, and the num- thus far have presented an unbroken ber of communicants, 724. Fifty-fonr front of resistance to the Gospel.
adults were baptized during 1893, and The pioneer missionaries entered this there were 87 inquirers at the end of province in 1876. "Led of the Holy the year. Ghost, after traversing 1500 miles they Eastern Equatorial Africa.-At Mam- arrived at length in a place which He boia on Easter Day the Rev. A. N. had previously prepared for them to Wood baptized seventeen adults. The dwell in. As a result of this journey baptism took place in a river. When the first mission station of Kan·suh was all the seventeen had been baptized a opened during 1878 in the city of Ts'inhymn was sung-" 0 happy day that chan, which lies toward the south of fixed my choice I"-after which Mr. the province." Other cities followed Wood gave an address in three parts: -Lan·chan, the capital of the prove (1) to the heathen, (2) to the Christians, ince; Ninghsia, and Si.ning, which is and (3) to the newly baptized. on the road to Thibet. In Ninghsia and Lan-chan there are now small Western Africa.-A severe loss has churches gathered in. Beyond the five befallen this part of the mission field or six stations named, there are in the in the death of the Rev. E. Leversuch, province seventy walled cities without a of Sierra Leone. He died on Sunday, witness for Jesus. April 21st, at Freetown. "Mr. Lever- such was a student at Islington Col- Presbyterian Ohurch of England.-o lege, and passed first·class in the Ox- The women's quarterly organ, Our Sis· ford and Cambridge Preliminary Theo- tM'S in Other Lands, is to hand, containlogical Examination in 1889. He joined ing a full report of the annual meeting the mission the same year, being as- of the Women's Missionary Association. signed to work among Mohammedans, Mr. and Mrs. l'[aclver, Miss Johnston, but he was, through the exigencies of and Miss Ricketts were the speakers the mission, frequently called upon to from mid-China. Numerous interestengage in other duties." ing particulars of the work among the Chinese were given. After two young A telegram from Sierra Leone an- women had been baptized, the mother·innounces the death of Miss Thornewell, law of one of them said: "I wish all who went out to Africa only last au- the members of my household were like tumn. She is the first of the women that girl, and I hope the next time you students at the new training home at come-addressing the missionary-my Highbury to be called into the Master's son also will be baptized." Another presence.
Oltina Inland Mission.-An interest- said: "Look at my son; formerly he ing paper on the province of Kan-suh was an opium-smoker and a gambler, appears in Ohina's Millions for July_ now he is the most filial and loving son The writer is George Graham Brown, on the country side. My son is a stand- of Lan-chan. According to this mis- ing proof of what the Gospel can do."
sionary, the people of Kan-suh form an The difference between his heathen past interesting study. Called savages by and Christian present was thus put by the people of the neighboring provinces, a converted tailor: .. Liong nyit siong they show a steadiness of purpose and ma, sam nyit siong ta," which means, firmness of character not to be found " Every second day a scolding match,
GENERAL MISSIONAUY INTELLIGENCE
every third day a fight." " But," he hereafter ; and they therefore seem to added, "since ChIistianity entered our think that they are doing a good deed family there has been nothing of that." when they give us an opportuuity of The testimony of one woman was: doing one. Thus, evidently, argued one "The words you tell us make our man who asked for a charm which hearts peaceful. I often wake up in should be all-powerful in preventing the night and think of what you have his wife forsaking him; and when I re- told me, and I have rest." Another, fused he expressed his astonishment.
who had gathered some twenty neigh- Did we not come seeking to do good bors together to hear the Gospel, said deeds, then? he asked. And as an respecting what she had heard: "These afterthought, without apparently any words are so good. Last time I listened sense of the humor in the sudden change till my heart was stiff." The idea was, in his request, he as'.ed whether I that just as one's arm grows stiff by would not then give him at least a bottle any piece of hard work, so her heart of kerosene oil."
was stiff through her earnest attention. -God bless this aged and heroic Among other interesting cases narrated saint. His name is Anderson, and he was that of a woman who had been a wrote to the society which sent him spirit-medium and had been looked up out: "My day of service will soon be to by the whole village as superhuman, over. Forty.nine years have passed and had obtained large sums of money since I first set foot on loved Jamaica. in consequence. Being induced to go and forty years have passed since my to a ChIistian chapel, this woman had arrival in Calabar. Increasing infirminot only heard, but believed the Gospel, ties render my future not dark, but unand is to·day a saved woman and certain. I thank the mission board for changed character. the kind hint that it might be well for THE KINGDOM. me to retire and rest for a season. I look up for direction. I still cherish -Soap was an unknown article In the old wish, thoroughly shared by the Korea until introduced by missionaries. companion of forty years, that 'our rest together in the dust' should be in -Bishop Tucker states that a Uganda the soil of old Calabar. I should be man will willingly work three months ready to sacrifice the wish, however, to obtain a copy of the New Testament. rather than prevent a younger, strong- -" The water will not hurt me, but er, more useful man. from occupying the rum will." This was the answer my position."
of one of the native headmen on Kusaie, -Judson used to say: "0 Lord! Micronesia, when the captain of a trad- have mercy on the churches of the < in~ vessel threatened to throw him United States, and hasten the time overboard because he refused to take when no church shall dare to sit under the glass of strong drink offered him. Sabbath and sanctuary privileges with- -The very idea of disinterested be- out having one of their number reprenevolence is something almost alto- senting them on heathen ground."
gether unknown in non·Christian lands. -We knew that many were the trials Rev. W. R. W. Gardner has been tour- of missionaries, but who would have ing among the Arabs in the region about thought possible this one of which Mrs.
Aden, and writes: "The ideas of many Stover in West Africa speaks: "What of those we met, with regard to our can missionaries have to do with post- reasons and purpose ;in coming among age·stamps other than to stalllP their them, are peculiar. Many think that letters? A great deal, it would seem, .
we are seekIng opportunities of doing judging by the number of letters re- '. good deeds which will bIing us rewards ceived from men, women, and boys, who have been struck with the stamp who of us is not able to join in this his craze. These letters cover a period of prayer for missions? "And Thou, 0 ten years, and would make quite as Preserver and Protector of the human valuable a collection as the stamps. To race, Jesus Christ, hasten and quickly some replies have been sent; some have accomplish the promise Thou formerly not received a second thought, and madest-that when Thou shouldst be some have vexed us. Yes; we empha- .Rfted above the earth Thou wouldst size the word reved, for missionaries are draw all things to Thee. Come then mortal. To think that Intelllgent beings at length and show Thyself to the in- should consider our time of no more finite multitude who yet know not of value than to be spent in gathering old tM great blessings Thou hast purchased stamps! Because, should we attempt for mortals with Thy blood; stir up to respond to one half of these requests, those who are sitting in darkness and we could do nothing else. Some of these in the shadow of death, so that, enlight- epistles are most beneficial, as they ened by the rays of Thy virtue and cause UB hearty laughter; but there Is wisdom, they may, through Thee and a limit to all things, and the time has by Thee, be made perfect in one." come to cry out, Hold! it is enough. " And then she proceeds to give a bill of -At the annual meeting of the New particulars. Hebrides Synod, in May, serious charges were preferred against the missionaries, -At the recent missionary confer- on the authority of Sir S. Griffith, Chief ence of the Anglican communion the Justice and former Premier of Queens- Bishop of Lahore said that although he land, Australia, to the effect that one had been in India for more than a quar- of them had furnished rum and powder ter of a century, and had, by turns, ob- to the natives for barter, and that served missionary work in Bengal, Bur- others had been guilty of misdemeanmah, the Northwest Provinces, the ors. But since then careful inquiry Punjab, and Sindh, he had" never yet into the matter has been made by Sir met with an organized mission of the John B. Thurston, Governor of Fiji Church of Rome to heathen or Moham- and High Commissioner of the Wcstmedans, except in places where God ern Pacific, on the islands where the had previously and conspicuously bless- missionaries had labored, and he found ed the labors of some other Christian that the charges were false, the people body. " Where a Protestant mission themselves testifying in the same direchad become a prey to discord and di- tion. Thereupon the Synod passed a vision there Rome found her oppor- resolution expre~sing its astonishment tunity. And Mr. Eugene Stock added: that a high officer of State, sucll as Sir " It is the literal and painful truth that, S. Griffith, should publish his accusaall round the world, Rome's attitude tions in the Government Blue-book toward us is one of persistent, bitter, without taking the pains to investigate unscrupulous interference and opposi- them. tion. In West, East, and Central Africa; in Palestine and Persia; in North -These sentences, taken from The and South India; in Ceylon and Mau- Outlook, tell what Rev. Francis Tiffany, ritius; in China and .Tapan; in ;New a Unitarian minister, thinks of mission- Zealand and among the red Indians of aries and their work, after travel and the Dominion of Canada, it is one uni- research in India: "To them, decried form story." and sneered at on every hand, are due the inception of every reform in educa- ~ -Pope Leo's fervid call to Protes- tion, in medicine, in the idea of humantants to return to the bosom of Mother ity, and the elevation of women, that Church Is not likely to secure many was afterward taken up by the British perverts for his communion, and. yet Government." He says in substance; ; 4 It seems to be .the correct thing to almost unknown. ' Education is good,'
speak with contempt of the mission- says the Hindu, ' just as milk is good; aries, and then-to avoid being prej- but milk, given to a snake, becomes udiced in any way-carefully to refrain venom-so education to a woman be- from going within 10 miles of them or comes poison. ' The cultivation of any their work. The thing to do is to take talent, such as music, is never attempt- for granted that they are narrow-mind- ed. The life of an Indian woman, un- ed bigots, bringing nothing but hell less she becomes a. wife and the mother and fire into India. But those he met of a son, is too often only a dark, sad hQ found the most earnest and broad- pilgrimage, from the cradle to the minded men and women to be encoun- grave. But sad as all this is, there re- tered anywhere, the best acquainted mains the still sadder thought that with Indian thought, customs, and in- there is no religious life. The women ward life, and doing the most to ele- of India sit in darkness and in the shad- vate the rational and moral character ow of death. It is true they have are· of the nation. The dedication of the ligion, but it is a religion of terror, and young missionary women to the task of therefore without hope."
lifting their sisters of India out of su- -Sir Arthur E. Havelock, Governor perstition and ignorance he found one of Ceylon, was recently presented with of the most moving sights he ever be- an address by the Tamil women of Batheld. ticaloa. They thanked His Excellency WOMAN'S WORK. for continuing the grant-in-aid to the Women's Medical Mission, and asked –A King's Daughters' circle in San for a continuance of help. The gov, Francisco is composed of 8 Chinese ernor In his reply flaid he found himself women, 2 Japanese, 2 Syrians, and their in a novel pOSition, as he had never 2 American teachers. during his career as Ii. colonial governor -Thirty-six young women have just . received a deputation from the female graduatedfrom the Chicago Training sex, and certainly such a gathering of School. Of this number 7 will enter Oriental women he had never before a foreign field, 4 will enter various witnessed. "The East is indeed chang~ departments of the home field, 1 will ing when a woman of rank reads an ado'
marry a Methodist minister, and 19 will dress in a public hall in presence of her enter deaconess work. countrywomen, urging public duty and -A missionary in India writes: philanthropy on one of Her Majesty's " One is astol!l.ished at the amount of representatives. "
jewelry the women wear, in the form -The gifts of some of our Methodist of necklaces, ear-rings-half a dozen women for the inauguration of work in sometimes in each ear-nose-rings; a foreign countries are inspiring. Mrs_ variety of rings for both fingers and Mary C. Nind gave $3000 for the be- thumbs; almost numberless bracelets, ginning of the woman's work at Singa- and also on the upper part of the arm; pore; Mrs. W. E. Blackstone, $3000 to anklets, cumbersome and noisy, and a open work in Seoul, Korea; Mrs. J. F.
set of heavy ornaments fitting to each Goucher, $5000 to open medical work toe_ All these we frequently see on in Tientsin, North China; Mrs. Philan- the person of one woman, and, after der Smith, $4000 for opening work in becoming Christians, it is often years Nanking; Mrs. F. C. DePauw, $1000 before they do away with such things." for opening work in Japan.
-And another, speaking of zenanas, -The Church of England Zenana affirms: "There is no intellectual life. Missionary Society reports that the The women scarcely ever read, although numher of workers added· to the roll they are sometimes read to. Books are during the past year was 22, but the net increase was only 9, bringing the Convention of Y. M. C. A. Of these total number of Europead workers up 1150 were visiting delegates, nearly all to 137. Besides these there were 73 of them from Great Britain and Ger- mis'.!ionaries in local connection, 196 many, and 780 were voting delegates.
Bible-women. and 349 native teachers. Of the latter 251 came lrom Germany, Twelve of the Bible-women were sup- 17a from the United States and Canada, ported by the British and Foreign Bible 141 from Great Britain and Ireland, Society. The total ordinary leceipts 38 from Denmark, 35 from Switzer- for the financial year were £30,559, a land, 33 from France, 26 from Holland, decrease of £948 from the income of 22 from Norway, 16 from Sweden, etc.
the previous year. The expenditure Twenty.six different "nations, 17 dis- was £33.241, an increase of £2927. tinct tongues, and nearly every Protes- The cry for more workers is urgent, and tant denomination in the world were 13 are called for in North India alone. represented. It was the largest dele- -The Zenana and Bible Medical Mis- gated evangelical convention of all sion was founded in 1852, is undenomi- lands ever held. national, and works in co-operation with the Church Missionary Society One of the most prominent personand other PlOtestant missionary soci- ages present at the convention was eties. It has stations at 33 centres in Prince Bernadotte, son of Oscar II., India and Ceylon. The society em- King of Sweden and Norway. He is ploys 94 European missionaries and as- an admiral in the Swedish Navy, and sistants, 179 native Christian teachers, is described as a splendid fellow of nurses, etc.. and 69 Bible·women; or about thirty-five years of age. He 342 laborers employed in the work. speaks English perfectly, and is recog- During 1893 no less than 15,539 patients nized as a devoted Christian, often leadwere attended, of whom a considerable ing in person the devotions of the number were zenana women living in Y. M. C. A., and entering heartily into strict seclusion. The attendances at various lines of religious and philan- thropic effort.
the dispensaries numbered 44,483. -The sixth annual Institute of the Three native Christian women are being Young People of the United Presbytrained as doctors in India, two of terian Church was held in Philadelwhom will complete their course in phia, Pa., July 5th-8th. 1894. The society has 68 schools, with 2746 pupils, and 93 students training -The Epworth HeraZd of July 14th for mission work. Four new stations contained a "bugle blast for missions" were occupied last year; 14 new mis- in the shape of a page of letters, whose sionaries were sent out, 2 of whom are sum and substance is found in a call to doctors, and 2 trained nurses. the 800,000 leaguers to contribute not -The seventh annual report of the less than 50 cents each during the next Northwest Provinces and Oudh branch six months to the missionary society of of the Countess of DufIerin's Fund in- the Methodist Church. Says Willis W. dicates that this worthy enterprise is Cooper, the head of the department of steadily advancing to a position of per- spiritual work: "We designate Thursmanent efficiency. The number of pa- day evening, November 29th, 1894 tients treated at the various dispensa- (our national thanksgiving), as the day ries was as follows: Of men, 248,398 ; when our offering shall be laid upon women, 151,267; children, 159,571; the altar of the church, using the long making a total of 559,236. roll-call. The name of every Epworth Leaguer will be called and asked to re- YOUNG PEOPLE. spond. The minimum, uniform amount -A total of 1940 delegates were in asked from each member is 50 cents.
attendance upon the recent London This amount may be gi ven by anyone of three methods: A systematic giving of were practically no negroes in school or 3 cents per week from now until Thanks- college, hut in 1892 there were 1,309,251 giving Day, by a aelf-denial week which in the public schools, 11,835 in second- shall precede Thanksgiving Day, or as ary or grammar schools, 8396 in col- a thank-offering, to be made at the long leges and universities, 755 in theologi- roll-call. " cal seminaries, 426 in medical schools, -The Cleveland Convention of Chris- and 10,042 in normal schools, making a tian Endeavor, the thirteenth in num- total of 1,340,705. There are, of purely ber, was the greatest of all. The regis- negro institutions, 47 grammar schools, tered attendance was 40,000, in spite of 25 colleges, 25 schools of theology, 5 heat and strikes, and 18,790 came from medical schools, 52 normal schools, 5 outside the city. The number of soci- law schools, and thousands of public eties reported was 33,679, and tbe mem- and private primary schools.
bership, 2,023,800. It was found that -The work of Mr. Warszawlak 5552 societies, by giving dnring tbe among the Jews of New York City year not less than $10 to missions, home continues to deepen and spread. He or foreign, had attained to the" roll of believes with all his might that his honor," and that the aggregate of their countrymen are every whit as suscepti- contributions was $138,206. By all the ble to Gospel influences as any other young people represented not less than class, and the results of his labors ap- $225,000 had been given. A $1,000,000 pear abundantly to justify his conclu· mark has been Bet for the year to come. sion. He preaches to crowds, and he Within a twelvemonth 183,650 Endeav- visits from house to house. Every day orers had joined the Cburch, as against he devotes three hours for private con- 158,000 in 1883, and 120,000 the year ference. This time is largely taken ad- before. In five years 614,150 had con- vantage of, many hundreds coming to fessed Christ. And who is at all able s.ee him. A home called the .. Home to estimate the spiritual significance of for Persecuted Christian Jews and En· this magnificent movement? quirers," located at 65 Avenue D, has -Since the organization, six years been of the greatest help to the work. ago, of the Endeavor Society in West- In one year 3000 meals were provided, ern Female Seminary, Oxford, 0., 8 of while 625 beds were occupied. Mr. its members have gone into foreign Warszawiak is assisted by ex-Rabbi fields: 3 to Japan, and 1 each to the Leopold Kohn, Mr. Simon Goodhart, United States of Colombia, Egypt, Mr. and Mrs. Cruickshank, and Miss Cbina, Siam, and the Laos, 3 arc at Mabel Alwater.
work among the Indians, and 1 among -There have been several changes of the Mormons. late in the Bible Institute, Chicago, Mr.
-The Junior Endeavorers must not Moody's school for training Christian be forgotten. Of these the world con- workers. Mrs. Capron, who has been tains 6809 societies with 365,000 mem- Superintendent of the Woman's Departbers. ment since it was founded in 1889, re- signed her position at the end of April.
AMERICA. Her successor is Miss L_ L. Sherman, a United States.-You believe in home graduate of Mount Holyoke (Mass.) missions, you say? Very well. There College. She has had large experience are 80,000 Chinese still in America, and to qualify her for the post, having been only 10,000 of them in Sunday-school. a teacher for four years at Mount Holy- oke, and for three years at the North- -In 1860 there were 4,441,830 ne- field Seminary. Professor W. W.
groes in the United States; in 1890 White, late of Xenia, 0., has accepted there were 7,470,040. ~In 1860 there an engagement as one of the permanent teachers. From a statement of the we may be j uaUy proud. Our roll of present occupation of former students, missionaries contains the names of 80 it appears that over 100 are settled in persons, who have gone to India and pastorates under different denomina- China, to .1apan and Korea, to Mexico tions; 47 are home and city mission- and Costa Rica, to Chili, Brazil, and aries, 76 are evangelistic singers. and the Argentine Republic, to Armenia, preachers, and 70 are foreign mission- Turkey, and Bulgaria, to every mission aries. Old students are superintendents field of our Church, with the exception of rescue missions in 9 of the largest of Africa."
cities in this country and Canada. -The following is the estimate of -At the meeting of the International the General Assembly of the Presbyte- Missionary Union at Clifton Springs, rian Church of funds required for the N. Y., Dr. A. P. Happer discussed at coming year : length the need of a medical missionary Home missions ………… .. ……. $1,288,841 college in America for all missionary Foreign missions……………….. 1,250,000 societies. According to the Indepen- Education……………..,…. ……. 150,000 iUnt, arrangements are nearly completed Publication and S. S. work…. ……. 200,000 for such institution to be located in Church erection. … . . .. .. .. …… . .. . 150,000 New York: City, and under the auspices Ministerial relief ……….. .. .. .. … 150,000 of the International Medical Missionary Freedmen.. … ……………… … 250,000 Aid for colleges and academies……. 150,000 Society. This society has for some $3,538,841 time carried on the work of assisting students, chiefly those who took: their -The Presbyterian Church, South, lectures in other colleges. It has been publishes these encoUIaging figures re- found, however, that the expense at- lating to missionary growth: tending this was very great, and it was 1884. 1894.
almost impossible in some cases for Missionaries.. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. 56 136 young men to accomplish their pur- Nativehelpers…………….. 56 135 pose. It was felt, therefore, that a spe- Added by baptism…. ……… 217 000 cial institution should be started, and Total communicants……….. 1,750 *3,500 accordingly steps have been taken to Total contributions ……. . .. $70,165 $143,774 erect a building at a cost of about $250,- From chnrches… ……. . … 37,105 64,102 000. It will accommodate about 150 From societies …………… 12,470 37,598 From Sabbath-schools, . .. .. … 6,615 16,576 students, and the aim is to give them No. contributing churches….. 1,269 1,640 the best of medical instruction, at a very No. contributing societies…… 311 749 No. contributing Sabbath- 489 moderate cost, with special reference to schools.. .. …. …………. 298 the needs of the foreign field. The medical director will be Dr. George D. Canada.-Last June the English Dowkontt, and there Is a board of man- Church Missionary Society made a new agers of 18 members from the Baptists, extension of work when Rev. E. J.
Congregationalists, Dutch Reformed, Peck sailed for Cumberland Bay.
Episcopalians, Methodists, and Pres- " Mr. Peck has long labored among the byterians. Eskimo on the eastern shores of Hud- -Said Professor Nelson at the recent son's Bay, but Cumberland Bay is semi·centennial of the Wesleyan Uni- much more remote, being on the west versity, Delaware, 0.: "No less than side of Davis's Strait, opposite Green- 377 of our graduates have been preach- land. Upon its coasts, and scattered ing the Gospel of Christ, and 6500 years ove(the wild wastes behind, are bands of service already stands to their credit Of wandering Eskimo hitherto entirely -a year for every year in the history unreached ; and to them he is going to 'of the world since the birth of Adam I carry the glad tidings of a Saviour's The missionary record is one of which * Approximate. love, accompanied by a young layman the Eiffel Tower I" Its 600 colporteurs from Clapham preparatory institution, and 402 Bible-women are scattered all Mr. J. C. Parker." the world over. Of the latter 291 are -The Canadian Presbyterian Church toiling in India, and over 100 of the has missions in the New Hebrides, in former in China. Honan and Formosa, China, in India, Palestine, Trinidad, and among the -A notable and very important Indians of the Northwest. A force of ., Missionary Conference of the Angli- 65 is sustained, including 30 ministers can Communion, promoted by the and 6 physicians, 15 women mission- BoaIds of Missions of the Provinces of aries, and 14 teachers, male and female. Canterbury and York" was held in Added to these are 112 native preachers, London, May 28th-June 1st. The adof whom 34 are ordained, 96 catechists, dresses were mainly by experts, both 59 Bible-readers. There are 3092 com- from the home field and from abroad, municants, 385 of whom were added while the themes presented were such last year, 121 schools with 5624 schol- as are fundamental to missionary polars, and 7 hospitals and 6 dispensaries icy and method, like these: Religions where 5082 indoor and 51,858 outdoor to be dealt with, problems to be solved, patients were treated during the year, vocation and training of women, build- ing up of the native church, dangers For the whole work the receipts were and difficulties, etc.
$124,114 in 1893. -In addition to the women who are urgently needed, the Church Missionary EUROPE. Society issues an appeal for 30 men to be sent to some 20 different missions Great Britain.-An estimate of the during the current year-these to join charitable bequests in England during the 13 known to be available. The 1893 puts the total sum at about $7,000,- sore" deficit" is not in money, but in 000. Among the larger amounts given men.
are the following: Earl of Derby, $100,- -The growth of the missionary spirit 000; Richard Vaughan, of Bath, a in Ireland may be inferred from the retired brewer, $225,000; the Rev. fact that While two years ago there James Spurren, $1,130,000; John Hor- were only 5 men preparing for work niman, a tea merchant, $450,000; in the foreign field in connection with Henry Spicer, a paper dealer, $750,000; the Presbyterian Church, now there Sir William Mackinnon. $300,000. The are 28. largest legacy of all is by Barone3s Forester, $1,500,000. -From this time on the North Africa -The income of the British and Society will train its missionaries in Foreign Bible Society for last year book or literalY Arabic before they was £234,285, and the expenditure leave England. A school for this pur- £222,848; and hence in this time of pose will be established, and already general deficits this noble organiza- £150 have been offered toward providtion attained to the blissful eminence of ing a home for accepted candidates durfinding in the treasury a balance of ing their term of study.
£11,437 ($57,185). The total issues for -Though the Bible Lands Missions 1893 were near to 4,000,000, of which Aid Society received only a little more more than half went forth from foreign than $7000 last year, yet a V"ast amount depots. At the annual meeting the of good was accomplished at upward Bishop of Sodar and Man declared that of 30 points in Eastern Europe and ., there issues daily from the offices of Western Asia, and in a most delightful this society a pile of Bibles, Testa- way, by supplementing the funds of ments, and portions equal in height to various missions without regard to denominational name. The Star in the 1883. 1893. East is the name of its organ. Workers……………… 120 141 Congregations. . .. … . . . . . 42 The Continent.-The civil marriage Stations.. ………….• . . 85 44 bill in Hungary, which had been agitat- Preaching-places. . . .. . . . .. 167 55 ing that country for months, had passed Hearers …•…………… 6,092 219 the House of Representatives, but met Occasional hearers ..••…. 37,328 7,408 with such vigorous opposition from Communicants …..•….•• 3,616 53,862 the Church authorities and others in Catechumens. . .. ……… 605 4,871 the House of Magnates that the prime Sunday-school scholars. . •. 2,044 746 minister twice tendered his resig- Primary scholars ..•……• 1,999 3,153 Contributions. _•.•…•…. 51,462 lire 2,597 79,467 lire nation in consequence. It has finally ASIA. been passed, and a uniform system of marriage and divorce has thus been Islam.-The condition of society in -substituted for eight systems that were Turkey may be learned from an inci- in existence before to such an extent dent reported by Miss Lovell, who has that marriage that was legal in one recently joined the Central Turkey Mis- church was not recognized as valid in sion. In the town of Zeitoon she met 'another. Marriage before a magistrate a "bride" who had been married for is now required, while a religious cere- two years, whose face the mother-in- – mony is left optional. Aside from the law had not seen, though for all this matter of the bill itself, and the oppo- time they lived in the same house. sition to it on the part of Roman and The daughter-in-law remained con- Greek Catholics, the conflict has been stantly veiled, and had not been al- of especial importance because it has lowed to speak to her mother-in-law, been a strife between the popular and though they were often alone in the hereditary branches of the parliament, house the whole day long. When asked in which the emperor himself has been what they would do in case of sickness, – concerned. the mother-in·law replied: "We would get a little girl to come in and she might -In the decade 1880-90 no fewer speak to her, and the girl would ten than 24,000 persons left the Roman me."
Catholic Church in Germany, and con- -Rev. J. H. Shedd, of Oroomiah, nected themselves with the Protestant, while during the same period the Catho- supplies these figures which set forth lics won from the Protestants only 4700. In all districts el(cept Bavaria the con- the recent development of work in the verts from Roman Catholicism exceed American Presbyterian mission in Per- sia: 1890. 18~3.
in number those from Protestantism. Churches ….••.•.•…….. 21 32 Preaching-places••••…….••.. 58 100 -Where is the wisdom of the wise if Ordained ministers. . •• .. ….•• 43 48 this story contains a morsel of truth? Deaconesses….•••••..•…….. 91 94 A copy of John's Gospel, in French, Baptisms …• , ………•.•…… 161 235 was recently sent to a gentleman of New members received …….. . 153 259 'rotal members. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 1,960 2,385 high position, and a few days after- Attendance on Sunday-schools.. 4,088 4,765 ward the sender received a note from Attendance on preaching ser- 5,713 him saying, "I congratulate you on vice……. ……. …………. 4,506 2,073 the authorship of such a work. In 16,780 case you publish anything further of Attendance on prayer-meeting. . 1,463 Contributions in kavans. . . . . . .• 11,515 lOS Pupils in college.. . .•…..•• ,. 70 the same kind, I hope you will not for- Pupils in girls' seminary….. , •• 68 85 get me."· Number of village schools. . . . •. 91 127 Teachers in all schools. . . . •. . . .• 99 133 -The growth of the Waldensian Pupils in all schools…. .. •….. 2,121 2,739 work in Italy for a decade is shown by India. -The English language is to this table: become the missionary language of the '>" J globe. The fact that at the recent Na- that I was bound to pay all funeral ex- tional Congress in India all the speeches penses. The simple converts were led and proceedings were in English is a to believe that I was not treating them striking illustration of the wide diffu- fairly. As they were from a so;called .
sion of this tongue. There were gath- low caste who bury. I went to the po- , ered at Madras 700 delegates from all lice and reported that we would dig.
i parts of India, Afghanistan, Nepaul, the grave ten yards from where that and Scinde. They spoke {) different caste bury their dead. Then ,the queslanguages, and the English was the tion of digging the grave came up.
only medium through which the pro- This 'professor ot mission usage' in- ceedings could be satisfactorily con- sisted on my paying unbaptized persons ducted. of their former caste 5 rupees for dig- -Rev. E. Webb informs us that the ging the grave. I pointed to ten able- Hindus "have a complete system of bodied Christians and offered to lend a. music, and that not only are they musi- hand myself ; to the excuse that they cians, they are poets as well. They had no picks I answered by renting the laugh at our Occidental poetry and use of some for a few annas, and we music. All their literature, even to their went and dug the grave; they would dictionaries, is in poetry_ The physi- not let me work, so I sat near on a stone cians also write their prescriptions in and sang hymns. I furnished the bamverse. " boos for the litter, a few yards of white cloth and some flowers, and led the -A missionary writes: "There is procession to the grave. For several one thing which education does not weeks they were displeased, but came seem to tiring to India, and that is mor- around when no attention was paid to: al stamina. The ability to accept and their sulking."
harbor the most debasing social cus- toms of this land is found among Hin- • -Respecting the progress of Roman dus almost as frequently, if not as fully, Catholicism in India, Mr. Naraslmay- under the university cap and gown, as anger, a. Hindu, the census commission- under the unkempt hair and rags of the er of Mysore, says: "The Catholics village ploughman. This is a vast and form the bulk of the Christians in My-: ghastly factor in the great problem of sore, which fact is in a measure ascribed India's social and religious renovation." to the proselytizing influence directed -Another missionary had this experi- by Rome having been at work longer ence: "I had baptized 30 converts from heathenism in a village; after a in India than among the Protestants. "I few months one of the men sickened and died. I was called to bury him, But much more than this; they enter and went to the village, a distance of into league with paganism. For" in 10 miles; on arriving I found that noth- the course of the investigations engening had been done toward getting the dered by the census several Catholic corpse ready or the grave dug. On communities were met with, which conasking for the reason, I was told that tinue undisturbed in the rites and usages they were waiting for me to buy the that had guided them in their pre-concoffin. I said, 'Very well, I will con- version existence. They still pay wortribute eight annas, and if each Chris- ship to the Kalasam at marriages and tian here will do the same we can easily festivals, call in the Brahmin astrologer get a coffin.' They were not pleased and purohit, use the Hindu religious at tllis proposal, and a backslidden marks, and conform to various other member of another mission, who lived amenities which have the advantage oL in that village, began to lay down the minimizing friction in their daily inter- course with their Hindu felIow-caste brethren. "
law as to the usage in his mission, and -The Kathiawar Mission of thelrlsb.. Presbyterians reports for l89S that 21 -On a recent tour of inspection of adults and 122 children were baptized. the naval defences of a portion of the The number of baptized members last China coast, Li Hung Chang chose to year increased from 1780 to 1863, and accompany him, as a part of his suite, Drs. Irwin and Lin, to care for the of communicants from 390 to 441. The health of the party in general, and that of the viceroy in particular. This was native agency consists of 3 native pas- a high and well.merited honor bestowed tors, 36 evangelists (of whom 2 are li- upon Dr. Irwin, who, it will be remem- centiates, and 20 students for the min- bered, was the associate of Dr. Kenneth istry), 4 colporteurs, 12 Bible-women, McKenzie in the Tientsin hospital. and '63 Christian teachers. There are 25 Sabbath-schools, with 86 teachers -But notwithstanding so much to and 1820 scholars, of whom 1170 are encourage, it still remains that gross non-Christians; 3105 children attend darkness covers the empire; for a tele- vernacular schools, and 859 English gram comes from Hsian-fu, Shansi, by schools. which it is learned that 2 missionaries in that distant city have been seb.ed : China.-Under the influence of the and bambooed and imprisoned by the American missionaries the Roman Cath- Chinese officials. Very little more is olics in Peking have issued an elegant known, but the Chinese report that edition of the Four Gospels in Wenli, there has been a great riot there, in the book language of China, and have which all the mission premises were· added to it a commentary. pulled down and burned, the converts' scattered, and the French priests thrown -Sixty·six persons were rel-entIy into a vile prison. In addition the Hong baptized in connection with the China Kong papers tell of a serious attack Inland Mission at Hung-t'ung. At the upon 2 women of the American Pres-r conference at which they were received byterian Mission at Canton, as the rethe liberality of the ChInese Christians sult of which it is stated one of them was conspicuous. As compared with may die. Finding a poor ChinamanI the value of money in China, their gifts in a dying condition on the street, they were equivalent to at least the contri- undertook to revive him with smelling-I bution of $750 in this country. salts and tea, but when he suddenly expired, a mob, suspecting them of -Nearly three years ago a missionary causing his death, set upon them with in connection with the Swedish Mission brutal violence. Union made the perilous journey across the Thian Shan Mountains into Chinese -For weeks together both Canton Turkestan, accompanied by an assist- and Hong Kong have been dreadfully 'ant Armenian preacher, and was so scourged by the visitation of a disease 'pleased with the country and its people similar to the black death of history. that he advised his society to allow the Thousands have perished, and tens of , 'Armenian to remain. The Swedish thousands have fled from the pestilence. . I Union has now resolved to extend the 'sphere of its operations, and 2 Euro- Korea.-This kingdom is in the pean missionaries have left Sweden, throes of revolution and armed strife. one of whom will live in Kashgar and At first an uprising of the anti·foreign the other in Yarkand. This is the be- element bccurred, but presently no less ginning of missionary enterprise in this than three entirely outside parties apportion of the Chinese Empire. peared upon the scene to increase the turmoil and peril; China, Japa~, and -The tone of the leading English Russia, each exceedingly jealous of the paper in Shanghai has changed com- other, since all alike covet possession pletely in the last eight years from sneer- of the country. Of course confusion ing unbelief and criticism of missionaries and their work to decideji interest and approbation. and hindrance come to missionary toil ; trymen led to his becoming a member and yet it can hardly be but that in the of the Salvation Army in San Francis- end substantial gain will accrue to the co, that he might be thoroughly initi- kingdom of heaven in that peninsula. ated in its methods of open-air work.
Japan.-A missionary thus speaks of He has twice been permitted to visit 'a congregation at a church service: Korea in a Japanese warship, and is "Japanese audiences are models of po- the only Christian preacher who has liteness. No one yawns, snaps his been allowed to present Christ to the watch, shuffles his feet or goes out, navy of his own country. 'even though the speaker is talking in an unknown tongue. Every eye is -A journal published in Yokohama upon the speaker. When he begins to states that the Japanese religiou. press speak he is greeted by a polite obei- calls for more women evangelists, or sance from everyone in the audience; Bible-women, and it is plain that the and when he concludes, another low responsibility of the enlightenment of bow from everyone in the room says the women of Japan rests, to a great silently, 'I thank you.' After the ad- extent, upon the native Christian womdress another song, a prayer, and bene- en of this empire. To meet such a diction, and then what? A grabbing want two women connected with the of hats and canes and overcoats, and a American Board established in Kobe , break' for the door? Ah I no; the first a training class and later a school. Japanese have not learned thus to close Already 40 have graduated after six their worship. All drop into their seats months of study for three successive again; for a full minute they sit with years, and as long a period of practical covered eyes and bowed heads, and work. Other similar schools have been opened by other missions.
then slowly and reverently pass out of AFRICA. church or break up into little groups_" -The area of South Africa adapted -A recent official report shows that to white occupancy is said to be six or in December of 1892 there were 42,899 seven times that of France-that is, it doctors in this empire, which is one and embraces much more than 1,000,00' a fraction for every 1000 people. There square miles. we~e also of midwives licensed by the home office, 1486, and of those licensed -In the twenty years since the Livby local offices 31,530. Apothecaries ingstonia Mission was founded, Scotland numbered 2836; drug-stores, 13,225; has contributed to its funds $450,000. druggists, 1375 ; public hospitals, 198 ; and private hospitals, 378. Many of -During the ten years of his service, these doctors are thoroughly well- Bishop Smythies visited Nyassa five equipped men, and not a few of them times. Each visit involved a walk of have received their medical training in 450 miles from the coast to the lake, America or Europe_ It appears, then, and on two occasions a return on foot_ that medical missions are not much The last journey was a painful one; needed in Japan. his strength gave way, and he arrived at Likoma in a deplorable condition, -Rev. Henry Loomis mentions in with deep wounds in his legs, and ut· the Ohinese Recorder, as a cheering fact, terly exhausted. This convinced him the removal of all objection to the pos- that he could not again hope to undersession or use of the Scriptures In the take the great fatigues of the long jourhigher normal school in Tokyo. ney; further, it convinced him that it was practically impossible for one per- -An open-air mission has been or- son to exercise episcopal supervision ganized by Rev. Shinoke Nagasaka, a over both the work of the mission at Japanese convert of no ordinary power. Lake Nyassa and the work at Zanzibar His labors in Hawaii for his own coun. and on the E~st Coast.
The Missionary Review of the World — September 1891
THE YEAR 1890 IN JAPAN
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIV. No.9.-OldSeries.–SEPTEMBER.–VoL.IV. No.9.-NewSeries.
THE YEAR 1890 IN JAPAN.
BY REV. PROFESSOR GEORGE WM. KNOX, D. D., TOKYO, JAPAN.
The foreca!l.t of 1889 was fulfilled in 1890. The year was full of difficnlty, and in empire and Church the cheerful confidence of the past gave way to uneasy anticipations and fears.
THE SUFFERING PEOPLE.
A short harvest in 1889 sent the price of rice up so high that thousands could not buy it. The multitude who ever Jive near the starvation liue became wholly dependent. Had benefactions not been large and constant they would have died from the lack of food. In the spring and summer the suffering was at its height, the abundant harvests of the autumn first giving permanent relief. During the summer cholera carried off tens of thousands, and late in the autumn the influenza paid a second and virulent visit that was fatal to very many.
Business suffered in sympathy with the general distress. The poverty of the people interfered with the usual course of trade; and a number of circumstances, which need not be repeated here, combined to render business unprofitable; failures were very many. But for the most part the distress, both physical and financial, was endured in silence. These Orientals have not yet learned our Western fashion of loud wailing over the misfortunes which they accept as a part of nature. Does our thought of the Heavenly Father, in whose hands are the issues of life, render us less patient than these who know no such all-loving guide and God?
THE STRUGGLING POLITICIANS.
Politics occupied a new place of importance in the popular esteem. The struggles which had been obscure and underground came out into the light of day as the elections for the first members of the Diet drew near. But no great issue divided the nation, and the contests were between factions and individuals. No faction or individual obtained a decisive majority of the whole number of members, though the" Liberals" constitute the largest group. When the Diet met in the autumn, only one thing was settled beyond doubt-the Lower House of the Diet was not friendly to the present Ministry or to the system which that Ministry represents. It was clear that a struggle for power. involving fundamental constitutional questions, would ensue. The leaders on both sides deprecated such a struggle, but they have proved unable to prevent it. The weeks passed have been tempestuous. The Diet has won some victories on minor points; but the most Radical section has forced the fighting on the budget, demanding such reductions that the Ministry declares itself wholly unable to comply. The Moderates seek only such economy in administration as may reasonably he agreed to. The Radicals want the fundamental political problem solved at once j the Moderates seek a compromise that shall permit a gradual and peaceful emergence from the difficulties that everyone admits. There is no party which advocates the Government outright, or def4ilnds the present system. As in so many other questions, all are progressive, the dispute being as to the pace. And all well-wishers to Japan must Jeilire the defeat of the Radicals, since their victory will result in the sharpest crisis the empire has k~wn in years. Unfortunately they control the Lower House by a decisive majority.
THE MEDDLING YOUTH.
The oddest feature, and the most inexplicable, of the situation, is the fashion in which young men of no apparent claim to influence or position constitute themselves the guardians of the empire's honor. As in years past such men have assassinated ministers of State, so now they band themselves together that they may coerce the Diet. Their influence is Radical, and they have repeatedly attacked members not of their way of thinking, and their threats of vengeance are constant. Some of them have been banished from the city; but the strangest element in the situation is the comparative immunity from punishment which they enjoy. Some influence seems to protect them, and accordingly reports are not wanting that they are in the pay of various influential personages. Until Japan learns in private and in public, in the family, the school, and the State, to discipline and restrain the youth who now grow rank, we cannot expect a peaceful and orderly development.
THE FOREIGN TREATIES.
The parliamentary struggle has diverted attention somewhat from the question of treaty revision, but indications in plenty show that the subject is not out of mind. And t-he popular demand rises with each delay. The foreign powers missed their opportunity when, years ago, Count Inoue was ready to grant all that reasonable men had any right or wish to demand. But the foreign powers could not agree among themselves or with him. Now popular sentiment must be taken into Rerious account. No minister would dare make a treaty which public sentiment disapproved. His life would not be safe for an hour. And public sentiment is not more reasonable in Japan than elsewhere. Since in the past the representatives of the powers have been unable to agree with the most reasonable and fair-minded Japanese ministers of State, there is small chance that now they will listen to the people. In the past Japan has been in the right j but it is a question whether the popular demands do not put it in the wrong. This much is sure-so long as the treaties are unrevised, so long will the anti-foreign agitation continue, so long will it be impossible that foreigners in any calling shall regain their former position. At the same time every new demand makes foreign compliance more difficult, so difficult, indeed, that revision would seem to be indefinitely postponed.
THE YEAR'S MISSIONARY WORK.
All of the facts related above have affected injuriously the work of foreign missionaries. The hard times have reduced gifts to the Church and hindered its extension. The political struggles have diverted the public mind, the meddlesome young men have given some of their attention to missionaries and to foreigners, and the question of treaty revision has so affected society in general that even the Church has participated to some extent in the anti-foreign spirit. The table of statistics just published shows the effect of these and other causes. The entire net gain of the whole Protestant body in Japan for the year is 1199, a gain smaller than single missions have repeatedly reported in the past. The table is not wholly trustworthy, it is true, 111 spite of every endeavor to make it 80 j but I do not know that the errors are greater than in other years. The Methodist Episcopal Church reports a decrease of 198 in the total membership, and the Congregationalists a loss of 169. The latter is in spite of the facts that they report 1615 baptisms for the same period. It can be accounted for only on the supposition that the reports for the two years have been made up from different data. The Church of Christ (Presbyterian) I·eports 1280 baptisms and a net increase of 517, the losses being through disaffection caused by the Plymouth Brethren, and, to a much larger extent, the revision of congregational rolls. The Nippon Sei Kokwai (Episcopalian) shows the largest net gain, 578 j but the figures are only approximate, and appear not to allow for the losses so noticeable in the other reports. The Canadian Methodists are the only others who show a gain of more than one hundred.
The contributions show a gratifying increase, the total being, en 69,3.24.95, a gain of 15,821.22. (The en is equivalent to the silver dollar.) Most of this increase is to be credited to the Congregational churches, though the Methodists and Episcopalians also report an increase.
Most of the other columns show a decrease, and some hardly show the full extent of the losses. Especially has the year been full of discouragement to those engaged in the higher schools. The mission schools were never so well prepared for large and successful work, and were never before so little esteemed. Some of the boarding-schools have lost half their pupils, and the losses continue. A strong national feeling is asserting itself. It insists upon a training that shall be more distinctively Japanese in management, methous, and subjects. It strongly objects to institutions that seem to subject Rtudents to the control of foreigners. The change of sentiment on this subject within the past two years amounts to a revolution. It is to be hoped that a reaction will before long restore the schools to their old position. Shonld such prove not to be the case· the question of the discontinuance of some of the schools must be seriously faced.
THE MISSIONS AND THE MISSIONARIES.
One mISSlOn has been added during the year-the Universalist. The Unitarian Mission also gives its report. The entire missionary force is 577, including the wives. This is an increase of 50 men and women. The force is distributed in 29 societies.
I would again venture the opinion that our prescnt missionary methods are in the extreme wasteful of money and life. Rightly distributed and massed, one half the present force could accomplish all, and more than is now done. Instead of so much earnest appeal for men and money I propose a year of appeal for the better use of the forces we have. UntiI something is done to combine the Protestant forces the waste must continue. Is confederation in the great work of evangelizing the world still impossible ¥ Can we expect thinking men to continue and increase their gifts if the half goes to waste 1 Doubtless the case is not so pressing in other lands; but, for the things I see and know, my language is none too strong.
Nor can I fail to say that the time is not auspicious for an increase of missionaries, apart from the great waste resulting from divergent plans and aims. It is not impossible that in certain parts of the field the missionary adds little to the effectiveness of the work. The complaint is heard, e.g., that schools have too many missionarws in their faculties, and the popular demand for addresses and sermons from foreigners has greatly fallen off. The way iR not so open, nor the invitation so pressing, as a few years ago. It may be only a passing wave of sentiment, but while it lasts we may well give the precedence to calls from other fields, as they, in the past, have given way to us.
And yet the time is by no means past for foreign missionaries in Japan. In some parts of the empire, in the interior provinces and in the south and west, they can still repeat the triumphs of the days gone by. They are still welcomed, and their leadership is ardently desired. They can still, even in Tokyo, find work of the last importance in educating a Japanese ministry, and in the preparation of a theological literature. And wherever there are earnest, spiritually minded men, their influence must be felt. But beyond all this the missionary organization is still necessary. The Church and the work would suffer were it withdrawn. The missionaries supply the unmoved framework, the inner form little influenced by superficial change, that is essential to the strength and permanence of the Church as an organism. Premature withdrawal would subject it to a strain we may well wish for a while postponed. Such function may be far from the ideal entertained by the missionary of his own position; it is certainly less imposing than the missionary position in most lands; but if thus service is rendered to the Master, we shall be content.
TIm THEOLOGICAL UNREST.
Japan participates in all the movements of our age. No wall or tariff shnts the empire out from frecst communication with the world, and the ideas which agitate thinking rilen find ready entrance here. For years the leaders of the Japanese Church have followed with intense interest the course of theological thought. They read freely both sides. Papers, reviews, and books are in dcmand in proportion as they reflect the current intellectual life. Not the wisdom of ourfathers, but such as our age can furnish, they desire. Coufucianism has satisfied their longings for an ironbound conservatism. They are proportionatcly eager for progressive thought. Disposition and public sentiment combine to urge in one direction, and there is no opposing power that shall attempt to hold them back. If the intelligent, influential young men are to be orthodox Christians, it will be because orthodoxy makes the strongest appeal to mind and heart. The newest and extreme thought is not left to the printed page, it has its living representatives. The German Evangelic Mission is led by men of solid learning and strong ethical and spiritual powers. They are naturalists in their exposition of the Bible, denying all miraculous elements. '1'hey reject the Divinity of Christ, His miracles and His resurrection. Yet, with what seems to an American a peculiarly German inconsistency, they declare that their one desire is that Christ may be accepted by the Japanese, and in walk and conversation they breathe the spirit of the Master. They give in lectures and printed articles a wide circulation to the advanced views of the German schools, ancl their words are eagerly read and heard by the young men of our churches. The Universalists and the Unitarians, from different points of view, are in sympathy with the Germans, and the three bodies form one party of considerable strength and influence. Some of the ordained ministers of other bodies have returned from the United States more or less in sympathy with the cruder forms of the new theology.
This condition of things fills some of the conservatives with alarm. But I deprecate the views they insert in American periodicals. Weare not in a panic at all. We welcome and rejoice in this full and free and fair discussion. When did the truth ever ask more than a fair field and no favor ~ It is a strange novelty that we who profess to hold the truth should seek to hide timidly behind traditional defences. If the truth cannot protect itself-but who would thus doubt His power who is the Truth ~ If some of our opinions cannot stand, is not the truth better than our opinions, howefer venerable 1 For our part, we do not fear the result. We do not for a moment doubt the final triumph, nor can we believe that the Church has been mistaken all along in accepting Christ as Son of God, and the Bible as supreme in doctrine and life.
THE SYNOD OF THE NIPPON KIRISUTO KYOKWAI.
The most significant event of the year in matters ecclesiastical was the meeting of the Synod of the Nippon Kirisuto Kyokwai (the Japanese Church of Christ, with which are connected the Presbyterian and RflfOimed mis- sions). This Church has long been considering the revision of its constitu. tion. In 1877, when the present organization was effected, the Church yielded to the earnest desire of the missionaries, and adopted unabridi!ed and unamended a Form of Government, Book of Discipline, and Confession of Faith, imported from the United States. The Confessions-there were two of them-had not even been translated, but were adopted purely on faith. They were adoptcd, but thcy have never been the true Confessions of the Church's faith. Years ago a committee was appointed for their revision, but its labors were interrupted by the negotiations for union with the Congregationalists. After those negotiations were broken off a nf>W committee on revision was given df'fi~ite instrnctions. The committee rcported in the early summer and Synod met iu December to discuss the report.
Synod was a thoroughly representative body, most of the leading men being present. Foreigners were in a small minority, and from the start the Japanese took the lead. The result is their work, and this it is which renders the meeting so significant. We have a fair test of the true faith and spirit of the Church, and not a mere reflection of foreign missionary sentiment.
The Japanese Christians think for themselves, that is the most evident comment. They are almost morbidly avcrse to leading-strings-especially now are they eager to show their intellectual independence. Any attempt to coerce them will result in disaster. At the Rame time they will listen to advice and reason.
The Church is soundly evangelical. It stauds firmly by the great essentials of the faith. It is not infected with Unitarian or Rationalistic virus. No one expressed himself as other than in entire sympathy with the truth once delivered to the saints.
But the Church inRists that there shall be widest liberty in non-e8sentials. It is eager to reje,ct the systems of theologians. It would embrace all who truly accept our Lord and Saviour. In its brief creed it desired to embody these two aims, and to show itself thoroughly evangelical and yet so free that none may be excludEd who do not deny the faith. It would have no imported Confession. It asserted at onpe its indifference to thc strifes and shibb(lleths of Westem lands, and its desire to hear testimony against the errors that threaten in Japan. Whatever may be onr opinion as to the snccess of the endea'or, or as to the sufficiency of the Confession as finally adopted, there is no doubt about the sincere purpose of the Church. Nor need there be question that this purpose in the main was right.
The Church has a strong missionary spirit. The debate on the Confession was dominated by the desire to make it an effective missionary document. The Christians never forget their position in the midst of a non- Christian people, nor their duty as witnesses for Christ, however much their labors fall short of their admitted obligations.
The Church accepts gladly the Presbyterian polity as a form of organization, but it rejects all exclusive claims even for its own forms, and occupies theoretically no position that may hinder union with other bodies. A strong desire for the organic union of Christians of every name was manifest throughout, though there is no immediate prospect that such desires may be realized.
TIlE HOPEFUL OUTLOOK.
It is not to be denied that the year has left a feeling of uncertainty and fear in the minds of many. Some ev{;n look forward to indescribable dis-" aster; but a calm review of all the facts warrants us in saying that the out- look is full of hope.
Even with so strong an anti-foreign spirit as the last year has shown, our Japanese Christians have held their own. Thirteen were elected to the Diet. One of them was chosen President of the Diet, and a second, permanent Chairman of the Committee of the Whole. These two posts were most keenly sought, and their occupants are very prominent and important in the public's thought. Christianity has further shown its wide influence by the long-continued agitation against licensed prostitution, an agitation that has enlisted a large share of popular approval and sympathy. It is no small triumph that Christianity so soon manifests itself as a moral force in the national life, and that it is so secure in its place that its profession is no hindrance to high political advancement.
The fact that the Church contains so many men of prominence, so many men second to none in their wide influence, is high encouragement, although, as a natural consequence, the foreign missionary is thereby remanded to a somewhat secondary place. As the Church thus reckons judges, professors, members of the Diet, prominent journalists, and high officials among its active members, we cannot expect the same position we should occupy in lands where the converts are for the most part from the lower walks of life. But we must be narrow indeed if this success becomes a source of discouragement. Let us thank God and take courage.
Though the year has been a trying one to forcigners, still has the Church remained remarkably friendly. There have been sharp criticisms of lIlen and methods, it is true; but we should hesitate to demand submissive silence from our friends. And it is not to be forgotten that the prevalent hostility to foreign institutions of every kind, and the association of the Church with missionaries in the popular mind, has been the cause of denial;
OR. GRIFFIS ON JAPAN
that the Church and foreigners are identical-a denial that has sometimes been more emphatic than agreeable in expression.
The theological nnrest, too, gives rise to hope. One minister joined the Unitarians, bnt he carried no one with him, and there is no disposition to follow his example. Already there are signs that the Radical flood has Ilassed its height and begnn to recede. We shall hear less of it in the years to come. It is not to be overlooked that the Unitarian Mission has a new leader of a spirit very different from the former " ambassador, " whose hostility to orthodoxy and to other missions is rep~aced by friendli- ness and a desire for such co-operation as is practicable. . The Plymonth Brethren, too, have about exhausted their capabilities for mischief, and almost cease from troubling the congregations. Some of the keenest of the Japanese ministers feel that the tide now sets with us.
There is no falling off in the numbers of young men who press into the Christian ministry. And for the theological department of the Meiji • Gakuin I may say that our junior class is not only the largest but the best that has entered the school. There is no better test of the true condition of the Church.
The difficulties have culminated in Tokyo. In the provinces the state of things has been by no means so trying. In a letter just received, a mis- sionary of much experience and sound judgment writes: "The condition of affairs in Central and Western Japan was never more promising. Con- verts are not gained so rapidly, perhaps, as in some years gone by, but the churches were never in so good condition before." That testimony can be duplicated by many witnesses in widely separated fields. And even in Tokyo onr most intelligent pastors say they find no widespread opposition to Christianity, nor any cause for real discouragement.
Surely God has done great things for Japan, and His Church may trust Him for the days to come. lIe does not leave us without evidence of His presence and blessing. Through His grace the Church shall go forward, that it may be Hi~ witness and the preacher of His Gospel to all the inhab- itants of the land.
MEIJI GAKUIN, TOKYO, February 12, 1891.
DR. GRIFFIS ON JAPAN.
BY THE EDITOR-iN-CHIEF.
Dr. Griffis has recently published an article on the Constitution of Japan which deserves wider circulation. He refers to the meeting of the Imperiltl Diet, which entered upon the work of sharing with the Mikado the government of the forty millions of Japanese, and remarks that on July 1st, 1890, the national election took place and proved to be quiet and decorous. The privilege of voting for members of the House of Representatives was restricted to certain taxpayers, so that the electorate probably did not number more than one million yoters. Bya decree dated July 10th, the administration of the two houses was organized by the appointment of a Chief Secretary, ten assistants, two probationers, and twenty subordinatcs for each branch of the Diet, and the proccedings were opened by the emperor in person.
Mutsuhito, the one hundred and twenty-third Mikado, was born, by a strange coincidence, on the very day that Commodore M. C. Perry stood on the deck of the Mississippi ready to sail for Japan. 'Vonderful changes have taken place within these thirty-nine years, and Dr. Griffis asks what grounds have we for believing in the solidity and permanence of representative political institutions in such a nation.
The story of the Japanese begins with the foundation of the empire, B. c. 660, which is in many other respects a very marked era in the annals of the human race. Their actual hIstory begins very nearly a thousand years after. The dual system of government, under the Mikado at one end of the empire and the Tycoon at the other, lasted until 1868, when the Tycoon gave way to the Mikado. Japan has always suffered from having no external foe or force to compel national cohesion, and society was split up into eight or more grades from gods to pariahs, and the country itself into three hundred feudal clans. Historical research and the fear of subjection by foreign nations begat that new thing in Japan, public opinion, and to save the unity of Japan from divisions such a& were seen in India, the dual system of government fell at the dictation of public opinion. The American Naval Expedition of 1853 simply brought the crisis. The Tycoon, hitherto despotic, felt compelled to ask the opinion of the clans as to wtat should be the answer to Commodore Perry, and the first informal Parliament was summoned.
The events from 1853 to 1890 simply record the march of public opmlOn. Dualism first went. down and feudalism followed. Provision was made for a permanent national parliament, and the leaders of the revolution constrained the Mikado, then but sixteen years old, to swear that he would call a deliberate assembly and submit to it affairs of State. This charter oath of five articles forms the basis of the new Japan. The way was accordingly prepared for the complete separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial functions, and in 1878 provision was made for the education of the people in their new political duties.
After much popular agitation in behalf of a national parliament, on October 12th, 1880, the Mikado signed the decree promising to limit the imperial prerogative, and call a parliament to meet in 1890. The constitutions of various other governments were carefully examined, and on February 11th, 1889, on the anniversary of the ascent of the throne, B.C. 660, by the first Mikado, Jimmu Tenno, this grand document was published, the magna charta of Japanese liberties.
The constitution consists of Rcven chapters with seventy-six articles, which treat of the Emperor, his subjects, the Diet, mini8ters of State, the Privy Council, etc. The upper house, or House of Peers, is a mixed body. Members of the Imperial family, princes, and marquises sit for lif",. Counts, viscounts, and barons are elected for seven years. Certain men notable for ability and learning have a life term. There is also a provision for commoners to be elected to this house, which thus involves representation from the three estates of the realm.
The constitution approaches closely the model of Germany and Great Britain. Most important are the thirty-two articles of Chapter II., which grant and define the rights and duties of the subjects. Hitherto the masses had politically been ciphers, bound to obey, pay taxes, and hold their tongues. Now the status of every subject is fixed by law, and by law his rights are guarded. Modern Japanese law is based Oil the code of France. The judiciary conllists of local courts, district courts, court of appeal, and a supreme court, and judges are appointed for life..
Western nations look with intensest interest to the unfolding of Japan's future.
JAPAN AND THli: BIBLE.
Twenty years ago the people of Japan had never seen any part of the Scriptures in their own tongue, and placards prohibiting Christianity were displayed on the corners of the streets.
In 1872, aided by a grant from the American Bible Society, Dr. Hepburn's version of Mark and John wall printed in Yokohama, and a committee was formed for translating the Bible.
' The. first edition of the New Testament appeared in 1880, and the entire Bible in 1888. From 1874 until now the American Bible Society has circulated in Japan more than 550,000 volumes of the Scriptures; and there are now more than 250 churches with over 30,000 members.
In view of the many agencies employed, it is gratifying to have so competent an observer as Dr. Hepburn ascribe one half of all the results of Christian missions in Japan to the work of the Bible societies.
Similar work is being done in connection wi.th the labors of American mi2sionaries in various parts of the world, and a secretary of one of our largest missionary boards has recently said : "I know of no single agency which can for a moment begin to compare with that of the Bible Society in giving permanency to Ollr missionary work in every field. I find myself depending upon its work more and more as I come to appreciate more fully what its volume is and what its significance is."
Of the publication of the complete Bible in Japanese, Dr. Griffis further says: "An able English editor declared that the publication of the Bible in Japanese was 'like building a railway through the national intellect.' This was perhaps the proper metaphor to employ in this industrial age, when civilization moves on rails and wires. To ono not hlind to the !esthetics, or deaf to the harmonies, of a noble work of letters, the human mastery over difficulties suggests rather the slow building of a glorious cathedral. The Bible in Japanese as we have it to-day-despite our thrills of joy and pride that it is mainly the work of American missionaries-is not a finished product. It is, however, so substantially near the ideal that it must be the basis of all future enterprise. Even its very shortcomings, felt most keenly by the master·builders of this stately edifice of language, point in the direction of final triumph.
" When in Tokio on the 3d of February, 1888, the veteran translator, Dr. J. C. Hepburn, suiting the action to the word, took the Old Testament in one hand and the New Testament in the other, and reverently laying them down-a complete Bible-sa~d : 'In the name of the whole body of Protestant missionaries in Japan, and of the whole Church of Christ in America and England, I make it a loving present to the Japanese nation,' the audience, made up of Christians from three continents, was deeply moved at the simple and touching ceremony. It was less like capping the obelisk at Washington with its polished aluminum finial than it was setting the headstone upon a glorious cathedral. In that completed work of pen and type, as in the splendors of some saintly minster, were embodied the hopes and aspirations of a nation awakening to new life, the prayers and sufferings of martyrs slain for Christ's sake, the toil and tears, the patience and hope of noble missionaries, the triumph of success after many failures. Of one of the first translators who delved for the foundations, laid the first courses of the edifice, and even saw its fair walls arise, it may be said with truth that he rests from his labors, but his works do follow him. The labor is over; the work remains. As I hold in my hand the comely duodecimo volume, which moves the scale at twenty·one ounces avoirdupois, I think of the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which it suggests.
" In the presence of the mountain of to-day it is well to remember the plain. Before our shoutings of' grace, grace unto it,' and praises richly deserved to consecrated workmen, let us look back at the toils of the masterbuilder!!.
" There is a pathos, and there are streaks of humor, in the evolution of this, the fittest expres~ion of the Word in Japanese, which is sure to be a survival of the first order. The naturalists who follow Darwin or Wallace may not be able, owing to ' the imperfection of the geological record '-or otherwise-to furnish at call the 'transitional forms ;' but in the processional movement toward a perfect Bible, even our slender Japanese library holds some interesting and grotesque 'missing links.' True, we have searched the story of Roman Christianity in Japan from 1539 to 1637, and find no translated Scriptp.re; nor does Mr. Satow in his' Jesuit Mission Press in Japan,' though he has ransacked all Japan and the libraries of Papal Europe. Have we not, however, the amazing and amusing first attempts of Dr. Bettleheim in Loo Chooan 1 Do we not possess that wonderful translation of Matthew, by an immersionist, in which we read of 'John the Soaker, preaching the Gospel of sqaking unto salvation;' , Whoever believeth and is soaked shall be saved,' etc.? It is 'soak,' , soaker,' '!loaking,' 'soaked,' to the end of the book, when hitashi, meaning to steep, macerate, moi&ten, is used to translate tho C; reek variants of a certain much·discussed word. VVould that we had what we know existed, the versions of ' the books of Genesis and Matthew, and the Gospel and Epistles of John,' made in China by Dr. S. Wells Williams, and the work of Dr. Gutzlaff; hath of whom learned the language from castaway Japanese sailors. It would touch heart and imagination deeply to look upon the translations made from the Dutch Bible by native interpreters for themselves or others! It was for reading these that men, groping after God, seeking Christ when there were none to lead them, suffered imprisonment, torture, aud bloody death. How thrilling also are the stories of the power of the Bible in Chinese, bought from junk-captains or Chinese tradcrs at Nagasaki, over such men as the father of l'tev. J. T. 1se, who started the first- Japanese students to the United States, and Joseph Ne~sima, of whom we all know! Mr. 1se's father was assassinated in Kioto in 1869, because he was a Bible student, and was suspected of being a Christian, as he indeed potentially was. In 1888, his son, pastor of a Christian church in Tokio, the new capital of the new nation, made the principal Japanese address at the completion of the Bible in his own and his father's tongue.
"The writer, in 1870, saw the chips in the workshop, the dust and debris of foundation laying. lIo hoard the groaning of the missionaries concerning the difficulties and hardships, the gloom of the situation, the refractory and unspiritual nature of tho vernacular, etc. Yot already Dr. Hepburn had made a beginning, and tho writer, on disappearing from civilization into the interior, in February, ] 871, took with him to Fukui a manuscript copy of the four Gospels, of which he made good use, in a Bible class which he began in h.is house, with some of the students. Stopping for a day at the sunny home of onr veteran, Rev. Dr. D. C. Greene, he found him already expert in nirely discriminating Japanese equivalents for the crystal-clear terms in the Greek New Testament. It afterward be· came Dr. Greene's pleasure to translate four of the New Testament books, to do years of work in revision, and with Rev. Dr. L. H. Gulick to superintend the printing, and to read all the proofs of the entire Japanese Bible.
" It was not till 1872 that a convention of missionaries formed definite plans for translating the New Testament. After several years of labor, in which Dr. Hepburn and Rev. Messrs. S. R. Brown and D. C. Greene were the chief, though by no means the only workers, the Scriptures of the New Covenant were issued, and at once widely read by the Japanese. Far more than is the custom in American churches, the Japanese bring their Bibles to church with them, and follow the minister in his reading.
"From the first the native brethren, with characteristic and laudable ambition, desired to take part in the work of rendering the word of God into their mother tongne, despite their lack of acquaintance with the original texts. Six years of training, however, and daily intellectual and spiritual contact with the missionaries during the prpparation of the New Testament, gave to several elect native scholars a wonderful grasp of the general subject, as well as mastery of the problems of translation. The men of God from America and Great Blitain enjoyed the reciprocal and inestimable benefit of these native scholals, such as Rev. Messrs. T. Matsuyama, Uyemura, and Ibuka, and of the brilliant and versatile man of letters, Takaha~hi Goro. From the very first day until the last, Mr. T. Matsuyama wrought with fervor and untiring patience, and· it is the testimony of a missionary of nearly twenty years' experience in Japan that' the influence of this native scholar is seen in almost every sentence of the translation.' Mr. T. Matsuyama, who is now pastor of the Hei-an Church in Kioto, is one of the most learned and painstaking students of the old Japanese literature. His acknowledged excellence as a scholar not only shows what kind of material and personnel the missionaries have been enabled in God's providence to utilize, but makes both ridiculous and contemptible some recent criticisms, spoken even in Tremont Temple, upon the work of our missionaries in Japan.
"Plans for translating the Old Testament were not made until 18'76, nor perfected until 1882. Portions were printed at intervals between 1882 and 188'7 ; but the difficulties were great, and the failur~s were many. Delay in this case proved neither dangerous nor fatal, but eminently advantageous; for it secured uniformity of style. In this one respect, the Japanese Bible excels even the English, and can safely be ranked among the most successful missionary translations of the world. Pmctically the same men, with many assistants, performed the whole work from Genesis to Revelation. In the gracious providence of God, Drs. Hepburn and Verbeck, Rev. F. K. Fyson, T. Matsuyama, Takahashi Goro, Rev. D. C. Greene, and Rev. David Thompson, were spared to see the completion of the work. The Rev. S. R. Brown was unable to witness on earth the crown of his hopes, for he died in 1880. The translation, first in separate portions, and then in its complete form, was printed at the expense of the American, the British and Foreign, and the Scotch Bible Societies, all of which had also made generous contributions for the snonort of the translators, and the expenscll incident to their work.
"The style of the version is as loyally close to pure Japanese as the form of the book language will allow. Indeed, it is the very simplest form of the book language. In it special prominence is given to the pure native element, as against the Chinese-Japanese so fashionable during the last half century or more. It is the style best adapted to liturgical use, and its fitness is generally recognized. Indeed, in his grammar of the written language, Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain, of the Imperial University of Tokio, and perhaps the highest living authority in Japanese literature, quotes from this version in illustration of points in Japanese idiom, thus acknowledging it in some sense as an authority as to idiomatic usage. The gem of the Old Testament work, as all acknowledge, is Dr. Verbeck's rendering of the Psalms. To this labor of love-one of the most scholarly pieces of work in the Japanese language-he devoted much time during a
BUDDillSM: AND CHRISTIANITY
period of seven years in .constant association with natives who were acute, learned, and devout.
" It is not too much to hopc thlt this version of the Bible may do for the Japanese mother-tongue what the English Bible has done for our own noble language and literature. Competent native observers declare that it has already exerted a noticeable effect upon the development of Japanese literature. How comforting and full of reward it must be to the translators, who have toilcd long on certain passages, to hear them quoted by the eloquent native preachers in impassioned discourse that sways the lives and eternal destinies of thousands !
" In briefly outlining the history of this noble monument of scholarship and consecration, the writer trusts that his brethren, Thompson, Davidllon, :Maclay, Cochran, Piper, '''right, Waddell, Goble, Knecker, Shaw, Blanchet, and others, who have borne a noble share in the grand work of giving the Bible to this nation of nearly forty million souls, will forgive the shortcomings of this article, limited as it is in space. In due time, the Japanese Christians, becoming masters of the Semitic and Greek tongues, will erect on the foundations laid by the missionaries a still more stately edifice of sacred scholarship to enshrine that word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Yet the writer is presumptuous enough to hazard the prophecy that even future generations of native Bible translators will no more be able to ignore Hepburn, Verbeck, and Matsuyama than were the English revisers of 1611 or 1881-85 able to forget Tyndale.-Congregationalist.
BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
BY REV. E. SNODGRASS, TOKYO, JAPAN.
The Buddhists of Japan, especially the well-informed Buddhists, are by no means ignorant of the scientific references in the Bible ; and, more than this, they were not ignorant of Sir Edwin Arnold's attitude toward Christianity, the deadly antagonist of their withering faith. This being well known on both sides, it was not surprising that Sir Edwin, in his addre~ses in Japan, should say that man is made" not of clay or dust, as is ignorantly said, but of carbon, lime, etc." And, moreover, it was not surprIsing that Sir Edwin experienced the unpleas~nt necessity of having to refuse "numerous influential invitations to address the Buddhists of Japan." Dr. Ellinwood's reference to the fact that Christian phrases and conceptions were read into Buddhism by the author of "The Light of Asia" is parallel to the fact of the same author's attempt to harmonize Buddhism with modern science in a lecture which he delivered here before the Japanese Educational Society the third Sunday in December, 1889. "The Sun Goddess is tempted from her cave by Ii mirror. This is more scientific and less mythical than the legend of a Hebrew chieftain commanding the snn to stand till he could finish a bloody battle. The now to us incognizable sounds, colors, and distances are the Maya of Buddhism. Darwinian evolution is the lJharma and Karma. " 'With these revelations before us, why has it not occurred to some one to start the cry 10at modern science is plagiarized Buddhism 1 But what is the worth of such an unfounded claim that Christianity has borrowed from Buddhism 1 Nothing. I, for one, feel grateful to Dr. Ellinwood for the excellent store of facts given in his article in the February REVIEW. I wish to simply emphasize some of them.
1. The very I!tarting-points of the two religions are antagonistic, and hence oppose the idea that the superior could have copied from the inferior. Ask an educated Japanese to-day, " Has Buddhism a god f' The answer comes, "None other than the man himself." Buddhism is now thoroughly atheistic, though it may not always have been so. The most reliable history we have of Buddha sets him forth as a reformer. His early teachers were two Brahman ascetics. At first Buddhism may have held an idea of a supreme being, a Brahma j for in the oldest writings it is often mentioned that the supreme Brahma influenced Buddha. This may have been the foundation for the divinity which was afterward bestowed upon Buddha.
In regard, again, to a supreme being, Dr. Oldenberg* reasons that the Indian Brahman worked out a supreme being from the inner consciousness -the ego, the Atman. Separating the Atman from the individual, a new being is found which converges back into Brahma, the one and supreme being. Mr. Collinsf would reverse the above and say that the Hindu had gradually dropped the supreme from his faith, and in Buddhism the Atman, the ego, the human mind, is the only god j and this the remaining vestige " of a once purer faith and a truer worship. "
2. An argument often used here by Japanese evangelists is that Buddha worked no miracles. This is another vital difference iuimical to the life of Buddhism.
3. The most serious obstacle probably in the way of the theory of Christianity copying from Buddhism is the date of the Buddhist scriptures. According to the Ceylon books (Buddhism still survives in Ceylon), Gautama Buddha was born 623 B. c. It is not certain that he was not born later. Job probably lived 1500 years before Buddha. Moses lived 1000 before Buddha. Daniel was contemporary with Buddha. This was the time of the captivity, when the Jews were scattered throughout the East, probablyeyen as far as to China j we know that Jews were in China, but at so early a date that we know not when.
As far as we know, Buddha wrote nothing. The claim for the earliest written Buddhist scriptures is about the beginning of the Christian era, or later. Before this date we have all the Old Testament books. We must not forget how the great Babylonian and Syrian kingdoms intellectually • Oldenberg, Buddha, p. 23, et. seq. t Buddhism in Relation to Christianity. linked Judea with the East. We remember some time ago the bronze gates of Shalmaneser the Second were discovered at Balawat. The date is when Jonah visited Nineveh. Upon this monument are shown Jewish sacrifices. It is claimed by some that the Jews in great numbers after the seventy years' captivity emigrated toward the East. I do not know how much truth is in such a claim j but the fact of the Jews being early in China would lend some weight. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that Jewish influence went into the East.
4. What is the state of the claim that Buddhism came West? It is easier rather to prove that Christianity extended East early enough to influence the composers of the Buddhist scriptures. There is no historical evidence that Buddhism came West before the third century A. D. Clement of Alexandria speaks of some who follow Boutha. He derived his information probably from his teacher, Pantamus j and the latter gained his information from Megasthenes, who in India wrote his Indica about 300 B.C. Between Clement and Megasthenes there is no reliable evidence that Buddhism exerted any influence westward.
5. But what abont Christian influence eastward? Cosmas Indicopleutes found Christians in Ceylon in the sixth century. There are still probably 250,000 Christians on the coast of Malabar. Near Madras is an ancient cross with Pahiavi inscription. It belongs probably to not later than the seventh century. There are other inscriptions. The most reasonable explanation of these inscriptions is the early connection between the Indian Christians and Edessa. One of those Pahlavi inscriptions reads: " Who believes in the Messiah, and God above, and in the Holy Ghost, is redeemed through the grace of Him who bore the cross." Pantamns found a Hebrew Gospel of Matthew in India in the second century. A bishop, " Metropolitan of Persia and the Great Indi," was at the council of Nicrea in 325 A.D.
6. Whether or not at first it was the genius of Buddhism to borrow, it is certainly its genius now in Japan. Externally it is becoming a parasite of Christianity. Besides adopting other Christian methods of propagation, it is plagiarizing Christian names. For instance, instead of using the word temple as the designation for their religious houses, they say church now. On the road from Tokyo to Yokohama was a temple to which was attached a school for children. Recently the temple and school were burned. The man who kept the school made an ingenious appeal to foreigners here for help for the poor school which was attached to the church. No doubt many subscribed, thinking that the church was a Christian house of worship. The story of the god Krishna is manifestly taken from Christianity.
7. It is said that asceticism came from Buddhism, and through the Essenes ; that John the Baptist was a half Buddhist j that he was a Gnostic, which has the same meaning as Buddhist. * " Bunsen's Angel-Messiah. Asceticism was practised in the time of Job, 1500 years before Buddha j and the doctrines of the Essenes connect them more with Greece and Persia than with India. The real marks of Buddhism, the Karma, are not found in the Essenic doctrine.
S. What are the false parallels resorted to to establish claims of Bud- dhistic priority ~ That Buddha was born of a virgin j that there is a close con- nection between Maya, the name of his mother, and Mary j that Buddha's birth was attended by miracles j that he taught the doctrine of " vicarious suffering j" that Buddha was born on December 25th; that prophecies were made of the coming Messiah. These and many other claims are made for which no reliable proof can bc produced, as that he was miraculously conceived, presented in the temple, tempted by Mitra.
9. From the earliest Buddhist writings we learn a simple story of his life. He was the son of Suddhodana, a king residing at Kapilabatthu. He married, but at twenty-nine years of age left his home and became an ascetic, with two Brahmans as his teachers. Dissatisfied here, he went to Uruvela, near Patna, where he spent seven years in discipline and study. It is said that he det.ermined to be a " follower of the Buddhas [sages] of bygone ages." In this we find nothing very remarkable.
But when we turn to what are true parallels, we find something remarkable. The Hindu temple is on the same plan as the Jewish temple-two rooms, an inner and outer one j priests, altars, sacrifices, propitiations, oblations, sacred feasts, sacrificial fire, etc. Whence came all these things 1 Mr. Collins claims that they came from the divine revelation of God made to man long before the dispersion. They are vestiges of the true and primitive revelation to man, carried both into the East and vVest. The Western worship was reformed by Moses.
Again, when we look into the two moral codes we find much similarity, which confirms a primitive revelation. The ten prel!epts of Buddhism are remarkable. The reader can note for himself their similarity to the Ten Commandments. The last six are uttered against the prevailing sins of * Buddha's day. It is discouraging to reflect that these rules have been so utterly abandoned by Buddhists in Japan to-day. Buddhism teaches that freedom from suffering comes by righteousness.
This presupposes a deliverer j and this idea must have come from some primitive revelation. But in emphasizing the precept the revelator has been forgotten. This revelator was surely the one true God. While Buddhism is now atheistic, and the doctrine of the Nirvana annihilation, in the be- • 1. The taking of life. 2. Stealing. 3. Adnltery and sexual interconrse. 4. Lying. 5. The nse of intoxicating drinks. 6. The eating of food after midday. 7. The attendance npon dancing, singing, music, and masks. B. The adorning of the hody with flowers, and the use of perfnmes and ungnents. 9. The nse of high or honorable seats or couches.
10. The receiving of gold or silver. ginning this was not so. A dialogue in a passage of the earliest writings represents the present doctrine of annihilation as unorthodox. Sariputta says: "Thus then, friend Yamah, even here in this world the Perfect One is not to be apprehended by thee in truth. Hast thou, therefore, a right to speak, saying, ' I understand the doctrine taught by the Exalted One to he this: that a monk who is free from sin, when his body dissolves is subject to annihilation; that he passes away; that he does not exist beyond death'~" Yamaka replies: "Such, indeed, was hitherto, friend Sariputta, the heretical view which I ignorantly entertained. But now, when I hear the venerable Sariputta expound the doctrine, the heretical view has lost its hold of me, alJd I have learned the doctrine. "
'Vhen the past course of all religions shall have been traced, the investigator will probably arrive at the primitive av.d divine revelation recorded in the Book of God.
BUDDHISM AND ROMANISM.
BY REV. GEORGE L. MASON.
The author of the chart, the" Twin Monuments," which appeared in the June issue, did not seek its publication in this REVIEW, and d028 not know how a copy of it came into the hands of Dr. Sherwood ; but he now begs to add a word of explanation.
A cartoon teaches only in broad outline. It deals with gpneral truths rat.her than details. It depicts a system or a tendency rather than individuals. The picture in question judges no man, but describes systems. That it is fairly accurate and just the following considerations may show.
By Buddhism is meant not the teaching of Gautama or the early Buddhists, but the developed form of doctrine and worship as it now exists practically in eastern Asia, and especially as seen in Thibet, at least since the fourteenth century. Its resemblance to the papal system has been noted by Nevius, Gilmour, Du Boge, and other Protestant missionary authors; and with such candor by the Roman Catholic traveller, Abbe Hue, that his book was placed on the" Index" of writings to be expurgated, as is stated by Max Muller in his "Chips." Professor Monier Williams, who has finely drawn the contrasts between Buddhism and Christianity, says, "Koeppen, Rhys Davids, and other writers have well shown thnt the Buddhism of Thibet, with its pope-like grand Lilmas, its cardinals and abbots, monks and mendicant friars, nuns and novices, canonized saints and angelic hosts, temples and costly shrines, monasteries and mummeries, images and pictures, altars and relics, robes and mitres, rosaries and consecrated water, litanies and chants, processions and pilgrimages, confessions and penances, bell-ringing and incense, is, in everything except doctrine, almost a counterpart of the Romish system." The most of thes() features exist in China proper, as well as in Thibet i and to the list might be added self-torture, vigils, compulsory fasts, charms to prevent accident, wayside shrines, dependence on State endowment, alleged miracles, indulgences, prayers to the dead, and worship in a dead language.
Further, is there not some resemblance in doctrine also, at least in its practical working 1 1. Theology. By this is meant here the teaching as to the objects of worship. In books the Roman Catholic Chinese are taught the truth concerning the Creator; but this teaching is invariably joined with many commands to worship men, so that man practically holds the place of God, as in Buddhism. Perhaps the most popular god in China is Kwan-yin, a female form of Buddha, often represented as a fair woman holding a child. Certainly the most devout worship of the native Catholics is given to Mary. That this is idolatrous has been clearly shown by Dr. Blodget in the Chinese Recorder. The cult of Joseph, "patron saint of China," is growing. The natives are taught to bow to the images and pray to the spirits of deceased Jesuit missionaries. Even the living 1ishops assume the title " A god (or spirit) by imperial decree."
It is not true that God alone is worshipped and all the rest only reverenced ; for the distinction between latreia, hyperdoulia, and doulia, which Catholics like to insist on, is very rarely made in their Chinese books, one word being commonly used for all degrees of worship.
2. 'Phe .Doctrine of Redemption. Sin against God, requiring His forgiveness, of course is not known to Buddhism. But the necllssary misery of life may be more or less, according to one's evil or good deeds. Here comes in the value of merit, stored up on one's own account or transferred to another's credit on payment of money. The rich often hire women to recite rosaries and monks to say masses, the merit of which accrues to those who pay the money, or to the deceased whom they designate. This is the precise principle of papal masses for the dead.
In theory both religions emphasize asceticism, especially celibacy, as the path of highest virtue. Destroy desire, reduce life to its lowest terms. In practice the "religious" of each are very comfortable livers. The monks may even be drunkards, or opium smokers, or dissolute, and still retain good standing. Immorality does not involve excommunication, but only removal to some other field.
3. Eschatology. The Buddhist heaven is a later addition to the popular belief. But the interest of the people centres far more in the dreadful physical pains of hell, which are represented by images in the temples; and most of all in the state of the departed souls who are awaiting re-birth in the endless round of transmigration. Chinese Buddhist monks get immense sums for masses for the relief of these souls, just as the Catholic priests everywhere become very rich by the pretended release of souls from purgatory. Indulgences reduce the pains of the good Catholic, according to the amount of money paid. And millions of Buddhists toil up to famous moun. tain shrines and buy of the monks stamped cellificates wl,ich have a cash value of thousands of dollars when presented at the bank-in purgatory.
4. Doctrine of the Clturclt. No higher authority can be named than T. W. Rhys Davids, who says, in the Encyclopcedia Britannica: "In Thibet especially the development in doctrine was followed by a development in ecclesiastical government which runs so remarkably parallel with the development of the Romish hierarchy as to awaken an interest which could scarcely otherwise be found in the senseless and fatal corruptions which have oVE'rwhelmed the ancient Bnddhist beliefs." In China the ecclesiastical resE'mblance is l~ss than in Thibet. The Buddhist monks, with vows of celibacy and poverty, though lIot of obedience, are more like the begging friars than like the regular Catholic pliests. Yet in each case superhuman sanctity and merit nre supposed to reside in the person, robes, and office, and espeCially in the ceremonies performed; and such belief is enforced by pious frauds and lying wonders. In both Romanism and Buddhism, not the whole company of believers, but the clergy alone are the Church, holding all property and privileges, and so recognized by civil law.
5. The Doctrine of Public Worship. The ritual resemblances have been sufficiently indicated in the sentence quoted above from Sir Monier Williams.
6. Ethical Teaching. Here there is both likeness and contrast. Both systems condemn murder, stealing, lying, adultery, covetousness; but Buddhism is without any authorized system of casuistry by which, when desired, these offences may be regarded as very light and venial faults or eveu as virtues. That this is true of Romanism, and that a lax Jesuit morality has during the present century repeatedly received the highest official approval of the Catholic Church, no one will dispute who has studied in the impartial Encyclopcedia B1·itannica the articles" Probabilism" and "Liguori." One example is enough to quote here-the four sentences which any priest may suggest to an unfaithful wife, with any or all of which she may deceive her husband, without harming her own conscience. Buddhist ethics are defective; but Roman Catholic ethics, a strange mixture of truth and error, can hardly be described in terms too severe.
With these resemblances in doctrine, do papal and pagan systems tend to produce the same practical results 1 Again let Rhys Davids answer, "That the resemblance is not in externals only is shown by the present state of Thibet-the oppression of all thought, the idleness and corruption of the monks, the despotism of the government, and the poverty and beggary of the people." Buddhism in temperate Mongolia or torrid Siam, and Romanism in Canada or Mexico, in Ireland or Ecuador, are fairly judged by their fruits. Widely varying environments of race and climate do not prevent a marked sameness in moral re.'Ults. It would have been quite as pertinent to picture an Italian wedged under the column of Romanism as an Irishman.
EDUCATION AND EVANGELISM
I might give from various parts of China ana .Tapan such testimony as this in a letter from an experienced English missionary, " It is well known that the Roman Catholic people are not a whit better than outsiders. Some smoke opium, many gamble; they are not a bit better in morals than the heathen. Their Sabbath consists of mass soon after daybreak, after which they work as on other days. The priests arc ever ready to assist in lawsuits; in this and in financial aid lies the secret of what success they have."
The apparent ruling motive with the leaders of each system is love of gain. "No money, no worship" is as true in Buddhism as " no money, no sacraments" is in Romanism. The revenue of great estates does not satisfy. By systematic begging, by sale of masses, and by taxation or through political influence vast sums arc got from the public, and no account is given of how they arc spent.
In conclusion, no friend of missions can afford to neglect the study of this chapter in comparative religion. One of the best-known American missionaries, with a very successful experience of thirty years in China, said to me last year. in substance, "During the next fifty years our struggle will be not so much with Asiatic idolatry as with Romanism. "
EDUCATION AND EVANGELISM.
THE FREE CHURCH MISSIONS IN INDIA.
BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
It is known how predominently Scottish Presbyterianism in India, especially as represented by the Free Church of Scotland, has devoted itself to education, particularly to the higher education. It would be impossible that Presbyterianism could neglect this and, above all, that Scottish Preshyterianism could. That remarkable intellectual strength of the North British race, which before the Reformation led the French nobility to en· deavor always to secure Scottish tutors for their sons if they could, makes it impossihle that it should ever content itself with missions that are not deeply interwoven with knowledge of the world as it is-in other words, with the higher education. This was first brought more distinctly to our knowledge in this country when Dr. Duff made his great "iisit to us in 1853. Those of us who have had the privilege of being helped onward all our lives in our interest for missions by his wonderful eloquence can never have had any douht that the deepest and most central interest for the evangelization of India glowed ill the mind of the man who, with a far-sighted regard to the future, was content for awhile to forego the repute of large immediate fluccesses in order that in Christian education he might lay" the foundations of many generations. "
To this policy of a firm and large prosecution of the higher education, the Free Church of Scotland declares itsclf immovably resolved to adhere, as providentially determined for it from the beginning, as hallowed by the memories of Duff and his a!lsociates, as crowned with many noble results, and as peculiarly agreeable to the Scottish genius. And of the many eminent gentlemen, clergymen and laymen, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists and others, who have been consulted whether by the Established or by the Free Church, the great majority, as already shown in the REVIEW, heartily concur with the judgment of the Scottish churches themselves.
Nevertheless, the question has lately been moved in the Free Church at home, whether this prol'identially designated work of the higher education may not have been pursued with a disproportionate zeal, and whether the evangelistic side of missions, towards which the educational work ought always to tend, and from which it ought to be reinforced, may not have been unduly depressed. Accordingly, the Free Church of Scotland has sent out to India the Rev. Professor Lindsay, D.D., and the Rev. J. Fairley Daly, B.D., as a deputation to examine thoroughly every branch of the missions of the Chnrch in India, and to report accordingly. We wish to note the general results of their investigation.
The deputies begin with a cordial testimony to the work. "They have seen mission work growing and spreading out in every direction, a native church taking visible extent and increasing, devoting itself in some cases to hearty evangelistic work, and they have rejoiced to observe the beginnings of self-support. E"erywhere they have seen their missionaries enjoying the respect and confidence of the people among whom they are laboring, and their unselfish and devoted work appreciated by the most eminent and thoughtful members of the European and native official class." They say also: "Our mission work has vastly iucreased within the last forty years, and on one side has necessarily come in contact with the educational policy of the Indian Government. Our missionaries in the old days were accustomed to combine the evangelistic and the educational sides of our mission in a manner not possible now, owing to the pressure of the Government University and upper school systems, which has compelled them to concentrate their attention on the educational side, and to give an amount of time and strength to prepare their students for examinations which was not required in the earlier days. In former times one man could attend equally well to both sides of the work, but this is impossible now. We need one set of men to take the educational, and another to take the evangelistic side. " The Church years ago perceived this, and "during Colonel Young's Convenership much was done to increase the evangelistic side of the mission, and two resolutions of Committee attest the fact that the committee have had it in mind to cnrl, the educational Ride until the evangelistic bas been bronght into line with it." The deputation declares its sugge~ tions to be mainly in the line of this already determined policy of the Church. The deputation says: "We have been greatly impressed with the vast- ness of the missionary enterprise of our church in India, with the high po- sition almost universally accorded to our missionaries among their brethren of other missions, and with their devotion to the work given them to do by the Church." The Free Church, indeed, has in India not one miflsion, but four mission~, scattered over an area of 543,000 square miles~ and among a population of 12;,000,000. In Bengal, its centre, Calcutta, has a population of 872,000, commanding a population of 70,000,000, and a region of 193,000 square miles, almost as large as France. The South India Mission is centred in Madras, with 406,000 inhabitants, commanding a district of 141,000 square miles, with a population of 31,000,000. In the west the mission is centered in the twin capitals of Bombay and Poona, having a population respectively of 774,000 and 129,000, and commanding a region of 124,000 square miles, more than all Great Britain and Ireland, and a population of 16,500,000.' The Central India Mission, of Nagpur, and two outlying missions in Hyderabad and the Derar, make out the whole.
But this "astness of operation, while stimulating the imagination and increasing interest at home, has made it impossible to combine the work of the four: missions. There has been no esprit de corps. Help' given to one has done nothing for the others. They are in exact contrast to the concentrated and wonderfully successful work of the American Presby"' terian Mission of Lodiana, to say nothing of the Methodist Episcopal Mission around Bareilly, or the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Mission on the Khasi hills. The early Scottish missionaries, being bitterly opposed by· the authorities, were glad to find lodgments where they could. Later missionaries, since the tide of feeling has turned, have been at leisure to choose their strategic points in view of effectiveness and concentration. The deputies, however, after fuJI reflection, by no means advise withdrawal from any of the present centres. But they earnestly advise that new centres bo not opened, but men and money be given for the consolidation and development of the work at the centres already occupied.
The deputation regards the Free Church work as wisely cootred, like that of most of the missions, in great cities, but it finds less laudable that, beyond all others, it has been concentrated on them. Village and district work has not been neglected, but it has been too much subordinated, and wherever retrenchment was necessary it has usually been the country work that has suffered. The deputation expresses admiration of the self-denial which has led to the preference of the much harder work among" the large restless masses" of the great cities, but expresses a decided doubt whether this has always been guided by wisdom. At Bhandara, in Santalia, and at Chingleput (near Madras) the combination of country and city work has given a peculiar heartiness to the missions, which earnestly commends it to the forces at all the great city centres.
India, the deputation remark, is a mere geographical expression, co"- ering a perfect chaos of races, languages, creeds, social conditions, and degrees of civilization. No generalizations, therefore, can be ventured on without the most careful delimitation of meaning and application. And these varieties may be again included, though very inexactly, in three or four great categories. vVe must first set aside 50,000,000 Mohammedans, and six or seven millions of nondescript sects. Caste Hinduism, numbering perhaps 125,000,000, rests on a ba!;is of depressed castes, estimated at from forty to sixty millions. These again are surrounded by a ring of aboriginal tribes, which have no relation whatever to Hinduism. Of these, such as the Ghonds, the Santals, the Khasis, there are probably more than twenty millions. The Free Church l1as mainly worked within caste Hinduism. Those missions which have secured large numbers of converts have mainly labored among the depressed castes and the aboriginal tribes. These more numerous converts, a matter of great rejoicing in themselves, have as yet had little influence on Hindu society at large. Caste Hinduism has yielded few converts, but these few commonly men of great influence.
The main difference between high caste and deprflssed caste, or out-caste Hinduism is not so much religious as social. Hinduism, though having a curious pantheism as a common basis, has developed into the most widely divergent and, indeed, largely antagonistic variety of creeds. But the true castes put the caste above the family. The depressed castes put the family above the caste. Therefore, let a high-caste man be converted, and he is simply thrown out, and the wall closes up smooth behind him. But if an out-caste is brought in, he often brings in his family, and from that conversions not infrequently go on extending far out into the whole kindred community. Dr. Sheshadri's success in the Deccan, remark the deputies, is largely owing to this use which he knows how to make of the family as an indirect agency for propagating the Gospel. But within true Hinduism also, the deputies observe, family feeling (which in India is always intrinsically strong) 80emB to be asserting itself with growing strength against caste influences, and seems likely to become, as in thc lower strata, an important missionary agency.
As to the great qnestion of education versus direct evangelism, the deputies acknowledge that this problem, like all Indian problems, is exceedingly intricate. But they lay their general impressions before the Foreign Missions Committee.
Education, remarks the deputation, as a missionary agency may be regarded as a mcans chiefly of edification or chiefly of conversion-that is, it may chiefly be directed upon the successive generations of a Chris· tianized community, or upon the children of parents who are still heathen. The Scottish work has mainly occupied itself with the latter, and has too much neglected the former. It has done better by tIle daughters of Christians than by their sons. " It is certain tllat our Church, with all its educational work, does not use education as a means of upbuilding and consolidating our native Christian community in a way that many other missions do, an<l has undoubtedly mffered in eonsequel'ce." " To begin with, we must lay it down as a principle that the one ab- sorhing aim in all real mission work is to bring onr fellow-men to know Jesus Christ to be their Saviour, and to profess their faith in Him in bap- tism. . . . Therefore, in discussing the mission value of educational mis- sions, we must put aside all arguments drawn from the spread of humanitarian and civilizing idea~. These are welcome accompaniments, but, after all, the question is, Is all this educational work calculated to draw men to faith in .Tesus as their Saviour, and to a profession of that faith in baptism r'
As to this, the deputation remarks, the higher education must be given an important place among missionary agencies, if caste Hinduism is to be made an object of missionary effort. It is too much to say that only through this can high-caste or true-caste Hinduism (the Hinduism of Brahmans, Vaisyas, and Sudras) be wrought ul:>0n. But that great missionary authority, Bishop Caldwell, admits that, while few converts have come from caste Hinduism, these few have come from educational missions. And in the higher schools of the Free Church the overwhelming majority of the students (at Madras 83 per cent) are from high-caste Hinduism, although of late, especially in Bombay, there is an increasing proportion of Mohammedans.
Preparation is important in all missions, but supremely important among easte Hindus. The one unpardonable sin in Hinduism is that a man should act for himself. The caste is everything, the individual nothing, except within the caste. But for this very reason, when the leavening forces of Christian missions, one of the most potent of which is the higher education, have reached a certain point of advancement, the very disposition of castes to go or stay as a whole, is likely, as it now works against conversions, at some point in the future to work the other way. And although the deputies do nut say so, we suppose that what would be true of a whole caste might be sooner true of any large local section of a caste. Indeed, we judge that many, even of the true castes, are locally circumscribed.
Caste Hinduism is, in fact, seriously alarmed. The disintegrating infiuences of general British infiuence are great. But these are, above all, concentrated and brought to a determinate issue by missionary agencies, above all by Christian colleges, high schools, and zenana missions. That caste Hinduism feels itself gradually being undermined is generally allowed. It is comparatively indifferent as t.o whether the depressed castes and the aboriginal tribes are Christianized or not. But the manner in which it is bracing itself up now againRt Christian effort, founding Hindu high schoolR, denouncing zenana missions, forming Hindu tract societies of a singular virulence, and (like Julian befofll it) endeavoring to meet the Church at this point and that by heathen counterparts of herself, shows the seriousness of its alarm. This is not groundless, for it is common enough for caste Hindus to be found canvassing the possibilities of a general move- !TIent from Hinduism over to Christianity. The converts made by the high schools, though few, are precious. In themselves they are no more precious than other Rouls.. But they have far-reaching influence. "One of our educational converts," say the dep- uties, "has converted twelve hundred Mang j another has organized a splendid system of girls' schools at Mhdras, and has been able, by quiet, continuous work, to provide Christian schoolmistresses for every class; a third is a Jeading pleader in Calcutta, and the foremost Christian orator in Bengal-perhaps in India."
Nevertheless, direct conversions are no longer, as in the days of Dr. Duff, a frequent result of the higher education. Why!
(l) Formerly the only alternatives were gross Hinduism, with all its crudities and abominations, or Christianity. Rut there are now all manner of half-way houses, such as Brahmo Somaj. Prarthana Somaj, Arya Somaj, attempts to graft Christian morals on a Hindu stem. The same commixture of Christianity with all forms of heathenism and heathen philosophy, which in thc Roman Empire so long made head against the simple acceptance of the Gospel, is witnessed now in India. Hinduism is endeavoring, by all manner of concessions and accommodations and self-transmutations, to stave off the hour of the inevitable acknowledgment, "Thou hast conquered, 0 Galilean 1" And, as Principal Miller suggests, it may be with the Hindus, as to Hinduism, "a necessary part of the divine training that they shonld discover its futilities for themselves." Meanwhile, conversions from caste Hinduism are largely at a stay.
(2) The development of the government system of education makes necessary such a development in educational missions as, indeed, leaH'S unimpaired the attention to Bible study which, unless it be in Calcutta, is pursued thoroughly, and with genuine interest, by the non-Christian pupils, but largely takes away fro:o the educational missionaries their old times of leisure for quiet personal talks with the students.
(3) If the government standard is not to be maintained in the missionary schools, the government subventions would collapse in proportion to the resulting shrinkage in the number of pupils-a reduction of means that cannot be confronted without ample deliberation as to all that it involves.
" If our educational agency is to produce its full results it must be supplemented by an evangelistic agency working side by side, and in visible connection with it. Weare afraid that we must confess that our Church has not thoroughly faced this evangelistic work, and it must be prepared to face it and go through with it before the full fruits of her educational work can be gathered in." The deputies insist that every college centre ought to be also an evangelistic centre, and that although there should be an evangelistic missionary, who should act as a superintendent, having subordinate to him a whole force of vernacular workers, of various degrees of cultivation, yet neither side of the work can dispense with the presence in the evangelistic branch of it, in greater or less measure, of the educational missionaries. While fully maintaining the permanent importance of the high school., and colleges of the Church, the deputies declare: " We have no hesitation in saying that our Church is spending an amount upon the higher education which is out of all proportion to its present resources." In Calcutta they think that the college of the Established Church of Scotland ought to suffice for both, and that the cost of four of the high schools ought to be trans- ferred to the evangelistic side. How many high schools there are we are not quite sure, as the accounts of the four missions are given with tru~ British exhaustivtlness and confusedness, but we believe we have hunted out ten. This would be a reduction, indeed, in the second grade of in- ~truction. Poona has ceased to be an educational mission, and they recommend that it be kept up as an evangelistic mission, especially as its excellent climate makes it a good foothold from which to resume the long-abandoned work on the Konkan, or table-land abutting on the eastern wall of the "Vestern Ghauts.
The deputation is also dccidedly of opinion that the Church has far too many non-Christian teachers in her schools. The public service i~ much more remunerative-gives assured position, good social prestige, and a retiring pension. Bnt the deputies remark that those missions which arfl careful to provide boarding-schools for Christian boys as well as girls, are much less embarrassed to find Christian teachers.
They lament also that the educational missionaries, absorbed as they are in their English teaching, have no time to master the vernaculars, and therefore are at arm's length from all except the educated natives of European culture. Instead of gidng, like the American Board, two years to learn a native language, the Free Church seems to give no time at all. And Indian languages, say the missionaries, are not to be mastered by the way.
The deputies have also had occasion to consider the question of cheap miSSIOns. They designate as the type of such the China Inland Mission, where remuneration is small, but the European are twice as numerous as the native workers. On the other hand, in the Church of Scotland Mission at Darjeeling or Kalimpong, the missionary is paid a comparatively high salary, but is at the head of twenty or thirty evangelists. He thus " co,'ers a larger extent of ground, does more thorough work, and gets into closer connection with the people than a number of Europeans, who have no staff of native evangelists, can possibly do. He and his native evangelists cost the Church at home a great deal less money and do a great deal better work than a number of Europeans paid at a much lower rate could do." They therefore do not advise a reduction of salaries, nor a depression of the powerful evangelizing influence of the Christian family by tho employment of many unmarried men. At the same time, they admonish Scottish Christians of means, that in India there is a glorious opportunity for them to serve Christ at their own charges. They wish to know why women should volunteer in this way and men not.
They think, now that the government is doing so much for the WEldica,l, relief of the people that medical missions ought only to be maintained where they are distinctly needed, in the remoter districts, and that they should be made distinctly and effectively evangelistic, or given up as not within the range of the Church's work:.
The Madras Mission is much the most effective of the four educational missions of the Free Church, and its Christian college is pre-eminent in India, and at the same time the evangelistic work is much the best developed there. Yet there also the Scotchmen know but little of the Tamil.
The Santalia Mission is entirely different, being among an aboriginal tribe, and not differing particularly from other evangelistic missions of this kind.
This report has been submitted to tho judgment of the missionaries themselves, who have oriticised it with great pungenoy. They differ from it, however, rather in relative emphasis than in substance. They think that the deputies have kept the opponents of the educational work too much in view, and have been needlessly, and somewhat humiliatingly, deprecatory in their tone over against them. They think that they have made it appear too much as if the fornI of the Scottish work was determined by early obstacles to other forms of work, whereas it was laid out from the beginning with full consciousness of a providential call, and has been (however restricted here and there by obstacles) steadily followed up ever since in the same consciousness, having been largely normative for other missions. They think, moreover, that government pressure has much less to do with the rise of the educational standard than the healthy pressure of a growing public demand.
The missionaries themselves dosire, and have long urged, a large extension of evangelistio work. But they hold it agreeable to the providential vocation of the Free Church that this should be mainly not.in regions where caste Hinduism is weak, but in those where it is strong, and where, oonsequently, the number of conversions, even under the most faithful and immediate evangelistio effort, is likely for a long time to come to be comparatively small. In other words, they hold that while some missions have been well guided to work along the lines of least resistance, the Soottish missions have been speoifically called to work along lines of greater resistance. And undoubtedly the Soottish character shows at its best in continuous stress of effort against formidable difficulties.
The Rev. A. Andrew, of the valuable evangelistic station Chingleput, Madras Presidency, which the deputies have peouliarly commended, bears witness to the report as of exceedingly great value, but decidedly disagrees with it in one point-namely, in its apparent assnmption that the higher education only can reach oaste Hinduism. He points out that Bishop Caldwell does not say that the few caste converts have been the fruit of the higher schoo);., hut have been the fruit of mission schools. The higher education can reach bnt a fraction of the higher oaste~, and primary educa- "tion is an indispensable adjunct of evangelization among all the castes /lnr!
A PLEA FOR MEDICAL MISSIONS
ttibes. "In our Chingleput Mission we preach to thousands of Brahmans and other high castes as regularly and faithfully as to the low castes, and await the outpouring of God's Spirit on our labors. The testimony we give to the power of Christian truth in our rural mission is just as valuable as that given in mission colleges. The American Arcot Mission and other rural missions conduct the work, so far as I know, on the same lines." Mr. Andrew, therefore, thinks that the indefinitely large development of evangelistic work in the country districts (a work which has been starved in the past) is the next forward step lying before the Free Church of Scotland.
The Santal missionaries make one mihl criticism-namely, that the conversion of the aLorigines and of the out-castes is by no means so ineffective on caste Hinduism as the deputies seem to think. And, indeed, it is hard to see how the proudest castes could very long resist the influence of fifty or sixty millions of the humbler classes, if these were regenerated and elevated by Christianity. Hindu religion and Hindu language have both been influenced through and through by the aborigines when in a lower grade, and why not when they begin to ascend ~ But, after all abatements of criticism, it is evident that the general judgment, in India and in Scotland, is expressed by A. H. L. Fraser, Esq., of the Bengal Civil Servicc, who declares his" respect and admiration for the great pains, thc unwearying labor, the candid investigation that must have combined to produce, after so short a pcriod, so elear and generally accurate a view of the subject-matter of that report."
The Foreign Missions Committee of the Free Church of Scotland, having maturely weighed both the report and the criticisms passed upon it, has taken action substantially in agreement with its recommendations, and, in particular, has decided" still to limit to the present amount the resources spent on the educational institutions, and to devote to the evangelistic side whatever increase lllay be received and any saving that lDay be e:ffected with educational work, without detriment to its efficiency."
In other words, the Future is still to be kept steadily in view, but the Present ig no longer to be so much overlooked as in the past.
A PLEA FOR MEDICAL MISSIONS.
BY CLARENCE THWING, M.D.
The work of missionary physicians in foreign lands has been growing very rapidly of late. Introduced about fifty years ago as an adjunct to the preaching of the Gospel, it has by steady strides come to be in Ulany places the most successful pioneer work of missiuns. At the present time there are about three hundred medical missionaries, while twenty-eight years ago there were less than a score, and ten years later not more than forty * in all lands. Nearly every well-equipped mission now has one or more physicians constantly engaged in medical work; and not a few ordained clergymen have also a medical education and give a part of their time to attending the sick and digpensing medicines, particularly in their travels from one station to another.
The reasons for the rapid development of this branch of missionary enterprise and its present recognition as a prime factor in mission work are few but forcible. Iu accounting for thc success already attained by medical missions, we shall necessarily state the reasons for a still greater enlargement of the work and for the more hearty support of this very important department of onr Christian propaganda.
First, we IIave in the Scripture'S a divine warrant for medical as well as spiritual work in evangelistic operations. This is found in the example of both our Lord and His disciples. Jesus, the" Great Physician," cared for the body as well as the soul. Many instances are recorded of His healing the sick and arresting disease. His ministry'was spent in " preaching the Gm;pel and healing all manner of sickness" (Matt. 4 : 23). Moreover, He commissioned Hi,; twelve disciples and" other serenty also" both to "preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9 : 1, 2, e ; 10 : 1, 8, 9). Thus the three orders of the first Christian ministry were aU engaged in a medical mission. In the third order, corresponding somewhat to our lay evangelists, the medical work was given the precedence, although joined with preaching (Luke 10 : 9), just as in the labors of the missionary physicians of to-day.
If anything further than the example of our Saviour were needed to show the divine sanction of healing as well as preaching by missionaries, we have, with the final command of Christ-" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature"-the prophecy and promise of witnessing signs, among which is this: "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16 : 15-18).
Since, then, the wisdom and providence of God thougilt it well, for the glory of His name and the spread of His kingdom, that the preaching of spiritual truth should be accompanied by a ministry of physical benefits and the relief of bodily needli, should we not also unite these ministrations ~ The history of missions shows that where such union of effort exists we have far greater snceess than any achieved by preaching alone.
Second, the instincts of humanity and Christian fraternity move us to send the benefits of medical science with those of the Christian religion to our brethren in foreign lands. The science of medicine has made such advances in Western nations during the last century that we do not realize that in many of the most thickly populated Eastern countries there is almost no medical science, and those who profess to practise the art of healing are ignorant of the very principles of medicine, and are often mountebanks * Vide" Dr. Christlieb ell :MedIcal Missions~' in MISSIO~ARY REVIEW, August, 188l. and conjurers. The methods of treating injuries and disease are often barbarous in the extreme; and when sickness is not allowed to take its course by neglect, the suffering is sadly aggravated by careless or improper attentions, if not by positive cruelty. The reports frequently sent to us by those in mission fields concerning the destitution, ignorance, and suffering of thousands who are without proper medical treatment and often with no treatment at ali, should touch our hearts and lead to greater generosity (even to the point of sacrifice, which is seldom reached) in the matter of sending the help and helpers, the medicines and men that we can so easily spare in our own enlightened larrd.
It is well, in tbis connection, to recall the story of the" Good Samaritan," and our Lord's commendation of his neighborly and humane action in giving medical aid to the stranger of a different country and religious belief, whom he found in distress. The precept following this parable is one we should apply to ourselves: "Go, and do thou likewise" (Lukc 10 : 37). The Scriptures also teach us that ministry of whatever kind to our needy fellows is regarded in God's sight as service rendered directly to Him: "Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Matt. 25 : 40). But if we had not this promised recognition of our Lord, the promptings of humanity and natural sympathy ought to impel u~ to offer to the sick and suffering, wherever found, a balm and cordial for the body as well as the soul.
The unselfishness and true friendliness shown in giving such succor and relief appeal most forcibly to the hearts of many whom we could not otherwise reach. They respond to our humanity when not to our piety. By exhibiting in a practical, helpful way our brotherly feeling for them, we secure an answering affection and respect which efforts at proselyting alone would never meet. Convinced of the generous regard of brother men, they are prepared to know and love the" friend that sticketh closer than a brother. "
Third, as an evidence of Christianity and an example of Christian beneficence, medical missions deserve a foremost place in our scheme of evangelization, and should be undertaken in all lands where suffering or diseased bodies are found with unsaved or misguided souls. Our religion should be shown to be a practical one-not simply a matter of faith, but also of good works. VV-e need to teach not only the doctrines of truth, but also the virtues of holiness. It must be explained that belief in a divine Saviour and acceptance of personal salvation are not all of Christianity ; that our religion is not for individual benefit alone; but that" faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone," and that" by works is faith made perfect" (James 2 : 17, 22). This is a lesson we have not well learned ourselves, and we cannot properly 'teach it unless our example is in harmony with our precept. There is no better way of teaching to the heathen the Christian charity that "seeketh not her own" than by practising it, and we cannot bettcr instruct them in Christian b~neficence than by a living exhibition of it. No morc convincing proof of the divine origin and truth of our rehgion can be given to unbelievers than the benevolent instituticn·; which it has established everywhere. The actual demonstration of whllt Christianity seeks to do and does for the temporal and material welfare of mankind is a potent argument in favor of its introduction. What benefit will be more readily sought than relief from bodily pain? AnJ what more welcome than freedom from exhausting disease ~ A tree that will bear such fruit will find grateful soil for its transplanting.
Experience has proved the efficacy of medical work in the spread of missions. It has placed thousands of people who were (or might otherwise have been) enemies of the missionaries under obligations to them which are long remembered, and whieh are often the motives for friendly assistance and the saving of life and property in times of peril. Many instances might be given to illustrate the friendly feelings awakened and antagonisms conquered by the quiet, generous, self-sacrificing labors of medical missionaries, but ~pace will not permit them to be quoted here.
Fourth, as the direct pioneer of the Gospel aud one of the most efficient aids to the Christian preacher, the medical missionary deserves our earnest sympathy and support. The efforts for bodily relief are undertaken as preparatory for and subsidiary to the higher work of saving the soul. A service to the physical man having been rendered, the spiritual wants are described and the source of divine help pointed out. The specific for spiritual maladies is prescribed with the remedies for physical ills. Patients are taught that their eternal interests are greater than the temporal, and they are directed to the" Great Physician," who will cleanse them from the leprosy of sin, open their eyes to the knowledge of the truth, save them from the pains of future punishment, and redeem their souls from eternal death. While failure may attend the most intelligent and faithful efforts of the human helper, and bodily ailments may be incurable by medical science, yet the assurance is given that, " He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him" (Reb. 7 : 25), and "The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither Ris ear heavy, that it cannot hear" (Isa. 59 : 1). Many thousands every year CQme to the mission hospitals and dispensaries, and many ~ore are treated by the medical missionary in his country tours, who would not in any other way be brought in contact with Christian teachers, and to all alike are presented the story of the cross and message of salvation. The time and labors given for physical relief are well spent, though they be in some cases futile in recovering bodily health, provided they are the means of bringing darkened minds into the light of truth and of securing the gift of eternal life to souls which would otherwise be lost.
Admitting the value and duty of medical missions, there remains the question, Row may the cause be advanced and its usefulness multiplied 1 First-to answer briefly-by larger financial support for the work already undertaken and in operation. Second, by increasing the circulation of missionary intelligence, and awakening further interest in the subject. Third, by more frequent and earnest prayer, both individual and united. Fourth, by educating Christian young men and women to recognize the claims of the work upon them and the opportunity and privilege of engaging in it. Fifth, by giving a thorough training, both medical and spiritual, theoretical and practical, to those who offer themselves for service and those who intend to do so but arc yet employed in preparatory study. * There are not wanting many encouragements in the prosecution of medical missions, and the outlook is a hopeful one ; but there is room for all to help. The present is a time of particular nflcessity ; the fields are" white already to harvest," and" the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few j pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers" (Luke 10 : 2). The difficulty now is not so much to find consecrated laborers as to secure the means to " send forth" those who are ready to go. Let us all have a part in answering our own prayers.
In closing, it is fitting to repeat the words of a veteran missionary physician, Dr. J. G. Kerr, of Canton, China, who writes: "Itis no doubt a source of gratification to all missionaries-it is certainly so to us, who are among the older medical missionaries-to see the churches at home awaking to the great importance of medical missions, not only as a means of relieving suffering and saving human life, but of aiding in the evangelization of heathen lands, and we hail the addition of so many noble young men and women to this department of mission work as evidence that Christianity, with its blessings, is being offered to those nations which hitherto have not enjoyed them, in the manner best calculated to secure their acceptance "
We gladly welcome from that Prince of Missionary Biographers, George Smith, LL.D., of Edinburgh, Scotland, the following paper on " The Free Church of Scotland's Twenty-Seven Medical Missionaries-Men and Women." – [EnIToR. ] DR. DAVID H. P.A'fERSON'S EARLY WORK IN MADRAS.
Dr. Smith says: More than a generation ago, or in the year 1856, the Free Church of Scotland unitcd with the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society in sending out to Madras Dr. D. H. Patcrson, F.R.C.S.E. From the Medical Mission House, he was enabled, during sixteen years of incessant toil, to spread the rays of Gospel light and healing all around. He tended the souls and bodies of some 43,000 poor natives every year. He sent forth twelve educated nativcs, from all missions, to be medical missionaries in their own districts. His wife and he won an entrance into * This latter work has been undertaken iu a limited way by the International Medical Missionary Society of New York, of which Dr. George D. Dowkontt is the Superintendent. By means of a Training Institution (at 118 E. 45th Street) and several city mission dispensaries, students are educate1 in practical evangelical work as well as equipped with m~dical experience before going to tbe field. The society is doing a good work; it is carried on faithfully and economically, and deserves hearty support. native households from which all but the physician was excluded. He died of abundant labors in 1871. Himself son of Dr. Chalmers's" Missionary of Kilmany," he has given his eldest son, Dr. Alexander Paterson, to the Church's medical work in the Keith-Falconer Mission III South Arabia. Dr. D. H. Paterson was succeeded by Dr. William Elder, and he, for a time, by one of the native medical missionaries, Rev. T. K. Itty. The Free Church of Scotland purchased all the buildings, added to them, and made the mission its own. Now it has come to be worked by the first woman medical missionary sent out by the Ladies' Society, Dr. Matilda Macphail. She is likely to be joined by Dr. Janet Hunter, of the same Society; that, the two helping each other in the missionary work, the mission may go on in full strength, notwithstanding occasional sickness and furlough. This Tamil Medical Mission has borne rich spiritual fruit in the two native congregations of Rayapooram, the busy railway suburb which is its centre, one Tamil and one Eurasian.
DR. DUFF'S EARLIER WORK IN BENGAL. WORK IN CHINA.
The founding of this cnterprise in 1855 was not the first attempt of our missionaries to use the Lord's method of healing as a door into His kingdom. Twenty years before that, in 1834, Dr. Alexander Duff induced government to give his ablest students-Brahmans, till conTersion-the full medical training which has ever since sent a large nnmber of our best native Christians into the Indian Medical Service as army and civil surgeons and medical professors. The story of the first efforts to get Brahmans t6 dissect the human body, as told in our first missionary's" Life," reads like a romance (vol. i., chap. 8). That was the beginning of medical missions in India, just fifty-five years ago. Here, in this as in all missionary methods, Dr. Carey had been first-his colleague, Dr. Thomas, having in 1790, when surgeon in an East Iudiaman, begun to heal the sick as well as to preach to the sinful Bengalees. But that was long a solitary case. In 1740 the Moravians had sent five medical men to Persia, but unsuccessfully. In 1798 Dr. Vanderkemp, a physician, was a missionary in South Africa. With their more free medical system the Americans of the United States took up the policy, but by 1849 there were only twelve medical missionaries in all the non-Christian world, chiefly in China and Syria. Now there are four hundred, and every year sees an addition to the number. China, however, has the distinction of being the earliest scene of medical mission work, steadily developed. Dr. T. R. Colledge, when in Macao as an East India Company's surgeon, in 1827 began those Christ like labors among the poor, and especially the blind, which Chinnery has immortalized in a famous picture. The Rev. Dr. P. Parker, who had done medical mission work in Singapore in 1831), and in Canton, was the first to give an impetus to the whole· Evangelical Church in this matter, when his visit to Edinburgh resulted in the godly and skilled physicianA there establishing its MedicalMissionary Society. Now, besides that valuable agency, under Rev. J. Lowe, F.RC.S.E., for training medical missionaries side by side with the university and medical schools, there are three other training institutions-Dr. J. L. Maxwell's, 104 Petherton Road, London, N.; Dr. G. D. Dowkontt's, 118 East Forty-fifth Street, New York; and Rev. Dr. Valentine's, Agra.
WOMEN BECOME QUALIFIED MEDICAL MISSIONARIES.
This third step was the greatest. Long opposed by the teaching and licensing bodies in the United Kingdom, Christian women, yearning to relieve the misery, spiritual and bodily, of the millions of their sisters in the East, by teaching them of Christ the Healer, were dtiven to America or Switzerland for training. Of the women missionaries sent out by America, no nobler has lived and died for the women and children of India than Mary Seelye, M.D. She worked alone in the vast population of Calcutta, and the gigantic work killed her in the midst of her success. The same fate befell other solitary and unaided workers-establishing the lesson that it is more true of womeu than of men, and more true of medical than of other missionaries, that they must go forth at least two and two.
In the year 1860 Mrs. George Smith began to reside in the famous Bengal town of Serampore. Soon the jealously-guarded homes (zenanas) of the best Hindu families were open to her, and, aided by the municipality and the Baptist missionaries, she opened girls' schools for the poorer families. What she took up as a work of Christian vernacular education, sad experience led her to develop into a medical mission also to women, so far as that was possible without a fully qualified co-worker. What she witnessed, and often in vain tried to relieve, can be told only to women, but our Ladies' Society published these sentences from her pen on her return to Scotland : " The women of Great Britain would stare if they saw what we have seen. A woman of gentle birth kept apart with her new-born infant for a whole month, in a small chamber, with only a grating for a window, and , laid on a damp floor-a small fire in one corner, and no chimney !
,"A lady doctor, who was alone in her mission, felt it almost impossible to attend native women at the birth of their children, from the repulsive practices which prevail. . •. A son was born in a zenana to which I had access, and as it was a first-born, one would suppose that as much honor as possible: would be done the poor mother, who was only fourteen years of age. But she was kept apart in the damp little room, laid on the floor, and she and her babe were looked at only through the grating. Even her husband dare not touch her, nor his son j anyone so touching them would at once become impure.
" Need the people of this country wonder at the importunity of those who know that these thingl!! are-at their anxiety that teachers should be sent out to clear the minds of our poor Eastern sisters from the misti of prejudice and heathenism 1"
The writer gave up her little leisure to plead for the 127,000,000 of women in India that they might have Christian physicians of their own sex. She, bfling dead, yet speaketh. Great has been the progress since 1860, and even since 1876 when these words first appeared. In a paper on" Women's Work in the Mission Field,." read at the London Missionary Conference in 1888, Miss A. Marston, M.D., of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, made the following statement: "Of the sixty female practitioners on the English medical register, ten have given themselves to the work of foreign missions." That is only the beginning. Already the number is increased, and soon will be doubled.
THE QUEEN-EMPRESS AND THE MARCHIONESS OF DUFFERIN'S ASSOCIATION.
Because there were none to attend a Hindu woman in sickness save immoral native quacks, the Maharani of Panna, still the great diamondbearing state of Ceutral India, contracted a long and painful disease. An Englishwoman, a medical missionary, was the means of curing her, and when going home on, furlough took a ilhort letter from this Hindu feudatory queen to the Queen-Empress Victoria, petitioning Her Majesty to provide a remedy. Dr. Murdoch thus tells the story: "The letter was put into a small gold locket, which the lady was to wear round her neck till she gave it into the hands of the queen. An interview was granted, and the tender heart of Her Majesty was touched_ She sent a kind reply to the Maharani, and Lord Dufferin could say at a public meeting in Calcutta, ' In endeavoring to launch a scheme for the improvement of the medical treatment of the women of India, we are fulfilling the special injunction of Her Majesty the Queen. Lady Dufferin's first work was a careful survey of the field and consideration of plans. In August 1885 an association was formed to promote the following objects: 1. Medical tuition. 2. Medical relief. 3. The supply of trained female nurses. "
Lady Aitchison, after whom the Women's Hospital in Lahore is named, and others, took up the scheme in' each of the Provinces of India. The Marchioness of Lansdowne is now at its head. All classes of the natives have subscribed a sum, which is invested to the equivalent of £55,000.
"Five lady doctors and a nurse have been obtained from England. About two hundred young women are being educated in the medical colleges of India, a number of them maintained by the branches of the Association. There are twelve female hospitals and fifteen dispensaries more or less aided. Classes have been formed for the training of female nurses.
" One rule of the Association has been qtxestioned by some. Religious neutrality is to be observed by its agents. It was felt that the work: wa, of such magnitude that it could be carried out effectually only by the cooperation of native princes. Municipalitiq,s include Hindus and Muhammadans. Government officers would also feel unwilling to connect themselves with a missionary agency. One result is that large donations havc been made by non-Christians. The Hindu high priest of Tripati, a large temple near Madras, has offered two scholarships for hospital assistants, two gold medals, two scholarships for female nurses, beside other help.
" Indirectly, Christian Missions are benefited. Indian women, at present, trust mainly to charms and other superstitious ceremonies for the cure of disease. Successful treatment by medicine alone will help to dissipate such belief.
" The Christian Vernacular Education Society is co-operating as far as possible in the work which Lady Dufferin 80 zealously commenced. Its , Ranitary Primer,' with a few omissions, has been adopted by the Association as the most suitahle for diffusing an elementary knowledge of t.he laws of health. The Society has also published simple treatises on Childbirth, the Health of Children, and Sanitary Reform, which are having an encouraging circulation. "
RAPID EXTENSION OF MEDICAL MISSIONS BY THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
The necessity is the greater that the Church of Christ, as such, should do its duty. In 1855 we began with Dr. David H. Paterson at Madras; in 1891 we find that the one medical missionary has increased to twentyseven. Our medically qualified mi8sionaries are: Rev. William M. Alexander, B.Sc., M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Bombay, India; Rey. William Carslaw, M.D., Glasgow, Syria; Rev. J. Kerr Cross, M.B., GM., Gla8gow, Livingstonia, Central·Africa; Rev. James Dalzell, B.D., M.B., C.M., Natal, South Africa; Rev. J. A. Dyf'r, L.Re.p., and S. Edinburgh, Santalia, India; W. A. Elmslie, M. B., C. M., AlJerdeen,
PAUL THE MISSIONARY
Living8tonia, Central Africa; Wiliiam Gunn, LR. C.P., and S. .n:dinburgh, Futuna, New Hebrides; Rev. R. Eannington, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Constantinople ; l~ev. George Hem'y, M.A., M.B., C.M., Aberdeen, Livingstonia, Central Africa; J. B. Henderson, M.B., C.M., Madras, India; Rev. R. Laws, M.A., M.D., Aherdeen, F.R.G.S., Livingstonia, Central Africa; Adolf Lippner, M.D., Buda-Pest, Europe; Alexander Paterson, M.B., C.M., Edinburgh, Keith-Falconer Mission, South Arabia; Rev. Alexander Robertson, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Nagpoor, Central India; Rev. J. Sandilands, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Bandhara, Central India; Rev. J. Stewart, M.D., C.M., Glasgow, F.R.G.S., Lovedale, Souih Africa; D. W. Torrance, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Tiberias, Palestine j W. Walker, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Conjevaram, South India.
WOMEN.
Janet Hunter, M.D., Brussels, L.R.C.P. and S., Glasgow, to be appointed to Madras; Matilda Macphail, L.R.C. P. and S., Glasgow, Madras, South India; Agnes E. Henderson, M.D.
StUdying for Full Qualification.
Ladv from India, in Edinburgh and Leith; two other ladies.
NATIVES OF INDIA.
Not yet Qualified in British Sense.
Lazarus Abraham, Tanna, India: Rev. T. K. Itty, Madras, India j J. Nanji Kotak, L.M. and S., of Grant College, Bombay, India; T. Khisti, Bombay, India; James M. Macphail, M.A., Glasgow, Santalia, India; Dugald Revie, Glasgow, probably Livingstonia, Central Africa; A. G. Mowat, M.B., C.M., Glasgow j Dr. Fotheringham, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Livingstonia; Rev. G. Steele, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Livingstonia.
The Church has enjoyed the services of the late Dr. Robson in Calcutta, of Dr. Young in Bombay, of Dr. Cowen in South Arabia, of Dr. Weir in South Africa, of Miss Waterston, M.D., in Central and South Africa, and others. It has gladly sent not a few of its best sons to the missions of the Church Missionary Society, like the lamented Elmslie in Kashmir, and John Smith, Lake Nyanza; of the Presbyterian Church of England in China; of the United Presbyterian Church in Manchuria, and of the London Missionary Society in several lands.
For every living, and therefore missionary church, rejoices to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ, in proof of His power to utter the sweetest words ever heard by man, Thy sins be forgiven thee, ~dded, Arise and walle.
PAUL THE MISSIONARY.
BY REV. JOHN ROSS, MOOKDEN, MANCHURIA.
It is a cause for thankfulness that the church atmosphere is resounding with theories as to the best modes of evangelizing the world, for this indicates on the part. of the Church of Christ an acknowledged sense of responsibility. But it seems to me strange that in the world-wide proclamation of some popular theones, the missionary chapters of the New Testament appeal as if expurgated from the Bibles of many who have at heart the in- terests of the kingdom. -Where the influence and lives of the workers ana the spiritual well being of untold multitudes are at stake, it is surely a paramount duty to investigate, ~o understand and, as far as practicable aud wise, to imitate the example of those who initiated the work of evangelizingthe world. It is my desire in this paper to briefly examine, for the consideration of all earnest Christian people, the missionary career of the Apostle Paul. This task is the less difficult because the history of his career, as far as it was under the guidance of his own free will and judgment, is contained in nine chapters of the Acts, beginning with the 18th and concluding in the 21st.
Persecution drove from Jerusalem many Christians, who fled as far as Phenice in the north and Cyprus in the south. Preaching where they went, many of them made a favorable impression not upon Jews only, but upon Gentiles also. Some believers were originally from Antioch, and on their compulsory return spoke to Jew and Gentile of the way of life. The wonderful results stupefied the Church which had remained in Jerusalem, and Barnabas, as a well-tried Hellenist, was sent to examine and report. Learning what kind of men they were who became believers, and what sort of men opposed the movement, he went to Tarsus to find out and bring with him, as best adapted for the work, his former friend Saul, who was apparently living in retirement. How long the two men preached in Antioch we know not, but the time was long enough to prove their incomparable superiority to all the other preachers. This pre-eminence was the reason why they were selected (Acts 13) as the first Apostles to go to the " regions beyond."
Through Seleucia and Cyprus, where the Gospel had been already proclaimed, they simply passed on, and called a halt only when they got to Antioch, in Pisidia. Long and plainly did Paul speak in this place, reasoning with the people and fully expounding to them the truth. So great was the concourse of people to hear him on the following Sabbath that envious Jews drove him out of the city.
Driven from Antioch, the preachers made their way to Iconium, where they remained a considerable time preaching and explaining, till they were compelled to abandon the city. At Lystra they created a great sensation, which ended in Paul being left for dead from stoning by the enraged citizens. Having recovered, he retraced his steps, strengthening the hearts and more fully enlightening·the understanding of the believers.
After the question of circumcision, which threatened to create a rupture in the church, was settled in a common-sense manner by mutual concession, Paul and Barnabas separated over a dispute regarding a third colleague. Each took the man of his own choice, and Paul went through Syria, passing, as formerly, through the places where the Gospel had been preached, by the way strengthening and instruct.ing the believers, so that these ~ight be the better able to push forward the work in their own neighbor- hood. He rested only when he crossed over into Europe and arrived in Philippi, whither the Gospel had not yet penetrated. There he sought out those anxious to lead a better life, and continued his public preaching till serious maltreatment threatened his life.
From Thessalonica the animosity of the Jews compelled him to a speedy Hight. The people in Berea were more liberal and ready to listen to Paul's arguments. But jealous orthodoxy pursued and drove him away. Thence he went to Athens, where he encountered the Greek philosophers, whose contemptuous treatment sent him on to Cormth, where he remained for a lengthened period. A tumult there made him again a wanderer. Passing through Ephesus at that time, he returned to it and baptized twelve believ. ers. For three months he continned arguing from tho Scriptures that Jesns was the· Messiah, till orthodoxy closed the synagogue ngainst him. But a school was thrown open to him, where he daily discour"iJd for so long a time that all the people in the city knew somewhat of the doctrine and its preachers. After a brief absence, though anxious to go to Jerusalem and Rome, he went back to Ephesus, where a great uproar terminated his stay. Still eager to ilIlpart some further instruction, Ilnd because from his urgency, to depart for .Terusalem he was unable to go in person, he sent for the elders to confer with them at the port of Miletns. In this last discourse he informed them that he had declared to them the" whole counsel of God," which in modern language means that he had passed them through a theological course.
After his hurried journey to Jerusalem, he was no longer a free agent, but went where his soldier-keepers led him. Though his subsequent history is, therefore, a magnificent example of enthusiastic preaching ~f the Gospel in the most trying circumstances, it does not, beyond his epistles, show us the principles of action and the methods of work which his unfettered will would have suggested. "Ve have enough, however, in this summary to learn (1) the kind of agent, (2) the form of itineracy, and (3) the style of preaching which were considered the best, and which turned out the most successful in Apostolic times.
1. The agent was the man already proved to be the best in the Church -the best spiritually, intellectually, lind educationally. This" best" man did not go of his own accord. He was called to the work and" sent" by the Church. Now, the work of preaching the Gospel in China is more difficult than any the Apostle Panl had to undertake. He had learned Hebrew at his mother's knee. In the celebrated Rchools of Tarsus, with their famous stoics, he hau become familiar with Greek thought, literature, and language. And he whose father was a Roman citizen, and who lived in a Roman settlement, could not well have been ignorant of Latin. Whatever, therefore, the meaning of the gift of tongues, it did not signify in Paul's case the miraculous possession of a llitherto unknown· Janguage ; for from Arabia in the east to Rome in the west Paul did not preach in any place where some one of these three languages was not well and generally understood. He did not require to spend weary months in learning a new language before communicating Christian truth to a strange people, though his reception at Athens proved his Greek pronunciation not unimpeachable. He was not compelled to wade through a ponderous and foreign literature, nor patiently to wait to learn the manners and opinions of a people in order to ascertain their special mental and spiritual views. His early education and his knowledge of those languages enabled him at once to address an audience as if they had been old acquaintances. Let the Church learn the lesson proclaimed by this trumpet voice. God demands your best, as He did of the Jews. The beast with a flaw was not to be offered on the altar. The man with a blemish was not to become a priest.
2. The itineracy of Paul differed toto cwlo from the itineracy now recommended by many good people. Paul" itinerated" through all the places where the Gospel was known. But in places where the Gospel had not been preached he remained for days, weeks, months, and even years, till he was driven away by attempts on his life. To impart a knowledge of what Paul considered essential truth required not a few lessons, but the preaching and teaching of years. The lesson from this characteristic of Paul should be seriously pondered both by missionaries and all interested in mission work, and especially in China, which presents a field far more difficult than any in which Paul labored. A racing over the ground and a few addresses in a place which is then abandoned, is a mere waste of men, of labor, and of time. You must" teach" the people to " know," or your labor is in vain. Captain Bobadil's plan will convert China after it has destroyed the nrmies of France. Itineracy in a Christian country, where even unbelievers are theoretically well acquainted with Christian truth, is one thing; in China, where its elements are unknown, quite a different thing.
3. Paul had no particular form of sermon. He had no tricks of speech or manner, no craving for popularity. He first of all learned the mental and spiritual condition of his hearers, and adapted what he had to say to their knowledge and wants.· This is what he signified when he wrote of " taking people by guile." It is unnecessary to dwell upon the versatility of his mind, as shown in the manner in which he addressed his varied audiences, whether Jews or Greeks, soldiers or philosophers, an angry mob or a proud king. But in all we have evidence of remarkable human wisdom fired by the enthusiasm begotten of the Spirit of God. He reasoned, declaimed, recited historical facts, quoted from authors, and adopted every plan to further the end in view. His logical powers were employed in argument, his whole soul poured forth in appeal. He combined the art of the rhetorician with the reasoning of the logician. Thus he was able to make himself" all things to all men j" whence his unexampled success.
As to the matter of his discourses, he was not content with merely proclaiming that Jesus was the Saviour. He explained the terms he employed.
18911 THE RECENT AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPEROR OF CHINA
He spoke of the nature of sin and of holiness. He declared man's duty to man and his relationship to God, what man should be and do in this life, and what he may hope to possess in the life to come.
The success of Paul was not in the least degree dependent on the few cases of healing recorded of him; his miracles brought him into trouble. Nor yet was it by the plan of planting schools and colleges. But it was by the earnest, continuous, intelligent, and intelligible preaching of the sound system of truth embraced in Christ's Gospel. And if the facts of the modern mission field were properly understood, the lesson would be learned that, however excellent are subsidiary aids for levelling down the thick wall of prejudice which raises its proud head high against the Gospel in China, nothing can possibly gain that people for Christ but the plan of Paul. How can they believe if they do not understand? How can they understand if they do not hear intelligently? How can they hear intelligently if the preacher is without understanding? And how can they have preachers of understanding if the chUl'ches fail to send them? "I speak as to wise men i judge ye."
THE RECENT AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPEROR OF CHINA.
BY BOUDINOT C. ATTERBURY, M.D., PEKING, CHINA.
A most interesting episode took place in connection with the foreign relations of China on March 5th, this year. It was the interview granted by the" Son of Heaven" to the foreign ministers living in Peking, and repre· senting their various countries. For years past this question of the right personally to present credentials to the Emperor has been the subject of great discussion between the legations and the foreign office. In 1874 Tung Chih, the uncle of the present ruler, after much pressure was brought to bear, granted an audience. Since then, however, the questIOn, although agitated, has never been seriously insisted upon until the present young ruler him8elf took control of the government. Unexpectedly to many, three months ago an Imperial edict was issued stating that the Emperor was willing to receIve the ministers and charges d'affaires. No matter what may have been the reasons for this step on the part of the Chinese Government-reasons perhaps chiefly political, in order to cultivate more close relations with other governments one thing is certain, that the express wish of the Emperor himself was also It powerful factor in bringing about the wished-for event. Those living outside of China can scarcely realize how many were the preliminaries which had to be arranged before the interview could take place. Long conferences were held between the legations and the Chinese ministers. On the one side were a set of men anxious to sUl'round their ruler with all the ceremonies which they consider to be his due as the representative of heaven upon earth j on the other hand were the foreigners, willing to accord any etiquette customary at a European court, but determined not to do anything implying in any sense that their countries were in vassalage to China. The principal difficulties were the right' of separate audience and the place of meeting. Mutual concessions smoothed over these points, the former being granted by the Chinese, and the foreigners waiving their preferences in the latter. The place agreed upon was the" Hall of Shining Purple," where the usual receptions are accorded to the tributary States, sucb as Mongolia and Corea, with the understanding that on future occasions another place within the palace grounds must be prepared. The ministers with their suites started about 10 A.M. All the foreigners, thirty-one in number, sat in green sedan chairs, each carried by four men. Passing through the" Gate of Flowing Prosperity," they arrived at the point where the officials of the foreign office stood ready to receive. Descending from their chairs they entered, through long lines of soldiers, a temple, where some time was 8pent in chatting and eating various delicacies. Then the entire party advanced to the HaH of Audience. It is a picturesque building, with yellow tiles and painted in many colors. Three flights of steps lead up to a terrace in front of the hall doors. The central set are reserved for his Majesty; others use those on the sides. On the terrace were four tents comfOltably furnished with stoves and carpets. When the summons into the Imperial presence came, each minister, with accompanying interpreter, was conducted by two officials to a point where two columns, the" Dragon PilIars," marked a distance of about six feet from the raised platform on which the Emperor was sitting. First the German Minister was received; then follow('d the representatives of America, England, Japan, Italy, and the Netherlands. The large room presented an imposing spectacle, being lined with military officers. Back of the Emperor, who was sitting cross-legged on the dais raised about three feet, were some dark stone tablets carved with Manchu and Chinese inscriptions. In front was a small table, and at the side a naked sword on a stand. On the way to the" Dragon Pillars" each minister made the obeisance given at any court to the Sovereign. He then read an address which was rendered into Chinese by the interpreter and handed to Prince Chung, who, on his knees, translated it into Manchu. The Emperor responded in turn. The minister than advanced to the platform with his letter of credence, which was received by Prince Chung, who, with a low bow, laid it on the table. According to custom, the Prince should have knelt when presenting the letter. This, however, the foreigners would not allow, since, for the moment he represented them, thus kneeling would imply a concession of inferiority. Afterward a general reception was beld, and the entire company, with their secretaries, were presented. The German Minister, as doyen of the corps diplomatique, read an address; the Emperor replied in Manchu, which was turned into Chinese by Prince Chung, the head of the Foreign Office. A grand banquet the following ,jay ended the audience. Of course, the Emperor was the central figure.
ENCOURAGEMENTS IN THE WORK OF' MISSIONS
He has an intelligent face and large dark eyes. lIe looks even younger than he is-eighteen years old. His physique is not strong, but his bearing is manly and self-posse!sed. His dress was a purple robe embroidered with gold dragons. He wore a large official felt hat, on the top of which was a plain red button. All hope that the outcome of this interview will be a still greatcr desire on the part of the Chinese to break down the isolation with which they have snrrounded themselves.
ENCOlTRAGEMENTS IN THE WORK OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. A. A. PFANSTIEHL, ST. JOSEPH, MO.
One of the questions that is asked in regard to the work of foreign missions is, Does it pay? It has been figured out by those who look upon this work from a political-economy point of view that it costs about $1000 to make a single convert in heathendom, and that at the present rate of progress it will take two hundred thousand years to convert the world! In view of this they ask, Is it worth while to spend so many millions of dollars, to expend so much valuable energy-for it is admitted that the missionaries are among our most energetic Christian workers; were they not so, they would never go into the arduous work in foreign fields-when, after all, so comparatively little is accomplished? But look at this a moment. This calculation would perhaps be legitimate and correct were each convert a dead one; but as it is, he is a living influence, he has in him leavening power, so that he sets work of conversion in motion in remarkable ratio. Max Miiller well says: "An intellectual harvest must not be calculated by adding simply grain to grain, but by counting each grain as a living seed, that will bring forth fruit a hundred an(l a thousand-fold." Therefore, however comparatively little seems to be done in the vast fields of heathendom, yet when we take this work, representing hundreds of thousands of adult converts who, together with their families, form Christian communities scattered over nearly every portion of the heathen world, it represents a power that is incalculable, a power in itself capable of marvel- lous work for God, without help from abroad. * But now add to this power the additional force given to it with increasing intensity every year by the Christian world at large, will it take two hundred thousand years to evangelize the world 1 Missionary efforts and * As a matter of fact, to prove this take these figures of but one mission field: Burmah gave in 1880 to the Baptist Union $31,616.14, while Massachusetts gave the same year but little more-viz., $41,312.72, and New York gave only $38,469.78. "Japan," it is said, " is alive, energetic, eager-a nation with a destiny; and a Church of Christ in Japau would be throughout all EMtern Asia an ally that would be invaluable." And this is what Max Miiller says about India: "If we think of the future of India and of the influence which that country has always exercised on the EMt, the movement of religious reform which is now going on appe(lrs to my mind the most momentous in this momentous century." expenditures do pay! and there is nothing discouraging in the calculation, even though it be that it takes $1000 to make a single convert in heathen- dom. On the contrary, there is every encouragement possible to continue the work and make it more and more agressive. 'Tis this that I desire to press briefly from 1. What has been done in the past, and 2. What it is the declared purpose of God to do in the spread of Christ's kingdom.
Considering the extent, the power, the influence of Christianity to-day, and then looking back 1800 years, when it began with a mere handful of people, working against opposition that came from principalities and powers, the strong forces of Rome, the prejudice, the enmity of the carnal mind, and the deadly hatred of the Jews, have we occasion to be discouraged~ ay, must we not greatly be encouraged when the kingdom of Christ has now grown to be in the ascendancy 1 But look especially at the mission work of the last one hundred years! What giant strides have been made during these years! And these are but the first slow steppings of the Church, that will, if indications for the future mean anything, continue to advance rapidly. For 'tis but a short time since the vast openings for work have been presented to the Church-openings that were closed to the Christian world until these latter years-commercial openings, and facilities for work afforded by discoveries of religious books of the heathen, enabling missionaries to work intelligently among the people. " We have now be- fore us the canonical books of Buddhism j the Zend Avesta of Zoroaster is no longer a sealed book j and the hymns of the Rig Veda have revealed a state of religion anterior to the first beginnings of that mythology which in Homer and Hesiod stand before us as mouldering ruin. The soil of Mesopotamia has given back the very images once worshipped by the most powerful of the Semitic tribes, and the cuneiform inscriptions of Babylon and Nineveh have disclosed the very prayers addressed to Baal or Misroch. "
Hence, by the providence of God, we are led into the very citadel of the power of those whom we desire to win, and we know intelligently how to lay the siege. Discouragement ~ Nay, nay, for this advantage has already been so helpful that victory is in sight, if the Christian church will only vigorously press the siege for the next few years! '
But another encouragement. Max Muller, a few years ago, wrote about the dying and death of what he calls the nondescript heathen religions.
These, such as Zoroastrianism, etc., that he puts down as 8.7 per cent of the number of the population of the world, have ceased to struggle, and all we need do is to apply the strong battery of God's" truth as it is in Jesus"
to them, and they will live ancw with redeemed, everlasting life. Brahman- ism, too, one of the two living Aryan religions, is existing in a living death, and " for gaining an idea of the issue of the great religious struggle of the future, that religion, too, is dead aud gone." And Buddhism-what about it 1 Many of the readers may remember a significant paper that was sent, in 1887, to the Presbyterian churches of the Unitcd States, signed by all the Presbyterian ministers in Japan-31 in number-wherein we find this language: "Buddhism is condemned already. That is the common position assumed by the press. And what the press encourages the government allows. . . . The tone of Buddhism is a tone of defeat; Christianity is confident of victory." And this is confirmed by the quotation from one of the tracts published in India, given in the March, 1891, number of this REVIEW, which says, in order to call the heathen religionists to vigorous action against the progress of Christianity: "Missionaries have cast their nets over our children by teaching them in their schools, and they have already made thousands of Christians, and are continuing to do so. . . . Do you not know that the number of Christians is increasing, and the number of Hindu religionists decreasing cvery day?" The enemy himself here is the judge.
This much encouragement from the past. Now what, from a consideration of what we know, is the purpose of Almighty God in regard to the leaven of Christianity introduced in the world? It is His purpose that the .. whole lump" SHALL be leavened. And can anything thwart that purpose 1 Chri~tian churches and individuals need not lend their help with II discouraged feeling; they need not with a shrug of the shoulder look at this work of evangelizing the world.
To this appeal of Mr. Pfanstiehl, the editor cannot forbear to add that the only real discouragement in the work of missions is the slowness and sluggishness of the church to fall into line with the command and the lead- ership of our Royal Captain. Open doors stand before us on every side.
In the most difficult of all mission fields, India, the most abundant harvests since Pentecost have been reaped and continue to be reaped in the Tin- nevelly and Telugu districts. The church has numerical force and finan- cial resource sufficient without a doubt to bear the Gospelmess:tge to every soul before the century ends. The only real lack is the lack of the spirit of mis.~ions. In the Apocalypse there is a significant succession in the messages to the churches of Philadelphia and Laodicea. To Philadelphia the key-note is encouragement-" Behold, I have set before thee an open door." To Laodicea, which immediately follows, the key-note is warning-" Because thou art lukewarm . • • I will spew thee out of my month." Both these messages may be applied to the Church of our day. We are Philadelphians for opportunity and Laodiceans for lukewarmness. And if the church of this generation does not arouse herself to new consecration and enter God's open doors, it is to be feared that He will cast away such II faithless church, and out of its remnant construct a more loyal people.
Bishop H. T. Bachman, of the Moravian Church. is at present engaged in an official visitation of the Moravian Alaskan missions. He will have to travel from the Kuskokwim to Meshagak, some 200 miles, overland in pioneer !ltyle. It was two summers ago that the wife of Bishop Bachman went to Alaska to nurse the sick missionary's wife, Mrs. Kilbuck.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The Rev. J. Johnstone Irving, in the Voice from Ituly, says, what anyone moderately familiar with Roman Catholic affairs knows to be perfectly true: " Within the unity of the Roman Church there are divisions and differences as numerous and embittered as those found in Protestantism." It is, therefore, quite to the point when he adds: "I am not prepared to admit that a house divided against itself is in a more satisfactory condition than a number of neighboring houses whose social relationships are not all that might be desired." Indeed, as the clergy are so inordinately powerful among the Roman Catholics, theological acrimony is more apt with them to verge toward malignity than in Protestantism, which, comparatively speaking, is a religion of the laity. Unhappily, among the Roman Catholics the only class that has perhaps even more influence than the clergy-namely, the lay zealots, seem to be the most uncharitable of all toward their fellow-Catholics whom they suspect of liberalism.
-The Ohristian says, most appreciatinglyand justly: "The Friend of Missions, published in England, and the Friends' Missionary Advocate of America, are full of interesting information of Friends' work in India, China, Japan, Madagascar, Syria, Palestine, Constantinople, Mexico, Philippopolis, Alaska, and among the North American Indians, thus indicating that the spirit of ' early days' has returned to the Society of Friends. As a basis and incentive to foreign work home missions are growing and increasing in nearly or quite all the yearly meetings in the world. The needs of men socially, morally, and spiritually are pressing the hearts of Friends, and under the Divine impulse lives and money are being surrendered to the service of humanity and the glory of Him' who is the Head of all things' to His people. The Friends have a great and increasing place to fill, and are needed among the churches and in the world. Happily they are in some measure realizing their responsibility, and trying to obey Him who has given them their name if they keep His commandments: Their mission is that of living and teaching spiritual and vital Christianity as 3 commonwealth of believers. . .. Among them there is no ' layman.' "
-Notwithstanding the revival of a very vexatious law in restriction of church building in the kingdom of Travancore, in southwestern India, the Chronicle for April bears witness to the cordiality of the Maharajah, and remarks that miRsionaries have probably more freedom there than they would have in British India.
-The Moslems must be hard pushed to find their prophet foretold in the Gospels. One in India assured Mr. Greaves triumphantly that he had found Mohammed's advent clea.rly announced by our Lord. Being asked where, he produced John 14 : 30, "The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me." Mr. Greaves quietly remarked that he had no objection to the application.
-Missionary Gehring, of the Leipsic Society, remarks, apropos of an unexpected though brief attack of lIeasickness, that it did him the' good of ridding him of the disagreeable advances of the American ap<J!!tate, Colonel Olcott, " who in India makes it his business to flatter the heathen by disgusting eulogies on their reli~don. " This may not be very urbane, but the free expression of moral disgust toward "the enemies of the crOSH of Christ," whether their name is Olcott, Ingergoll, Bradlaugh, or BeS1lnt, is sometimes better than the smirking complaisance with which contemporary Christianity is somewhat too deeply infected.
-Here is part of a hymn addressed by hundreds of thousands to the cruel goddess Kali, in deprecation of a law which simply protects the persons of child-wives until they are twelve years old. We remember Kali, with her pendant necklace of skulls, and her blood-dripping tongue thrust out to her waist. Such a hymn wcll becomes her. "In great distress at thy door we have come, mother, source of all good. Horrified, that is why we raise this cry, 0 mother! queen of the universe. What to say ~ We are about to be undone, mother, by the word of some outcastes. Intending to do an act of kindness, the government is destroying our religion. Our hearts shudder through fear," etc.
-NachTichten aus dem Morgenlande, speaking of the needs of the Protestants of Bethlehem for church and school, says, "If the wise men from the East brought aforetime to Bethlehem the most precious gifts of their native land, would that the wise men from the vVest would also lay down there their art and their gifts of beauty at the feet of the infant Christ!" If Protestantism will not take its place and see to it that it finds a worthy representation in Palestine, by the side of the splendid outlays of the Roman Catholic and of the Russian Church, it mnst accept the consequences.
-It is known that the London missionarie3 in Madagascar have labored principally among the ruling and central race of the Hovas and the neighboring tribe of the Betsileos. The Norwegian missionaries, it appears, are also actively at work among Betsimarakas of the southeast, and the fierce Sakalavas of the west.
-The atrocions massacre of men, women, and children by a Hova governor in Madagascar (followed, it appears, by his own ex.eeution) has, remarks the Ohronicle, left a sad blot on the good name of the Christian queen. The general horror aroused by this act of her deputy, it is to be hoped, will recall her government from that retrogression into the old barbarons ways of which there have been signs lately. Her husband, tlw prime-minister, knew the governor to be an unworthy character, yet allowed favoritism to carry the day in his appointment.
-Mr. Barnett, of Jaffa. writing in Service/or the King, says: "It is very significant that while from various causes the Jews lire beginning to awaken to the fact that their future destiny is bound up with this land, the 'l'urks and Arabs seem to be nnder a presentiment that their time here is short. I am told by several friends who have great experience in this country that some of the natives are very negligent in the cultivation of their fields and gardens, and the reason they give when asked is, ' What's the good, the Jews will soon have it.' "
-Mr. Van Tassel, who devotes himself to the evangelization of the Bedouins, shows that, as with most remote tribes, accnrate knowledge not only monilies, but often almost revolutionizes previous ideas. He says, "The Bedouin Arabs are usually given a very unenvi.able character, and are looked upon as being most desperate men, thieves, murderers, and almost everything else that is bad; but that is almost entirely wrong. The Arab seldom takes life, unless it is in battle or eelf-defence. There is a standing law in the desert that in case a man is killed his death must be avenged by the members of his tribe. It is not necessary that the murderer himself be put to death, but anyone of his tribe who may happen to fall into their hands. Owing to this custom they are very careful about the shedding of blood.
" There are, of course, some thieves found in the desert, but not all the Arabs are such by.any means, and those who are so are despised by the others, and well puuished when caught."
Mr. Van Tassel remarks that the Bedouins, at least those of the north, have a very slight tincture indeed of Mohammedanism. Their feelings of natural religion are strong, and they are exceedingly fond of having the Scriptures of either Testament read to them. Of course, in the Oriental allusions of the Bible they are perfectly at home.
The North Arabia Mission is a branch of the North African Mission.
– " The missionary work of a church is both fruit and measure of its inner spiritual life. "-De Heidenbode (Rotterdam).
-The Free Church of Scotland Monthly. referring to Cardinal Lavigerie's far-reaching missionary plans, remarks, "Whatever may be said about the Papacy, it is showing at present a i'pirit of enterprise which we cannot but admire. The zeal it is manifesting ought to act as a stimulus to our Protestant sO<.:ieties to devise larger and, if we may say so, more adventurous schemes for the conversion of the nations."
-The Ghu1·ch Missionary lntelligencer for April, 1891, very justly refers to the American Board as " one of the best-managed societies in the world," and supports by its high authority its own preference of special contributions for objects designated by the Society, rather than for the somewhat narrowing and capricious designation of special objects by individual donors.
-The printing of the whole Bible in the language of the Sunda Islands (Dutch Ea"t Indies) is now complete, as appears by the Or.qaan of the Netherlands Missionary Society. Between 300 and 400 person~ have been engaged upon it.
– " The business instinct is indispensablj"l for the conduct of a missionary society; but it is not sufficient, it is even injurious, if it is not founded in piety and joined with a real zeal for the cause of the Gospel." -Journal des Mislions.
THE UNITED KINGDOM.
-The English Baptist Missionary Society, whose cen enary occurs in 1892, intends to endeavor to raise a Special Centenary Fund of £100,000, and to seek also to increase the annual income of the society to £100,000.
-The Ohurch Missionary Gleaner for April says: "The approaclling census again suggests a comparison of past and present. When the last eensus was taken in 1881, the society was working under a resolution, solemnly arrived at on account of financial pressure, to send out only five new missionaries each year for three years; but we were rejoicing that special gifts had enabled the committee to send out twenty instead of five. It is a fact like this which we have gleaned from the report of that year that makes one realize just a little of what God has done for us in the past ten years. Three times twenty is not considered a large number now. "
-This is a most racy bit from a tract, Do Not Say, published by the Church Missionary Society. The author is the Rev. J. Heywood Horsburgh, C. M. S. missionary in mid-China: "Imagine our sending to the heathen just one man more than we could spare, so that for one parish we could not find a rector! 'Vhat an outcry there would be! Why, even those who take the most thorough interest in foreign missions would be afraid we were' really going a little too far.' Yes, though that clergyman had left but five hundred, nominal Christians already (many of them true Christians?, and gone to a parish of a thousand thousand, all heathen, and. he the on y worker aILong them all, it would still be thought a dreadful thing for this English parish to be without a clergyman, albeit there were a dozen other churches half empty in that very place, and perhaps an excellent chapel on the other side of the road. When shall we wake up and understand that' taking an interest in foreign missions' really ought to mean something more than giving the heathen a few fragments, after spreading a most bountiful table for ourselves ?"
-The Reaper says that the flaw in Mr. Stead's sanguine and well-meant endeavors to bring about a social revolution has been pointed out very clearly by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salford : "It seems to me we differ because we begin from different ends. You begin with the creature and his miseries and wants. We begin with the Creator and His plan or system of redemption and salvation." There is no use in trying to conciliate the Christian view of benevolence with the anti-Christian. The two may coincide materially in a thousand points, but their formative principles are irreconcilably antagonistic.
-The Christian says that Dr. Marshall Lang recently startled the Glasgow Established Presbytery by quoting the remark of a local historian, that" the public houslils in the' second city in the empire' were beating the churches," and that "one public house in a populous locality was capable of undoing the work of ten churches."
– " Let us not think less of what Christ has done on the cross by His death, but let us think more of His resurrection and what He is doing now. "-Rev. EDWARD BALMFORD, in The Christian.
– " Foreign missionary is an unfortunate term. To the Lord Jesus up there in heaven there is no home mission and no foreign mission. He sees at once on both sides of the wall of China, and to Him it is all one field and one work; and slowly we are beginning to see through His eyes and to find out that work at home and work abroad are not, so to speak, two things, but one; that this we ought to do, and not to leave the other undone; ano. that what we call foreign mission work is not a thing to be done by and by, when we get a lot of other things done, but that it ought to be going on all the time."-J. CAMPBELL WHITE, Esq., Convener of the Livingstonia Mission Committee.
-Medical Missions at Home and Abroad (cited in the Free Church Monthly) shows that of 13~ medical missionaries holding British degrees or diplomas, the Free Church of Scotland has 24; the Church Missionary Society, 21 ; the London Missionary Society and the English Presbyterian Church, 13 each j the United Presbyterian Church, 11. There are 13 ladies.
The largest proportion among all the missionaries belonO's to the English Presbyterian Church. 0 . • -Medical Missions at Home and Abroad, rejoicing in the great victory won in the House of Commons over the defenders of the opium traffic, says: "A few days ago an Indian general said, in my hearing, that the opium traffic is a heritage from Warren Hastings. He was right; and I would add that there is nothing in our Anglo-Indian history in which the strong, determined, but godless spirit of that remarkable man has seemed so to persist and to be incarnated as in the long, sad story of our opium traffic with China."
-The Accounts of the Schemes and the Lists of Collections, Contributions, and Legacies of the Church of Scotland for the year ending December 31st, 1890, as prepared by the auditor, are given in the May Record. The total income shows an increase of £18,812 14s. 9d., or 12t per cent over the previous year,. being in all £170,282 5s. 5d. Legacies alone are increased by £6643 16s. 5d. Foreign missions show an increase of £3049 15$. 2d. ; home missions of £2475 19s. 10d. ; the Small Livings Fund of £3316 6s. 9d.
-Arrangements have been made for the fusion of the two English Baptist missionary societies. The common management ill to be conducted according to the plan of the larger society-that of the Particular Baptists. It appears, then, that Calvinism and Arminianisffi are recognized in England as having ceased to be a dividing force among the Baptists. The qUElstion of strict or open communion has long been an open one in both the Baptist bodies. "The Particular Baptist Missionary Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen" was formed in 1792, and " The General Baptist Missionary Society" in 1816. The Orissa Mission, Bengal, in which our own Free Baptist brethren concur, will doubtless continue to be supplied with General Baptist missionaries.
-The Special Centenary Fund of £100,000 which it is proposed to raise will be devoted to seven objects, the first being the extinctit,n of the debt, the seventh the construction of a new Upper Congo steamer, estimated at £5000.
-It seems strange, but Northern Bengal, where Dr. Carey first preached the Gospel, has to-day no missionary provision (at least no Protestant missionary provision) for its 9,000,000 inhabitants.
-The debt of £10,561 88. lId. incurred by the English Baptist Missionary Society during the year is owing to a falling off in legacies. General contributions have been £42,257 28. over against £42,072 188. 7d. for last year.
-The Ch"istian states that many of the working classes in England have'lately joined the Society of Friends.
-,-" There are 400 workers in the Irish Home Mission connected with the Society of Friends, and Sunday-school work is progressing in their hands."- The Ohristian. .
1891]. INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. 1. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Low Pressure Belt of Morality as Marked by the Marriage Law in India. [J. T. G.l It is very difficult for persons living sion among tolerably decent people and remote from India to realize the condi. even among low and lustful classes.
tion of society which has grown up there These memorialists specially empha- in the course of oenturies through un- size that all this is covered by the sanc- challenged customs in Ule matter of mar- tity of British law in the Indian Empire, riage. Even those long resident in the which permits marriage to be consum.
midst of the social order know but little mated in childhood, and even covers about it. The introduction of Western homicide in the marital relation, which physicians, especially of lady doctors, to under other circumstances would be practise in the homes of the people, has criminally punished. They say, " The resulted in the disclosure of a state of system panders to sensuality, lowers things at which even much of heathen the standard of health and morals, de- sentiment revolts. There lies before us grades the race, and tends to perpetuate the Memorial to His Excellency, the itself and all its attendant evils to all Viceroy and Governor-General of India, future generations."
presented by sundry lady physicians, They, with thousands of others, peti- which enumerates instances of cruelty tioned the great British vice-regal au- and. unnatural crimes occurring to their thority and his counsellors in the Ind- notice in the order of their own profes- ian Government to advance the age of sional duties, which, though couched in consent to fourteen years. And yet, professional phraseology, we cannot de- with all these facts before them, the scribe, much less translate into the limit of twelve years was all that this vernacular of ordinary literature. When great government felt it dare ordain. It young girls of seven, eight, and ten years is not our intent now to show that they of age are visited by physicians who ought to or could have gone further.
find their bodies crushed out of shape, Too many factors enter into this case to their flesh hanging in shreds, or now reach a summary conclusion. It is not crippled and crawling to the hospital for that we write. Our purpose is on hands and knees unable to stand rather to call attention to the debasing erect, others partially paralyzed, others influence of the heathen religions, which dying after days of agony, all because showed itself in the tremendous resist- of premature admission to the marital ance developed by the very fact that relation, sanctioned by the laws as well child-marriage was to be called in ques- as the customs, and largely by the sen- tion by the government at all, and the timent of the land, one can read a com- threatened outbreak of violence because mentary on " the habitations of cruelty" the council and viceroy did enact that quite beyond any strain his indignation twelve years should be the legal mini- will bear. Mrs. Nancy Monelle Man. mum of marriageable age. A corre- sell, M.A., M.D., and her associate spondent some while since thus de- lady doctors deserve unstinted com- scribed for us a specimen of this popu- mendation for the moral courage, which lar resistance : led them to the distasteful task of mak- "On Sunday, March 15th, a mass.meeting known to the Indian Government, ing of over 80,000 Hindus was held at that which they could testify to, as in- Kali Ghat-one of the Calcutta suburbs stances of such debasement as makes –to pray to the Goddess Kali and seone desire to find refuge in some theory cure her aid against the pending Bill of demoniacal possession, as a cover for raising the marriageable age of Indian lustful cruelty which passes comprehen- girls from 10 to 12 years. Two hundred native priests had been engaged for the occasion, and were observed preaching so that all unea.siness may cease, Her furiously in various directions among name is Nectar. Drink it, and your the crowds. Processions were formed hearts shall be cool, all your grief shall and marched up to Kali's shrine, shout. cease, desires be fulfilled, and all dan. ing as they went along, 'Hari bole!' ger averted. That is why we all, with 'Save us, Kali, from all interference hands uplifted say, save us, oh! kindly with our religion! ' Some of the more mother. Keep us at thy feet, oh! fanatical had come up from Calcutta on mother of the universe. Who else is their hands and knees; others had there but thee to protect that priceless measured the entire distance by pros. treasure, our national religion, which trating themselves continuously and we are about to lose by the King's mancrawling on their stomachs. A strong date. Help us, oh ! goddess, and for thy body of police kept order; there was help we are taking thy name to.dllY. much subdued excitement. One fanatic To ruin us the cruel law is about to he placed his head on the altar at which passed_ Stop this, oh ! mother, and let many hundreds of lambs and goats had us be happy, who are rich in religion, been sacrificed to Kali, and demanded by singing thy name. When Srimunto the officiating priest to sever his head, was in danger, thou didst take him up as 'he would die for his country.' in thy lap. Thou didst give protection The priest declined, and the man, ris· to Kalkatu at thy feet, source of all good. ing up, was heard to say that the' law We are thy children too; why shall we unfortunately prevented his setting suffer then, oh ! mother Kali P" them all a good example.' While the bulk of the crowd was composed of We are not presenting all this ail news. ignorant persons, there were lots of lawyers, pleaders, merchants, bankers, lt will,not be such to a great number of schoolmasters, and other heads of the people. Poor India !" our readers, yet to others it will be more We had from several sources accounts or less so. We present it as a conten.
of the 80ngs composed for and sung on tion. We want to thrust home the the occasion by theatrical companies. whole facts on that not insignifica;:;t The Statesman gave a rough translation company of excellent people who can see no difference between ., our heathen of one of these, as follows: at home" and the heathen society of a .. FOR THE PROTECTION OF RELIGION. great people; a patient, ingenious, in. .. Sankirtan of Kali at Kalighat. dustrious, intellectual, and in many reo .. In great distresR at thy door we have come, mother, source of all good. spects not an unlovely people, who have Horrified, that is why we raise this cry, oh ! mother, queen of the universe. been systematically debased and im- What to say? We are about to be undone, mother, by the words of some out- bruted through the most sacred avenues castes. Intending to do an act of kind. ness, the Government is destroying our to the human soul; and who, we may even religion. Our hearts shudder through fear. Oh! goddess, save us from this believe, are sincere when they say, that great danger into which we have fallen. We, sons of Hindu families, who have the removal of child-marriage will result hitherto forgotten thee, are now crying to thee for help, as your children, and in a more debasing condition of society pray take us up in thy lap. Protect the modesty of our domestic maidens, thou than has been depicted, or rather hintwho savest people from shame. Kings make laws to make their subjects happy, ed at by the petitioners above quoted, but this law will oppress the poor and helpless. Make this clear to Govern. and by thousands of others who know ment, and say, , Don't make this law.' FOl"give us, oh ! goddess. Make Govern- of similar brutality and bestial outrage ment to understand a.nd to put an eml to all this confusion and disOl·der." under cover of marriage rights. Take " • Sankirtan' sung by the Burra Bazar them at their own rating, and what Sadharan Rori SaMa. must be the sentiment. what are the re- .. Let U8 all to-day sing hymns to g()odess Kali. Let U8 sing in her name, straints on society of the religions they cling to, if there is a worse state, .. a lower depth" imaginable, in conse- quence of shifting the protection of law for girl wifehood from ton to twelve years? It is an open confession that reo ligion, as they understand it has fur- nished no moral restraint against lust, against debauchery, against lechery and .cruelty. And the worst of it all is that those who know them best do not esti- beginning with Alexander III., the Czar mate the moral power of their so-called of Russia, and so on down to Bulgaria religions any higher than they do them- and Greece, to obtain at an early date selves. an international, conference "to con· sider the condition of the Israelites and It is in our heart to make another their claim to Palestine as their ancient plea, and that for sympathy and more home," etc. [J. T. G.] prayer for those sensitive and saintly souls who have to go down into such a Dr. Hamlin said: "The Christian moral maelstrom for years, to try to re- benevolence of this petition is beyond lieve this moral (or rather immoral) con- criticism. The sufferings of the Jews in dition, and, if pity can go farther, then Russia and other parts of Europe defor those parents who for the love of mand the sympathy as they excite the their Divine Lord have to try to rear horror and detestation of all Christians their children in the midst of such un- the world over. But it would be well measured and unmitigated miasma of for the petitiollers to consider the folimmorality. And yet why our cry for lowing points: pity? They seek none of it. All they are asking 01. the Christians of the "1. Have not the Jews forfeited all homeland is help to stay there and to do rightful claim to Palestine? They were the Christly work they have undertaken given over to the Romans because they -and in which they are succeeding– were rebels against Jehovah and His even if it be only to lie down as these anointed. noble lady-doctors at the foot of the throne of power, and cry for relief for " 2. The right of property has limitathe heathen even against themselves; or tions of time and circumstances. After to create a sentiment, as all missionaries eighteen centuries of dispossession and have been aiding to do, which will en- foreign residence no claim can be alable the political powers who care to do lowed in earthly courts. so, to protect young maidens from brutal marital relations till they are at least "3. The people that now inhabit Paltwelve (!) years of age. estine are the rightful owners of the soil. Their ancestors had held it for many Dr, Cyrus Hamlin on Restoring Pales- centuries before the Mayflower cast its tine to the Jews. anchor on 'the wild New England shore.' What would the President pro· The symposium at the Annual Meet- pose to Europe to do with them? They ing of the International Missionary are Arabs, Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Union on the several points of special Syrians, and of some ten or twel ve interest in the Jewish discussions of the other nationalities. Destroy them? times, which was conducted by Dr. Drive them out? Whither? Kellogg, of Toronto, Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, and Mr. William E. Blackstone, Super- "4. The Jews are not agriculturists. intendent of the Chicago Hebrew Mis- They generally hate the employment, sion, was one of great interest and abil- and the colonies established there have ity. We had hoped to be able to give a still to be aided. synopsis of the subject by each speaker prepared by themselves. We are fortu- " 5. The Jews have shown no general nate in having the points of Dr. Ham- desire to return to Palestine. The few lin's paper thus kindly furnished by who have gone have been induced to go him for our use. by offer of aid.
The paper was occasioned by a peti- " There is a small number who fancy tion numerously signed to " The Presi- that Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, the tem. dent and Mr. Blaine" to use their influ- pIe restored, the altar of sacrifice rekin. ence with the governments of Europe, dIed, the Jewish state exalted above all nations, and its enemies destroyed. But this is to be done by Almighty power, and the President and Mr. Blaine would cut a small figure by their interference. "6. • The Sacred Places' and other Government provoke such a humiliation possessions of the Oriental and Latin before all Europe? The explanations churches will be an awkward thing to which would be made would go for nothmanage in the 'return.' They would ing. The worst construction possible be an offence to the Jew; but for a Jew would be put upon every fact. So long to touch them would fire tJ:.e heart of the as our Government, especially our Sen_ Latin and the Greek churches to a white ate and House of Representatives, are heat. under the control of saloons and saloon- iets, so long as alcohol is king, we had "7. But, above all, the petitioners better not champion any cause of humanwould plunge the President right into ity in Europe. the middle of the Oriental Question. This was expanded to considerable " The one insuperable obstacle to any length, and the impossibility of our in- general return of the Jews to Palestine terference made very clear. is the Jews themselves. An awful cloud is over the land. 'His blood be upon ., 8. Is it probable that Europe would us and upon our children.' It must be be pleased with such a movement on the purified of Christianity before the Israelpart of our Government? 'rhe powers ite can look upon it but with abhorhave generally accepted the Monroe Doc- rence. As mendicants, as 'assisted trine. But that forbids our appearing emigranti '-always a worthless set-or in their affairs just as much as it ex- escaping from the inhumanity and savcludes them from ours. agery of Russia, a few tens of thousands may return. But they will be a sorry ,. 9. As precedents sanctioning the lot, and will ' suck the milk of the genreturn of the Jews to Palestine under tiles' for a living. European dictation, the example of Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, etc., under " , When the veil shall be taken away,' the dictation of the Berlin Congress, is and they shall become the glad and renot well taken. By the Berlin Congress joicing disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, autonomy was conferred to a greater or their own Messiah, and when they shall less extent upon those peoples in their see in Him the glorious fulfilment of ancestral homes. No man was deprived all their prophecies, there may spring of an acre of land. If Moslems wished up in many hearts a new love for Jeruto emigrate, as many foolishly did, they salem. Their flowing thither at their were allowed their own time and way of own expense would be a spontaneous doing it. In the • return' one people is and natural immigration that would acto be driven out and another brought in. commodate itself to circumstances. If It would be a very bloody and expensive only two or three millions should return affair all round, and the driven out and in this way they would soon possess the the brought in would alike perish. land, and there would be no question of oppression or of protection. Then all "10. Is our country specially fitted nations would hail their return, and the by her history for this proposed media- Church of Christ would see in it the tion? The outrages that have been dawn of the millennial day." committed in the United States upon the colored people in the Southern States, The Need of Speoial Preparation for Forand upon the Indians and the Chinese, eign Servioe. the murders, the expulsions from their native soil. the destruction of property, REV. A.. P. HAPPER, D.D., CANTON, CHINA. the slaughter of men, women, and children, the fiendish mobs, the rapes, the The General Missionary Conference thefts by Government agents, the' Cen- of China. in May, 1890, sent forth the tury of Dishonor' would all be brought call for 1000 missionaries for China up against us, and would make the persecution of the Jews in Russia appear in comparison a slight affair. Should our within five years. Within ten months he was a layman and an engineer, had after the issue of that appeal 127 mis- no special preparation to be a missionsionaries had arrived in China for one ary; and as he was so successful and mission, working in China, and 50 have uSPful as a missionary, it is supposed he arrived for all other societies. The is a proof that no special preparation is statement has been made in the news- necessary in order to be useful. The papers that when this appeal was pub- facts, on the contrary, in regard to Mr. lished in Australia, hundreds of young Mackay, are just the opposite of what is people offered themselves for this ser- supposed in regard to him. He had vice. The statement is also published very special preparation and experience in that the number of names given in to Christian work before he went abroad, the secretaries of the volunteer move- which led those who were acquainted ment in America is over 6000 ; and that with him to give the very highest testimore than 300 of those who had given monials of his preparation and qualifica. in their names have gone to foreign tion to be a missionary to teach and lands. preach the Gospel, in addition to being a capable engineer. Mr. Mackay had All the friends of missions will rejoice been brought up in his father's house, in these evidences of an extendinj:( in- who is an eminent Presbyterian ministerest in the cause of missions to hea- ter in Scotland, with special care and then lands among the young members under his own instruction. He had the of Christian churches in the home lands. best advantages of education in mathe- matics, the classics, and applied sci- But while rejoicing in this extending ences in the high schools and universiinterest in missions to the non-Christian ties of Scotland. He engaged in Chrislands, and in the increasing numbers of tian work in the original ragged schools those who are offering to go, I wish to of Rev. Dr. Guthrie and the Sabbathdirect attention to the great importance school of Rev. Dr. Horatius Bonar, in of thorough preparation for the work by Edinburgh. These educational and rethose who are sent abroad as missiona- ligious advantages were enlarged and ries. There is great danger that in the extended by a two years' residence and warmth of Christian sympathy for the practice in Germany, where he acquired perishing, and on account of the consid. a knowledge of the German language. eration that the people in heathen lands When he was appointed to go to Africa are ignorant, many will think that no he improved every hour of his time be_ special preparation is needed by those tween the time of his appointment and who go to teach them. It is evident his departure in getting some knowledge that many think that personal piety of different practical arts from compeand love to the Saviour and to the soulll tent professors and teachers, as those of of men are the only essential requisites for photography, printing cotton, and glass those who go as missionaries. This is manufacture, and the details of teacha very great mistake, and it is one which ing and training teachers. So that the will bring great injury to the cause of pre-eminent success and usefulness of Christian missions unless measures are Mr. :Mackay during the fourteen years taken to prevent its being carried into of his labors in Africa. which led Mr. practice. H. M. Stanley to speak of him as second to Livingstone, were the proper result I would call attention to the words of and outcome of the thorough and manithe lamented Mackay of Uganda, in his fold preparation which he had made last appeal for twenty men to come to during his youth and early manhood. Africa. His words are these: "You When, therefore, he speaks to the " sons sons of England, here is a field for your of England" and asks them" to bring energies. Bring with you your highest their highest education and greatest taleducation and your gre.atest talents; you will find scope for the exercise of them all. ' , Many suppose that Mr. Mackay, because ents, and assures them "they would widely ramified service as was necessary find scope for the exercise of them all, he in the details of government over such was only asserting what he knew to be numerous population, we must inquh-e a fact in his own experience. He only how these able and qualified men were asks for what all experience has proved obtained. They did not come by haphazt,o be necessary to success-viz., com- ard. The East India Company were petent natural gifts, with the necessary wise in their generation in some things. acquired knowledge and training. He The covenanted civil servants were aphimself is one of the most illustrious pointed under the system of open comexamples of the truth of this statement. petition. Thus the picked youth of the land are selected. The company estab- As the missionary work enlarges and lished a special college for their instrucexpands, the necessity that properly tion. Their college at Haileybury, in qualified men be serlt forth is more and Hertfordshire, had the ablest professors more emphasized. It should be spe- in the country in their several departcially urged upon all concerned in send- ments. The 'names of Henry Melvill, ing forth missionaries that they also James A. Jeremie, Richard Jones, Wilhave special care as to the quality of liam Empson, H. H. Wilson, Monier those they send forth. A few able and Williams, and Major J. W. J. Ouseley are well_qualified men will, with God's found among those of the professors. blessing, accomplish more than treble Selected young men from Rugby, Eton, the number of feeble and insufficiently and other distinguished schools and the qualified men. In confirmation of this, universities went there for two years' let all study the apostolic history. Paul, special instruction in the languages, the apostle of the gentiles, was a man of laws, customs, administration, etc., of great talents; he had the advantage of India, by these specially qualified teachthe best education at the celebrated ers. Is it any matter of wonder or suruniversity at Tarsus, and of the best prise that with such means such able Jewish masters in Jerusalem. He has and competent men were provided for left his impress on Christianity greater every department of the service, and in than that of the whole of the other numbers adequate to the needs of the apostles. two hundred millions of people? Is it strange that such men as Lord John There are two results of human efforts Lawrence, Sir Henry Lawrence, Sir Wiland labors that are marvels in their sev- liam Muir, Lieutenant-Governor James eral ways. One of them is the estab- Thomason, Edward Thornton, Sir Roblishment of the British rule in India, ert Montgomery, Donald Macleod, and the administration of the govern- George Edmonstone, Sir Bartle Frere, ment over such a numerous population and many others, literally too numerous to with such success. The other is the mention, were raised up to meet every German war against France in 1870. emergency, and to illustrate the energy But their wonderful results have not and efficiency of the Anglo-Saxon race? come by chance nor without the use of The training, the capability of the the appropriate means. As we study men, and the opportunity have produced the history of the establishment of Brit- such an administration of the Governish rule in India, the names of many dis- ment as has not been seen before in the tinguished names come in review be- history of the world. fore us. In the review of these names the conviction is forced upon us that the Europe was astonished at the results leaders in the successive decades of of the German War of 1870. But when this work were the picked men of the the facts are known, those results were public life of Great Britain. But if we the natural and sure results of the antewould fully understand how it was that cedent training of the officers of the Gerthere were a sufficient number of young man army. These officers had been men for every department of such a trained in the work to be done. Every Tarsus, after his conversion, was told strategic point in the French territory by Ananias of Damascus that " he was had been examined and marked out; a chosen vessel to bear the name of every difficulty and impediment had Jesus among the gentiles,' , he wpnt into been made known; the nature and char- Arabia to commune with the Lord; and acter of the country to be marched over it was three years before he entered fully had been mapped out; so that the lead- upon his glorious ministry. These ers of the invading armies knew what three years were the time of the special they had to do, what difficulties they preparation of the great apostle of the would meet, and, were trained to carry gentiles, though he, previous to his call, out the campaign as they had been in- had the benefit of the instruction in the structed ; and the proper and expected Roman university at Tarsus, and of the results all followed in their natural order. most learned Jewish teachers in Jeru- These results, however, were greatly to salem. How different is the course purthe astonishment of those who knew not sued in these latter days in sending of the thorough preparation which ,had forth many to the laborious and rebeen made by the German officers. sponsible duties of the Christian mis- sionary without any preparation or In the history of the world no such training! wonderful enterprise has been planned as that which has been committed to With the diffusion of Western knowlthe Christian Church-i.e., to convert edge and science, and of the agnostic this world to Christ, to extend this and infidel views of Western sceptics glorious Gospel of the blessed God till among the peoples of India, China, and the kingdoms of this world have become Japan, the importance and necessity of the kingdoms of the Lord and His the missionaries being more thoroughly Christ. prepared are strongly increased. They have now to meet not only the difficul- For its accomplishment it presupposes ties and hindrances of the native idolathe Divine aid of the great Captain of tries and errors, but also, in many cases, our salvation. When He gave the com- the objections and scoffs of Western inmission" to preach the Gospel to every fidels and atheists. Those who go forth creature," He prefaced it with the so readily without any really careful glorious assurance" all power is given preparation show how imperfect is their unto Me in heaven and in earth; go ye, conception of the work to be done, and therefore, and teach all nations, baptiz- give evidence of their own want of ing them in the name of the Father, and qualification and preparation to perof the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; and form it. lo! I am with you alway unto the end of the world." But the presence and It becomes the missionary societies power of our gracious Lord does not do and the committees having in charge the away with the necessity of providing examination and reception of candiand using the necessary and appropriate dates for missionary appointment to be instrumentality. The Saviour Himself especially careful in the reception of all spent three years in instructing His applicants, and to seek those of high apostles before He sent them forth on and suitable qualification and adequate their high mission. When the disciples preparation for the great and laborious filled the place of Judas, who had fallen calling. from that ministry, they placed in nomination two of "these men who A Word About the Student Volunteers. have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among usu_ In the minds of a great many people so careful were they to secure one who there is a marked incongruity between was thoroughly instructed and prepared the statement of the Student Volunteer for the solemn vocation. When Saul of Movement that some six thousand per- sons are enrolled by themselves as pledged from foreign service, and the to us all the more important that they unmet demand of so many societies for gat thoroughly prepared, because from men and women. All oC the societies them must come so much that certainly are not without candidates enough to cannot be looked for from the large supply their needs, but some say they number of persons who are nowencourare in vain calling for missionaries. aged to enter foreign service with very meagre intellectual furnishing. We do Several things ought to be borne in not enter upon the discussion to what mind. For instance, a great proportion extent unlettered and inexperienced, of this volunteer corps are not yet and. perhaps, even, untried persons through their collegiate and seminary should be encouraged to go abroad. studies. Certainly there is little dis· There is some difference of opinion on position on the part of experienced ad· that subject. There may be uses for a ministrators of missions to rush men greater number of men than mill be and women into the field with partial found ready trained or than the institupreparation, if they can remain to com· tions can furnish. Of that we are not plete their studies. Dr. Happer raises writing. But facts patent justify us in a note of warning on this sllbject in the raising the question as to tho pressure article we now present from his pen. that should be put on these in the He is entitled to speak on this subject. schools to hurry into the service. The He was of the original first company of Scandinavians have been rallied of late Presbyterian missionaries sent to China, both in Norway and Sweden and in and that was as long ago as 1844. It America by an earnest and probably WaB ten years from the time he formed well· meaning brother, to offer for the the purpose, God willing, to be a mis. foreign service. Some fifty or more sionary till he went abroad. During his have been recruited from Brooklyn, New college course his reading was connect· York, lind Chicago, and over a hundred ed with his purpose, and all his plans fmm Scandinavians in various quarters were subordinated to it. And yet, firm· of the world have gone to China alone, ly holding his purpose, he taught four and mainly are connected with a single years after graduation, then spent four mission- the churches at their startingyears in professional studies-medicirie place, we are informed, pledging them and theology-for the work, and in the fifty cents a day for their support, all of study of the history, geography, phi. course being unmarried. We are not losophy, and other features of China; prepared to say whether there is here a and medicine, teaching, and preaching movement which demands special guidhave been the lines on which he has ance by those experienced in missions, done such grand work these forty.seven but we do think that this emphasizes the years in that great empire. We could need of thorough preparation on the furnish instances enough to fill many part of the recruits which are to come page·s to show the great work accom- from these volunteer stUdents, and that plished by men and women who have the churches should not demand that developed a sturdy purpose through great numbers of them hasten away just similar years of steady subordination of now, but should rather advise their cauall aims to the one work of preparation tious preparation for wise leadership for a great life service. It is from this than press them too speedily into the corps of trained men and women repre- great responsibilities which await them. sented by the student volunteers that We say all this in the face of the fact we are to look for persistent patient that China calls for 1000 missionaries in leaders. Hence we suggest that too five years, and that they are not forthmuch pressure be not put on these coming in proportionate numbers. It pledged persons in our schools of learn- is true that some 175 have gone to China ing to hllsten unduly to the great fields since the appeal was iBllued, but of these which call so loudly for them. It seems 125 have gone to the Inlanu Mission, way to advertise so indiscriminately the leaving only about 50 among all the fact that 6000 persons are" waiting to other societies; and that would scarce· be sent," and much else of like phrase ly more than keep up the numerical that is not in accordance with the standard as it was. But let us not be facts. The great bulk of them are not disappointed if many of these student ret>dy to go ; but the fact that God has volunteers never go abroad. We are moved to create 80 missionary interest in quite confident that a very large propor- the hearts and minds of so many young tion of those enrolled by the excellent persons among those pursning their brethren who have charge of this stu- studies deserves very thoughtful and dent movement will never reach the prayerful consideration and devout field. They are not in position to form thanksgiving as well, while the" pledge"
a final judgment now in their school- should be made the" outward sign of days, and there has been no concurrent an inward grace" rather than an oath, judgment solicited from any boards or which it is not.-J. T. G.
churches as to the adaptation of these persons severally. Then they may be Men Needed in North Ohina. adapted to work which may not at the time when they offer themselves need Rev. C. A. Stanley writes to us from reinforcement, or the speciu.l church to Tientsin, North China: which they belong may not want men, "Our annual meeting has recently and they may not care to leave their de- been held here. At all our seven sta- nominational relations even if some tions there has been progress. Over other board would be willing to take 200 have been added to our churches those not of their own part of the fold. It during the last mission year in full will thus happen that a number of those membership. But our working force, honestly intending to be faithful to their both foreign and native, is not equal to pledge may not find the way open to the work in hand; and on all sides them. Then some of them will be there are doors of opportunity wide adapted to the demands of their own open, into which it is impossible for us societies at a time when the funds of to enter. There are several scores of the societies will not enable them to vlllages around Tientsin, in very few of send them. There are many good and which the Gospel has ever been able persons found in the churches be- preached, which, through the distribu- sides those just out of school, and some tion of relief to the sufferers from last volunteers may not be called by the so- year's flood during the winter, are cieties because such other persons are peculiarly prepared to listen to the at their command equally or better pre- Gospel message. Raving been appoint.
pared or more suitable. Thus from a ed to direct this distribution, and the great variety of causes there may be a work having been mainly done by mis.
great disparity between the total num- sionaries, it has associated itself in the ber of volunteers and the part who reach minds of the people with missionary the field. Thus not all the demand for operations. Thus they are ready to reo foreign service will be met from these ceive us and listen to our message.
ranks. Let this grand impulse of the Books were left in these villages when young people have time to find its provi. relief was given, and were there labor.
dential meaning and method. We see ers, native or foreign, to go and work many points at which these very capa- amc.ng them in the Master's name, I ble and devout young people of the Stu- have no doubt but that many would be dent Movement need wise guidance; brought to a knowledge of the truth. I but there is also need for wise conduct hope to be able, with my small force of on the part of the churches in relation workers, to do something in the fall and to them. It is, perhaps, not the best winter; but triple the force at my command would scarcely reach this imme- reache'! you of the riots of Wuhu and {liate need, not to speak of what is and Nanking. The animosity of the rioters would open beyond from this. Relief seemed to be directed chiefly against the was given in about 70 viJIages to about Roman Catholics. Demand was made 70,000 persons-not the entire popula- for the release of the children of the Lion by any means-the most distant Roman Catholic orphanage. At Wuhu one being some 12 miles. The city and all foreigners fled for their lives, and suburbs contain 600,000 souls. Similar their buildings were looted and prop- opportunities are present at all our sta- erty stolen or destroyed. At Nanking tions and with all the missionary socie- the Methodist property was looted and ties laboring in North China. And now destroyed, as well as that belonging to and again a devoted laborer is called to the Roman Catholics. No lives were his reward, largely because of overwork, lost. There seems to be general un- because the churches have not met the easiness all up the Yangtsi River. I demand, and he has had to attempt more judge the excitement to be largely politi- than he could do, and succumbed to the cal, aimed against the authorities and strain. The L. M. S. has just lost such rulers, and intended to make them un- a man in Mr. Gilmour, down from Mon- popular and to secure their removal. golia to attend tb e annual meeting of his It seems to have been instigated by society held here. He was sick twel ve some' secret society' men and literati, days, and had not physical strength to which abound in great numbers in the rally when the crisis came. And there Yangtsi Valley. They would like to stir is no one on the ground who can take up a rebellion if possible. Several of up his work, even at the expense of the rioters have been beheaded, and the some other phwe and work. This is local authorities have already begun to not a lone case-they are many." rebuild the premises, and will make restitution for damage done. We have The Riots in Ohina. no fear of trouble here; and yet I do not know that any place in China was We have long known that the great regarded as more secure for foreigners Chinese Empire had a dispensation of than Nanking. It was a great surprise " politics," as well as occidental nations, to have this outbreak there." and not unlike our own. They have the " ins" and the" outs,' , and it has been But it will go hard with the anti·forplain for a few years past that the eIgn party if they cannot find a better " outs" would make all the capital pos- way to manage their internal politics sible against the administration on their than by the murder of such missionaries conduct toward foreigners. The pres- as Mr. Argent, a lay missionary of the ent " Government," as they would say Joyful News Mission, for whose death in Europe-that is, the present prime there is no doubt the" secret societies" minister and his party-are strongly in are responsible. Those societies are not favor of advancement along Western good instruments for anti-administra- tion politicians in China, as they are as little controllable by the Celestial em· peror as the Mafia are by King Hum- bert. But the martyrdom of missiona- ries will only the more show the Church the way to the thorough evangelization of that great people.-J. T. G.
lines; but there are eminent and able statesmen who lead the anti-foreign feel- -We received some suggestions from ing. They may stir up the people even India some while since which indicated to a gigantic rebellion against General that Pundita Ramabai was restricted Li and his party. From private but very responsible sources our advices con- in even the mild religious teaching she firm the general statements as to the thought wise to introduce into the outbreaks in China. One correspondent school at Poona by representatives of writes from Foochow under date of June the American administrators of the 9th: funds raised for her use. We hope there is no ground for this thought. "You will have heard before this Ramabai knows how far to go to keep faith with the people of her own nation in the matter of religious neutrality; and nobody supposed that she would school, it is not fair to ask them to do receive any direction from American more now while it is so hard for them to management in simple and fundamental carryon the schools under their own religious matters. If she finds her way control. to have prayers or the reading of the Bible in her school, and can carry it -Miss Adaline D. M. H. Kelsey, with her Hindu constituency, surely no M.D., of Yokohama, writes to us as fol- Christian (?) hand would obstruct her. lows: If such should be the case, her American society would soon have no funds "It has been thought that the need to administer, and her executive com· of missionary physicians is not so urgent mittee would become executors of the in Japan as it is in other non-Christian school. Weare glad to see that the lands. This opinion is so widespread Harvest Field, the Wesleyan missionary it would be well to have it understood magazine for India, one of the ablest of in what respect the statement is true, our exchanges, .gives in a late issue the and in what other respect it is not true. chief place to some interesting articles on the wives and widows of India, in- " There is a medical department concluding a visit to Pundita Ramabai's nected with the Imperial University Home at Poona by the Rev. D. A. in Tokyo where advanced medical in. Rees ; and the history of the widow re- struction is given; an M.D. qualified to marriage movement in Bombay. With make a diagnosis and write a medical regard to the results of Pundita Rama- prescription can be found in every large bai's work we just quote one paragraph from the story of the interview. On city of the empire. being asked, "Are you satisfied with " It is also a fact that the Imperial the results so far?"' the Pundita replied, " I should have rejoiced to see larger University and normal schools of Japan results, but considering the difficulties, send out highly educated men and wom· I feel I have much cause for thankful- en capable to teach. Why, then, do we ness. Take that one fact-out of these send missionaries there to erect costly thirty widows I have the assurance from buildings and organize schools toleducate their own lips thai, their coming here has the children? Is it because we want to 8aved nearly TWENTY of them from SUICIDE, give them a secular education? If that STARVATION, OR A LIFE OF SHAME. This is our chief object, many givers to the fact alone is an abundant reward for all cause have been decei ved. But that has our toil and expense."-J. T. G. not been our avowed object. Our real aim and chief desire has been to get hold -Miss Susan A. Searle says of the of the people to influence and lead them American Board Girls' Boarding School to Christ by exemplifying His love to at Kobe, Japan: them in our own lives of self-denying labors of love for them. And do we send " During the last year and a half there physicians merely to heal the sick? Is have been urgent calls from the Japan- not the higher objQct the real answer ese themselves for such lengthening and here also? If there is not so much broadening of the courses of study in medical work to be done as in China and the school as shall make it, in fact, a India, more time and strength can be college. Having come at a time when given to the higher work of teaching the Japanese were especially impatient Christ's love and mission to souls that of anything like foreign control in are starving for the Bread of Life. To church or school matters. the request do this work the M.D. must of necessity seemed significant of their confidence be a real missionary as well as a physi. in the management of the Board. To ciano There is plenty of this combined accede to this request, and at the same work to do in Japan. 'fhe number of time carry out long-cherished plans for Christians among the Japanese physi. the school, it is necessary to have, for cians is so small that, in an extensive buildings and other equipments, a much acquaintance with them throughout the larger sum of money than the annual empire, only four are known to be appropriation from the Board. The Christians. Two of the four are women, Japanese Christians are supporting educated in mission schools, and studied nobly several Christian schools, which are becoming to a greater extent every mAdicine in America. These two are year feeders of the Kobe school. They doing a good work for their countryare already heavily burdened; and women in making greater revelations to though in past years they have given them than they themselves can at. pres. generously toward buildings for the ent know. There is such a difference between working for money or fame and working for love.
"There are two Japanese girls now in this country fitting themselves to return as Christian healers. More are needed,"
'EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
III.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Student's Summer School a.t North· all about $5000 and upward raised for field. Bishop Thoburn's missions in two years.
The sixth of these remarkable gather. The movement was quite spontaneous ings has been held. They began in and, of course, quite free from all con- June. 1886, at Mount Hermon, and this, siderations of denominationalism. Not which was held from June 27th to July a few have found fault because for two 8th, was regarded by many as exceeding successive years the missions of the in interest as well as numbers any Methodist Church in India have had so preceding convention. About five liberal a support, while the boards of the hundred students were enrolled. Mr. Baptist, Congregational, and Presby- Moody, of course, presided, as he is the terian churches are struggling to keep main attraction, and daily services were out of debt. But the simple fact is, held, at whioh Bible studies were con- there was little or no thought of the fact ducted and addresses of various sorts that Bishop Thoburn is a Methodist occupied attention. The main purpose bishop. His plan struck the conference of these conferences is known to be the as apostolic and feasible and as accom- consecration of these young men to lives plishing more for the money than any of higher service. The controlling other that has been proposed, and the thought in Mr. Moody's mindwas a bap- response was very hearty and im- tism of the Holy Spirit. Much time was pulsively generous: perhaps it erred ( given to missionary meetings. "Round on the side of catholicity and generos· Top" has already come to be, like the ity. There may be a doubt whether it " Hay Stack" at Williamstown, connect. is expedient in a conference composed ed inseparably with missionary consecra· of all evangelical denominations to take, tion. Here, at twilight every evening, especially for two successive years, an the young men meet to consider the offering so large as this for the mission question of individual obligation to the work of anyone church. It is liable to world·wide field. Here the call for new be misunder,;tood and to occasion hos- volunteers was daily sounded, and the tile criticism. Bishop Thoburn's meth- claims of a dying world were weighed. ods have not the entire support even of We doubt not thatfrom that sacred spot his own Methodist brethren. No little many young men will date the begin- doubt has been expressed in our own ning of a new era in their lives. hearing as to the thoroughness and per- The missionary fires burned brightly manence of the work, and the expediency in more than one general meeting. Last of hiring such laborers, even at so low year Bishop J. M. Thoburn, of India, a cost. But the action taken was in told of his work and of the plan he is both years a simple outburst of genuine pursuing of employing native evange- missionary enthusiasm, and there was a lists, at an average cost of $30 a year, to noble impetuosity and liberality about proclaim among their fellow-country- it, peculiar to young men. It is not men the good tidings. The scheme im. open to the same criticism as a deliber- pressed the audience as so simple, eco- ate and previously planned course of nomical, and sensible that on the spot, action.
by Mr. Moody's enthusiastic leadership, This gathering was representative.
the pledges were made for support of It contained young men from all quar.
100 such evangelists. This year a re- ters. Not only were Great Britain, port was, made of the work done by Canada, the United States, represented, these hundred workers during the year, but China, Japan, Australia, Persia, and at once enough more was pledged Scandinavia, Germany, France, etc.
to support seventy-five such evangelists Indeed, it may be doubted whether for the current year. This will mnke in 'in any similar IIssembly so many various peoples and tongues have ever been "Our Oonntry." represented by Christian disciples. A new edition of Dr. Josiah Strong'8 They were like the Pentecostal assembly remarkable book is issued by our very " from every nation under he_en, " and enterprising friends, the Baker & Taylor every man might hear "in his own Co., 742 Broadway, New York. The tongue tho wonderful works of God." new edition, revised so as to embrace Too great care cannot be taken by the latest information of the census of those who have these gatherings in 1890, is greatly increased in value; and charge as to those who, on such a plat- the little book, already the most helpful form, present the truth. We feel con- contribution to home mission litera- strained emphatically to dissent from ture ever given to the American public, some teaching which we have heard, or has doubled its practical worth as a book known to be allowed, in such gatherings. of reference.
There is a special tendency in these Of this work of Dr. Strong we can days to depreciate the importance of say nothing too laudatory. It is muUum sound doctrine. Christianity is em- in parvo. But fifteen chapters long, con- phasized as a life, and often the doctrinal tained in 267 pages duodecimo, and side is treated as of little consequence. about 100,000 words, there is an amount H has been free. uently said that if one of information and inspiration which accepts Christ as his personal Saviour many ordinary volumes would not BUp- it matters little what he believes or ply. The words are picked and packed; doubts; that the creed is of small the illustrations are forcible and sim- moment if the heart is anchored to pie; the statements are lucid and Christ. Such teaching is perilous, es- vivid; the argument is terse and telling.
pecially before young men. Paul says, It is plain that the book is the product of 0' Hold fast the form of sound words with all time previous. It took many years faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." to prepare the hand and brain of its dis- There is no power in error to develop a tinguished author to give such a prod- beautiful life, and if there is any beauty uct to the public. And all this can in the life of a sceptic it is in spite of be had for 30 cents in paper and 60 his error, and in consequence of the cents in cloth! It has made a sensa- truth, mixed with error. Christianity is tion like" Uncle 'fum's Cabin."
both doctrine and deportment, belief and life. It is quite too fashionable in these Dr. George Smith, the missionary days to apologize for loose notions of biographer, who is also Foreign Secre- inspiration, atonement, the divinity of tary of the Missionary Board of the Christ, the work of the Spirit, and a Free Church of Scotland, writes from future state of reward and punishment, Edinburgh, June 3d, 1891 : on the ground that if one is sincere it My DEAR DR. PIERSON: Should I live matters little what he believes We to write Henry Martin, an even more protest in the name of all that is good important life has got to be writtenthat the highest Christian life, and es- that of Charles Grant, who inspired pecially the largest service in saving Wilberforce and Carey, and was himself souls, is inseparably connected with led to Christ by Schwartz. His grand- doctrinal soundness. A missionary son, the present Sir Charles Grant, has must believe the truth if he is to be an the necessary papers, which are in beaueffective and successful worker for God. tiful order, for myoid friend, John We regal'd the growing laxity in doc. Marshman, had them, and died before trine, and especially the prevailing dis- he could write the book. Meanwhile, position to tolerate all forms of unsound to test the matter, I will have, in an opinion, as tending to undermine the early number of Good Words, a con- whole structure of missions, both at densed sketch of the greatest Scotsman, home and abroad. next to Duff, who ever went to lorlia. Use my name as you kindly propose, respondents the lady workers in Madrid (Mrs. Fenn), San Sebastian, Puerto Sta if it will be of any service, on your list lIIaria, Figueras, Seville (Mrs. Barosso), Pradijon and Santander, to whom their of editorial correspondents. members may apply.
Do not overtax your strength. I From Manoh, SaJijah, Sierra Leone, W. Africa, April 27th, 1891, we have the began life in India at twenty, and have following: worked hard-sometimes too hard in I have to thank you for the MISSION- ARY REVIEW, which is so free from a Bengal, so as to suffer. But work just up party spirit, so full of fervor that we who are out in the mission field cannot to the limit of strength is as healthy and but feel how little we are doing to what we ought. May the Great Head of the delightful as work even a little beyond Church enable us faithfully to battle with the heathenism of the pagan and strength is perilous, and bad economy, the easily satisfied conscience of the converts, who seem to have grasped the and truly sinful. Gladstone is a noble truth of their redemption and justifica- tion, but seem to forget they have daily example of a hard worker just up to the to overcome and grow in grace. We who have had the blessed Gospel in our limit, who has feared God and done His country for generations cannot possibly tell what these poor children have to service as no other statesman in history overcome.
has done it, I think. He is a friend of I am the only foreign representative of the Episcopal Church here. Our missions, as I know from personal in. mission is situated at the most northern point of the republic of Liberia. Our tercourse with him. My book on " A work is entirely among the heathen. The Board appropriates support for 125 Modern Apostle" has just gone to a sec- children, 85 of whom are under my es- pecial care. There are two student ond edition. Yours truly, teachers to assist. I am hoping to wel- come a teacher from Sierra Leone soon• G. SMITH. Many of our girls are growing into wom- anhood, and it is a cause for devout God may move some generous souls to thankfulness that we have been able to respond to this appeal; but the editor keep them so long under the sound of owes it to himself to say that no funds the Gospel. Twenty-eight of them are have been yet entrusted to his care for regular communicants. Of course all any such purposes: their own mending, making, washing, ironing, and domestic work is done by DEAR DR. PIERSON: Confident of your them. The little boys work in the coffee interest and sympathy in the work of farm of an afternoon, as also do the the Student Volunteer Movement for senior department or elder boys, who Foreign Missions, I am writing you to are under the superintendence of Mr. say that we are in financial straits. To Jones. He also is a son of a convert, be more definite, we are in immediate and will be ordained next Christmas. and pressing need of $1500 for current He is very ambitious to establish workexpenses. shops, where they can be taught differ· I have been thinking that you might be inclined to turn over to our use some of the funds entrusted to your care for •, foreign missionary" purposes.
Whether or not you are led to send money, I venture to ask you to join with me in prayer that the Lord will send the money for His own work. I ask you because I know you believe in prayer, and because it is laid upon my heart distinctly that I shall see this money in view.
Yours very heartily, MAX WOOD MOORHEAD, Chairman Finance Committee. June 23d, 1891.
Rev. J. E. B. Meakin desires us to add to the statistics of the work in Spain that the London Y. M. C. A. has for corent trades -it is so necessary to train we had lengthened conversations on the their muscles as well as intellect out great subject of missions.
here. He published, many years ago, a In 1858 I was under the auspices of " Missiunary Atlas," accompanied with the C. M. S., London, and remained in most valuable explanations and histori- Sierra Leone for seventeen years. cal notices. As all the letter-press was The ages of the children vary from in Danish, the circulation of the work two to eighteen years. Our little ones was necessarily limited. He hoped an give us much pleasure, but we need edition might be published in English, more help. So much has to be left un· but, for reasons mentioned by the dean, done for lack of strength and time. the idea was not carried out.
M. It. BRIERLEY. Dr. Grundemann is another most dili.
gent and laborious student of mission From Forsyth, Georgia, Mr. J. C. history. He also published an atlas of Davidson writes: great value, which, in the rapid advance "Your statistician gave' the M. E. of missions, is now necessarily some- Church, Soutb, an incorrect report what out of date.
under the head of ' Foreign Missionary It is high time that we had a work Societies,' page 476, in June number of carefully representing the mission field REVIEW. as it now is. The two gentlemen I have "I send you the statistics of that named are ready to unite in preparing church's missions : it if they can be freed from pecuniary "Missionaries: Total maleH, 142; responsibility in connection with the wives of missionaries, 39 ; totalfemales, large undertaking.
30 ; total, 211. (From Woman's Mission In my conversations with Dean Vahl it Advocate, June, 1891.) Native laborers, was quite understood that the work 262 ; other helpers, 17; members, 14,. should be in English. Both Dr. Grun- 702 ; probationers, 291 ; total, 14,993; demann and he are acquainted with that churches, 184. language.
" These figures I take from the report You will see that the dean hopes that of the Board of Missions, 1891." the missionary societies may patronize These letters, from Dr. Murray Mitch. the undertaking. I trust that the pub. ell and Dean Vahl, are of great interest. lication of his letter may bring this im- Dean Vahl's "Atlas" is the best we portant matter under the notice of the have ever seen. societies in America and Europe, and of the public generally. It will be lament- EDINBURGH, May 22, 1891. able if, when two men so admirably DEAR FRIEND : The letter I enclose is qualified for the work as Dean Vahl and from Dean (Provost) Vahl, of N. Ulster, Dr. Grundemann are prepared to under- Denmark. take it, their proposal should not meet I doubt whether any living man is with a hearty response.
better acquainted with the history and If the missionary societies should not bibliography of missions than my much- see their way to help as Dean Vahl pro- esteemed friend, Dean Yah!. Every. poses, is there no large.minded, large- thing he has written regarding missions hearted friend or friends of missions -and he has written mueh-is brimful who will render the needful aid in this of accurate and interesting information. important undertaking?
After attending the late Evangelical I hope you can kindly insert Dean Alliance Congress at Florence, to the Vahl's letter in the MIsSIONARY REVIEW, work of which he made a very valuable and so draw attention to the subject.
contribution, in which he compared the I remain, dear Dr. Pierson, Protestant missions of 1845 and 1890, Ever very faithfully yours, he dE-all paid me a visit in Nice ; and J. MURRAY MITCHELL. Dean Vahl's letter follows: to.do people, and such a book would April 18, 1891. be too dear for them.
DEAR DR. MURRAY MITCHELL: 1. AA It could be done almost in the same you know, we have sometimes spoken way in which, a year ago, we started a with one another as to getting my missionary review in I::lcandinavia. If " Missionary Atlas" translated and pub- twenty of the great missionary societies lished in English. You have asked me in Great Britain and America would give to explain myself more explicitly about £50 each toward the publication of such this matter. As you know, the Re- a work, we should havo £1000 (and, if ligious Tract Society of London had necessary, perhaps twenty smaller socie. thought thereabout, and an agreement ties would give £25 each) ; thus, I think, was made; but the matter dropped, and a very large part of the expenses could I do not like to press it forward. Some of be paid. I think it would take three or the secretaries of the missionary socie- four years of our time to make the work ties have said that all that was in my book as complete as it ought to be. But a was quite correct, but they wished that complete budget of the expenses can I had dwelt more on the work of their on a later day be produced. I find that special societies. Had I done that, the Dr. Grundemann is willing to work on book would have been twice or thrice as such a plan. large, for all other societies must have been treated in the same way. Perhaps every society could open a subscription at net price, whereby it There have also been negotiations might be possible for numbers of them about a German edition, but they have come to nothing. The book has been to get the atlas at a reduced rate. You praised by German critics like Dr. War- may use what you will of this letter, neck, Dr. Grundemann, and Rev. G. and I should be glad if this plan were Kurze, as the most complete book on settled in one'way or another. this subject found in any literature. Yours very sincerely. 2. You know that Dr. Grundemann about twenty years ago published a (Signed) J. VAHL. " Missionary Atlas," the best ever published. Now it is a little out of date, and This REVIEW would gladly assume one a new edition should be brought out. subscription of £50 sterling ($250) to But it has been impossible to find a pub- insure the succes~ of Dean Vahl's plan. lisher. Some will say there is no need of Who will join us? Let the parties resuch an atlas, as the different societies sponding send names and amounts to can each publish an atlas of its own. the editor.-A, T. P. Quite true; but it would be only, or mostly, of their own missions; to buy One of our correspondents sends the them all would be very expensive; and following" unillersal prayer of all who besides, the outlook of the whole world read aright the signs of the times" : would be wanting. (TUNE, America.) Some time ago Dr. Grundemann wrote to me, proposing that we should " God save our fellow.men, work together; he would draw the Save them from every sinmaps, and I should give the letter-press Make them thine own. in the same way as I have done it in From heaven, Thy dwelling-place, my own .. Missionary Atlas." Such a Look on our helpless race. thing would be of very great importance Save them through Jesus' gracB, for students of mission· history. But Thou Holy One. how can it be done? No publisher in Germany would care to undertake it, " 0, Thou impartial Friend, nor, perhaps, any in England or Ameri- On Thee their hopes dependca. I fear it would not pay. The stu· Thou bidd'st them come. dents of missions are generally not well- May thousands turn to Thee, Thy true disciples be, And ever dwell with Thee In Thy blest home.
" Bless all who own Thy Word, O'Thou, our only Lord, , Thy will be done.' Bid all o~r strifes to cease, Let Christian love increase, Give us Thine own sweet peace Oh, make us one. "
Yours faithfully, W. K. AZBILL, Special Agent F. C. M.S. ,Indianapolis, May27th,1891.
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
JAPAN. oppressive and offensive ever since their adoption in 1858. The mihtary commander of the Japan- ese forces, when he saw the walls of the One of these exempts foreigners from fort crumbling beneath him, under the being amenable in Japanese courts. fire of Commodore Perry's guns, while Whatever offence a man from the West he paced to and fro, swore by all the may commit, he cannot be brought be- gods of Japan that he would find out fore a Japanese tribunal. He is only how it was done. The whole nation amenable in the consular courts of his presently thereafter resolved to find out own nation in Japan. The Japanese how Europe and America did everything recognized that this discriminated else. A people, whose written history against their equality among nations; reaches back in uninterrupted tale to but the foreigner urged against them the time of Nebuchadnezzar, was revolu- that they acknowledged standards of tionized in government, in commerce, offence, and "cruel and unusual punin its army and navy, in material and ishments" to which foreigners must not social science, in its very dress and be subjected. They said they must wait manners in a few months; and witbin until the Japanese civilization became a third of a century they underwent modernized in these particulars. Japan maze changes than they bad previously now comes forward to say that she has done since the time of Crcesus. The met the conditions and adjusted her result was a New Japan. Newspapers, jurisprudence and procedures so that a postal and telegraph system extending there is no longer any reason for this from end to end of the empire, and al- humiliating discrimination against her. most everything elsE! that entered into She demands the revision of this part of tbe externals of Western civilization the treaty. Many foreigners in the were adopted. great cities of Japan, however, still lire not willing to be subjected to Japanese The Christian missionary was ad- authority, and stoutly oppose this remitted as a part of this new regime. vision, and the result naturally is an The foreign schoolmaster, too, was in anti-foreign feeling among the Japandemand. Foreign literature was im- ese. ported until it flooded tbe land. But now-and suddenly in the estimation of A much more practical question than SOIDe people-aU this iii reversing. We, this of political dignity, however, is anhowever, can scarcely see it that way. other feature of the old treaty, which It rather seems to us that Japan is pro- dictates the amount of revenue that gressing straight along the same path Japan shall receive from imposts on she entered thirty-five years ago. She foreign importations. The Westernnacan recognize the standard of political tions set their own rate of customs for self-respect of the West as well as she Japanese goods entering their councan Western forms of dress ; and she tries, and then obliged Japan to take has never adopted any ideal of political what they chose to give her for their eJwellence that would lessen her inde- own products taken into her ports. And pendenue and equality among the na- this was fixed at the uniform rate of five tions. per cent. This was destructive of her national dignity in a still greater de- She was humiliated by the Western gree, and pushed her to the very verge powers and made to accept a treaty of bankruptcy. Our view is that in reagainst particulars of which she all the sisting these unjust obstructions Japan while most vigorously protested. 'l'wo did not start on any reactionary path. special features of the treaty have been way. She only still further demanded Church of Japan came to feel they must to be allowed to do as Western nations have something simpler, and concluddo. This agitation and resistance to ed that they knew how to state their Japanese demands only called the more faith for their own people much better attention to the fact that Western na· than the missionaries had done; anci tions hold to national pride and inde. hence the intensity of their resistance pendence, and developed a high spirit to any foreign aid in drawing up the of patriotism. Japan must do the preamble to the Apostles' Creed. '1'h6 same, they argue. She must love her preamble was, however, orthodox own and respect her national habits throughout; and in this respect does and life. This may be called reaction, great credit to the apprehension of the but is it not relll progress? Imitation Japanese Church of the fundamental is peculiarly active among primitive teachings of their missionaries. Some peoples. Asiatics from the Bosphorus very able missionaries think that the to the Yellow Sea are expert imitators. di"position to independent church ac- But Japan discovers that the strength tion has elements of good in it. They of the West is in its power to originate say it will shift the burden of responsiand appropriate without imitating. She bilityon to the Japanese native leaders, will do that way too. She will have and they will strengthen under it. everything now original. This may be There are some perils, doubtless. Some only a new phase of Japanese imitation, of the Japanese think they do not need and may not prove her strength. It has any more missionaries from abroad. exhibited some ridiculous instances. They feel the Japanese to be capable to One of the most curious was in the sixth develop and lead their own churches; meeting of the synod of the Japanese· but they, perhaps, never needed able Presbyterian Church, when they thought missionary guidance more than now. they must adopt an original creed ob. They have not measured the forces that jecting to all those of the other nations. are arrayed against them. Darwinism The committee nearly gave up in despair flourishes in Japan. Japanese flock to when the Apostle's Creed was objected Germany as well as to the divinity to as foreign. Finally one of their own schools of America. French Romanists, number went to his honse and drew Greek Catholics from Russia, Unitaup a creed, which being presented and rians, Universalists, infidels, and heterobjected to as foreign also, assured them odox forms of the Christian teaching of that np to a half hoUl' before its pres- every shade are present among them_ entation no foreigner had so much as They never needed the earnest prayers seen or known of it, and it was then and wise counsel, as well as financial only that they adopted it as a preamble resources of the West, more than they do at this hour. But they will have to the Apostles' Creed. It is true there strong leaders, or none, from afar.
wa!! other reason for this particular nov. IOREA. elty. The Prcsbyterians of Japan had combined that they might present fewer For four hundred years Korea was divisions of the Protestant Church to isolated from the rest of the world, exconfuse the Japanese mind. They cept as hostilities· now and again broke agreed in 1877 to the organization of the monotony. It is a small country the United Church of Christ in Japan about double the size of Ohio, with a out of the Presbyterians of America population variously estimated, but (North), the Reformed, and the United which we may put down at 12,000,000. Presbyterians of Scotland. They recog- It has a coast line of 1800 miles, though nized the symbols of the Westminster the tongue of land is only about 400 Confession of Faith. the Canons of thfl miles long; numbers among its mineral Synod of Dort, the Heidelberg and the products coal, iron, lead, tin, silver, and Shorter Catechisms, and the infant gold. It pays tribute to China and fields for trading purposes. On the Japan, but beyond that is not controlled seaboard modern missionary influences by them. Its' existing records reach flowed to Korea from Japan. The back for 3.0.0.0 years. Its trustworthy Methodists and Presbyterians began history begins about A.D. 2.0.0. In 1876 missionary work in Seoul in 1884. A the present progressive king entered great int erest was felt in this movement, into treaty relations with Japan, open- because this " hermit nation" was one ing to them three Korean ports. In of the only two countries that remained 1882 the United States made a treaty positively shut from missionary influ- with Korea, and in 1883 first sent a min· ences. Now all doors are open except ister to its court. The land is owned into Thibet. Korea may prove to open by the people, and held for them by the a pathway for Christian forces into king, and rented to the people, which Manchuria. takes the place of all other taxes. The capital, Seoul, contains about 35.0.0 MEDICAL MISSIJNS. hou~es and a population of from 15.0,.0.0.0 or 2.0.0,.0.0.0. In religion Korea has fol- Outside of Christian countries nearly lowed China and Japan from an original all disease is esteemed to be of supernature worship to the adoption of Bud- natural origin. The belief. in diseasedhism, Confucianism, and Romanism. spirits is found from the Eskimo to the Of late years there has exhibited a strong Patagonian; in Oentral, Western, East. tendency to emphasize the primitive ern, and Southern Africa; in Borneo, Australia, the Indian Archipelago, nature-worship. * among the Malagasy, and if! well· nigh world. wide, and has existed through Christianity was introduced into uncounted centuries. The treatment of Korea through some Jesuit books from disease is in consonance with the theory Peking in 1777. The first Korean con- of its origin. Even where the rude vert was baptized in 1783. The new medical notions of Greece, Egypt, and faith spread rapidly; but here, as else- Arabia have migrated, there is ever where, Jesuit political intrigue led to found the superstitious treatment of revolt against them, and sixty years of disease. Medicine and religion go topersecution followed, in which thou- gether in the thought of the non·Chrissands of Korean converts died within tian man. He is quite ready to receive this century with the names of Jesus them together from the Christian misand Mary on their lips. Other thou- sionary! "The recovery from disease sands apostatized; but some estimate is the kindliest exhibition of Divine that there are still thousands of secret power; and the Christian medical misdisciples of Christ in the land. sionary occupies a lofty vantage ground in his work." A missionary of the Netherlands Society reached Korea in 1832 and reo The results of medical missions mained one month, distributing tracts abundantly sustain these statements of and religious books. The missionaries what might be expected of them. Of of the Preshyterian Church of Ireland, the twenty stations in the region of the living in China on the borders of Korea, English Presbyterian Hospital at Swaexerted the first of the more modern tow, China, seven or eight are said to Protestant influences in Korea through owe their origin to hospital patients. Koreans that came over to their mission In the hospital of the London Mission- ary Society at Amoy it is said twelve to • Rev. J. Ross some while since gave It list in fourteen thousand towns are yearly the Chinese Recorder of over twenty gods which represented. Intelligent natives from are popnlarly worshipped in Korea; gods of the all parts of China going to Canton visit road, gods of the monntains, who protect from the hospital and dispensary there, it is tigers; gods of the rain and of war, gods of the said, as one of the great sights of the kitchen, the Virgin Mary, and Ancestral Tablets are enumerated. city. Twenty thousand patipnts a yEar, harm should befall either houses or peo· pie. SODle of whom have come hundreds of .. And so it came to pass, So grateful miles to it, are treated at this hospital, was Abdullah for services rendered by the doctor that he contrived to restrain and hundreds of them have been led by the ferocity of his men for the whole seven weeks during which the siege it to give up idol worship. All these lasted and firing was kept up. Not a missionary, not one of the five hundred institutions illustrate the power of native Christians who took refuge with medical missions to lessen the anti.for. the missionaries, was touched. Their goods and their cattle, too, were in eign feeling, to diminish the power of safety in the mission buildings. Even the five Christian villages outside the superstition, and to exhibit the un- town were, for Dr. Cochrane's sake, left unmolested. This is all the more reo selfish character of the Christian reo markable when we consider the natural disposition of the Kurd, the fanatic fnry ligion. Medical missions have opened to which he is roused by his religion-=- eminently a religion of the sword-and the way into many countries where the annoyance felt by Abdullah at the long reHistllnce of the Persians. prejudice otherwise shut out all Chris· tianity. It was so in Jeypore, India, ., I found that wherever I went in Koordistan Dr. Cochrane's fame and and in Korea. name had 8pread everywhere. I was asked aftpr his health and whether I The story is the same in every land had seen him," etc.
whither the medical mis,;ionary goes as There is a small pamphlet published to the effects in winning the people. by the Missionary Echo Publishing Dr. Scranton, of the Methodist Mission Company, Toronto, Canada, to be had of Seoul, Korea, says: by mail for six cents, entitled" Medical "Our patients, as well as stUdents, Missions: Facts and Testimonies to their come to us from all parts of the realm. The 'patients many times come with Value and Success," compiled by W. J. more faith in a cure than our diplomas will warrant us in promising or at· Wanless, M.D., which is brimful of tempting. We have thus far been per. mitted to influence hundreds of Koreans most interesting statements about medi. toward a belief and reliance in what foreigners can do and teach. and have cal missions at Canton, Amoy, Swatow, reliAved much suffering. Sometimes our simplest operations are not much Bangchow, Tientsin, Hankow, Fot. short of miracles in their eyes, and our renown and welcome are increasing shan, Chefoo, Pang.Chuang, Foochow, daily. One of Ollr first steps is to make the country glad we came, and make Hainan, and other parts of China; in them put reliance in what we can teach. This is fast being accomplished in all Mongolia, Formosa, Korea, Siam, Ara. departments … bia, Persia, Syria, Africa, Madagascar, Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, author of •, Unbeaten Tracks in ,Japan" and other and other countries.
volumes about her wide wanderings over Rev. J. H. Corbett, of Shantung.
the world, in addressing an English China, says there would be a mighty audience recently, said she was an en· upheaval in China if into every district thusiast on the subject of medical mis. of the empire a Christian physician and sions. She told the well·known instance a trained preacher were sent two and of the effects of Dr. Cochrane's medical two. .. Missionaries who have some work in Persia. An English exchange knowledge of medicine may do good,"
thus reports the story as she told it, saysJ. Hudson Taylor, ., and win golden and testified to it : opinions while on journeys," But Dr.
,. On one occasion the chief of the Edward Chester well says, "The medi- Kurds-Sheik Abdullah–sent for Dr. Cochrane, and told him that he was cal work in missions is nothing save as about to make war upon the town, but that if he would indicate the exact posi. it helps to show to the heathen that the tion of the mission buildings, and warn the missionaries to keep within their Divine Christ is the centre, the soul, shelter, he would guarantee that no the life of Christianity, and that we are His disciples and followers."
America has not failed to see the value of medical'm:ssions for women by duly proof of their discipleship in holy livqualified women doctors. There are ing and moral reform, rather than in said to be 109 medical missionaries in formulating theories or musing specula. China, of whom 38 are women; and of tion. Already the earnest efforts to these women physicians 36 are from secure sexual purity, Christian mar- AmeriCl~. Medical missions have been riage, sound Bible instruction, purificabegun in all but four of the provinces of tion of the home, temperanoe, and hon- China. The work of American medical oring the Lord's Day, show the lines of lady physicians in India has been the activity and victory. Without undermeans of leading to a national move- valuing science or philosophy, our bement for sending women physicians to lief is that the American missionary to that country. We refer to the Lady Japan or the native preacher needs, first Dufferin Movement. This had its in- of all, to be a consecrated Christian and spiration in the medical mission work a minister of the pure Gospel of Jesus of the American lady doctors. But of Christ. the manifold and direct and indirect favorable results to evangelization from -It is cheering to report that the mismedical missions we cannot even fur- sionary societies are not yet so much ther hint. No department of mission- embarrassed by the uncertain monetary ary service will probably require greater condition as was at one time feared. expansion in the near future, nor yield Since the adjournment of Congress the more satisfactory results, provided the price of silver has been falling, and it is professional work be not allowed to ab- not now greatly in excess of what it was sorb the evangelistic accompaniment. last year at this time. So the oost of exchange is not likely to be so heavy the -Dr. William Ellis Griffis quotes and last six months of 1891 as it was the writes in the Presbyterian Review of To- first six months. ronto as follows: The prudential committee of the "Basil Hall Chamberlain, in his American Board, in view of the ad- 'Things Japanese.' says: 'Our … proph- vance of nearly $70,000 in this year's ecy is that the Christians of Japan will be contributions, has gladdened the hearts occupied with questions of morals and of the workers abroad by making practice-the temperance question, for $15,000 additional appropriatIOns to instance, and Sunday observance-· fields whence there has been an urgent rather than with subtle doctrinal theo- call for help. Six times this sum <'ould ries, the Japanese mind being too essen- easily be disposed of in extra gifts to tially unspeculative for the fine distinc- missions which have been terribly tion of the theologians to have any scrimped. charm for it, much less for it to seek to split new hairs for itself. The failure of -The Presbyterians of Canada did Buddhist metaphysical abstractions to better for home missions than for foreign take any hold of the national sympa- missions in the year recently closed, thies is a finger-post in history point- giving to the former $111,988, and to ing to what may be expected in the the latter $87,185. The great advance, future.' they say, has been made by the Women's Foreign Society. Beginning 14 years "This testimony, by a veteran and ago, they have brought up their income expert, will be concurred ie, I think, by from nothing to $34,629, and are every those who know the Japanese best. A year advancing in the vigor and success few of the Japanese 'will seek after wis- of their efforts. dom ' of the Greek sort. The majority of the forty millions need the Gospel, -The American Bible Society holds while of the 30,820 enrolled Protestant in trust the sum of $373,796.56. The Churoh Blembers the majority will give income is to be used for general benevo- lent and missionary purposes.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard. Bellevue, O.
-How lavishly money is expended to India. The Bible Society has six auxgratify the lusts of the flesh! "The iliaries. From the Calcutta centre alone, annual beer product of the world is the circulation in 1890 was over 100,000 about 17,700,000,000 quarts, of which copies, and this was 27,000 less than the United States produces 3,200,000,- those issued, by the latest return, from 000." Madras. Lahore follows with about 47,000. Bombay reports some 40,000 -At a horse race, held in the vicinity for 1889, and Bangalore, 14,000. of New York City, the" book-makers" received the snug sum of $180,000. And -According to Russian sources, the lo! the Baptist Missionary Union closed total population of Russia is 103,912,- the year with a debt of $61,593, the 642. Of these, 75,541,644 are adherents Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions of the Orthodox Church. Of the others with a debt of $90,102, the English Bap- 11,000,000 are Pascolnites or "Sectatist Society with a debt of $52,500, the rians" -i.e., Stundites, etc. ; 7,6106,796 English Wesleyan Missionary Society are Roman Catholics; 5,104,200 are with a debt of $96,885, and the British Protestants (nearly all Lutherans); and Foreign Bible Society now has a 2,620,000 are Jews; and 2,000,000 are debt of nearly $100,000. Mohammedans and heathens.
-Why all this "waste" upon mis- -The principal missionary work in sions? is often the cry, though the savor Palestine is done by the English Church long since became decidedly ancient Missionary Society, which has a Euroand fishlike. But, if waste it were, how pean force conllisting of 9 ordained, 3 trifling by the side of the waste of war! lay, and 7 female missionaries. The According to the estimates of French native clergy number 8, with a total of 72 and German statisticians, 2,250,000 men lay helpers. The stations are Jerusalem, have perished in the wars of the last 30 Jaffa, Gaza, Nablous, Nazareth, and one years, while the money cost has been east of the Jordan. The number of bap- $13,000,000,000. The Crimean War cost tized is 1428, of whom 455 are com- nmnicants. A little over 2000 pupils of $2,000,000,000; the War the Rebel- are in the schools. The Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews lion, $5,100,000,000 to the North and also has stations at Jerusalem, Jaffa, half as much more to the South, etc. The and Safed, with a force of 4 ordained $12,000,000 a year expended for the con- missionaries and several assistants, version of the heathen is paltry by com- about 20 of whom are Christian Israelparison, but a bagatelle. Or, if set be- ites. side the amount that annually goes for liquors and tobacco! Not one tenth as -According to tables very carefully much has been given during the cen- compiled by Professor Dr. V. Juratury to Christianize the Zulus as was scheck, and corrected by Lic. Dr. G. paid to conquer them in the single cam· Dalman, the Jewish population of the paign of 1879-80. The expedition of globe is 7,404,250, divided among the Commodore Wilkes to the Pacific called continents as follows: Europe, 6,301,- for as great an outlay as the evangeliza- 550; Africa, 507,500; Asia, 294,000; tion of the Hawaiian Islands from 1819 and America, 285,200. Unfortunately until to-day. for them, more than half (3,236,000) re- side in European Russia, 1,005,000 in -There is nothing more significant Austria, 641000 in Hungary, 579,000 in than the steady and increasing diffusion of the Scriptures among the people of Germany, 400,000 in Roumania, 200,000 average of nearly $2 per member. The each in AbYRsinia and Morocco; but report speaks hopefully of the condition 195,000 in Turkey in Asia (Palestine in- of the evangelical work in Italy. cluded), and 230,000 in the United Statl"S. -According to the Annuario J!Jvan. gelico for 1891. the total number of Prot- -The National Bible Society of Scot- estant pastors, evangelists, and teachers land in 1890 soM outside of the empire engaged in Gospel work in Italy is 553. 36,796 Bibles, 108,115 testaments, and The Protestant churches and preaching 282,758 portions; in the colonies, 17,054 places in all number 479. The majority Bibles, 10,188 testaments, and 3f)34 por- of these are found in the larger cities, tions; at home, 118,919 Bibles, 70,919 Bologna having 6, Florenco 14, Genoa testaments, and 24,734 portions. Total, 12, Livorno 7, Messina 4, Milan 8, 172,769 Bibles, 189,222 testaments, and Naples 12, Palermo 5, Pisa 4, Rome 20, 311,026 portions. Total sales and gifts, San Remo 7, Turin 8, Venice 7. These 673,017. Total income, £35,5211s. 10d. Protestants are distributed among quite a number of denominations. The Wal- -The International Medical Mission· densians number 13,691 in the historic ary Socie•.y, whose work is to educate valleys, and 4428 in the so-called" Mis- physicians for the foreign field, has sionary Districts;" the .. ChristilID celebrated its tenth anniversary. The Church" (dei Prabelli) do not give exact income for last year was $9,976.50, statistics, but they number only a few and the number of students under its thousand. The Free Church reports a care was 52, of whom 9 were women, membership of 2350; the Wesleyan and they came from 7 denominations and Methodists of 1336; the EpiRcopal 17 countries. The United States led Methodists of 763 ; the Baptists of 885 ; with 19 students, alid Canada followed the" Catholic Church of Italy" (found- . with 7, and England 5, etc. The Bap- ed in 1886) has 119 communicants. In tists had 14 students; the Presbyterians, addition to these a number of inde- 13 ; Congregationalists, 8 ; Methodists, pendent but 8maller bodies are laboring 7, etc. for the evangelization of Italy.
-The British m:issionary societies, -The Board of Foreign Missions Qf according to Medical MUlsions at Home the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Gen- and Abroad, have 139 physicians engaged eral Synod, in its biennial report, shows in missionary work, 13 of whom are receipts for the two years $97,544 ; ex- ladies. Of the whole number, the Free penses, $100,128, though a balance on Church of Scotland has 34 ; the Church hand of $15,101 prevented any actual Missionary Society, 21; the London Mis- deficit appearing at the close of the cur- sionary Society and the English Presby- rent year. The Sunday-schools report. terian Church have each 13; the United ed collections of $6075, besides con- Presbyterians, 11, and 25 societies have tributing $5070 for the support of stu_ less than 10 each. dents and workers in foreign fields, making thus a total of $12,145 from the -From the twentieth report of the young people. The Woman's Society Evangelical Church of Italy, formerly contributed $17,363 out of the $42,268 called the Free Italian Church, it ap- collected for all purposes. Four new pears that it has 29 churches and 24 missionaries have been appointed, three stations, besides 61 places which are to India and one to Africa. In the visited regularly. Connected with these India Mission at Guntur there are 371 churches are 2350 communicants. Be- congregations, 7952 communicants,. 3103 sides 13 ministers, thllre are 16 evange- clIDdidates for baptism, 233 Sundaylists and 36 elders. The gifts of these schools with 9094 scholars, 220 schools churches for all objects amounted to with 310 teachers and 4960 students. 16.326 francs, which amounts to an The contributions by the native Church the Free Church for evangelization out,- were $2635. side of the United Kingdom £113,813, against £52,030 ten years ago. The -Of, say, 650,000 Caffres in Cape Col- number of missionaries emplo!'ed in ony, about one fourth have been bap- India. Arabia, Syria, Africa, and the tized. In Zululand, of 50,000, about New Hebrides was 165, including 35 2000 are Christians. In Pondoland (still sent out by the Ladies' Society, and 33 independent) out of 150,000 at least 3000 missionaries' wives; and the total of are Christians. Christian workers was about 800. The number of nati-ve communicants was -Japan is said to have 191,168 Shinto 6895. The additions to the Church temples, with 14,489 priests; and 72,039 were 696 adults and 731 children, and Buddhist temples, with 56,266 priests, there were 1788 catechumens. There or a grand (that is, lamentable) total of were 6 colleges and 307 schools, with a 263,207 buildings for the worship of total membership of 27,951 youth of false gods, and 70,755 men to lead and both sexes. inspire.
-Official reports from the Vatican -The Paris mission in Basutoland show that in the pontificate of I,eo XIII., has 6933 communicants, 3055 catechunow in the fourteenth year, the Roman mens, and 6502 scholars in the schools. Catholic Church has made substantial The number of adult baptisms in 1890 progress, The new positions created in were 626. the hierarchy are the following: the Patriarchate of India, 12 archbishoprics, -The Presbyterian Church of Jamaica 65 bishoprics, 43 apostolic delegations, has 1 synod, 4 presbyteries, 8814 comvicarates, and prefectures. Then 10 municants, 8000 in Sunday-schools, and bishoprics have been made archbish- 6213 in day schools. Two missions are oprics. The total number of dignitaries sustained in Africa, and one Zenana in the hierarchy are the following: 8 mission. Latin patriarchs and 5 of the Oriental Rite; 783 Latin Archbishops and arch- -In the Basel Mission upon the Afribishops and 52 of the Oriental Rite; can Gold Coast are 10 stations and 70 308 Titulary Bishops, 23 bishops nullius' out-stations, 35 missionaries, more than dilEceseos. The greatest progress of the 9000 adherents, and about 3000 pupils Church is reported from North America in the schools. The Wesleyan Gold and England. Coast Mission has about 6000 communi. cants and about 19,000 adherents. -The annual report of the Free Church of Scotland's Foreign Missions -The Presbyterian Church of Engshows a total revenue from all sources land has in its missions in China and of £94,385. Of this £16,394 were collec- India 19 ordained missionaries, 10 meditions, £5364 were donations, £8179 lega- cal missionaries, 8 native pastors supcies, £9351 from the Ladies' Society, ported by their people, 108 native £1853 juvenile offerings, £17,610 college preachers, and 41 theological students. and school fees, £13,588 grants in aid The Chinese communicants number from the Indian Government, and the 3716. The expenditures last year were greater part of the remainder was made £19,275 15s. 6d. up of special gifts to particular missions, interest, etc. The Livingstonia -The Methodist Protestant Church Mission received thus £7095. Other reports $13,322.73 as the total of receipts mission committees of the Church raised for missions last year. Of this sum £8991 for the Jews, £6872 for conti- $5788 came from ehurch collections, and nental work, £3247 for colonial work, $5798 was gathered on children's day. making the total missionary revenue of A new school building has been erected at Nagoya, Japan, and an additional missionary is soon to be sent -to Yoko- hama. -The North China Mission of the Syria, $58,824; 8iam and Laos, $55,- Methodist Episcopal Church was estab- 406; Africa, $35,040 ;.Korea, $16,117; lished by 2 missionaries in 1869, but is and Guatemala, $10,658. now represented by 15 missionaries and 58 native helpers. It contains 18 homes Monthly Bulletin. and 29 places of worship, 28 schools, with 569 pupils, together with Peking Africa.-The Bible has now been University, with an atten<1ance of over translated into sixty.six of the languages 200, as well as 4 hospitals and 8 dis- and dialects of Africa. pAnsaries. 'l'he churches have 1299 members and probationers. -Dr. Cross, of the Free Church of Scotland MisBions on Lake Nyassa, Af· -The Cumberland Presbyterian rica, has up)n the roll of his school the Church sustains missions in Japan and names of 300 children rescued from M:exico, with 3 stations and 3 out-sta- slavery. tions. 18 missionaries, of whom 6 are ordained, 2 native pastors, and 17 other na- -The King of the Belgians has hontive helpers. The 11 churches contain 632 ored one of the Baptist missionaries on members. The additions last year were the Congo with a decoration. This gen- 63. In the 4 schools 298 receive instruc- tleman, the Rev. George Grenfell, is not tion. The income for foreign missions only a preacher, but an explorer of was $22,260, and of this $10,169 came note. Great interest attaches to his from woman's societies. Native con- discovery of the Mobangi, which he has tributions for all purposes amounted to proved probably to be the Congo's great. $1812. est tributary.
-The Baptist Missionary Union re- -Bishop Tucker, the successor of ports $492,275 as the total receipts for Bishops Hannington and Parker, reach- 1890, aUlI of this the woman's societies ed Uganda in December last, and since gathered $127,690. The 68 principal then the situation has brightened very stations and 1322 out – stations are much. He found the bitterness which manned by 364 ordt.ined missionaries, existed between the Roman Catholic of whom 232 are natives. In addition, and Protestant parties was not based 216 women from America are employed, upon religious, but ~pon political differand 626 unordained native preachers. ences. The French priests have been The total of laborers is 1645. Of the jealous of the British East Africa Com- 681 churches, with 76,603 members, 481 pany, and the strife on the Nyanza was are self-supporting. The baptisms last between French and English as really year were 8708. In 1038 schools 20,107 as in Europe. These feelings the bishop are taught. Total native contributions, was able considerably to pacify. His $51,038.12. own joy was full in the Christian aspect in Uganda. The day after his arrival he -The Board of Foreign Missions of preached to fully one thousand men and the Presbyterian Church (North) re- women. ceived last year $942,691. Of this sum the churches, as such, contributed $346,- -The Rev. W. G. Lawes, one of the 780, and the woman's boards and the pioneer missionaries in New Guinea, has Sabbath-schools $374,258-a fact curi- translated the New Testament into ten ous only, or truly alarming? That mill- languages of the savage islands; the last ion almost was divided as follows, one, in the Motu language, being in the among the 13 fields with 23 principal publisher'S hands. missions: China, $164,986; India, $161,046 ; South America (Brazil, Chili, -The Wesleyan Missionary Society and Colombia), $104,827 ; Japan, $fl7,- has decided to begin a mission at once ~48 ; Mexico, $89,644 ; Persia, $83,662 ; in British Zambesi, South Central Af- rica. The country is a high plateau, fertile and well watered, rich in min· has been accepted. The Wesleyans have erals, and healthy for Europeans. many converts in South Africa, who have gone northward as colonists and A native Christian in Uganda will miners, and this fact gives them an adwork three months for a copy of the New vantage in efforts for the evangelization Testament in Swahili. Only a limited of the natives. Mr. Rhodes has p~om_ edition has been published. iset! to the Wesloyan Society a subsidy of 2500 fran os annually." One whole tribe of Zulus, in Southeast Africa, is likely to be exterminated by China.-·The Executive Oommittee of the ravages of rum furnished by the Foreign Missions of the SoutherD. Pres. white men. byterian Church has appointed Rev. J. M. Sykes and wife, of Meridian, The government of the Congo Free Miss., and Miss Ruth Swain, Alexan- State has granted a large concession to a dria, Va., nissionaries to China. They commercial comp.1ny covering nearly all will sail thig autumn for their work. of the southeastern part of its territory. This will probably lead to the opening -Over one hundred new Protestant of the country sooner than if it were left missionaries have reaohed China and to the government to effect. The com· begun work there since the Shanghai pany is called" The Company of Ka· Missionary Conference in May, 1890. tanga." -The arrival recently at the Boston -Bishop Taylor says "that when a City Missionary Society of 1000 copies Kafir dies the body is placed in a sit· of the Bible and 520 tracts in Chinese ting posture near the grave and left there from the native Christians in Hong for two or three days, that all who wish Kong, designed for their countrymen may come and give to him messages for now in Boston. shows that the foreign their friends who have departed to the lands are waking up to the needs of happy land; thus showing that even the Amerioa and its alien populations. Kafirs, whose very name, given to them by the Mohammedans, signifies infidels, -At the end of Maroh 12 applicants believe in the immortality of the soul. for baptism were accepted in Peking, 8 But of a Saviour they know nothing." of whom were from the village of San Does not the duty of the Ohristian Ho, where there were 70 inquirers, in- Church to disciple all nations become cluding 20 women. more important each day? -At the great Missionary Conference -The foreign population of the Congo in Shanghai, in May, 1890, one committee Free State is now over 800,of whom about of twelve persons was designated to se· half are Belgians, the remainder being cure a translation of the Bible in simple English, Italians, Portuguese, Dutch, but chaste Wenli ; another, to secure a Swedes, Danes, and French. Of the 72 translation in the higher classic style, English and 35 Swedes, as enumerated in and a third of ten persons, to secure an December, 1890, the greater part-over improved version of the Old and New 80 in all-are missionaries. The open· Testaments in Mandarin. ing in March of the Congo Railroad from Matadi to the Leopold Ravine is an -A band of 35 men and women for earnest of the great work that will soon the China Inland Mission recently be completed, and which will rendermiR. reaohed Shanghai. An additional 10 or sionary advance much easier and safer. 15 are expeoted, so that the whole band will be 45 or 50. To the Scandinavian -Says the Missignary Herald: "Mr. churches of the United States belongs Oecil Rhodes, the Prime Minister of the honor of having sent them as their Oape Oolony and leader of the British representatives, and to the China Inland South Africa Company, has invited the Mission the privilege of receiving them English Wesleyans to commence a miR- as its associates in the name of the Lord. sion in Mashonaland, and the invitation Half of this band are men and half are and Hungarian divinity students. A women. The majority are Swedish by new' financially independent German birth, though a few came originally from Reformed church in Buda-Peeth has Norway. mainly resulted from Scottish labors.
-The insurreotions against the Catho· The leading Hungarian pastors express a lic and Protestant missions in China are warm sense of this catholic co-operation: attributed to fanatical Buddhist priests. To stir up the people, they aUege that lndia.-Thecensus of Ipdiawas taken the Chinese childrQn are maimed by the in one night between February 26th and Christians, and that their eyes are torn 27th. Th'clre were more than a million of enumerators.
out for the purpose of making medicine -Before Christianity entered India, to bewitch the Chinese. lepers were treated with shocking in- F!ii.-The latest report concerning the humanity. Many of them were buried religious condition of this group of alive. The English rulers have put a islands covers the year 1889. The total stop t:> this custom, and for fourteeI4 area of the group is about the same as years there has been a special Christian that of the State of Massachusetts. mission to the 135,000 lepers in India.
There is a European popUlation of about -A correspondent of the Harvest Field 2000, while the natives, inoluding other thinks the Salvation Army workers in Polynesians and Indian emigrants, India have fallen into the snare of number 123,000. Of this native popu- .. premature reporting." Last year it lation 103,775 worship in the churches was stated that at Paij, a Gujarat village, of the Wesleyan Mission, while 10,302 hundreds had joined the Army. They attend Roman Catholic churches. The have now" in hundreds" left the Army.
Wesleyan Mission has 10 European mis'- He suggests that it would be wiser to sionaries and 72 native ministers, 49 wait a year to see how converts stand catechists, 1838 local preachers, and before rushing into print concerning 1095 teachers; these laboring in connec- them.
tion with 909 churches and 414 other -Dr. Sara C. Seward, a niece of the preaohing places. In the sohools of the late Secretary Seward, who fOT several Wesleyan Mission are 40,667 children. years has been a medical missionary The Roman Catholic Mission has 18 among the women of India, died recent- European ministers with 148 native ly at Allahabad. teachers and 76 native churches and chapels. Aside from the 18 Roman -In Jhansi, where mission work has Catholic priests there are three lay Eu- been carried on since 1886, the first ropeans and 14 female Europeans. It is Christian church is now being built. It interesting to notice that the total value will contain a reading-room for the eduof exports from Fiji for the year 1889 cated natives, and English books will be amounted to $1,821,000, while the im- provided.
ports were $945,000. Is there anyone -Pnndita Ramabai held the second who believes that there would be such a anniversary of her" Sharada Sadhau," record of prosperity for these islands or widow's home, recently. Mrs. Rahad it not been for the preaching. of the nade, the amiable and intelligent wife Gospel therein? of a cultured native gentleman of Poona, Hungarian Jews. – The Buda – Pesth a member of the Legislative Council, Mission among the Hungarian Jews had presided with grace and dignity; and an important incidental result in knit- another well-educated lady with remark- ting various closer ties of brotherhood able self.possession moved an address of with the Hungarian churches. Scottish thanks. This assuredly indicates prog- liberality has provided bursaries at the ress in the conservative city of Poona, New College, EditlQnrgh, for Bohemian a Iltronghold of Brahmanism. The Pundita a·elivered a long and eloquent ltaly.-There o.re in Florence two Walextemporo address with her wonted deosian churches, one Free Italian energy. She reports her work to be church, two Baptist churches, and one prospering. Plymouth Brethren church, all of which, except the Baptists, ha.ve good houses -It i~ said that every week there are of worship of their own. 'rhe Waldenprinted in the Bengali language in Cal- sia.n Theological School, with three procutta, and circulated, 10,000 sermonettes fessors and a dozen students, is there; written by Bishop Thoburn. If the and the Methodist School, soon to be funds are furnished, it is proposed to transferred to Rome, is there at present. print them in five different languages Of the Protesto.nt day schools the oldest every week. and largest is that of the German Dea- conesses, with more than a hundred -Dr. Pentecost writes: " An aston- pupils, all girls. Besides these instituhlhing feature of the National Indian tions there are the Domenge Institute, Congress was that there were lady dele· for boys, the Mackenzie Institute, for gates present; and on the last day one the training of lay workers, two evanlady, a native of high caste, appeared gelical orphan asylums, a medIcal mis. on the platform unveiled, and delivered sion, a soup kitchen, and six churches an address extemporaneously in pure for foreign Protestant residents. English. This is an innovation so marked that it will do much toward Japan.-Foreign missionaries resident shaking the foundation of the hateful in Japan are now granted passports to and terrible Zenana of India. Once the reside outside of foreign concessions, on women are set free in India, then away the ground that they are" employed in go the iron fetters of caste, and the church work"-a concession which has whole empire will be freed from super- hitherto been given only to teachers. stition." Coming at this time, it indicates a spe- cial appreciation on the part of the Jap- -The report of the M. E. Conferences anese Government of the beneficial in. in Northern India for the past church fiuence of the missionaries. year is cheering. There have been added to the churches 980 full members and -The Rev. Dr. William E. Griffis, 2935 probationers. There were 1256 writing on the outlook in Japan, asks adult baptisms. The number of schol- the question: "Does Japan want phiars in the Sunday-school hail increased losophy or the Gospel? Missionaries over 3000, making the present number capable of filling chairs of psychology 28,400. The mission is embarrassed by at Harvard, or consecrated Christians its very success, for the large ingather- and ministers of the pure Gospel?" ing requires an addition to the native And he answers unhesitatingly, "The pastorate, while funds do not increase latter." He says a few of the Japanese proportionately. will " seek after wisdom" of the Greek sort, but that the majority of the 40,- –Figures that are almost startling are 000,000 crave the Gospel, while the given in connection with the Telugu majority of the 30,000 Protestant church- Mission (Baptist) in India. The bap- members will give the best proof of tisms reported in five months of the last their discipleship in holy living and missionary year were over 5000. The moral reform rather than in formulating work is still progressing. theories or nursing speculation.
-The native Christians of Ko.limpong -The recent annual meeting of the are themselves undertaking a" foreign' , Congregational churches in Japan mission to Bhutan, within their country. marked a real advance toward unity. It is to be supported by the prayers and An earnest spirit pervaded the gathermoney of the Christians within the ing, and the theological tone was more Guild Mission District. conservative and harmonious than had patients were treated the last year, and been expected in some quarters. A religious services are beld regularly on statement of belief was formulatecl as a the Sabbath, with an attendance of up- basis of faith for consideration next ward of two hundred. One of the ladies year. A large share of the debt of $600 of the Presbyterian Mission has a week- on the Home Missionary Society was ly sewing class at her house, where raised by a spontaneous and enthusiastic women of all ranks and conditions come, outburst of benevolence among the dele- and, while engaged in needle-work, the gates themselves. A theatre meeting, Gospel story is read to them and ex- with 2000 people in attendance, was one plained. Another lady of the same mis- of the features of the season. sion has a class in the city away from her home. The hospital, in charge of a -One evidence of the reaction against Methodist lady, is the centre of a very foreigners in Japan is the fact that the interesting and efficient Christian work. empress and members of the aristocracy Sometimes women come, not because have given up the wearing of the west· they are sick, but because they want to ern style of dress for women, and the hear about' the new doctrine. ' " native historical costumes are again to be worn exclusively. -Korea presents a striking illustra. tion of the irresistible advance of the Arrangements have been made for kingdom of Christ. One of the most the preparation of a commentary on remarkable works of grace known in the New Testament in Japanese. Bish- modern missions is that among the op Bickersteth, of the Church of Eng. Koreans. Without having heard or land, is to be tho general editor. seen a missionary, thousands of people have heard of Christ and turned to the -All that Japanese law requires a service of God. These converts are the man to do in order to put away his wife fruit of the circulation of copies of the is to have her name erased from the offi- New Testament by the Rev. John Ross, cial register of his family. and have it late missionary of the Presbyterian re-entered on the register of her family. Church of Scotltmd in Manchuria. Strong efforts are being made to aUlend this easy plan of divorce. New Guinea.-At a recent meeting of native Christians at Port Moresby, the K07·ea.-Writing to the independent, collection taken for the missionary cause Mr. Appenzellos says: "It is less than consisted of $37 c!lsh, 320 spears, 65 seven years since the first Protestant shell armlets, 92 bows !lnd 180 arrows, missionary came to Seoul or to Korea. besides shields, drums, shell necklaces, Both the Methodist and Presbyterian feathers, and other ornaments. Most of missions have had lady missionaries in the people have no money. Korea from the beginning. Mrs. ·M. F. Scranton has the honor of being the frst Persia.-From Oroomiah comes the one to open direct work foJ," the women following good news: .. The villages of Korea. More than once have I heard are being revived little by little. In her say that the women think so little one, 58 persons have professed converand their ideas are very narrow. But sion, m!lny of them heads of families. the work of educating them was begun, In other villages 50, !lnd in others a less then medical work, and finally direct number have come to repentance. evangelical work. Results are not to be looked for before the seed has had time -Pastor Joseph, of Gulpashan, which to take root. Yet there are a few things is one of the self-supporting churches, that cheer us even while breaking the writes the following cheering news: fallow ground. Korea has two girls' .. The winter past, as you are aware, schools, with an attendance of about has had its share of difficulties. One 40; one hospital, where nearly 2400 great diffieulty W!ilI in, fegard to our church building; a fine of three hun- invaluable in the acquisition and proper dred tomans ($450) had to be paid by use of the Turkish language.
us. Another was a sad division made by Y. M. O. A.-Twenty. five years have 80me of the members that for a time. was seen a ma.rvellous growth in Young a great evil. Notwithstanding these, Men's Christian Associations. Then God's blessings have been abundant. they were only beginning to secure a Special meetings were attended with recognized standing, but now they have power from on high. Over 60 are can· gotten a hold in all our leading cities, didates, and at the next communion and exert an international influence nearly all of these will unite with the through their various organizations. In church." 1886 there was only one building erected Scandinavia.-The Swedish Mission- for association purposes; now there are ary Society is actively at work among 231, which have a money value of $1,946,- the Laplanders. The society has an 085. In different lands the entire prop· orphanage at Ange, and 6 mission erty owned by this Christian agenoy schools in other parts of Lapland, amounts to $11,907,381. Besides, the where 173 children have received in- contributions for its current expenses of struction. In spite of a grant of 2000 looal work foot up annually $1,841,966. crowns from the king, the expenses for These figures show progress, and indithe past year were 1500 ?rowns in exceSli cate a vitality and permanenoe for this of the receipts. form of Christian aotivity whioh augurs well for its future. -" The Norwegian Lutheran China Mission" is the name of a societyorgan- General.-Dr. Woloott Calkins, in his ized a year ago at Bergen, with John sermon before·the Amerioan Missionary Brantzaeg as president. During the Sooiety, on the responsibility of busiyear 5431 crowns have been collected. ness men, gave some striking figures. Brantzaeg, his two brothers, H. Seyf- The wealth of the oountry he found to be farth, and S. Samuelson will go to China over $62,500,000,000 distributed among as missionaries. The establishment of 13,000,000 families, of whom 11,500,000 a mission house at Shanghai is under, families are those of wage-earners. consideration. There are 135,000 families whioh have an average wealth of $186,000. Seventy- Syria.-The girls' school in Tripoli five per oeut of our business men are has 35 house pupils and 115 day scholars. members or adherents of Protestant -An association has been established churohes. Of the 68 riohest men in the in London to send colonies of poor Jews country only 4 are Roman Catholic. to Palestine. So many are going to .Teru- There are probably 400 Christian famisalem that it is one of the most rapidly lies in this country with an annual ingrowing cities in the world. come, over and above expenses, averag· ing $500,000 apieoe ; and 8000 Christian Turkey.-The work of evangelization families with an average income, above in Turkey will be greafy facilitated by expenses, of $25,000 each, and 100,000 the Turkish dictionary just published Christian families with an average in- under the editorship of the Rev. H. O. come of $10,000 above expenses. A Dwight, who has spent several years in great share of the $1,400,000,000 added a careful revision of the work previously yearly to the capital of the country be- done by Sir James Redhouse of Lon- longs to Christian business men. The don. Drs. Riggs and Pettibone and a gospel for rioh Christian men is not so former grand vizier have also scrutinized much that we need their money as that the proofs. It is a fine piece of literary they need to get rid of it, if they would work, there being no less than 2224 not have their wealth drive them into pages in the volume, and it will prove insanity or provE) a curse.
The Missionary Review of the World — December 1890
I•I. 882 LORD STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
Vox.; XIII. No. 12.-0Id Series.– DECEMBER. –VOL. m. No. 12.-New Serie3.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
LORD STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE. A NOBLE FRIEND OF MISSIONS.
BY MRS. JAMES S. DENNIS, BEIRU'l', SYRIA.
It is inspiring to all loyal lovers of the Kingdom of God to recalI the varied sources of its tribute, and the widely contrasted ranks in society which have yielded it allegiance. It kindles the heart to observe how the sceptre of that Kingdom has waved, up and down the centuries, compelling history to proclaim its sway. Literature has lent the charm of her gracefnl periods to exalt its pure and noble principles. Science, perchance unconscious of its unsought honor, has delved for its service. It brings its wealth from far, and unexpected gifts are poured into its treasury. Truly "the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof," and, with deep gladness, we learn that "His Kingdom ruleth over all."
To those of us who are accustomed to fix our eyes intently on certain agencies of the church, as the main, if not the only, means of extending the reign of Divine law, order, beauty and righteousness, it comes almost as a delightful surprise to note how often those not directly connected with such agencies are, in their own way, helping on the one grand work. 'l'ruth is one, whether sung by the poet, painted or chiseled by-the artist, proclaimed by the orator, toiled for by the statesman, died for by the soldier, preached or taught by the humble missionary. Into this fellowship of service it is a refreshment to come.
The story of the life of Stratford Canning, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe,* is an illustration of the valuable work done for God's Kingdom by one holding a lofty social and diplomatic position in the kingdoms of this world. Daniels there have been, starring the course of history all down the ages, men raised up to stand firmly for righteousness, justice, and the liberty of the human soul, even amid the dark though high places of sin and oppression-among these this honored name has a place. No human character is perfect, and his was marred by an imperious temper which often flashed with too hot a hlaze; but rarely do we find a more tenacious hold upon principle, * The thread of thisnaJTative is mainly drawn from the able volumes on the "Life of Strat- ford Canning,Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe," by Stanley Lane-Poole. Additional information has been derived from "Forty Years in the Turkish Empire," and an article on "Civil and Religous Liberljy in Turkey," in the Princeton Review for October, 1875, by Rev. E. D. G. Prime, D.D. gr~ater devotion to duty, stronger faith in Providence, more unre- lenting efforts in behalf of human rights and religious liberty, in the face of almost unconquerable difficulties, extending through many long years.
A brave and loyal Englishman, gladly representing his own hon- ored sovereign, his fealty was to that Kingdom which shall embrace all the kingdoms of this world. His long life of nearly 94 years began in the heart of London in 1786. It was destined to touch many lands in its influence, and, extending over so large a portion of this wonderful 19th century, to come into contact with many phases of its history and many of its earnest questions. Only after his three score years and ten had passed was he able, with any sense of abiding, to linger in England-the land so devotedly loved during all the years of his foreign service. The exceptional beauty, as well as moral and intellectual vigor, of those later years in his English home must have been something of a compensation for his long period of exile. He must, however, have found a deeper satisfaction in the consciousness that he had been able to accomplish much towards the establishment of the principles of justice and religious liberty in the land which had been the field of his most prolonged labors. Some disappointment mingled with his content and some sadness that what had been ob- tained in word had not all been carried out in deed; but, we trust, that he, too, like the men of faith of old, though not receiving the fullness of the promise, was able to discern it afar.
When only 20 years of age 11r. Canning began his association with the diplomatic service, being appointed to the position of second sec- retary to the Mission to Copenhagen, through the influence of his relative, George Canning, then at the head of the foreign department.
He left Cambridge to accept this office, which had but a two months'
tenure-the Danes continuing, at that time, to maintain an attitude of hostility toward England. Ere another year had ,passed, we find him af'l secretary to the mission of the plenipotentiary, Mr. Adair, entering the Dardanelles, and having his introduction to the scenes where, later in life, he was to wield so important an influence and to maintain so dignified a position. He was fascinated with the beauty of scenery and the historic charms of the East, which his poetical and classical tastes enabled him to appreciate well. 'l'here was, however, much in the human elements of the situation which was utterly distasteful to him. Again and again, during his residence, did he "shake the dust of Stamboul from his feet" with the firm resolve never to return there.
Still, the strangely reiterated call of duty found him ever obedient, and six times did he go back. Only at the age of 73 did he say a last farewell to Constantinople. These early years of his life there were a peculiar training for his later service. Singular and great responsi- bilities were laid on his young shoulders. In 1808, the time lVIr. Adair entered upon his mission, Europe was in a most confused and intricate political situation, Napoleon being on the scene of action. England was at war not only with France, but in a sense, with the countries under French influence. She had been in conflict with Turkey, not on account of British grievances, but for those of Russia. Later in the same year she found herself in discord with Russia herself. Such were the kaleidoscopic changes and counter- changes of the time. '1'he aim of lVIr. Adair's mission was to arrange a peace with Turkey, and the negotiations for the consummation of this object afforded young Canning his first lessons in the vexatious and procrastinating diplomacy of the '!'urks. The French, on their part, brought every possible influence to bear upon the Porte, to deter her from acceding to England's propositions. The desired result, was, however, at last accomplished, and the "Treaty of the Darda- nelles" was signed in January, 1809.
On the departure of Mr. Adair, in 1810, 111'. Canning, in his 24th year, was placed in the responsible position of minister-plenipotenti- aryat the Sublime Porte. The time was at hand for him to enter upon his true career in a contest of high importance. Napoleon was pre~:; ing on in deep-laid schemes for Eastern dominion. His aim was nothing less than the spoliation of the Ottoman Empire, To withstand, in battle, this man of prestige and might, in his grasping and selfish ambitions, was the work set before the youthful minister. Far from England, with no one in Constantinople on whom he could rely for advice, alone he entered upon the task. A mysterious silence rested upon the office of the Foreign Secretary, in London. "The fact seems incredible," says Canning's biographer, "nevertheless it is true, that not a word of political'instructions did he receive during these two years in which he (at thi::; time) ,'eprcoellteJ EllglanJ at the rurte." This was the school in which he was trained in self-reliance, and in which were developed his rare diplomatic abilities. Most keenly, however, did he feel his isolation and responsibility. Oft and oft did he besiege the Foreign Office for instructions, but for some unexplained cause the silence on the subject of his repeated dispatches remained unbroken.
.The "Treaty of Bucharest" effecting a peace between Russia and the Porte, signed in 1812, was the outcome of these labors. By means of this, the Russian army of the Danube was released and enabled to oppose the French. The Duke of Wellington afterwards wrote, in terms of extreme laudation, of the value of the work that had thus been done, rating it even as "the most important service that ever fell to the lot of an individual to perform:" Thus early in life was he pr?videntially the agent in accomplishing great results, and his writings indicate his appreciation of the deep moral responsibility resting upon him. There is something pathetic in the stripling, alone, without human <.lounsel, being left to deal with issiles of such vast import, but it is sometimes the way of the Supreme Ruler to carry-out His great designs through a single individual.
Canning, notwithstanding his success, was ever yearning for England, the centre of his affections and ambitions. Having resigned his position in Constantinople, we find him again at home, but it is not for long. In 1814, he was sent to assist in the reconstruction of Switzerland, and later, in connection with Swiss affairs, he mingles in ,the crowd of sovereigns, soldiers and statesmen who gather at the Vienna Congress.
In 1819, he went for three years as Minister to the United States, and, in 1824, he received his appointment as Ambassador to Turkey. At this time, the question of the liberation of Greece and her restoration to an independent existence, was one which enlisted the attention of many generous souls. Canning was one who, from an enthusiastic interest in the classic past and an ever-kindling indignation at cruelty and oppression, as well as sympathy in struggles for attainment of just human rights, naturally felt deeply in reference to the future of Greece. Before going to Constantinople, his instructions embraced a visit to the court:of St. Petersburg, for the purpose of negotiations in connection with the Greek question. Returning from Russia, he was married to the lovely lady who seems to have been a rare helpmeet through his remaining years. Her intelligent sympathy, restraining gentleness, and sincere piety enriched and strengthened his life. On their way to Constantinople they visited Greece. Canning there had informal conferences with the Greek patriots, and saw with his own eyes some of the horrors which had stirred so many hearts. lIe wrote, at this time: "Heavens! how I long to be the instrument of repairing such calamities by carrying my mission of peace and deliverance to a successful issue." Thus he e!ltered upon this period of his work at Constantinople which was that of mediation in reference to Greek affairs. Laborious, indeed, were his efforts, though fruitless.
These were times of tragedies. Fear of the J anizaries had so shaken the heart of the Sultan that he considered their extermination a necessity for self-preservation and they perished in blood. Murders abounded. Life was of little account. Corpses floated past the home of the British Legation, on the Bosphorus. 'fhe reign of terror was enhanced in its horrors by the presence of the plague. Conflagrations raged, but still the Ambassador, with his brave young wife, remained at their post. In the Autumn of 1827 came the battle of Navarino. The day of mediation was over. The flags of the consuls were struck and the three embassies of England, France and Russia disappeared from the scene. Canning returned to England, but in 1829 was sent to the conference at Poros, to discuss the form of governmeiIt and frontier for Gt:eece. He paused in the harbor of N avarino, where "a deep quiet had replaced the thunder of battle." Faithfully did he toil in laying the foundation stones of the new Greece. Often did his heart sink as he witnessed the dissensions and divisions among her po- liticalleaders, threatening to make valueless that for which so much had been sacrificed. The true patriots, it is said, "all hailed him as the saviour of their country."
However much we hope that an enlightened Christianity and a fuller civilization may yet do for this interesting land, we cannot visit her to-day and note ;the upspringing life, the system of common schools, the really magnificent institutions of a higher grade, and the open Bible, without a sense of gratitude to those whose services were so laboriously given in this formative period of her new existence.
Passing hastily over the period of Mr. Canning's special mission to Turkey, in 1831, his occupancy of a seat in the House of Commons, and his brief mission to Madrid, we come to the most interesting and important period of his own life, that extending over the 16 years between 1842 and 1858. These years, with short intervals of absence were spent as England's ambassador at Constantinople. He was called the "Great Elchi," this being the term applied at the Porte to an ambassador, in distinction from that given to a minister, which was simply "Elchi." The dignity of the title had special meaning in his case, for it was known ere long in the whole extent of the Turkish Empire as a tower of strength and refuge to the oppressed and wronged of whatever race or religion. In 1851 he was created Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe. His fac3 and presence were singularly noble and impressive, his manners of the old school of courtesy, his speech grave, quiet, simple, and sincere. When he felt himself officially representing his Queen and his country, he was indeed an august personage, but in the intimate converse of friendship "his frank graciousness was captivating, and he showed only the aspect of the cultivated scholar of Eton and Cambridge-the simple-hearted gentleman, the poetic idealist, the man of high thoughts and glowing imagination." He was, when entering upon this period of service, 55 years of age,and we note in him a deeper seriousness and a loftier tone. The passing years, with their varied opportunities and great responsibilities, had enriched and strengthened him. We find him furnished for what yet remains for him to do. He enters now upon a gJ;eat work of reformation in the Turkish Empire itself. During his previous residence in Constantinople his mind had been largely absorbed in outside interests, but now he conceives the idea of using all his influence to inaugurate or help on beneficent reforms. Hitherto, they seem not to have occurred to him as possible. With resoluteness, persistent determination and pj).tient devotion, he addresses himself to the task of securing not only freedom from many lesser grievances, but the establishment of equal rights and liberty of conscience. That he suc-
lDec
ceeded in accomplishing much, the grateful expressions of large num- bers testify.
That there has been but imperfect fulfillment of solemn promises, is no reflection upon him who,with such untiring efforts, obtained them. A true friend to Turkey, and seeking the best interests of her people, he was in full harmony with those men and women who were also seeking her true weal by preaching and teaching the eternal principles of truth, which, when received by any nation, must redound to its most genuine prosperity.
Great changes had, however, already come. Some glimmer of the light shining so brightly in Western Christendom had penetrated here. Turkey, even through her wars, had come into contact with a different civilization from her own. Mahmud II. had had sincere, though perhaps, indefinite desires for a better condition of things for his country. The fall of the J anizaries had put an end to a military despotism, and with the disappearance of this, Mahmud had hoped to accomplish something. The Sultan met with only opposition from the throng of Turkish officials, and little to help him in any quarter. There is something rather touching in the crude efforts he made. If he had had a fuller enlightenment and had received greater "ympathy, he might have achieved happier results. He, however, like many another dreamer, died without seeing his visions take the form of realities, but he bequeathed to his son, Abdu-I-Mejid, a disposition towards reform. This youth of 16 came to the throne in 1839. He was amiable and wellintentioned, and had much about him that was humane and kindly, but he was also weak and irresolute. The personal relations between him and Lord Canning seem to have been of unusual friendliness, and it is probable that under the influence of such a character as that of the "Great Elchi" more was obtained from him than if he had been of a different mould. Most of the Turkish statesmen were antagonistic to this influence, and sought to make the young Sultan a prey to their machinati?ns. It was, therefore, with infinite patience and skill that most of the reforms were obtained. There was, however, one 'l'urkish official, Rashid Pasha, who was in warm sympathy with these new ideas. He had been ambassador to England, and later to Paris, during the administration of M. Guizot.
Abdu-I·Mejid, very early in his reign, assembled at his palace the vassals of his empire and his officials with the foreig: I ambassadors, and caused to be read to them the first formal Bill of Rights ever granted by the Sultans. It was theo"Hatti Sherif of Gul Hane." It did not touch the subject of religion but confined itself to three points: "1st. Guaranteeing to all the subjects of the Porte security of life, honor and property.
"2d. Regular systf'nl of levying and collecting the taxes.
LORD STRATFORD DE REDCLIFFE
"3d. An established system of recruiting the army and defining the period of service."
Thus was taken the "first step in a series of constitutional guarantees which afterwards took the form of charters of religious freedom, culminating in the celebrated 'Hatti Humayoun' of 1856." Not long after the charter of Gul Hane was given, the sincerity of the Turkish government was well tested. A young Armenian subject of the Porte had embraced Islam, but afterwards returned to his Christian faith, having repented of hIS apostasy. He remained firm, though subjected to severe ordeals. He was then sentenced to death. Sir Stratford de Redcliffe, in connection with the ambassadors of some of the other European Powers, exerted himself to the utmost to save his life, but without avail. The youngman was killed under circumstances of exceptional cruelty, but his death was not fruitless. Such an exhibition of barbarity stirred deeply the representatives of Christian Powers, and especially the English ambassador. An extensive correspondence with their respective governments ensued. The pressure brought to bear upon the Porte was of tIle strongest kind. Lord Canning made a study of the Koran in search of proof from that book itself that such executions were illegal. When he placed his official not~ to the Porte on the subject in the hands of Mr. Pisani, the principal interpreter of the Legation, Mr. Pisani expressed the opinion that it would not succeed. "Mr. Pisani, it shall," was the reply; and succeed it did, for Sir Stratford secured from the Ottoman Govel'llment the following pledge: "The sublime Porte engages to take effectual measures to prevent henceforward the execution and putting to death of a Christian who is an apostate."
Two days later, in a personal interview with the Sultan himself, he secured another still more important guarantee, as follows: "Declaration of his highness, the Sultan, to Sir Stratford Canning at his audience on the 23d of March, 1844: "Henceforth neither shall Christianity be insulted in my dominions, nor shall Christians be in any way persecuted for their religion."
In reference to this declaration Lord Canning afterwards said, "It seemed little less than a miracle, and God alone could have brought it about."
As time passed on, and in connection with missionary labors, the number of Protestant converts greatly increased. The result was bitter persecution on the part of the Armenian ecclesiastics, and through them communicated to the people. "Defamed, maltreated, cut off from means of support, stoned and imprisoned," the distress of these adherents of evangelical truth was extreme. Again Sir Stratford put forth his efforts, andi"succeeded after much trouble,'in securing a recognized position for the Protestants, as such, and the right of con· verts to he protected by the civil authorities from vexation on the part of their relinquished churches." The result was embodied in the "Protestant Charter of 1847." This, however, had one defect, it was signed only by the Grand Vizier, Rashid, and was liable, according to the organic law of the empire, to be repealed. In 1850, through the same influence, another firman was obtained confirming the charter and signed by the Sultan himself. Notwithstanding these guarantees, the persecutions did not altogether cease, and in 1853 another firman still was issued by the Sultan, copies of which were sent to all Protestant headmen in the empire, and also to the governors, with strict orders that it should not be disregarded. The object of this was designed to make it clearly understood that the charter was a reality, and would be enforced.
Among the illustrations of the spirit, honor and humanity of Lord Canning was that afforded in connection with the episode of the IIungarian patriots, Kossuth and others, who fled as refugees to Turkey. He used the full weight of his influence to prevent the Porte from yielding to the demands of Russia that they slOuld be given up, and sheltered, hi!llseIf, some of the children at the Legation. "The Ambassador," it is said, "with all the impressive solemnity which he knew so well how to use, bade the Porte have courage, be true to the everlasting principles of honor and humanity, be true to its own independence and dignity, and boldly refuse to obey the Czar's commands."
We now approach the period of the Crimean war, a season of great and manifold responsibility to England's ambassador. Whatever may be thought of that war and its results, it was overruled to secure greater promises of religious liberty, It is interesting to know that at this season "special prayer was offered by the missionaries in behalf of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, that he might be endued with the spirit of wisdom in conducting his important negotiations, and that in counseling the Sultan, he, too, might have counsel from aboye. Never before had the position of this representative of the British Government and devoted friend of the cause of Christ been so responsible, and never before did he hold such influential relatiollS t() the Porte.
The later grants in behalf of religious liberty were embodied in the famous "Hatti-Humayoun" in 1856. The Sultan, with solemn form and ceremony, proclaimed this edict, promising equal civil and religious rights.
There were present Turkish ministers, the Council of State, the Grand Mufti, patriarch~, rabbis, and other heads of religious communities. At the time it was issued, it "was generally regarded as a complete guarantee of religious liberty to all the subjects of the Porte of whatever creed." "In March, 1856," as stated in the Life of Dr. Goodell, "eleven missionaries of the American Board, together with four other missionary laborers and two British chaplains, united in presenting to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, through whose special agency the charter had been obtained, an address acknowledging in the warmest terms the important service he had rendered to the cause of humanity and of Christianity in Turkey." This address speaks feelingly of "the better day" dawning upon the millions of Turkey, and indulges in joyous anticipations of their social and religious free- dom. Clouds have somewhat obscured that bright dawn, but the Turkey of to-day is on a far higher plane than at the time Mr. Can- ning began his labors for reform. Those who love the Kingdom of God, and whose unselfish interest in Turkey'S millions is still steady and true, may yet see the promise of the dawn fulfilled in the splendor of the perfect day.
Many are the testimonies to the diplomatic skill and perseverance of Sir Stratford as well as to his services in the cause of religious liberty and his support of Christian missions. Dr. Goodell, who was in rare circumstances to thoroughly understand the good which had been accomplished, in a letter, on the occasion of Lord Canning's departure to England, at the close of his period of service, in referring to the changes which had taken place, says: "In these changes your name stands connected with all that is worthy to rise and prosper, with all that is stable and enduring. Connected, as it is, with the great cause of civil and religious liberty, it stands connected with that which shall never pass away, for it is as etern~l as the immutable purpose of Infinite Goodness can make it, and when this cause shall triumph in 'I'm'key (and triumph it shall), and the future history of the country shall be written, the influence and important agency of your lordship will DOt fail of a public recognition and a due acknowledgment."
It was a source of keen regret to Lord Canning, that the "Treaty of Paris," which recognized the "Hatti-Humayoun," did not contain iome provision for its enforcement. On this he strenuously insisted, hut the Powers of Europe refused to do that which might have secured more fully the advantages of the victory he had won.
An indication of the crumbling of barriers between Frank and Turk, Christians and Moslems occurred in the presence of the Sultan himself at a festive entertaiment given at the residence of the English Ambassador. It was the first time in the history of Turkey that .a Sultan had been the guest of a Christian Ambassador. The occasion has been described with picturesque beauty, but the moral import of the scene must have been deeply felt by the thoughtful gazer. The Golden Horn rang with the salvos of cannon. The brilliant throng of representatives of many races looked on with wonder as· Sir Stratford walked hand in hand with the Sultan through the lines of British Soldiers.
But now Sir Stratford's residence in the East was approaching it~ close. After his severe toil during the years of t}:te war and his sub- sequent diplomatic labors he was worn and weary, and asked for a leave of absence. This, after reaching England, principally in con- sequence of a change in the ministry, was followed by his resignation. He returned to Constantinople to close up affairs and take an im- pressive and dignified farewell. Many grateful expressions from varied nationalities touched his heart. " Nothing," it is said, " came more sweetly to the ear of the departing statesman than the memo- rial of the American missionaries, in which they recited the many reforms which he had brought into Turkey, and especially the aboli- tion of executions for apostasy, the recognition of the Protestant community, the open sale of the Bible in the 'l'urkish bazaars, and the building of the first Protestant church in Jerusalem; and added' we love to consider your lordship's influence as one of the important providential means by which God has been pleased to carryon his work.' "
Sir Stratford's last public act in Constantinople was the laying the foundation stone of a Protestant memorial church on a noble site given by the Sultan. The church was to be a monument of the brave Englishmen who had fallen in the recent war, and, at the same time, of the religious freedom which made it possible to have it there in the near neighborhood of a Moslem mosque. A great multitude gathered. The noble old man, with his white locks and imposing form, spoke a few solemn last words before he took the trowel in his hand, and then having fulfilled his office, followed by throngs of the people to whom he had been so true a friend, he went to the landingplace aud took a last farewell. On his homeward voyage he paused at Smyrna and was received with similar respect and feeling. He was there led in triumph to open the first railway line ever laid in Turkey.
His great public work was done, but he continued from the retirement of his English home to exert a wide and beneficent influence. Removed from the wear and vexation of public responsibility his often heated spirit grew in sweetness and calm, though ever ready to flash in indignation at a wrong, or to kindle with enthusiasm at a noble deed. The tastes of his youth solaced him in his old age. Poetry and literature received some worthy additions from his pen. Two small volumes, entitled" Why amI a Christian?" "The Greatest of Miracles," testify to the firmness of a religious faith he would fain leave on record for the solace and strength of others. An essay for the Princeton Review, on " The Ennobling Influence of Reverence in the'Vorld," lay unfinished on his table at the time of his death. So he went slowly and gently down the valley, which for him had but little of shadow.
" Long sweet days of golden haze "
.ended at last in one whose sunset was full of calm and beauty. Sir Robert Morier thus records his last visit to him not long before his death: "His intellect was as clear, his speech as incisive, his interest in poetry and politics as keen as when I last S3/W him three years ago. It was a beautiful English summer afternoon; a warm sun lit up his pale features, which still retained their splendid outline and were entirely wanting in the wrinkles or withered look of extreme old age. . . He seemed some grand old Titan majestically sinking to his rest in all his glory, as if he knew the Infinite was waiting to receive him in all due honor."
He was laid to rest in the little quiet churchyard of Frant village, lmt a statue in 'Vestminster Abbey is a national tribute to his memory. Dean Stanley's eloquence recounted his services to mankind, and Tennyson wrote the lines which are engraved on the base of his statue. Before his death his Queen sent him her thanks for his great and valued services. A higher meed was his from his Divine Sovereign: " Well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
THE LAND OF MARTYRS AND MISSIONARIES.
EDITORIAL.
vYe mean dear old Scotland! 'Yhat other land is so full of memorials and monuments of the martyrs who died, or the heroes who lived, for the testimony of Christ's Crown and covenant ? We went llOwhere without treading on sacred ground, and breathing an atmosphere of consecration! At Dundee's gate, where 'Vishart preached to the victims of plague; at St. Andrews, where he was burned; at JEantyre, where Livingstone was bol'll; at Strathaven, whence the :Martins went to India and Jamaica; in Edenburgh Church yard, where the tablet records the Martyrs and the tombstone held the covenant signed with blood! No wonder such godly ministers succeeded such martyrs; that such great missionary meetings are held, such numbers ofIeI' to go to the heathen, and even the poorest give 1,0 missions! God bless dear old Scotland!
/ A SUGGESTION.
God's ships of treasure sail upon the sea Of boundless love, of mercy infinite; To change their course, retard their onward way, Nor wind nor wave hath might.
Prayer is the tide for which the vessels wait E'er they can come to port, and if it be The tide is low, then how canst thou expect The treasure ship to see. -Anna Temple.
AN A~mRICA~ "PERSIS THE BELOVED."
AN AMERICAN "PERSIS THE BELOVED."
BY TALBOT W. CHAlIBERS, D.D., NEW YORK.
In the interesting list of friends and disciples at Rome, to whom the Apostle Paul sends Christian salutations in the last chapter of his Epistle to the Church in that city, occurs the name of one not men- tioned elsewhere, yet highly distinguished here. It is "Persis the be- loved, which labored much in the l"ord," (R.V.)-a woman of such a character as to win affection in a remarkable degree, and at the same time an efficient worker in the Lord's vineyard. She who combined these features went to her reward ages ago, but her name remains imperishable on the sacred record, an example and a stimulus to all succeeding generations. Nor has it lieen without fruit. Again and again have been seen, in the various branches of the Church, goodly women, of whom all that knew them would be willing to use the terms which the Apostle applied to Persis. It is one of these to whom the present paper is devoted. And it is prepared with the more zeal and interest because the chiefest form of her service is one that has been very greatly and very widely misrepresented.
A striking instance of this misrepresentation is found in one of the well-known novels of the late Charles Dickens. That popular writer was a firm believer in the Christian religion, as appears from statements made in his last will and testament, and in his letters to his sons. But he had a singular method of showing it. In alll1is early fictions, wherever a minister of the Gospel is introduced, he turns out to be a self-seeking hypocrite, whose life constantly belies his profes~ sions. And not until almost the last of his books does it appear that the author had ever met a clergy,man who lived as he preached, and was sincere and self-denying. In the tale entitled "Bleak House," we are introduced to the famous Mrs. J ellaby, who figures as one of the first philanthropists of the age, and at the same time is conspieuous for the neglect of every domestic duty. She is deeply interested in an African settlement called Borrioboola-Gha, and to this devotes all her time and strength, holding meetings, instituting branch aid societies, maintaining an extensive correspondence and issuing circulars· by the thousand, while her own household is entirely overlooked and her husband and children are made wretched. The good woman does not see this, being entirely carried away by her sympathies with the human race. Nor does it occur to her that she is at all to blame, since she is not at all indolent, but indeed so overwhelmed with public business that she does not know which way to turn. The whole sketch is very lifelike and amusing; nor can anyone deny the deft hand of him who drew it. But the question arises, How much of truth does it contain? Is it drawn from life? Does Mrs. Jellaby represent a class of real personages? No one wishes to assume the responsibility of a universal negative; but I must say that I have never met, in actual life or in any biographical records, any pel'sons whose course would even suggest a hint for such a'revolting caricature.
But, be that as it may, it is certain that there is no necessary con- nection between an intense zeal and activity for the conversion of the world, and the disregard of the claims of one's own family. Rather the contrary is true. For the best friends of foreign missions are usually interested ill all minor spheres of duty and usefulness. No more shining example of this has been seen in modern times than in the excellent lady referred to in the title of this paper, as an Ameri- can "Persis the Beloved." This was Sarah Platt Haines, the wife of Thomas C. Doremus, of New.York city. She was born in 1802, and died in 1877, her life thus covering three-quarters of a century. In 1821 she was married, forming a happy connection which was broken only by her death.
She was conspicuous for interest in foreign missions, and for her continuous and unsparing labors in their behalf. The impulse came when she was a little girl and accompanied her mother to meetings, where such eminent believers as Mrs. Isabella Graham and Mrs. Divie Bethune were accustomed to pray for the world's conversion. As years passed on her interest became a settled conviction, dominating her whole life. Her husband, being like-minded with herself, so far from putting obstacles in her way, co-operated to the extent of his ability. There seem to have been no limits to her activity. Her houfre was always open to missionaries of the Cross, on their way to and from their fields of labor. She performed for them a thousand offices of kindness, seeing to the completeness of their outfit, providing little comforts that had been overlooked, and guarding against unpleasant contingencies. Nor did her ministrations cease until they had actually commenced their journey. And so on their return. Usually the first face that met the weary traveler was that of Mrs. Doremus. She was ready to make all the arrangements needful for them and their baggage, and often, by her forethought, saved them from serious perplexity. This kind attention was rendered not only to persons connected with her own denomination but also to the representatives of all evangelical churches. It was enough for her that they were heralds of the Cross, laboring in the regions beyond. She spared no pains t~ aid them in the accomplishment of their mission. It made no difference whether the work was done in Greece, in Canada, or in the wide wastes of heathenism, nor to, what body of Christians would accrue the fame arising from success; she was always ready to help. In the year 1861 she was active in forming the Woman's Union Mission Society, which has done so much in advancing the cause, not only by its direct efforts, but also by its influence in leading to the formation of similar organizations in all parts of our country. For the first fifteen years of its existence her own house was the headquarters of the society, and contained all its machinery. Besides her personal inter- course with missionaries, she maintained an extensive correspondence with them while in the field, and frequently sent them books and peri- odicals, such as would cheer them in their toils or enable them better to fulfil their calling. So active and assiduous was she in these vari- ous forms of aiding the missionary enterprise, that it is not easy even for those acquainted with all its details to mention or conceive any- thing that she left undone. She habitually did more than anyone be- forehand would have deemed possible. And. this, too, through sum- mer's heat and winter's cold, and often in periods of great physical debility.
Yet with all this intense devotion there was no one-sidedness; least of all, was there any neglect of home or domestic duties. No hint of Mrs. J ellaby could be seen in her well-ordered household, where cheerfulness always reigned, and love was the mainspring of every word and act. I remember her telling me once, that when she was married she and her husband elltered into an arrangement, according to which he was never to disturb her with any mention of his business troubles, . and she was not to disturb him by recounting any housekeeping worries. She was the mother of nine children, not one of whom was ever forgotten or neglected for an hour. Their home was always made bright and attractive. She habitually dispensed a cordial and generous hospitality, of which very many besides the writer retain a lively recollection. Her delight seemed to be in doing good, and not a few can recall little kindnesses, the omission of which would have excited 110 attention, but which it was a real pleasure for her to render and others to receive. This was particularly the case in regard to ministers .of the Gospel, all of whom she highly esteemed in love for their work's sake.
At a meeting recently held in this city with the view of procuring playgrounds for the children of tenement houseR, a lady of repute made a speech in which she said: "She was of the opinion that the hundreds of thousands of dollars sent out of this country for foreigrimission work might be better spent in educating physically, mentally and morally the children who dwell in the slums of New York, and who are going to be men and women of the coming generation."* The good lady only expressed a common misapprehension in suggesting the thought that the funds given for Foreign Missions are just so much subtracted from what would otherwise be given to philanthropic work at home. Intelligent observation shows just the contrary. One species of work reacts favorably upon another. Friends· of the foreign work are usually as much interested in the domestic. Certainly this was the case with Mrs. Doremus, as the merest mention of her course will show. For very many years she did the marketing *Reported in the New York Tribune September za, 1890. twice a week, for two and sometimes three benevolent 'institutions with which she was connected. For more than a generation she was an active member of the Woman's Prison Association. She assisted in founding and maintaining the Nursery and Child's Hospital. She did so much toward the establishment of the Women's Hospital that it may truly be said to owe its existence to her. The Presbyterian Home for Aged Women had her for one of its active managers, alld she was personally interested in the Gould Memorial for the Italo- American schools. Nor were her untiring energy and far.seeing saga- city confined to public institutions. In every good w.ork conducted by the City Church, of which she was a member, she took part, besides ministering in a private way to the needs of individuals and house- holds, suffering froll?- sickness or bereavement, or the manifold ills of narrow means.
Now, considering the character and course of Mrs. Doremus, het' varied and constant activity in every form of usefulness, it is not pre- sumptous to claim for her what the Apostle said of the bright orna- ment of the Roman communion," She labored much in the Lord.'r Her voice was not heard in the streets, nor did she ever attract public attention. She never transgressed the proprieties of her sex, yet her influence was felt from one end of New York to the other, as well as far off on the sea. She was a woman of pleasing form and features, of graceful mien, and with a bright eye and a winning smile. She had a good mind and the best culture that was attainable in her youth. And with her social surroundings she might have shone in any g~ 01' fashionable circle, but her taste did not run in that direction. She preferred to bestow her pleasant presence and gracious fellowship .where they would most contribute to human comfort and the honor of Christ. Her piety, while deep and earnest, was intelligent and genial; never obtrusive, and always simple and natural in its mode of ex- pression. She was a strong believer, and obstacles which overpowered the weak faith of others only roused her to more persevering effort. She had a passion for doing good, which grew with het· years, but there was nothing quixotic or fanciful in its manifestations. It was simply a determined purpose to enter every door of usefulness which Providence opened before her. The cause of missions doubtless lay nearest her heart, but it never stood in the way of anything else that promised to do honor to God or service to man. Her heart was large, her temper was sweet, and her tongue under constant control. Nor is there any reason to think that outward activity took the place of in- ward communion with God; on the contrary it was the deep sense of things divine and spiritual, the pervading love of an unseen Saviour .that prompted her numerous and unceasing toils. She had trials of various kinds, some of them quite severe, but they were borne with unquestioning submission, and her frequent remark that" cheerfulness is a Christian dnty" was illustrated by her own example, even amid weakness and pain.
Further details of her character and course might be given, but ~mough has been said to answer the purpose of this record, which has no other end in view than to expose. the emptiness and folly of such caricatures as Mr. Dickens drew in his account of Mrs. J ellaby, and to do this simply by a faithful and unvarnished account of a recent life spent in this .great metropolis-such a life as shows convincingly how consistent may be the most intense devotion to the conversion of the heathen world, with a perfect balance of character and a strict regard to the proprieties of woman and the claims of home.
The illustrious galaxy of holy women mentioned in the New 'restament-Lydia, Phrebe, Tryphena and Triphosa, Persis, Euodia and Syntyche, did not exhaust the possibilities of feminine excellence and usefulness. In every age they have been rivaled; in none more certainly than our own, as is seen in the consecrated career of Mrs. Doremus.
EDITORIAL PARAGRAPHS.
MR. MEIGS finely said at the late National Missionary Convention, in Indianapolis, that the object of that gathering was to "work down the missionary spiIit." He explained that usually missionary interest first· struck the head, and after a while got as far as the mouth, then the heart, conscience and will, and by and by the pocket, and last of all the legs and feet! Blessed are they on whom the missionary spirit works down far enough to produce those winged sandals-the alacrity of a messenger of the Gospel!
" IF the salt have lost his savor it is thenceforth good for nothmg but to he cast out and trodden under foot," etc. Bishop Thoburn says: "If the church should so lose sight of God's purpose concerning her, as deliberately to determine not to carry the Gospel to the world, in one second God's judgments would sweep such a church away from the earth, as no longer of any more use than savorless salt."
FRUITS OF MISSIONS.-When Rev. James Calvert was asked to give in one sentence a proof of the success of missions, he said: "When I arrived at the Fiji group, my first duty was to bury the hands, arms, feet and heads of eighty victims whose bodies had heen roasted and eaten in a Cannibal feast. I lived to see those very Cannibals, who had taken part in that inhuman feast, gathered about the Lord's table." Truly, the gospel is still the Power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth!
THE PRESENT OUTLOOK IN FRA;>cr:. 139'1
'fHE PRESENT OUTLOOK IN FRANCE.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] France is just now the eynosure of all eyes. N atiolls are marvel- tlUsly attracted toward her in these days. The last year, 1889, was the centennial year of the French Revolution. On the 5th of May, of that year, was reached the full completion of the hundredth year since the "States-General" assembled, and tbe Revolution was inau- gurated-the Revolution, that for ten years was busy, through ear- nage, through many forms of severe trial and disorder, inlaying the foundations of the present Freneh nationality. That was a remark- able year of our Lord, that year 1789; and anyone who has been familiar with that most significant series of events, which we group together under the name of the "Freneh Revolution," will believe that it is no exaggeration to say that no more stupendous 'series of events, in the magnitude of the interests involved, the magnitude of the permanent results secured, and the magnitude of the sufferings and sacrifices undergone-no more stupendous series of events, in all that goes to make occurrences memorable, has been known in modern history, than those whieh oecurred between the assembling of the States-General and the first consulship of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Who could have believed that in the space of one hundred years our eyes would be looking upon a scene so vastly different in all its aspects, interests, struggles, achievements, promises. The writer confesses that he feels a peculiar interest in the French nation. It has been hinted to him that his own ancestry is Huguenot; and he is sure that he is a Huguenot in religious faith, and more than half a Frenchman in temperament.
A great deal has been said about the fickleness and excitability of the Freneh people. Some like to quote that famous saying of Daniel O'Connell's, "The Irishman's blood is quicksilver," and transfer it to the Frenchman. But quicksilver has been put to many very important uses, and it is especially noticeable that it has a remarkable affinity for the preeious metals. All people that are faithless, i. e., without a true religious faith) are fickle. If you want to insure steadiness, you must give a ship a star to steel' by, and a rudder to steer with. It may be doubted whether to-day there are any more faithful, persistent, and steady-going people than the French, when you lodge in a Frenchman's heart a pure evangelical faith. It is not certainly for those to depreciate the French, who remember the Huguenots. Where shall we find a more faithful and steadfast people than the Huguenot martyrs of France?
As to this "quicksilver"-this mercurial temperament-we COIlfess that we have a strong liking for fire. 'When fire is subdued it gets to be fervor, and if there is anything we hate it is apathy, indifference, stagnation. Electricity may do damage DOW and then, but what. should we do without it when we want motive power, and mes- sage-power, and mJminating power. There is something fascinating about enthusiasm. Weare not sure but that the old derivation of that word may be the true one-en-theism-God working in us. And the Frenchman is enthusiastic; there is nothing stolid about him and nothing stupid, and we have known some Americans who were both stolid and stupid. The.natures, or characteristic qualities of men, dif- fer according to the circumstances of their development. If you would give "staying qualities" to the character, you must give character that upon which it can stay itself.
In India, a-few years ago, a human being was found in a wolf's den. He had been carried away a suckling baby, and, instead of de- vouring him, the beast chose to nourish him. From this den was that strange creature taken, foaming and frothing at the mouth, and tear- ing at the chains with which it was found necessary to bind him; but, while they were the chains of bondage, they were the signal and the symbol of liberty. You may take a human being, born of the gentle1':t mother, and rear that human being into a wolf, if you suckle him at a wolf's breast and rear him in a wolf's den ! We must never attempt to measure character without considering also environment. It is unfair to judge of a nationality without remembering the influences that have moulded a nationality. There is no people on the face of the earth that, if you give them the pure Gospel, will receive it more readily, will incorporate it more rapidly, will exemplify it more gloriously, than the French.
We have already said that we deprecate stagnation. Intellec- "rtual stagnation is bad, but moral and spiritual stagnation is criminal. e remember, in boyhood's days, hearing the petition go up, over and over again, that God would "open the doors to the nations." It was Jlever anticipated then that France, the oldest daughter, and the right arm of the papacy, would, in the year 1871, welcome an Englishman to come and teach the pure and simple Gospel of the Huguenots, even with governmental sanction and protection. In those early days Christians were praying for the doors of access to be opened. Now our missionary boards are crying, "Retrench," which is virtually saying to God, "Close these open cl001'S! " "Ve refuse to enter the doors that we prayed might be opened. Take, for example, the Presbyterian Church -which we may refer to with the less hesitation, as we belong to that body; it has great difficulty in raising less than one-third of acent a.
day per member, through twelve months, to send the Gospel into foreign countries. The question should be not, how little I can spare for God, but how much I can sacrifice for God; not, how little can I give and satisfy my conscience, but, how little can I keep and satisfy my actual reasonable necessities.
France furnishes illustration of what we have said about open I doors and unused opportunitie~. There has not been, perhaps, in all the eighteen hundred years of Christian history anyone missionary enterprise that has been more signally commended of God, blessed of God, crowned with success, and invested with holy and divine promise, than the missio~ of Robert W. McAll and his helpers in France; and yet he says: "If I had 500 laborers and $500,000 I could place every laborer and invest every dollar within six months." There is nothing more beautiful and more sublime than a certain solitariness in labors for Christ-a certain sublime aloneness with God.We see this man going across the channel, with his beloved wife, to take up, as one laborer in the midst of a great field, the work of French evan- gelization. Marvelous man and woman, those two! When we think of McAll we think of George Schmidt, when, as pioneer, he was the only missionary in the Dark Continent; we think of Robert Mor- l·ison, when, as pioneer, he was the only missionary in China; we think of Judson, when, as pioneer, he stood alone in Burmah. '1'0 furnish Dr. McAll plenty of helpers and plenty of money is one of the sub- limest privileges ever accorded to the Christian Church in these days of world-wide missions; and so it is of all missionary enterprises. If we realized our opportunity we should shout" Advance! " all along the lines and never dare to sound the signal for retreat.
If we want to invest capital, what shall we do with it? Put it where it will yield the largest investment consistent with safety.
Will you tell us any investment in American railways, in American manufactures, that compares, either for safety or certainty of large profit, with an iuvestment in such a work as that of missions? To give to these eager multitudes a simple open Bible, to give to these mercurial Frenchmen something to turn this fire into fervor, something to transform this temperamental he~t into energy and holy enthusiasm; to make it sure that in Papal lands Jesus Christ may'be held up as a crucified, risen, all-sufficient Saviour; that the authority of the ,"Vord of God may be exalted over tradition, over Pope and College of Car- dinals, and hosts of designing priests; and to make sure that, to those who know not the simple Gospel, may be revealed the secret of salva- tion and sanctification in Christ-is not that an enterprise worth all our zeal? ,"Vhat are we doing when, with such doors open, we even l}Csitate? ,"Vhat are we doing that our gifts are not multiplied a hundred, a thousand fold? Who of us has ever come down to the actual experience of bitter self-denial, while, in every way limiting our own expenditure, we sought to increase what shall be absolutely at the disposal of the Lord ? We are honestly afraid that the finan- cial basis of evangelization is rotten; the two great Protestant na- tions, America and England, uniting with all evangelical christendom, give less than twelve million dollars annually to the regeneration of a lo~t wodd. 'l'here is but little consecration. A most godly man said to the writer on one occasion: " You never will be fit to go to Heaven ~mtil for the sake of dying souls you are willing to stay Ottt of it." There is a heavenly-mlndedness that is just as selfish in its way as the mind that is fixed on earthly gains or intellectual treasures. We ought to lose sight even of our spiritual advancement, in comparison with the uplifting and salvation of a thousand million of the human race that have never even heard of Christ. If, by prevailing prayer, we could pray about twenty years back into a life that is already past its meridian, the writer would gladly go and help Dr. McAll. No field in Papal Europe is parallel to France in attractiveness and promise.
But there is a wider question that concerns a wider field, and that question absorbs and engrosses our thoughts more and more. The Church of Christ has the world open before the Missionary Band, and yet the number of laborers is inadquate to enter and take possession. There is the problem compressed in one sentence. It is the problem of the ages. To its solution the whole church of Christ should turn prayerful attention. Something is wrong. God would not open such doors, great and effectual, if He did not mean occupation. He would not lay a duty upon us without giving us ability to do it. 'l'he blootl of a thousand million souls must crimson the skirts of the church of this generation unless that guilt is avoided by fidelity to our duty. We may avoid it by preaching the gospel to every creature. All OUt' excuses, apologies, insinuations only evade it, they cannot avoid thi" guilt. There are men and women, treasllres of wealth, resources of all sorts, abundant for the work, if there were only the disposition and determination to do it. And let us try to imagine the boundless satisfaction and joy that would thrill and expand our bosoms if at the end of this century we could look abroad over the whole earth and see not one district of territory, '01' fraction of a world's population, entirely destitute of the Gospel! 'Yhat a beginning, or at least fortaste of millennial blessedness, when at least once, to every creature, the gospel of salvation has been faithfully and lov!ngly proclaimetl !
A great German defined the difference between Socialism and Christianity in a very clever epigram :-Socialism says. " What is thine is mine." Christianity says, "vYhat is mine is thine." The difference is infinite. But the epigram needs correction. Christianity really teaches us to say, " What seems thine is not thine, what seem>! mine is not mine; whatever thou hast belongs to God, and whateyer I have belongs to God; you and I mnst use what we have accor<1ing to God's will."-Dr. E. W. Dale.
Here Dr. Dale has struck the root of the matter. vVe must have a revival of the doctrine of divine stewardship.-ED.
THE CHINESE ~IISSION,,"RY PROBLE!!
THE CHINESE :MISSIONARY PROBLEM.
• BY REV. JOHN ROSS, MOOKDEN, NORTH CHINA.
In the confusion arising from the conllicting opinions bandied about as to the value of mission work and the wisdom of missionary methods, men's mind:; have been diverted from that aspect of the misRion-problem, which appears to me, as a practical missionary, to be, beyond all others, important. The materialistic spirit of the age is the only apology I ca~ cOllceive for the extraordinary attitude assumed by many of the representatives of the wealthy Christian churches on the questions of the income, honsing, clothing and food of the missionary, while they ignore or treat as a matter of indifference the qualifications of the man, and show a lamentable ignorance of the work he has to carryon.
In order to satisfactorily undertake any work, and to wisely select the best workers, we must understand the nature of the work and the conditions under which it is to be conducted. "Vhat, then, is the work the Church of Christ has to accomplish in China? It is the introduction of Christianity to a people which was an ancient nation when Nehuchadnezzar was building the walls of his proud Babylon, which was highly cultivated when the Romans found our forefathers savages, and which, even as recently as three centuries ago, was more civilized than their contemporaneous European nations. The Chinese are a proud, conservative, Relf-sufficing, intellectual and learned race. They have the religious system of Buddhism-not the attenuated ghost believed in by some eccentric London folks-but this religion exercises no real authority over them, and the system of Taoism possesses a still more shadowy power. But the ethical and political system called Confucianism wields an unchallengable inlluence over the whole land, and among all classes-an inlluence comparable only to that of :Moses o,er Jewry. The authority of C<llfucianism is so universally paramount because of its high-toned system of morals, the excellence of its maxims on the relations between governor and governed, and the remarkable purity and unapproachable terseness of its literary style.
It may be taken for granted that before a non-Christian people is likely to pay any regard to the preaching of a stranger, he must gain their confidence and command their respect. It is also evident that what is adequate to secure the respect of one nationality may appear despicable in the estimation of another. From w1!at I have been able to learn of the world's nations, excepting the Jews and Mohammedans, whose knowledge of religious truth is more extensive and accurate than that of any other non-Christian people, lJO nationality is so difficult to gain over to Christianity as the Chinese. Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and other surrounding peoples, borrowed from the Chinese their literature, their manners, their arts, laws, customs, and whatever -other factors went to compose their present civilization. All borrowed from China, none lent to her. Hence, if we consider the 8e1£- complacent pride of the Chinese~a somewhat unpleasant and repel- lant characteristic-we can scarcely deny h a basis of justification.
Knowledge of literature and literary ability is the most highly prized acquisition in China. Civil service competitive examinatioTls have for twelve centuries been the means of filtering out candidates for official employment. To this proud, conservative people, who so highly esteem knowledge and attach such importallce to literature, what sort of man will you send to gain them over to Christianity? What must that man be who will command their attention, and com- pel from a contemptuous people a respectful hearing for the doctrines ofthe Cross?
The number of those who have gone forth to combat the evils' in- herent in heathenism, is so insignificant compared to those who min- ister to con~regations in Christian lands, that some good people are in despair of overtaking, by ordinary methods, the needs of the world. But the argument based upon the comparative number of missiona- ries and ministers is fallacious. The missionary is not a pastor and should never sink into one. The work which he goes to perform is very different from the work of the pastorate. The missionary is the mop.ern representative of the Apostles. He is the only real suc- cessor of the Apostles. If the name "apostle" is Greek and the name . "missionary" Latin, there is no difference in the signification of the terms. The "apostle" was the "sent" of the Church and the Holy Spirit-sent from a Christian community to gather in converts, plant churches and raise up pastors among non-Christian peoples. So is now the "missionary" the "sent" of the Church and of the Holy Spirit, to· accomplish exactly the same purpose. Though the work of gathering in a few converts is his first, and though the duty of ministering to them is one the neglect of which Awould be criminal, yet these do not constitute the most important parts of his missionary life. His great work is, like that of the Apostles, to·found churches, and to train pas- tors; not to plant a tree which is to stand alone, but to sow seed which will become self-propagating. The proportion, therefore, of missionaries to the numbers of the people to whom they are sent, ~s a matter of very subordinate consequence. '1'he one outstanding subject which should demand thj most serious attention of all interested in mission work, which should indeed hold so largely in their esteem that every other consideration should be relegated to a position of comparative unimportance, is the qualifications of the man sent. The question which should, like Moses' rod, swallow up every other, is whether YOll send the men who are in all respects the best fitted for the end in view: that of gaining the confidence and respect of the people, of planting churches and raising and training pastors.
All the more important will this subject appear when it is stated that the Chinese people must be brought within the Christian fold by Chinese converts. It may be taken as axiomatic that every success- ful mission in China has been succesRful in proportion to the earnest- ness, knowledge and zeal of its first converts. In our own Manchurian mission, out of a hostile population, over a thousand converts have been baptized. Many thousands know and respect the doctrines of Christianity. The work of preaching the Gospel is widely spread and rapidly extending in all directions over this large district of country.
The literary classes are many of them our ,best friends, and officials have, in most cases, ceased opposition. Within the past eight years, a couple of hundred of the inhabitants of Korea have been baptized.
A congregation has been formed in the Korean capital. Thousands of Koreans are reported to be believers and applicants for baptism.
How have these results been attained within little more than a dozen years? Of all those converts not more than a couple of dozen can be traced to the immediate agency of the foreign missionary. The others are the converts of converts. 'l'lie only claim to credit-if it be one-which the European can make, is that of careful and constant instruction of the converts. And it may be noted, by-the-way, that here is the only satisfactory method of attaining to really cheap mis- sions.
We must not lose sight of anotl1er fact bearing on this subject.
,The Chinese convert who is the most useful in defending the truth against opponents, in instructing enquirers in tlle tenets of Christianity and in rousing interest among the indifferent and the careless, is he who has the most accurate knowledge of Christian and cognate truth. He is the best qualified to "exhort by sound doctrine" the attentive listener, and to "convince the gainsayer;" wllO "holds fast the faithful word"
which he has been carefully taught, and who is ready to give an in- telligent answer to him who asks for a reason of the hope that is in him. Now, this implies diligent, thoughtful, and long-continued edu- cation in holy things. Such education was insisted on and practised by our Saviour and by His apostleR. And, among a people like the Chi- nese, who are iii. intellect equal to, and in civilization more advanced than, the ancient Greeks and Romans, is a mere slipshod fashion of planting Christianity desirable? Will it be successful even if desir- able? History emphatically proclaims against the possibility of such • success.
More important, more difficult, and demanding more varied talents than the work of any minister in the church or the duties of any pro- fessorial chair in Christian countries, is the work of establishing Chris- tianity in China. Who, then, is sufficient for these things? Who is the man best fitted for this work? Virere the conversion of the world a task now initiated, it might be perhaps more difficult to return a definite reply to this question. But the war against the kingdom of darkness is as old as the Church of God. Ve must, therefore, listeJl to the teachings of the past experience of that Church to guide us i. our action for the future.
When the Lord's people were brought out of Egypt, the choseD leader was Moses-a man learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, a man whose courage was as unshaken as his intellect was powerful, whose knowledge was as great as his faith was free from doubt. If we examine the character of the men who were moved by the Holy . Ghost to rebuke, and to undertake the reclamation of, the back-sliding J ews-rulers, pri~sts and people-we find that each is prominent in courage, eminent for knowledge of the truth, of outstanding ability combined with that humility which is the twin-brother of real great- ness. Our lesson from Old Testament history is that God, to accom- plish His great work, chooses men few in number, but this number the choicest of their race and generation.
It is stated that the New Testament lays down a different standard. The Lord Jesus is said to have sent forth a band of illiterate fisber- men to establish His Kingdom upon earth. Is this an accurate repre- sentation of the case? Of the apostles first selected some were cer- tainly educated men. Two men attained to special eminence. Peter and John were originally men who did not lack force of character, and the writers of the Gospel of John, and the Epistles of Peter and John cannot be called illiterate. Compared to the Rabbi who knew the jots and tittles of every word in every book of the Old Testament alld who could learnedly discuss the structure of sentences, alld ex- . tract wonderful meanings from the form of letters, the apostles may have been ignorant of literature. But true learning does not consist in the knowledge of roots and words, or the syntax and grammar of languages. These are but the instruments for acquiring or imparting some truth or truths. Real learning consists in the knowledge of that truth itself. And did the public appearances of the apostles not prove them possessed of more real learning than the Rabbinical book-worms ever knew or could comprehend? During a lengthened period did not the disciples pass through a system of close daily and hourly educa- tion such as no other men ever had, and under the greatest teacher the world ever saw, before they were commissioned to be "apostles" or "sent" ones? Can such men be said to have been unlearned or un- trained when they ;'ere sent forth to their work? They were, on the contrary, men thoroughly trained and carefully selected.
The apostle Paul still further emphasizes my contention that in the history of the Church of Old and New Testament times God employeo a select few to initiate the work of training men to be preachers of righteousness to tlleir fellow-countrymen. And does not the history of the church, subsequent to the Apostolic Period, 811ell out the same lesson? A strong Luther appears in Germany, and the couutlT escapes entirely from the broken shackles of Rome. An €qually robust Knox preaches in Scotland, and the Reformation is completed. Men not less learned, but of weaker character, led the movement in England, and the Reformation is still unfinished. Be- llind every great movement in the church since that time, and behind all important progress in the mission world, you will invariably find .a man of decided force of char.lcter, of soulld common sense, of good natural abilitie~, frequently of learning, and of a warmly sympathiz- ing disposition; and by devoted earnestness these qualities are all con~ecrated to the service of God. These are all select men, chosen hy God because of the necessary qualifications given to them by Himself, to adapt them for the work to which they have heen called.
To briefly recapitulate. Because of their ancient civilization and their excellent system of education the Chinese regard Westerns with contempt. Therefore, to gain their respect you must have men of prominent mental endowments, sharpened and refined by educational advantages. From political considerations and social customs there ,exist serious obstacles to friendly intercourse with Christian people. IrrespectiYe, therefore, of the argument from their enormous numbers, it is indispensahle that native converts be employed to pl:each the Gospel to the Chinese. In order to be the best possible laborers in this work the converts must he well instructed, to enable them to exhort the heliever and to convince the gainsayer. And to properly instruct these converts, to make them fit instruments for the establishment of a strong, healthy, aggressive form of Christianity, we learn from the history of God's dealings with man in the ancient and mod- >ern times, that the church must send forth to this work in China her .ablest and noblest sons, the most talented and earnest of her mem- Lers. Thus history declares the church to be shirking her most saCl'ed duty when she is satisfied with ordinary or inferior representatives to do a work which demands the greatest skill, the greatest wis- .dom, the greatest piety at her disposal. "Quality, not quantity," was the conclusion of the late Norman McLeod from his Indian experi- >ence. 'l'his conclusion is justified by Scripture, by history, and by .common sense.
Critics of missionary methods, who apparently believe themselves freed from all respoll!dbility in connection with the propagation of the Gospel, shout out in pompous tones or in hysterical screams, "Revert to apostolic methods." This is exactly what is required, and these critics would have deserved commendation had they defined" apostolic methods." What were the methods of apostolic times? Those methods did not hinge on the qnestion of money, more or less. They ignored discussions on dress. They laid no special emphasis on the kinds of food and drink to he used. Unavoidable hardships were faced with calmness and without boasting; asceticism was scornfully repudiated with the heathenism, out of whose ignorance it sprang. The essential features of the "apostolic method" are clearly un- folded in the brief account we possess of the first foreign missionary meeting held in the primitive church.
A few fugitive Christians had successfully preached the doctrines of the Cross in Antioch. The church in Jerusalem found it difficult to believe the good news, and sent the experienced Barnabas to ex- amine the facts. His soul was overjoyed. He preached, and th'e cause grew. He bethought him of his friend, Saul, then in Tarsus, whom he believed specially fitted to reason with the numerous types of humanity congregated in Antioch. The eloquence of the older Barnabas, and the keen logical reasoning of the ynung Saul overcame all opposition. Other preachers and teachers, eminent men there wer~, but these two, the oldest and the YOllngest, stood out conspicu- ous for ability, for earnestness, and for success. In the congrega- tional prayer meeting the needs of those who were destitute of the Gospel were not forgotten. And as the believers were practical men, their prayers were followed by steps taken to proclaim the Gospel where it was unknown. 'fhe claims of Antioch, one of the three largest and most influential citieR, wealthy and active, of which onlja fraction had as yet heard the Gospel, were not overlooked. But it was decided that the work of preaching there should be left to private members and the less powerful of the preachers. But their two ablest preachers-the one the most experienced and eloquent, the other the most learned and logical-they resolved to solemnly set apart to go forth to preach the Gospel where its voice had not been he:1I"'1.. These two men, therefore, who would probably not have presumed tooffer themselves for that work, were called by the Ohurch and the Spirit to become" Apostles" or " Sent" ones. That was the Ap",;- tolic method.
Need it be pointed out how very fal: all churches and all societies have departed from that method? Instead of solemnly calling tried men to this most difficult work .of the church, the Societies wait for offers of service from young men, who are perhaps all the more ready to undertake the task because they are unaware of the conditions under which it is to be carried out. The Church now makes its Pauls professors of theology, or some cognate study, and calls its Barnabases to be the pastors of fashionable congregations. One Paul did greatel' service to the Church of Christ than a hundred of the YOllng, inexperienced, and partially educated Christians of Antioch could have effected had they offered themselves or gone of their own accord. Revert, then, to the Apostolic method if you desire the Gospel to spread as it should and as it can.
Mere intellectual ability is proud, and leans upon the" wisdom of words." }Iere sentimental spirituality is weak, despising the wisdom
A LIFE THAT TOLD
of which it possesses so little. "Zeal without knowledge" is equally dangerous with ability without spirituality. Your missionaries, to be useful, must be of the Paul type, well educated, well trained, of conspicuous talent, of unquestioning faith; men whose spirituality of mind is as pronounced as their intellectual abilities are prominent.
A LIFE- THAT 'rOLD.
Thirty years ago th" region about London Docks contained as large a heathen population as any district in Africa, a rendezvous for the lowest types of humanity." The wealthy and influential class in this settlement were the l'Ilmsellers and keepers of gambling-hells. Children were born and grew to middle age in these precincts who never had heard the name of Christ, except in an oath. Thirty thousand neglected souls were included in one parish here.
A young man, named Charles Lowder, belonging to an old English family, happened to pass through the district just after leaving Oxford. He heard" A cry of mingled ago~y, suffering, laughter and blasphemy coming from these depths, that rang in his ears, go where he would." He resolved to give up all other .work in the world to help these people. He took a house in one of the lowest slums, and lived in it. "It is only one of themselves that they will hear; not patronizing visitors." He preached every day in the streets, and for months was pelted with brickbats, shot at, and driven back with curses. He was a slow, stammering speaker, but bold, patient and in earnest. The worst ruffians learned to respect the curate, whom they saw &topping the worst street fights, facing mobs, or nursing the victims of cholera.
Mr. Lowder lived in London Docks for twenty-three years. Night schools were opened, industrial schools, and refuge for drunkards, discharged prisoners and fallen women. A large church was built and several mission chapels. His chief assistants were the men and women whom he had rescued. A visitor said, "The congregation differs from others in that they are all in such dead earnest."
Mr. Lowder broke down under his work, and rapidly grew into an old, careworn man. He died in a village in the Tyrol, whither he had gone for a month's rest. He was brought back to the Docks where he had worked so long. Across the bridge, where he had once· been chased by a mob bent on his murder, his body was· reverently carried, while the police were obliged to keep back the crowd of sobbing people, who pressed forward to get a glimpse of "Father Lowder." " No such a funeral, had ever been seen in England." The whole population of East London turned out; stopping work for that day. The speciai trains were filled, and thousanils followed on foot, ",hom he had lifted up from barbarism to life and hope.:– .&change.
90S CAN WE TRUtir THE MORMON SAINTS?
CAN WE TRUST 'rHE MORMON SAINTS?
ltE'. DJeLAVAN L. LEONARD, D.D., BELLEVUE, OHIO.
'Ve mean those dwelling out in Utah, and where they seem to })l"omise puhlicly and most unreservedly to obey from henceforth the law of the land. Without much doubt the reply should be, not fully, alia neither now, nor for some years to come.
Te may admit that, at length, after a long and bitter struggle, t,he leaders of the ~Iormon Church begin to feel deeply the effect of vigorous action on the part of Congress and the courts, that they have grown weary of walking in the path of transgression,which has landed a t.housand or so in the penitentiary, and that they therefore feel compelled to change their tactics, to appear at least to yield, lest a worse thing come upon them, in the shape of legislation disfranchising the €ntire membership of the church. And further, there can be no loeasonable doubt that a large and influential element in Mormondom is heartily convinced of the blunder and folly of polygamy, and is more than willing to throw overboard both the practice and the doctrine. But these further and significant facts cannot be forgotten.
The poison of polygamy has been at work for more than a half century, and so has entered into the blood and bone of the system. The beginnings were away back in Illinois, in Missouri, and even in Ohio. Almost two generations have grown up under the amazing perversions of Scripture and reason and conscience. "Plurality" has been glorified, and fiercely defended against all Christendom.
Then, too, from first to last the iniquitous practice has led to the most wholesale and shameless lying the world has ever seen. 'rhe duplicity of the Jesuits has been altogether outdone. For some twenty yearf', for nearly ten years after the famous" revelation" in Nauvoo, it was repeatedly and most solemnly denied in pulpit and in press that polygamy was eyer known or heard of in the Latter-day Zion, and then, when it was finally proclaimed, the same was forced upon an unwilling people ruthlessly and even to the shedding of blood.
And further, from the beginning it has stood as a fundamental doctrine, whose acceptance was essential to salvation. 'Vho so rejected it should be damned. Up to a date very recent it was taught everywhere that by the strict command of God the Saints must go on multiplying wives, regardless of the law, and though they faced prisons and death. And, therefore, it does not appear how the ~udden apparent face-about can be real, how they can give the lie to all the teachings of the past, or how they can now protest–" It is of no use to fight sixty milllions." One familiar with the facts cannot but be amused by the unctious talk about being compelled by their principles to yield obedience to all" constitutional" laws. Polygamy w~s always illegal, was forbidden by Congress in 1862, again in 18'74, and yet again in 1882, and the Supreme Court has sustained the legislation. But it was not until October of 1890, forsooth, that the llews reached Salt Lake! Whence came this new light, and why?
And, finally, the way this so-called repudiation of polygamy came about is so queer as to lay the whole matter open to gravest suspicion. It is evident that a panic fell from some source upon the Utah Zion, and that under its irresistible impulse the action was taken. And the profession of repentance, the promise of amendment was made, not as all other great things have uniformly been done, to the brethren in conference assembled, but to the wieked Gentile world, the foe of Israel, and, strangest of all, by telegraph to the Associated Press! It is the first ease on record of a revelation reaching the earth by wire. And even then the high and mighty head of the Mormon Church does not command, but only" advises" the Saints to submit. Then at the conference, held a fortnight later, by a show of hands the people only own that dispatch as genuine, and agree to give due heed to the" advice." That the vote was taken, and that it was unanimous, has ~o significance whatsoever. Had the motion been directly the opposite every hand would have gone in its favor just the same, for voting against what the priesthood proposes is not tolerated in Utah, and has never been known.
And so it is very certain that we are not called upon to assume that the saints are sincere. Weare not at all at liberty to interpret their words or their deeds, as in reason and charity, we must those of almost all others professing godliness. Their ways have been much too crooked, and they have sinned in too many ways, and by far too long. Time only can prove that the leaders really mean what they say. And, hence, they must be tested, kept on probation for ten years-for five years at least-with no repeal of laws and no let-up of prosecutions. In particular, let us see if the law-breakers, now under indictment and conviction, when brought up for sentence, will promise to yield and obey-something which, hitherto, scarcely one of all the hundreds would consent to do.
The danger is that the wily and slippery hierarchs are simply dodging, juggling with words, staving off the imminent peril, hoping for better times. They would merely prevent, it may be, the passage of stringent bills now pending in Washington. They hope now to secme statehood by this cry of peccavi, and, once a sovereign State in the Union, who shall hinder the restoration of "Celestial ~Iarrilge ?"
THE MISSION IN BASUTO LAND
THE MISSION IN BASUTO LAND.-II.
REV. DR. ANDREW THOMSON, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.
In this second paper I shall give a short account of the settlement ()f M. Casalis and his congenial associates in Basuto Land, of the in- itial steps and first fruits of their mission, and of their rich harvest, after an interval of little more than fifty years. After a prolonged search for a. locality which should be the first centre and base of their ()perations, their choice finally rested on a spot which seemed to offer the advantages which they sought, particularly in abundant water, fertile land, wood for building and for fuel, with charming scenery of which the eye never grew weary. It was twenty miles southward from Maba Bossiou, the king's city, at the entrance of a deep valley stretch- ing away to one of the most remarkable peaks in Basuto Land, which rose, like steps, into a l,ligher world. They reached this place on the 9th of July, 1833. There they raised their "Ebenezer," with devout gratitizde, naming the spot Moriah, in remembrance of the difficul- ties through which they had passed, and of the Providential guidance which had been to them a.s a pillar of cloud and fire.
It took them the better part of three years to get fairly settled, and to bring themselves into circumstances in which they should be able to give undivided attention to the great work to which they had consecrated themselves, of evangelizing the heathen multitudes around them. And they lost no time in commencing the needed pre- l)aratory measures. Of different temperament, their hearts were one and their devotedness intense, so that they grudged no kind of labor, however uncongenial in itself, which brought them nearer to their ministry of love. At first they had nothing but their' tents to shelter them from the wind, and the wagon was their common sleeping place. But a little cabin, timber for the building of which had been obtained from the neighboring wood, was improvised in a week. It proved so miserable a domicile that, with all their French vivacity, nothing could have reconciled them to it but the prospect of 1)y-and:by rearing a more stable and spacious building which should give ample scope to the masonry of Gosselin. As they were finishing this first attempt in architecture, a company of youths suddenly ap- peared, commanded by Molapo, the king's second son, who had been Rent by the king to·assist them in their preparatory work, and, per- haps,. with the further friendly design of helping to protect them against unfriendly tribes and vagrant thieves. They were not long in erecting huts for themselves after their own fashion. The provi- dent king had supplied them with bagfuls of sorgho and millet, and if the hungry youths desired at times a change of fare they had only to walk into the neighboring wood, with javelin in hand, to find ante- lopes and winged game in abundance. .
Having seen his companions lodged and protected, M. Casalis proceeded to Philippolis to bring the wagons amI effects which he had left there when he set forth in search of the local habitation which he had now found. The list of "effects" was very miscellane- {Jus and may best be stated in his own words: "Tools of all kinds, vine-shoots, slips of peach, aprocot, fig, apple, quince and other trees; a herd of heifers which had cost me only 17s 6d each, and a flock of sheep 3s per head, a fine mare in foal and two horses, some wheat, some vegetable seeds, and, above all, potatoes." It is easy to see in this list that it was not so much the wants of his companions in the mission, but the civilization of the Basutos alongside of their Chris- tianization, that 1I. Casalis had in view in returning to Moriah with those carefully selected "good things." Moreover, when the wonder- ing people saw the uses to which such things could be turned-the wheat in that virgin soil bringing forth a hundred fold, and the toolM capable of being turned every day to a hundred uses, and when they were i~vited to share in the benefits, it would all tend to disarm their prejudices and to draw out their confidence and att.achment to the mISSIOnaries. In such circumstances as these, believing in the men has often been a most important step towards J:>elieving in God. .
The adventures of M. Casalis and his teamsters, on their return to Moriah, were not always of the most pleasant kind, especially when night fell and the wild beasts were attracted to them for prey, by the scent of the cattle and the flocks. On the whole, however, their precautions and attempts to frIghten ravening brutes kept them at bay, their loss consisting of a few sheep which were snatched by the prowling hyenas. One inoident shows how great their dangers must sometimes have been, and illustrates the strange methods by which a watchful Providence may at times give deliverance. Let the grateful missionary himself describe one scene: "I had one evening a proof of what a surprise will do in the way of disconcerting lions. It was about ten o'clock at night; I had gathered the whole company around the fire for worship. Just as I was about to commence, we heard very distinctly, close to us, the kind of convulsive. hiccough which the lion makes as he creeps towards his prey ready to spring. Instinctively, or rather inspired by God, I started a hymn, the air of which was brisk and lively. The men at once caught it up, there was quite a fusilade of voices-contralto, tenor, bass-nothing was missing, and we have already said what the Hottentot lungs are ~apable of. After it was over we listened, but nothing was heard. We armed {Jurselves with firebrands and scoured the neighborhood of the camp; the brute had disappeared. Perhaps, we had deceived ourselves and there had been none after all. The more experienced of our party, however, persisted we had been in great danger. In fact, the next day we discovered, twenty paces off, the still fresh track of the formidable paws which had already been bent to spring upon arid tear us." The welcome return of :M. Casalis to :Moriah, after six weeks of absence, was the signal for setting to work in right earnest. The first service to fill their hands was the planting of the young trees and sap- lings which had been brought from Philippolis, and the sowing of vegetables and wheat. Which being done, they next proceeded to prepare the materials for erecting a solid and spacious house and also a chapel. For many a week to come these followers of "Him who knew how to be abased," were engaged "from morn till eve," in hewing stones, shaping lumps of clay for bricks, felling trees in the' neighboring woods and sawing them into beams and planks. And, though the youths who had been sent from the king could not quite understand the reason of all this incessant and exhaustless toil on the part of the white men, they were always ready to lend a helping hand when it was asked; their Hot un frequent blunderings, through misunderstanding the directions given them, producing no worse effect upon them, with their overflow of animal spirits, than boisterous shouts of laughter. They were handy, however, in the use of the spade and in rearing mud walls for the cattle enclosnre and the garden. These services were rewarde~ by gifts of sheep-skins, knives, small hatchets and other useful articles, which they soon knew how to appreciate. In this way these good men escaped the one great blunder of the devoted Vanderkemp in returning labor for labor, which would haye kept them down at their original level and marred their civiliilatioll.
In the matter of food, they were obliged to content themselves with the rudest fare. But when they saw the wheat which they hall sown beginning to sprout into the blade and the ear, they were cheered by the prospect of soon eating in abundance the wholesome bread, which would remind them of theIr far-off home. As for their wardrobe, it certainly had an unmistakable look of savagisIll about it. But it was serviceable for their present circumstances. Their colony jackets made of a thick material, and trousers made of hides sewn together, were not suitable for polite society, but what was more to the purp?se, they were strong enough to resist all the thorns and briars of the country. It is quite true that a mimosa spine was sometimes all they could get to do the work of a pin or a button. And in the matter of shoes, they had not disdained to learn from their OWIl Hottentots to protect their feet by a kind of "half-shoe, half-~andal, made aut of antelope skins."
One is apt to surmise that, as a matter of course, labors and HlIrroundings like these continued through weeks and months mllst have been alike unfavorable to intellectual action and depressing to religiious life. But not so necessarily, when the men who are willing t(} live thus for a time are actuated by holy and benignant motives. The testimony of these good men themsel yes, speaking from their own expel'ience, assures us of this: ",Ve were not conscious," they tell u,;~ "of intellectual loss. "Ve preserved ourselves from decline in this re- spect by the observations of all kinds which we were making, as well as by the study of languages and of the standard works which we had brought with us. The religious side of our nature also was not too sorely tried. The daily experience we had of God's protec- tion, and the sweet'visitations of His Spirit did more than maintain our faith. There was, indeed, something, singularly strengthening to our spiritual life in the thought that we were there in virtue of a direct ordel' from Christ, that we were the representatives of his Church in places which had been closed against it up to our arrival."
One thing, however, did depress their spirits, and this was the long delay of communication from their far-off home. There was, in this way, at times a painful sense of loneliness and exile. Alas, when a letter did come at last, after a lapse of more than twelve months, it was to announce the death of the venerable father of M. Casalis. It is easy to imagine the profound sorrow which the letter bearing such tidings would: produce; but it brought with it rays of consolation also, for it mentioned that the last name which lingered on the lips of the dying old man, was that of his missionary son, when, with beaming eyes, he declared his confidence of meeting him again in the blessed world. The effect of the intelligence, when it became known among the poor people, was touchingly suggestive. "A lively sympathy," the sorrowing missionary tells us, "painted itself on their features as they saw him weep." Having only as yet a few words of their language at his command, he contented himself with saying to them, "God has done it;" "My father is in heaven." This was a surprise and a revelation to them. In their darkness and simplicity, they had imagined that people, when they died, went down into the bowels of the earth. But how great was their astonishment when told by their teacher tha,t when he died he expected to see his father again, and to dwell with him in a world into which no sorrow and suffering could ever come. They were shrewd enough, moreover, to notice that this hope of an eternal reunion with those whom they loved, calmed their grief and that death had not the same terrors to those wh:te men from the far-off land as to them. It was thus that those pOOl' people were receiving new impressions and instructions from their missionaries' lives, which brought them nearer to the Kingdom of God, and were as the first streaks in the sky before the sunrise.
In their earlier attempts to convey religious instruction to the natives, those good evangelists had bljen sorely tried and deceived by a man who had undertaken to be their interpreter. With the Basuto as his native language, he had picked up some knowledge of Dutch while serving on the borders of the colony, and, with this scanty qualification, which he posseesed in common with the missionaries, he had engaged to be their medium of communication with the people whom they had come to teach. It turned out, however, that he had no supply of words with which to convey religious ideas. Moreover, the levity of his manner, as seen in his looks and gestures, naturally produced the impression that he had no sympathy with the lessons which he professed to translate. They even found out at length that he often substituted his own inventions for their instructions and that he was, in fact, not only hindering but betraying them. It was a bitter disappointment to those patient workers, carrying with it one of the hard lessons of experience "written in dark print." Of course, the vassal was dismissed in the end with little ceremony.
But there was a way which Providence had in store for bringing these good men and their sacred lessons into direct contact with the native mind. It happened in this wise. From the time of their settlement at Moriah, they had been accustomed to hold regular religious services in Dutch for the benefit of the ten or twelve Hottentot drivers who had come up with them from Philippolis. These men, having been brought up in the missionary stations of the colony, were familiar with Christian worship. They had Dutch Bibles in which they could follow the expositions of the missionary, and they knew many Dutch hymns which they sang with taste. The natives were attracted by the singing and were accustomed to squat in considerable numbers around the worshippers. They were also impressed by what they witnessed in the solemnity and seriousness with which the missionaries, looking upward, seemed to address an invisible being. Those good men set themselves, with renewed earnestness, to qualify themselves for speaking to poor Basutos in their own -tongue "of the wonderful works of God." How great was their delight when, after no very long interval, they began to find themselves understood. 'l'heir sphere of usefulness from that moment was almost indefinitely widened.
All time which those devoted men could spare from planting and building was now spent in the preparation, in the Basuto tongue, of short Bible stories, "word pictures" and little addresses. They even ventured to compose a few hymns, which, when [<uug by the natives, formed a new attraction to the services and a new link of connection between them and the missionaries. But by-and-by it was not so easy to induce them to join in the prayers. So long as they were addressed, they were attentive. But as in the prayer the missionaries were no longer addressing them, they could not see any reason for listening. Even this difficulty, however, was not long in being overcome, by inducing them to repeat, all together and word for word, the thanksgivings and petitions that were addressed to God. For one thing, they liked to hear their voices ringing and rising in unison, and, judging from the expression of their countenances, there was something deeper at work in those dark minds than this. It was .another step forward. In that awakened interest they saw the fields ripening for the harvest.
In the midst of all these multiplying labors,and with the consciousness that in the power of addressing the people in their own Basuto tongue, a new weapon had been put into their hand, the thought began to arise in the minds of the missionaries that they should now begin religious serviceB in the king's own city. It became the subject of repeated conference and prayer, and, in no long time, ended in the conviction that the time for this new departure had fully come. They had been favored with frequent visits from Moshesh,but was it not the fact that it was to him they owed their liberty of entrance into his country and for protection and help in many forms ever since; and should not the benefit of their teaching be brought more completely and continuously within his reach? Their proposal was at once received by the friendly monarch with approving welcome, his kindly looks expressing even more than his words. For a time the work was shared by the missionaries in rotation, but ere long it ended in the permanent location at Maba Bossiou of M. Casalis, the acknowledged leader of the little band. Everything was done by the king to facilitate and encourage the man of God. The services were held in a grand courtyard called the khotla, surrounded by an enclosure of bamboos and reeds, from an elevated platform the public crier, with stentorian voice, summoned the people to worship-"To prayer, to prayer! Everybody, everybody! Women and children as well!" The king 'himself was one of the most regular and attentive listeners, and strangers and messengers from other tribes were uniformly brought to listen to the astonishing words of the white man, and charged to tell what they had heard when they returned to their own land. The simple repast, ()f clilrdled milk and sorgho leaf preceded by more solid food, regularly provided for the preacher, expressed more than a common hospitality. The notes of conversations between the missionary and the monarch are among the most interesting things which M. Casalis has placed on record, and gives us a pleasing impression of the intellectual strength, penetration, simplicity and candor of this remarkable man. We quote two instances which remind us ef Paul's description of some among the heathen in his days, as "feeling after God if haply they might find Him." "You believe, then," said the king one evening to the missionary, pointing to the stars, "that in the midst of and beyond all these, there is an all-powerful lIaster, who has (4reated all, and is our Father? Our ancestors used, in fact, to speak of a Lord of Heaven, and we still call these great shining spots (the Milky Way) you see above, the way of the godB; but it seemed to us that the world must have existed forever, except, however, men and animals, who, according to us, have had a beginning-animals having come first and men after-wards. But we did not know who- gave them existence. We adored the spirits of our ancestors, and we asked of them rain, abundant harvests, good health, and a good reception amongst them after death."
"You were in darkness," was the answer, "and we have brought you the light. All these visible things, and a multitude of others which we cannot see, have been created and are preserved by a Being, all-wise and all-good, who is the God of us all, and who has made us to be born of one blood."
Moshesh was greatly struck when he heard the missionaries enumerate the commandments of the decalogue. "That," said he, "is written in all our hearts. We did not know the God you announce to us, and we had no idea of the Sabbath; but in all the rest of your law we find nothing new. We knew it was very wicked to be ungrateful and disobedient to parents, to rob, to kill, to commit adultry, to covet the property of another, and to bear false witness."
It is also noted by M. Casalis that it was as Redeemer that the mission of Christ most appealed to the mind of this anxious enquirer and learner, and in which he was most interested-"a striking proof, surely, of the indestructibility of conscience in all lands."
Returning in thought to Moriah, we may imagine those devoted evangelists, now that they had become able to address the people in their own tongue, longing for instances of conversion among them, which should be the seal of Heaven upon their ministry. This thirst for the Spirit's blessing became all the more intense, when the colony of natives around them had increased to the number of between three and four hundred souls. They saw the wheat and other seeds which had been sown in the earth springing up into harvest, they had alsotasted the luscious fruits of the peach and other trees which they had planted, but how had their hearts begun to weary for the first cry of repentance unto life which would make the angels rejoice. At length the happy day arrived, and 1-1. Casalis, who was at Moriah at the time, was the first to hear the welcome notes of a genuine contrition. "On the 9th of January, 1836, we overheard one of our young men spontaneously offering a fervent prayer. It was towards nine o'clock in the evening, at a little distance from our house. Thinking we heard the accents of contrition, we approached in the darkness, without uttering a word. It was really so! Astonished, moved beyond expression, we fell on our knees and burst into tears. We were the witnesses of a very genuine conversion, for Sikhesa, from that day to his death, in 1881, never ceased to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. "
The first fruits were soon followed by a harvel-lt of _conversions. The sacred fire which had been kindled not only continued to burn, but circulated from heart to heart. There was no suspension of the blessing. NeT stations were opened; churches were built; day and Sabbath-schools were organized; new missionaries arrived from France and from the Cape. Native evangelists ,were trained and sent forth on the right hand and the left. Among those who at length. cast in their lot with the early disciples was Moshesh, the king, who had long been held back from the decided step by the en- tanglements of Polygamy, which was the last link in the chain from which he succeeded in shaking himself free. '.rhe missionaries well knew that'a reformation in this matter could only be the natural and Hpontaneous fruit of a cordial adoption of the great Christian prin- ,ciples. And they waited for this before they could receive him into the fellowship of the believers. But the triumph came. He openly declared himself a. Christian in a very touching way, after having proofs of profound repentance and a living faith. He died with this filial cry upon his lips, "Let me go to my Father, I am already very near to him."
The missionaries continued, in those infant years of the mission, to assist in promoting the material prosperity of the people, especially in teaching them to improve in their mothods of agriculture, and in adding to their stock of domestic animals. Among these were a. bet. tel' breed of dogs, the cat, the pig, the duck, the goose and the tur- key. They knew the hen already. The cat, especially, we Are told, was regarded by them as a godsend, for their huts were infested with rats and mice, and it was only when this favorite domestic animal was introduced by the missionary that the people succeeded in ridding themselves of this veritable scourge. Were it only for the secondary blessings that the Christian missionary bears with him into heathen lands, he would deserve a welcome.
Restricting ourselves within the limits which we had fixed for our narrative, nothing remains for us but to call from the latest mission- <try intelligence that has come into our hands, the statistics of the French Protestant Mission in Basuto Land. Our information brings us up to 1888. Out of a population of 200,000, 25,000 are adherents of the Mission, and 35,000 are under Christian influences. Of these 9,500' are members of the church, either in full communion or as candidates, and 4,500 children are in attendance on the mission schools.
'.rhe mission staff consists of 18 ordained missionaries, 1 lay worker, 15 wives of missionaries, and 7 unmarried ladies engaged in teaching. There are 176 paid native agents engaged at work, beside a gOOdly band of voluntary helpers. The central stations occupied by Europeans are 14 in number, and 94 out-stations are under the care of evangelists.
These simple figures, especially when read in the light of the previous narrative, present before us Basuto Land as one of the bright- .est spots on that "Dark Continent," to which the interest and the
A SPIRITUAL BAROMETER FOR THE CHURCH. (Dec
prayers of all Christendom are now turning. The snccess which has followed and rewarded the labors of missionaries in that part of Africa within a period of little more than half a century, would not have been unworthy of apostolic times. See how the little leaven is leavening the whole lump. The Basuto Mission is indeed a bright jewel in the crown of the French Protestant Church.
A SPIRITUAL BAROMETER FOR THE CHURCH.
REV. RUFUS W. CLARK, DETROIT, MICH.
It is the annual collection taken in the church for Foreign Missions,because· it registers as far as any visible instrument can, the climatic changes and the atmospheric influences about the pulpit and every pew. A glance at the col- lection plate will show you.
(1). As accurate an index as you have of the measure of Christian intelligence in your church. The question is inevitably raised as to whether men have been taught there the requirement of their Lord to carry the Gospel to a perishing world, and the extent to which they have been informed as to the work being done by the faithful toilers in far-off lands.
(2). It is the most infallible test as to the genuineness of the Christian profession, in owning the requirements of the Master and in not disowning or treating them lightly. It is a fair test to put to the value of redemption for one's own soul, to ask the efforts made to secure the same benefit for others. Some qualities of faith bear transportation, else we had not known of Christ.
(3). It is conspicuous above most forms of Christian benefaCtion, in the horwr paid to (Jhrist. "Yes," some may say" I help missions, but of the city and of my native land. Their utility, I see, and foreigners are here and paganism at our doors." But utility is not the motive of the Gospel. It is obedience. The same Master who said" Jerusalem and Samaria," said also, "And to the uttermost part of the earth." Christ did not consult with His Church, He commanded it.
(4). It discloses above many forms of beneficence, unselfishne88. "Charity begins at home" is well. But local and personal ends may be served here. One may help on a cause or an institution, a civilization in which an immediate advantage is realized to one's self or to one's own. But there is no giving so free from the suspicion of self-interest, and unmixed with lower purposes as that which is for those we have never seen, and for which no requital is expected here.
(5). .As an act of worship it indicates with marked explicitness the hold a Church has upon the power and promises of God.
Some give to head a subscription list, some to gratify a friend. Many calls there are in street and in the office. But the offering to the Lord comes first, if he is the dearest friend. It is made in His house, if the best gifts come from Him there, and it is for His altar where His eye alone can see it. The Lord sees it on a subscription book; but is there not a peculiar sanctity to an offering where it is from the individual for his eye alone.
THE MARVEL OF MODERN MEDICAL MISSIONS
THE MARVEL OF MODERN MEDICAL MISSIONS.
BY REV. A. M'ELROYWYLIE, BROOKLYN, N. Y.
In the illustrations of romance there is nothing more surprising than the wonders wrought by the consecrated agency of medical missionaries in heathen lands. Missionaries were not slow in learning that the order pursued by the Saviour and the disciples was the right order for the present day. The Master first healed the sick and then preached the Gospel. The same order he also en- joined the disciples to observe: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils; freely ye have received, freely give."
Everywhere the most appalling need confronted the missionary worker. In every land he found the horrors of heathenism intensified by the cruel prac- tices of ignorant and superstitious medicine-men.
In China public opinion will not permit the dissection of human subjects, consequently the Chinese doctor is left to sheer guess-work, and to him "every- thing below the skin is a terra incognita." He locates the intellect in the stomach, and, so, enormous rotundity in the equatorial regions is indicative of mental greatness. Many of their favorite prescriptions are compounded from the dried carcasses of snakes, insects and ground bones of the tiger, or other strong animals, while it is a mark of filial devotion for a child to cut pieces of flesh from his or her body, cook them and give to parents who are afflicted with disease.
The Siamese believe that sickness is caused by evil spirits, and medical at- tendants are seen brandishing huge knives and commanding the spirits to de- part, and in other cases the bodies of the sick are pierced by long needles "with the view of locating the spot where the evil spirit has lodged itself. The main remedies in Syria are bleeding and the cautery, practiced chiefly "by barbers and muleteers.
In western Africa Dr. Summers found many sick children who had been horribly cut with knives, and Bishop Taylor saw, after the cruel incantations of a medicine man, a little girl killed, stabbed to the heart, by the side of her suffering mother, because it was believed she had bewitched her parent into a fit of sickness.
Illustrations might be indefinitely multiplied to show that the "tender mer- cies" of the heathen are cruel; that even when they set out to relieve those whom they love, their remedies are worse than the disease; and that myriads of the sick die beneath the miseries of their maladies and the far worse tortures of a treatment conceived in ignorance and applied by unfeeling superstition.
We need not wonder, then, that when the skilled medical missionary applies his scientific principles,_uses his well proved remedies, and directs his keen blade by an unerring knowledge of a true anatomy, he is able to work won- ders which are pron9unced miraculous by the densely ignorant heathen around him, and that everywhere he finds that the exercise of his healing power is the open sesame, and pioneer of the message of salvation to sinning and sinking men. Volumes might be written to set forth, in romantic and thrilling story, the ways in which the healing art has been blessed to the opening of huts, ze- 'nanas, courts, palaces, towns, cities, and entire provinces tothe unrestricted and welcomed proclamation of the Word, followed, also, by expressions of grati- tude and munificence in giving, which would prove illustrious examples in Christian England or America.
The Rev. Dr. Colin S. Valentine, on a journey to the hill country for his health, learned of the serious illness of her Highness, Maharani, the wife of the Maharajah Ram Singh, Prince and Governor of Jeypore. Calling upon the Prince, he was invited to an examination of the case, remained to treat her Highness, who had been given up by the native physicians, and the doctor was soon able to pronounce her recovery as complete.
The Maharajah expressed his gratitude in warmest terms, insisted upon Dr. Yalentine remaining as his physician, made over the colleges and educational institutions to the doctor, and added a grant of 10,000 rupees for a college library and philosophical instruments. The doctor replied that he was a missionary, and could accept of his Highnt~~'::: r:>T01!OSalS only upon the distinct understanding that, as such, he would be allowed, without let or hindrance, to teach the doctrines of the Christian Religion. His conditions were accepted and the Europeans were formed into a Church, and during the whole time Dr. Valentine was at Jeypore he enjoyed the confidence and friendship of the Maharajah, and was enabled to establish several institutions for the physical and moral advancement of the people; such as the School of Arts, the Public Library, the Philosophical Institute, a Museum, a Medical Hall, branch dispensaries, jail discipline, the instruction of prison works, etc,.
It has been said of Dr. Peter Parker, who was the real founder of medical missions, a man of singular beauty of character and eminent ability, that " he opened China to the Gospel at the point of his lancet." Thousands flocked to him for the recovery of their sight, and for healing of every sort of disease, until it was quite impossible for him to attend to the multitudes who claimed his care.
His skill became known extensively throughout the Chinese Empire, and the hospital that he opened in Canton in November, 1885, has brought not only physical relief, but spiritual blessings, to many thousands. The labors of this remarkable man were not confined to China alone, but extended to other countries. He was instrumental in the founding of the Edinburgh Medical :Missionary Society, which has sent forth scores of noble young men to bless humanity, and has been the means of founding many Home Medical Missions, in addition to those established in foreign lands.
The gre~t city of Tien-tsin, on the river Peiho, and the terminus of the Grand Canal, furnishes us another marvel among the victories achieved by medical missions. ' On a certain day the late Dr. J. K. Mackenzie was present with the native converts at prayer. At the same time a member of the English Legation, who was closeted with the Viceroy, learned that his wife was seriously ill, indeed was in a dying condition. The Englishman asked, " Why don't YOlil secure the help of the foreign doctors? " He was induced to send a courier with a message summoning Dr. Mackenzie. In a few weeks (Miss Howard, of Peking undertaking the local treatment) Lady Li was quite recovered. The news of her restoration to health spread throughout the city, and daily Dr. Mackenzie, as he entered the vice-regal palace, was beset by crowds seeking medical or surgical help. In the presence of a large number of officials, in the court facing the reception room, chloroform was administered to a patient afflicted with a tumoras large as a child's head, which the doCtor successfully removed. This operation, with others performed in the presence of the Court, exci1ied the surprise and admiration of the Viceroy and his friends, and heightened the effect produced by Lady Li's recovery. The Viceroy set apart, with great good will, a portion o{a very fine memorial temple, to be used as a dispensary, advanced the money for the immediate purchase of drugs and necessaries, and ordered that subsequent bills should be sent to him for settlement. Dr. Mackenzie, keenly alive to the value of a hospital in aid of Gospel work, recommended the founding of such an institution. The first subscription was given by a military mandarin, who was a patient, had been a Tai-ping rebel, and was bitterly opposed to Christianity. Others, all Chinese, followed, and soon the ,sum reached $4,500 (a large amount in China), and this without help from the Viceroy, who, however, assumed the expenses of the hospital as well as those <Jf the dispensary. In six months wards for thirty patients were in use, and subsequently wards for thirty patients more were added, and also other need- ful rooms and appliances, over $10,000 having been given during fifteen months, by the Chinese alone. The military mandarin returned a year later, bringing a friend with him, to whom he said, after Dr. Mackenzie had shown them through the institutions, " I will repeat my former subscription if you will give the same." "All right," promptly replied his friend, and oh that day $1,500 were added to the flinds.
'Vhat is still more remarkable, the Viceroy, now thoroughly believing in the 'Vestern medicine, was anxious that some of the Chinese should study it, .and the doctor was allowed to select-from over 100 young men, who had been recalled, in 1881, from America, where they had been pursuing their education- eight of the most promising, to enter upon a three years' course of medic!'l and ;surgical training. The Viceroy built a house for them in the mission compound, .and all .being able to read and speak English, their studies were conducted in <Jur language. The Government undertook all expenses for the support of the students, and for such apparatus as was necessary for their instruction. Rec- <Jgnizing that here was a means which, if rightly used, might, through God's blessing, secure an entrance for the Gospel among the upper classes, the mis- :sionary's one stipulation was that he should be whoily untrammeled in his Christian intercourse with these young men.
Thus did the Lord use this good and skillful man in a great heathen city, and .amongst a class of men peculiarly difficult to reach, and to overthrow a great barrier of prejudice against Western medical science, and to initiate changes, the practical issue of which are now showing themselves in the formation of various semi-recognized schools of medicine within China itself.
In Korea access to the very throne itself was achieved purely through the .skill and success of Drs. Allen and Heron, the former of whom (sent out in 1884 lly the Presbyterian Board) happened to arrive just before the emeute which ocoCurred that year. He attended the wounded prince, Min Yong Ik, and was also given charge of a score of wounded Chinese soldiers. Saving the life of the prince and treating with success the wounded soldiers, prepared the way for the erection of buildings by the Government for medical purposes, and the appropriation of money for medicines and all needed appliances. The king, gracious and kindly disposed, at once caused orders to be issued for the puroChase of a compound,of buildings adjoining the hospital in Seoul, and the fit- ting up of the same for a school-house, where young men are to be educated for the practice of medicine. In a single year 10,460 cases have been treated, and 394 operations performed. These medical missionaries have been able, during a single year, to remit to the Board some thousands of dollars beyond their salaries received. And, when it is borne in mind, that in all the heathen lands the rule adopted by the missionaries requires that preaching and Gospelinstruction shall be carried on in intimate connection with their medical work, it must at once be seen that multitudes will be reached by saving truth who <Jtherwise had never heard the terms of salvation; and let it also be borne in mind, that patients come from all classes and from distant and munerous towns .and cities. In a single hospital are found, as a missionary writes, afflicted ones from 500 villages and towns during a single year. A great work is being done hv traiuing medical missionaries in the institution at 118 East 45th Street, Ner York, under the able and devoted superintendency of Dr. George D. Dowkontt, from whom most inspiring and encouraging f~ts ca~ ~ obtained as ~ the pressing need and wonderful successes of medIcal mISSIOnary labors m the Unit3d States and foreign fields throughout the world.
ORIENTAL
ORIENTAL MISSIONS.
DR. E. P. THWING, BROOKLYN.
There is in the East a prescient fear that heathenism is doomed. You find hints of it in sacred books and traditions. You hear confessions as to the tyrannizing influence of the priesthood, its opposition to education, sanitary science, social improvement, by intrigue or violence. You find, as in India, printed appeals to the faithful not to forsake their gods; in Japan, efforts of ecclesiastics to gain a footing in the Imperial Diet-happily futile-where they hope legislation may some day exclude Christians from Japan, as we exclude Chinese from America. They feel that their case is desperate.
Over against this I find a growing assurance among Christians that the-' acceleration of God's providential movements, promised in these latter daysto eventuate, we believe, in the conversion of the world-has already begun. To the mherent weight and momentum of truth, God seems to be giving, as it were, an added pnsh, for .• A short work will the Lord make upon the earth." The plowman will overtake the reaper. The earth brings forth in a day, a na– tion is born at once. We have new auxiliaries. Science is making splendid leaps. The talking phonograph is heard in the palace of the Son of Heaven. Native papers advise their use in criminal courts, and in ordering executions. One blue button Mandarin at Shanghai, while I was there, bought four. It sr. amazed him that he, 61 years of age, began the study of English. The point is this: Science, at a startling rate, is multiplying delicate and powerful adjuncts to hearing, vision, tonch and locomotion. Hampering limitations are removed. So in the pers,onal, spiritual efficiency of the church there is to be a. marvelons reduplication of power. The lame will leap; the dumb sing; the feeble become as David; the house of David as God. Moonlight is sunlight; sunlight becomes sevenfold intense. In view of these two factA,_ there is- A third-an imperative necessity for men at the front, not of piety and consecration merely, but of intellectual breadth and sagacity, able to act in affairs of great complexity and perplexity, wisely, promptly. We have such. W" need more. A prominent New York business man listened with me at th~ great Shanghai Conference to argument and eloquence that would have honored the United States Senate, not alone on religious themes, but as to the right of the missionary to be protected by the Imperial Government from misrepresentation, calumny and violence. For the first time my friend got the true missionary perspective. He saw things at a new angle. He returned home a new man. He said to me yesterday, "I went out with prejudices. I thought mi;;- sionaries were a crotchety set, but I have been amazed at what I saw and heard." The calibre and quality of Congregational and Presbyterian missionaries, he said, were notable, though he belongs to neither communion himself. This is il1J.partial ami valuable testimony. Missionaries cannot speak thus, the Board cannot nor could an inspector, going in their interests, sharing their hospitality, speak without bias; but those of us can, who are independent in movement, action and utterance, with no pecuniary, official relation to any society. Yes, we have men and women of sterling worth at work. They are appreciated by men of intelligence ,who are not Christians. One whom I met writes: "I am speaking, I believe, the sentiments of my own nation when I tell you we care more for earnestness and conviction than for views. We would see men who love us and give themselves for our sakes, as the Saviour of men did; men who have had spiritual experiences as practical realities, and treat the things of the Spirit just as definitely as that they have touched and felt. Japan is already tired of soothsayers, theorizers, baptizers; we only need men and women of moral earnestness, who can give fruits of their own experience, taught through discipline and mental struggles of many years.
,A fourth conviction, derived from observation and the testimony of our brethren, is this: the advisability of a visit by the secretaries of various boards to the three empires of India, China and Japan, which include about one-half the world's population. Time and rates of travel are 'reduced. I have been in Europe and America the same week; but to be in Asia one week and in America the next week, was an illustration of the acceleration of the movements of steamers in these latter days. A day from Nagasaki to Shanghai, three more to Hong Kong, a dozen more to Bombay-these are present possibilities. Our native Christans, ps well as our missionaries, would warmly welcome such an apostolic visitation.
Finally, I have been impressed during tIns long journey in the East, with the fruitfulness of medical missionary work. It is having a wholesome, uplifting, moral influence on the medical profession outside the missionary ranks. It is opening the eyes of heathen to the capabilities of woman, revealed in our female physicians and in the native nurses trained by them. A Chinese admiral, grateful for the restoration to health of his aged mother, gave a gold medal ta- Dr. Mary Fulton. For the successful treatment of another lady of the household, another decoration was ordered. During a stay of a fortnight, ancient etiquette was ignored, and this American lady, and a female missionary with her, sat with the gentlemen of this millionaire's family at a table served in elegant European style. They had permission to hold Christian worship in their apartments, attended by heathen as well as believers. Continued gifts followed Dr. Fulton to Canton, suGh ,as a thousand oranges at a time. A young man from this fanlily-clan of 400 came to Canton Hospital to study medicine. The Hong Kong dailies refer to this as honoring Western ideas as truly as an individual physician. Medical service to the blind, diseased, injured-soon to the insane, we hope-is directly antidotal to the dislike awakened by the greedy, unscrupulous spirit often shown in our commerce, legislation and personal contact with China and other Eastern people. Heathenism believes in the survinl of the fittest and the removal of the helpless from the world. Our hospitals and dispensaries teach a nobler conception of existence. Our standard works ill medicine and surgery are stndied by native students. Otherscientific books are called for by officials. I found that in eight years over 84,000 copies of English and German works had been translated and sold from the Arsenal at Shanghai alone. These are on railways, military science, engineering, medicine, politics and religion. China is not aSleep. The intellectual ferment is not as visible as in India and Japan, but it is surely at work. With the blessing comes the bane; with new economic conditions unrest, discontent; with freer thought specUlative infidelity. The heart of an atheist is often found under the robe of an idolater. In no more vivid form is the true spirit of Christianity shown than in the tender, toilful nlinistry of the doctor and his nurses. The missionary is respected but the physician is worshipped. His person and work are sacred. "This hospital is safer than a gunboat," said a British consul, at Canton, in troublous times. One class of sufferers has for centuries been neglected in China. May I not, therefore, bespeak a hearty and immediate response from thf" friends of humanity everywhere to the efforts we are making at Canton? It is: a pathetic appeal to all nationalities. The consummati"n of this humane purpose for the relief of the insane cannot fail to unite the East and West in closer friendly international relations.
'924 T1LXSLATIOXS ~WM FOREIGN MISSIONARY PERIODICAL"
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY PERIODICALS.
BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The Allgemeine Mi.~sions-Zeitschrijt, speaking of the Dutch Mission in Borneo, remarks: "It is a matter of joy that the government of Holla)1d begins to comprehend the blessing which redounds to itself in its colonies from misf;ions, and urgently desires the strongest possible augmentation of missionary force. When the president of the Bornean Mission informed the Dutch presi- ·dent at Bandjermassin that he had solicited 7 missionaries from Barmen, the president replied: 'What does that amount to? You had better have asked for 70, for here there is a terrible heap of work to be done. These missions are doing a good work.' We hope to be on our guard against making flesh our arm, and founding any great hopes on such utterances of colonial officers; but we rejoice and thank God that the missionary work at last begins to be recognized, even by the Dutch colonial. statesmen, in its great significance." It must be remembered that until lately the feelings of the Dutch government towards missions were very much such as those of the East India Company eighty years .ago. Indeed, it formally encouraged the Moslem propaganda in its eastern -colonies, until at last it discovered itself to be warming deadly disloyalty into life on its own bosom.
-The Zeitschrijt for last March remarks that in China the successful introduction of railways would completely subvert that fundamental Chinese superfltition-the "wind-and-water-doctrine"-which has thus far successfully reflisted it. "Yet Old China will strive in vain against the railroad. The vast, thickly peopled land is destitute of highways, and the want of communication during the oft-recurring famines, costs the lives of hundreds of thousands, indeed of millions. Moreover, railways are a military necessity for the extensive ttirritory," which now lies between the hammer and the anvil-between the -constant advances of England on the south, and of Russia on the north. "But, whether Europe has so much reason to exult over the progress of China, is .quite another question. China is a g:iant, who, when he is once fairly awake, will become a rival of the Occident with the means of civilization learned of the Occident, such a rival as may well embarrass Western life in a fashion as yet undreamed of. Moreover, we may be allowed to warn against building too sanguine hopes for the progress of missions upon the extension of I ailways."
-The Missions-Zeitschrijt gives the official reports of Roman Catholic misflions in China for 1889, as follows (including Mantchuria, Mongolia, Thibet .and Yunnan): 623 European missionaries, 329 native priests, and 544,370 Catholics. At the end of 1887 the latter were given as 541,358. Taking account, therefore, of the natural increase of the population, there appears to have been n relative decline.
-The Zeitschrijt says of the new Japanese constitution: "Matters seem to l)e going rather too jast in the kingdom of the Rising Sun, and forms are not of necessity realities." It points out also that the guarantee of religious freedom is couched in an ambiguousness of phrase which might easily give a handle to ..Japanese reaction, a possibility by no means to be neglected. "Advancing ..Japan by no means lacks discontented elements, especially among those young people whose fathers belonged to the warrior and the literate classes, and that ..Japanese feeling can not only surge high but surge wildly against the favor flhown to foreigners and foreign ways, is sufficiently shown by the excitement .occasioned by the revision of the treaties."
-The Zeitschrijt remarks: "Even the striving for ecclesiastical independencl', which distinguishes the Japanese Christians, praisworthyand delightful nat~nal as it is, is impelled and supported by a mighty under-current, which is, perhaps, not wholly free from national vanity. In the missionary reports there is a perpetual recurrence to the idea, that in Japan it is not the natives that are the helpers of the foreigners, but the foreigners that are the helpers of the natives. All honor to the Japanese leaders of the Christian movement, to· the native teachers, pastors, elders; but it is hard to resist;.the impression that in this strong emphasis laid upon Japanese leadership there is involved an over-valuation by the Japanese of their own knowledge and strength. To Protestant missions there can be nothing dearer than to reach as soon as possible their goal, the establishment of an independent evangelical church in Japan. Yet, with full acknowledgm~t of Japanese gifts and of the Christian maturity of individual Japanese, it will be quite a while yet before they will be able to dispense with Western help, and also with Western guidance in the work of the Christianization and the Christian training of the gifted Japanese people. In Christian knowledge and experience, moreover, Japan is very young, and if history, especially missionary history, is to be a guide, the great present need of Japan is that of the largest possible multiplication of European and American missionaries, as indeed is urged by all sober judges of the actual state of things, among them the English bishop. The larger the staff of competent Western missionaries, so much the more speedily and certainly will Japan attain to a healthy ecclesiastical independence. "
".Besides all that is done for education by churches and individuals, tIlC" Japanese government spends yearly more than $600,000 upon schools. But what avail all these seats of culture, if, as too many testimonies seem to show, there is. growing up in them a mass of youth inclined to break all the bonds of natural piety and of youthful modesty and docility? And yet, with many leading representatives of progress in general, all(~ especially in the daily press, it is not the blessed and regenerating JlOwer of Christianity upon the hearts of men which secures it favor, but the ;'egard to it as 'an intellectual force in Japan.' They are, therefore, bewitched with the notion that culture regenerates' and knowledge is religion. . . . What the great apostle of the Gentiles wrote' aforetime to the Greeks, in their pride of wisdom, and what the Heavenly Master declared to Nicodemus, is no less opportune for the cultured heathen peoples of to-day. These are depressing shadows; but, notwithstanding these the number of those Christians in Japan, who apprehend the Gospel as a power' • of God for salvation, grows from year to year."
-In these days, when Mohammedanism is so glorified,the following notice of Kolle's" Mohammed and Mohammedanism Critically Considered,'.' from the Missions Zeitschrift for March, 1890, is well worth reading. Although the work is in English this independent summary and estimate of it from the Ger~ man is none the less valuable. We give but a part: "The author, who has made himself for decades practically familiar with the various aspects of Islam, as a Protestant missionary, first in West Africa, then in Turkey, felt the need 'of also setting it forth theoretically in this book. In his Introduction he solicits the reader's attention to the following points, which we are entitled to regard as the ripe fruit of exhaustive studies: (1) The- Prophetic Development of Mohammed; (2) the demonstration of a complete inner accord between the two great stages in Mohammed's prophetic career; (3) the demonstration that in Mohammedan legend the ground thoughts areantichristian; finally, the assignment, in the history of the world and of the church, of its proper place, as a specific form and phase of Antichristianity.
"Over against the half-and-half, in which most of Mohammed's later biographers have become involved, Kolle, like Arnold before him, holds the old Christian view, that Mahartmeli was through and through an instrument of the Archfiend. Mohammed, in Kolle's judgment, had thoroughly good oppor- tunities of knowing the Lord. He of set purpose withstood the Father's drawing, that would have led him to the Son, and thereby came under the power of the Prince of this world, and allowed himself to be fashioned by Him into an Anti-Christ, and tl1at in the very beginning of his prophetic activity. This, then, reveals itself most distinctly in Mohammedan legend,which has developed his .portrait, trait for trait, to the counterpart of God-man, and it becomes certain, beyond all doubt, when we see, how in the history of the Kingdom of God, the Anti-christianity ofMohammed comes in at the very point, at which the contest against the Lord's Anointed was j;o be carried on, after the earlier resistance had not been able to maintain itself against them.
" Kolle's argumentations for these positions, of course, claims evidence only for Ohristian readers. But to such it commends itself by clearness, inner coherence, solid historical proofs, and agreement, in fact, with the present attitude of the Mohammedan world toward Christendom. In essential points Kolle might have appealed to no less a witness for the justice of his view than to our past master of conscientious historical inqury, Leopold Von Ranke. Ranke also emphasizes these points: 'the original monotheistic conviction was already existent in Mohammed;' the assertion of immediate illumination is only the second step in the construction of the doctrine of Islam;' 'Mohammed was intent upon creating a national centre for the scattered Arab tribes,' and, therefore, ' on cleansing the Kaaba from idolatry' and' reforming the supreme .authority by the monotheistic idea.' , His ideas were from the beginning at the same time of a political nature.' When now we see how, in his later development, it becomes more and more evident that his' revelations' come 'at his call' to serve his political and, personal, often very vulgar, interests, we do not weH see how we can help ascribing to him a similar course of proceeding from the beginning. If it is alleged against this, how much enthusiasm we find at his first coming forward, in him and his adherents, really religious enthusiasm for the one compassionate God, the Judge Of the world, the answer is, that all this is just as apparent in him in the later stage of his prophetic career. Even to the last he apprehends religiously all his personal destinies (including his moral sickness), sees everything in the light thrown on it by his belief in God and his assumption of his own prophetic calling, and remaius to the last religious also in his behavior and conduct, not only in zealous asceticism, but also in temperance and self-control (except in puncto sexti septimt), and in his ever more arrogant claims of authority over others, as well as in absolute surrendering of all earthly possessions for the professed cause of God representeli by him, which, indeed, he sought to further by his great and prodigal liberality. That a man could remain so religious as Mohammed remained, when he had already times without number burdened his conscience with criminal imposture and bloody persecution, nay, with the assassination of adversaries, and that, despite the scandal which this now and then occasioned his adherents, these latter were ready, in growing enthusiasm, to offer up life and limu for him and his cause, and at his word to go to death with undoubting and joyful confidence, is just as wonderful, and in a certain sense inexplicable, as that he, at the very beginning of his prophetic course,had been an impostor, and yet had shown some traits of the genuine prophet, and gradually acquired .a faithfully devoted body of adherents.
" The magic formula of a gradual alteration, which is used in the sphere of natural science to bridge over the chasm between the inorganic and the organic, and then again between the brute and man, is yet more illusive in the sphere of , £piritualllfe, where a moral apostasy is to be psychologically explained. Add to this the prevailing tendency of our age, to make out that moral portents are not so monstrous after all, nor so far removed from' the kindly race of man,'
.and it is anything but a wonder that Mohammed finds his advantage in this .among our contemporaries. But Christians should not be bewildered by all 1Jris. Careful historical inquiry demonstrates that Mohamm~d, before he ap- peared as a prophet, besides Hanifism and Talmudism,was likewise acquainted with Christianity, and that as a monotheistic religion. He, morever, steadily .acknowledged Christianity as resting upon Divine revelation, yet he did not ()onnt it worth'while to explore it more thoroughly. He knew that the revela- tions of Jesus were documentarily attested in sacred writings, in the Gospel, yet he contented himself with an altogether superficial acquaintance with some Christian Apocrypha. He might have become an Ulphilas to his people, but in that event the Emperor, as a Christian, would have attained to a certain supremacy over the Arabs. Here the national and egoistic interest proves it- .self stronger than the religious. Here is his FALL. He presses the Divine, as .a means, into the service of the national and personal end. The want of the ()raving for truth, of the full and clear recognition of truth, surrenders him as .a victim to the temptation to untruthfulness. Henceforth he becomes more .and more a liar, more and more a murderer. Whose is the ,image and super- scription? And ever more decidedly does he, out of national and personal in· terests, set himself against Christ, and the legend of his person follows the im- . pulse which he himself gave to it-and yet, forsooth, he is to be accounted' a schoolmaster unto Christ for the peoples! ' "
-The Macedonier for 1890' (2d No.) gives an estimate of the Dutch East Indies, whose extent and population sufficiently explain the fact that the mis· llionaryefforts of Netherlands Christians are confined to these, and that they have, moreover, to call in the help of their German brethren for Sumatra and Borneo. From Upper Sumatra to New Guinea is farther than from Gibraltar to Archangel. From Batavia to Amborgna is as far as from Lisbon to Christi- ania. The land area is fifty times as great as the Netherlands. The population is estimated at about 30,000,000. Deducting some 350,000 Chinese, 15,000 Arabs, 45,000 Europeans, or such as are classed with them, the rest is divided between the Malay and the Papuan races.
The great island of Java has 20,000,000 of the 30,000,000, with undeveloped capacities for a good many more.
-Missionary Wolff, of the Leipsic Mission in South India, having removed to Sidambaram, a bigoted city of temples, avowed that at first he shrank from preaching in the streets, doubting, moreover, whether it would avail anything.
But one night a man appeared to him in a dream, in whom he recognized the Lord Christ, who asked him: "Have you to-day been among the heathen?"
This question, which he could not answer affirmatively, went through bone and marrow. After that, during the nineteen years that he spent in Sidambaram, until his death, in 1883, he made i~ his rule to let no day pass without preaching in some one of the 132 streets of the city or in some neighboring yillage. He left behind a Christian congregation of 893.
-The Evangelisch-Lutherisches Missionsblatt, under the heading, "Signs of the Times," describes a recent judicial investigation in Tirumalei, South India, of a case of embezzlement, the offender being the superior of the temple. Some $80,000 or more having been discovered in ancient gold coins, the Mahant, or superior, proposed to his suffragan priests, to have them buried, for special se- curity, under the great flag-staff of the temple. They consented, and accord- ingly six copper vessels, filled to the brim with gold coins were so disposed of. Soon, however, the superior's1avish outlays of gold coins in Bombay and elsewhere were tracked out, and, as his imperiousness had exasperated his pupils and colleagues, they overcame their awe of his sacerdotal holiness, and brought him before the courts.
"Accordingly, July 20th, 1889, one of the seven Atschari Purushas (chief priests) accused him before the nearest English court, demanding examination of the buried pots. There was a prodigious and universal commotion of men's minds. Bring so holy, inviolable a personage before the courts! Shall any one venture to desecrate the sacred place which no European foot has ever trodden, and dig up the treasure? The Mahant left no stone unturned to hin- der this. The best lawyers, at the highest prices, were retained as his advo- cates in both lower and higher court. These represented that the disinterment of the treasure would wound the feelings of the Hindus, that the flag-staff was the holiest thing about the temple, that there resided in it a peculiar magical efficacy, that the god was wont to sit on it, that the next festival would be dis- turbed, etc. The judges unquestionably treated the accused with the greatest consideration and patience, but the suspicion was too strong-the excavation could not be dispensed with, yet it was executed with all respect and forbear- ance. A European engineer was put in charge, but not being allowed to cross, the temple-threshold, he gave his orders sitting at the door. One hundred and twenty heathen pqIicemen, with fixed bayone1B, guarded the temple day and night. Yet first the Balalijam ceremony was performed, i. e., the flag-staff was for the time voided of i1B magic force, and a prayer addressed to the Swami, to leave his seat on the flag-staff for awhile, yet without going quite away from the temple. During this time the temple-service, which had been uninterrupted for centuries had to be suspended. A great throng assembled around the temple" but it displayed not the slightest sign of opposition or counter-demonstration: Also a sign of the times! In a few days the six pots were dug up, and opened in the presence of many witnesses and of the Mahant himself. At the top was found a thin layer of gold coins, and beneath nothing but worthless old copper pieces."
-Missionary Herre of the Leipsic Society, speaking of the imitative, and by no means prosperous,'attempts of a worthy Brahmin of Bangalore, to establish some charitable institutions, remarks: "We cannot concede to the Hindus the capacity of supporting such charities. Their benefits are intended for the upper classes, not for the poor Pariahs. So, also, in all such matters as temperance societies, etc., the Hindus leave the Pariahs quite out of the que,stion. They think: What have we to do with these? Are we to be their keepers? Of brotherly feeling toward them no one thinks. It is only the Christian that has, pity on all the poor; he concerns himself even for the meanest and most despised. Only once in the year (at the Saturnalia)did the old Roman heathenism enforce the equality of all (or rather reversed the inequalit}, subjecting the masters for eight or ten days to the slaves); only once, and that in the night, does a sect of the Hindus acknowledge this equality by unutterable abominations of all with all. Then, in bestial irrationality, 'the depths of Satan' are sounded, and the cup of impurity emptied to the dregs. At sunrise the distinctions of caste stand once more as frowningly repellent towards each other as before."
This Brahmin having courteously invited Mr. Herre to make use of his hall for English addresses which would be well understood by the educated Hindus, "begged me to speak cautiously, and not to repel the audience by laying a strong emphasis on Christian ideas, especially to be prudent in using the name of Jesus. I promised to keep in mind the rules of the hall, but begged him to remark that I could not leave the missionary at home-could not deny or con-, eeal Jesus Christ. I declared that, as He is the centre of the whole history of the world, so He must be the centre of all my addresses. I reminded him that it was well understood by everyone, why we missionaries had come to India. With this he expressed himself content. Accordingly I hope to have there a frequent opportunity of scattering some seed of divine truth among educated hearers. Such an opportunity for preaching is the more welcome as street- preaching in this city has to contend with especial obstacles. It encounters every- where hired bawlers, heathen and Mohammedan. Regular opposition societies have been formed for this end. We cannot but await, with growing interest, the things that shall come to pass. But we may well expect to be able to say, and that perhaps shortly, as Athanasius said of Julian's persecution: 'It is but a passing cloud.'"
-It appears that Buddhism is not inclined to yield the field to the Gospel without some various attempts (with the help of Schopeuhauer, Hartmann, and lesser adepts) to carry the war into Africa, or rather into Europe and America. The Missionsblatt remarks: "What a challenge to a thorough refu- tation is given by the Buddhist catechism of 'Subhadra Bickshu,' which has already reached its second edition in Bruuswick? In this he declares creation out of nothing a lunacy, and, with bold presumption, denying the being of God, he gains audacity for the insane declaration that 'everything originates through ¥-d out c4 itself by nature of its own will.' And now many unbelieving scholars are extoling this senseless talk to our people as the higher wisdom that is to save their despairing souls! How the theosophists and a part of the the spiritists work mischief with the so-called Esoteric Buddhism is well known. Is it not high time to intervene with some word of knowledge that shall bring the light?"
-Speaking of the late Bishop Sargent, the editor of the Missionsblatt, who had met him in India, says: "If he did not belong to the pioneer missionaries like Rhenius, into whose inheritance he entered, he yet must be reckoned among the more significant missionary names of India-men whose lives are so thoroughly interwoven with the missionary history of their field of labor, that we cannot separate the one from the other. What a singular growth of missions he has been permitted to see with his own eyes! This appears by a -:lOmparison of the state of the work of the Church Missionary Society in 1835, when he began in Tinnevelly (South India) as a lay helper, with 1888. The increase hasbeen: Places occupied, 224-1018; native adherents, 8,693-55,853; communicants, 114-12,112; native pastors, 1-67; schools, 112-456; scholars, 2,404-13,219.
"It was under him, and principally at his instance, that the home committee took the momentous step of recalling almost all the European missionaries from Tinnevelly, and committing the care of the youthful congregations tonanve pastors, to be supported wholly or partly by the contributions of the people, which, in 1888, amounted to 27,643 rupees. That this somewhat premature step could be taken without injuring the work more and endangering all the interests of the churches, may well be regarded as chiefly the merit of Sargent. What secured him his great influence over the natives (and here is so commonly the main ground of missionary success) was his personal amiability. ~iousness and friendliness in intercourse with them-he was loved by them _ a father by his children. He is especially noted for having completely mastered the Tamil Ianguage and become perfectly acquainted with the Tamil .ustoms and habits of thought. He was, it is true, greatly assisted in this by 1I1e fact of having been born and brought up in Madras, though of European parents.
"An Indian journal says of him: 'Not as a great administrative genius, or as a scholar, like his friend, Bishop Caldwell, will Sargent be remembered among us, but rather as a man of a strong character, of a broad and loving heart, as a prince aniong the Tamil preachers, as a great missionary, who gave to India his whole heart for Christ's sake, who made India his home, and with joy was willing to die among the people of his choice. He was a GREAT MIS- SIONARY, and this showed itself, not so much in extraordinary endowments as in this, that he, without suffering himself to be discouraged, believed unswerv- ingly on God's counsels touching India, and with all his energy co-operated for their realization,without sparing himself, until he could labor no longer. May the generation of such ' great' men never die out in this land! "
-The Dansk Missionsblad, in a detailed accoUnt of the stations of the China Inland Mission, has some vivid descriptions of regions and towns very little familiar to Christendom. Thus:" Eastward of the province of Szechuen lies that of Hoo-pih, which is only half as large, but more thickly peopled than its neighbor on the west." Here lies China's greatest lake, and perhaps the world's greatest city. It has commonly been supposed and taught that London was this world's hugest. But here, in the heart of China, lies a great city, consisting of three divisions, on both sides of the Yang-tse-Kiang, which here is about half a mile broad, and navigable even for great ships. It is given as having 5,000,000 inhabitants, and is called after the name of one of the three divisions, Vouchang. It is the greatest mart in Asia, and the throng and traffic found here both on land and water, are set forth as unique and beyond description. This city, like Tientsin, is one of the headquarters of the China Inland Mission, from which communications are maintained with the missionaries in the west and northwest. As a result of this the brethren stationed here have their hands full with the affairs of their scattered colleagues, and have therefore but little time and strength for missionary work proper. Yet there exists in the mighty city a little church of about half a hundred members, and another of'the same size in the city Fan-cheng, in the northern, mountainous part of the province. There are in all only 17 missionaries in this important province, whose inhabitants, taken as a whole, are so taken up with 'the struggle for existence' or the acquisition of riches, that they seem but slightly receptive for the message of peace, and but little desirous of the treasure which moth and rust cannot consume.
" Between Cwan-hwing and the sea stretches Keang-soo, one of the most remarkable and most important provinces of China. I~ has no fewer than three cities of a million each,which, moreover, lie close together. There is Nanking, whose former glory seems in great part to have sunk in ruins along with the fac-renowned Porcelain Tower, which the Tai-ping rebels laid waste. Here i,s Sou-tchou, the most beautiful city in the whole realm of China, of which the saying goes: 'In Heaven there is Paradise, and on earth Sou-tchou,' and, , To be happy on earth one must be born in Sou-tchou.' There is Shanghai, with its gloomy environs and filthy streets,.but with a mighty stir of traffic and diversified popular life."
-Missionary Van Eendenburg, in the Orgaan der Nederlandsche Zendingsverceniging, (organ of the Netherlands Missionary Society) for March, 1890, speaks of having baptized a Javanese gentleman of rank, Atman Oesman,who, by a pilgrimage to Mecca in his boyhood, in the company of his father, had gained the exalted standing of a Hadji, or Saint. Such a change of religion in the case of a Hadji being a thing unheard of, his baptism has created excitement far and wide. It is to be hoped that it will be a saving shock to others besides his own family.
Mr. Van Eendenburg reports having been not long since waited on by a Chinese (of whom there seem to be a good many in Java) with the request for medicine. The sick mim promised that if the missionary would cure him he .would pay him by becoming a Christian. Mr. Van Eedenburg took occasion to explain to him on which side the benefit would lie, if he became a Christian, and dismissed him with medicines, promising to send more after him through the native helper. The conversations of the latter have resulted in the estab- lishment of a stated congregation of from 30 to 50, served regularly by Mr. Van Eendenburg or his helper. The missionary has already baptized 8 adults and 5 children among them. But the Chinese, whose sickness has been the oocasion of such blessed results, still remains aloof. God grant that he may n@t save others and fail to be saved himself.
It is known that the restless, atheistic demagogue, Bradlaugh, besides the -capital which he is endeavoring to make for himself and his designs (including, I understand, the legislative suppression of religion) by throwing himself into the fullest current of extreme democracy at home, has b~en traversing India with the same purpose. He proposes giving to every male Hindu over 21, who has certain qualifications as yet undetermined, the right of voting for <E!lectors, who s~ll in turn choose Legislative .Councils, for the different Presi- -dencies, and a Supreme Council to control the vice-regal administration. Upon this the Evangelisches-Lutherisches Missionsblatt for March, 1890, remarks: "This proposition was received by the national congress with exultation, and accepted without change. The wine of democracy had intoxicated them .all. Otherwise this resolution would be hardly intelligible. We are tempted to ask whether these 2,000 'educated' men are really in earnest with their proposition. Do they really believe that in an empire whose present population is estimated at 270,000,000, and in which far more than nine-tenths of the population cannot read, and cannot form any conception of what is properly meant by a 'Legislative Council;' a country in which, during thousands of years, not so much as a shadow of a parliamentary government has had a being, now, on a sudden, the way can be opened for a popular administration? To which of the .diversified castes and religions of the Indian population would the lion's share fall-castes and communions which in part are absolutely alien to each other? To whom but to the crafty BRAHMINS, who are far in advance of all others in assimilation of Western culture, and in the most difficult university examina- tions, and, who, through intellectual superiority and their great skilfulness of speech and readiness in the appropriation of forms of action, have already a dominant position in the official world of India? But woe to the poor Gov- €rnors, who shall be obliged to expose themselves to the cross-fire of these tongues? They would soon realize Bradlaugh's explanation of the word 'loyalty.' The latter said in Bombay: 'True loyalty consists in this, that the subject shall so support the Governors as to leave but little for the government to do !"
–Several members of the Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrijt have been largely oocupied with an account of the work of the missionaries of the American Board and the Hawaiian Missionary Society, in Micronesia, both in the Gilbert and the Caroline and the Marshall Islands, drawn up with true German thoroughness. The writer, after speaking of the steady progress in the work on the Marshall Islands, speaks of the temporary disturbance occasioned by ~he German occupancy in 1885. The first thing which the German commander, Captain ROt~er, did, was to fine the Ebon Church 2,000 marks, because they had refused £0 trade with two German merchants who had brought in liquor contrary to law. This outrageous measure, taken on the mere representation of the two dealers, without any opportunity given to the missionaries or the people to speak, was severely commented on in the Zeitschrijt, whereupon the German admiralty brought suit for libel. The court, however, decided that the charge against Captain Rotger was made out. Against the somewhat han;h imperiousness of the German officers is to be set off the independence and equity of the German tribunals.
The Zeitschrwijt commends the German protectorate for its efforts to bring to an end the frequent civil wars on these islands. On the whole, however, the German editors represent the influence of their countrymen upon the work of missions on the Marshall Islands as being the reverse of sympathetic. Th~ German dealers-with the single exception of Herr A. Cappelle, on Ebon-are hostile; and the Commissary seems to side with them. Everything done for missions is viewed, apparently, as so much withdrawn from the gains of German covetousness. The Commissary, like the Czar with the Protestants of his dominion, actually undertakes to control the liberality of the people, for- bidding them to giv/i "excessively," and, of, course, reserving to himself the" interpretation of the term. On the limited resoul'Ces of the coral group he imposes a tax of 2,000 marks. To the American missionaries he continues peremptorily to refuse permission to lease land for churches 0; schoolhouses. And, most unhandsome of all, he will not allow the " Morning Star" to go on her rounds of mercy among the islands of the group, without paying a yeady license of 1,000 marks! All these things, of course, are known in this country through the Missionary Herald .. but it is a comfort to see them so thoroughl,. and severely exposed by the great German missionary magazine. If these things are done in the green tree, what may be looked for in the dry? If II. great Teutonic Protestant power, like Germany, allows greed and love of dominion to mislead her to such treatment of a kindred race and religion,what. wonder if France persecutes both in the Pacific? With this German churlishness in the Marshall group the courtesy and equity of the present Spanish Governor of the Caroline Islands contrasts most honorably. But let us hope tha.t, as the young Emperor seems in various particulars to have come to a better" mind at home, the fruits of his growing largeness of sympathies will yet extend even to the Marshall Islands.
Dr. Warneck, or rather Mr. Kurze, who writes the article, is decidedly of opinion, now that the work is so burdened and threatened, that an American missionary, besides Dr. Pease, ought to take up his residence on Jaluit-now the seat of government-and make much more frequent rounds among the islands, procuring a special schooner for the purpose.
-The same number of the Missions-Zeitschrijt gives statistics of the work of the Rhenish Missionary Societyamong the Battas Qf Sumatra. The work is now twenty.,seven years old. It embraces 13 stations and 56 outstations. There are 13,135 baptized Christians. In 1888 there were 1,244 adult baptisms. Having advanced to the inland sea, Lake Toba, it is making ready to cross it into independent territory, its present stations being all under Dutch suzerainty. The Bat~ elders are peculiarly helpful to the missionary, both at home and as evangelists. The mission has now its first unmarried female missionary (an English lady, self-supporting) and its first medical missionary.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
H.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Africa.-The Bishop of Cape Town areas of rich deposits of wonderful lias been administering the rite of con- fertility.
firmation to the lepers within his -M. Chaudoin, one of the hostages jurisdiction. Says the Evangelical seized by the King of Dahomey, was Ohurchman, of Toronto, Canada: "He kept three months in captivity, tirst confirmed nine, using the English chained, for the greater part of the language, and, using the Dutch lan- time, to his fellow prisoners. On one guage, he laid hands on 5 chronic sick occasion they were present at a sort of persons, 44 male and 17 female lepers. review of 15,000 of the king's war- His addresses, which were very ear- riors. The sight of the body of Ama- nest and touching, were interpreted zons, the 4,000 black virgins who form by a clergyman. One poor boy was the royal bodyguard, and who, armed wheeled up to the altar, and. several with rifle and knife, "stand ready to -eQuld not kneel. The ages of the can- attack at the slightest signal of their didates ranged from 11 to 90. . The master," greatly impressed him.
bishop subsequently went to the l~per -Rev. Dr. Johnston, a Jamaica mis- wards of the house and confirmed an sionary, has been for eome time train- English sailor who was too ill to attend ing as missionaries a number of ne- the church." groes belonging to his church, in Ja- -Under the name of the Independ- maica, and is about to start a mission ,ent State of Congo, its government in Africa of colored men for their ,organized after the most approved own race. This movement will be methods of Belgian administration, watched with interest, and, if success- it entered fully equipped into the ful, will greatly help to solve the ques- family of nations. There is within its tion of reaching Africa's millions with area, which is 33 times that of Bel- the Gospel. The cry may some day gium, a population of 450 white, about be, "Africans-ministerial and medi- ,one-half State officials and employees, cal-for Africa." In such a case the and the estimated number of natives negro institutions and churches of within its borders is about 40,000,000, America should train and furnish and, in the whole Congo basin, is esti- their full quota.
mated at about 50,000,QOO. -American Board of Com. F. M.
Africa is about three times the area -The following statistical summary, ,of Europe, or 12,000,000 square miles, presented at Minneapolis, shows what and some writers estimate it to con- has been done: Number of mission- tain about an equal population- aries increased from 514 to 533; places 325,000,000 souls. The enormous trade opened for stated preaching, 1,069 to developing there comes mainly from 1,402; new churches, 27; membersre- the narrow selvage which separates ceived in confession, 4,554; aggregate the mountains from the sea. It is a churches, 387; members, 36,256; at- great basin composed of plateaux, tendance at 122 high-schools and gradually ascending to 7,000 feet at colleges, 7,780; native pastors, 173; some of the central lakes. It has four amount contributed by mISSIOn great river systems: on the west, the churches for self-support, $117,000.
Congo, second only to the Amazon in The whole number of church members the volume of its water, and the Ni- secured since the Board began work, ger; on the north, the Nile; on the 81 years ago, is 114,953. The number east, the Zambesi. These rivers once of pupils under instruction is 47,329.
formed vast internal seas, which, fin- The donations, during 1889-1890, ally breaking through the mountain were $417,921.84, a gain in one year of barriers, descended by cataracts and $22,876.84. Of this, $169,2*6.37 came ,canyons to the ocean, leaving great frOln the three woman's boards, an increase of $16,450.86. Legacies re- union. The statistics of missionary ceived,$199,802.11, again of $46,148.39. Presbyterianism in China show 589 This, with the income of the general Inissionaries; wives of missionaries, permanent fund and the income of 390; single women, 316; ordained na- special bequests,. made the total tive ministers, 209; unordained help- amount of money available for the ers, 1,260; female helpers, 180; hos- Board $763,434.07. The expenditures pitals, 61; dispensaries, 43; patients in were $762,946.98, leaving a balance of 1889, 348,439; organized churches, 520; $487.09. It was stated that an income communicants, 37,287; pupils in of $1,000,000 a year is needed. schools, 16,816; contributions by na- Armenia.- The Armenian Patri- tive Christians, $36,884,64.
arch has recently secured a decree -According to recent calculations from the Sultan, granting important made by the Russian authorities,which concessions to the Armenians of that are regarded very trustworthy, the country. Among these is a restora- population of the Chinese Empire is tion to the Armenian Church of the 382,000,000. The annual increase is important privileges and immunities placed at 4,000,000. But not .one in of which it waa deprived by the pro- 10,000 of these millions ever heard of visions of a recent decree, and im- Jesus Christ.
portant concessions for the improve- -There are 109 medical mission- ment of the condition of the Armeni- aries in China, of whom 38 are women, ans of Asia Minor. and of these last 36 are Americans.
-Catholicism. – The sixteenth an- In all but four of the provinces medi- nual session of the Catholic Young cal missions have been established.
Men's National Union, 300 delegates – Churches Disbanded. In the present, met lately in Carroll Hall, Minutes of the General Assembly of Washington, for business, after hear- the Presbyterian Church for 1889, page ing a sermon in one of the churches 149, it is stated that 36 per cent. as by Bishop Keane, rector of the Catho- many churches are annually disbanded lic University. The Union is com- as new ones organized; that the ratio posed of 111 societies, coming from of disbandments is gradually increas- nearly all the States and Canada, and ing, and last year was greater than there are applications in hand from ever before. In the Congregational seventy-five other Unions or Societied Year Book, giving the statistics for for membership. They asked for, and 1889, it is stated that 241 new churches.
received by cable, the Pope's blessing. were organizad during the year, and The Cardinal delivered an address, in 121 disbanded. For every three which, among other things, he said: churches organized by the Presbyteri- •• Love. to God and His Church, love of ans one is disbanded; a~d among the country, and love for one another, are Congregationalists, for every two new the three great principles of the churches organized one is disbanded.
Union." France.-There are three principal China. – The missionaries con- French societies for the spread of Pro- nected with the Presbyterian churches testantism in France: The Societe Cen- in the United States, the United Pres- trale Protestante d'Evangelisation, the byterian Church of Scotland, the Union des Eglises E"t'angeliques libres· Irish and the Canadian Presbyterian de France, and the Societe Evange- Churches, have agreed upon a plan of lique de France; the last is the oldest, union to form the Presbyterian Church undenominational, and founded i:n of China. . The representatives of the 1833. Each society is self-supporting.
English Presbyterian and the Re- Much work is done by the American formed (Dutch) Church of America McAll Association and the Methodist are expected also to accede to the and Baptist churches. Their forms. of labor are manifold. There are in parison with these countries is not Paris alone, Bible societies, tract so- very bright or assuring. In Italy the cieties, and societies for the promotion birth-rate is 6.7 per thousand inhabit- of the circulation of Protestant books. ants, in Germany, 10; in Russia, 12.9, A work of evangelization among the and in England, 12.9, while in France sailors is carried on by M. H. Cook, it does not exceed 1.19.
with the boats Mystery and Herald of Great Britain.-ANational Pro- Mercy. There are societies to work testant Congress was held in London, among shop-girls, young washer- October 27-29. The following sub- women, coachmen, and priests who jects were selected for consideration: have left the Catholic Church. There 1. Union of Protestant Churches-(a) are temperance societies, with re.stau- common grounds of union; (b) differ- rants, where food of good quality, at ences which hinder union; (c) sug- low prices is supplied; no wine, but gested schemes of union and inter- tea and coffee. There are homes for communion. 2. The Public Worship workingmen, working girls, and for of God–{a} its true nature and char- those out of work; also societies to find acter; (b) its helps and its hindrances.
employment for them. There are day 3. Systematic Instruction in Refor- homes for young children whose par- mation Principles–{a) the plenary in- ents are at work, and homes for chil- spiration and sole authority of holy dren whose parents are in the hospital Scripture; (b) the right of private or prison. There are societies for work- judgment; (c) justification by faith ing among women and men in prison, only. 4. Conventual and Monastic £lnd to assist them when discharged; Systeins, with special reference to there are stores where the poor can the attempted revival of brother- buy at wholesale rates, and savings hoods and sisterhoods. 5. Home and banks for them; there are homes at Foreign Protestant Missions, with spe- the seashore and in the country for the cial reference to the dangers arising delicate to spend some time every sum- from Romanizing influences, and the mer. Protestant schools, lectures in best means of counteracting them.
pleasant rooms, Bible-readings, chari- Devotional-opening meeting-sub- table associations for every want, ject: "One Body, One Spirit ;" closing asylums for every age and infirmity, meeting-subject: "The Priesthood of belong also to the vast work carried Christ, and the Priesthood of Believ- on by Protestants in Paris. ers." Among those who were ap- -France is declining in population, pointed to take part, were Sir. Arthur and seems to be rapidly approaching Blackwood, K.C.B., Rev. E. W. Bul- the fearful period when the deaths linger, D.D., Rev. A. A. Isaacs, M.A., will exceed the births among her citi- Mr. James Inskip, H. Sinclair Pater- zens. She has not kept pace ingrowth son, M.D., Colonel Sandys, M.P., Rev.
relatively with competitive nations. Hiles Hitchens, D.D., Pastor Fuller A century a.go she had the lead; now Gooch, Professor Radford Thomson, she is amazingly falling in the rear. M. A., Bishop Sugden, D.D., Rev. F.
For instance, a century ago her popu- B. Meyer, Rev. Dr. Grattan Guinness, lation numbered 26,000,000, while Rev. John WilkinsOn, the Dean of Russia had only 25,000,000; Austria, Achonry, Rev. C. H. H. Wright, D.D., 17,000,000; Prussia, 15,000,000, and Rev. Marcus Rainsford, M.A., and Mr.
England, 12,000,000. Now, however, William Johnston, M.P.
Russia has 90,000,000 inhabitants; Ger- India.-The late Sir Bartle Frere, many, 46,000,000; Austria, 38,000,000, ex-governor of Bombay, tells how, in while France has only 36,000,000. 1835, he was taken by the Rev. James Then, if we consider the birth-rates, Mitchell to visit the first school opened the promise of future increase in com- in Poona forthe education of Marathi girls. He was enjoined to keep what the specific appropriation for Hampton he saw to himself, lest he should ex- and Lincoln Institutes. pose to persecution the Brahmin who had lent his house for such a purpose. Italy.-A new law has passed th.. ~ow schools for girls are to be seen Italian Parliament, and has received in all the large towns of India, and the royal sanction, which restores a. their number is continually increasing large sum of money, the accumula- -not only without opposition from the tions of beneficence in the past, to the Brallmins, but often with their con- purposes for which it was originally currence. given. An income of nearly $25,000,- 000 has hitherto been under the con- -Missionaries for India. Eleven trol of ecclesiastics, and by them di- missionaries, who started on the 30th verted to their interests, though orig- October for India, received a public inally intended for the poor. This fat'ewell on the previous evening at great income is hereafter to be placed the University Place Presbyterian in the hands of laymen, to expend in Church. Their names are Rev. J. M. homes for orphans and the aged, and Irwin and Miss Rachel Irwin, Rev. the relief of the distressed and helpand Mrs. W. N. Hannum, Miss Esther less. It is to be no more under eccle- Patton, Rev. and Mrs. A. H. Ewing, siastical control, but the civil admin- Rev. and Mrs. H. D. Griswold, Miss istration. The process of separating Jennie L. Colman and Miss Margaret Church and State in Italy has steadily Morrow. At a meeting of the Presby- been going on since Rome became the tery of New York, held previous to capital of the kingdom. the farewell services, Mr. Griswold was examined as to his qualifications Japan.-A writer in The Ohristiau for the ministry, and was afterwards at Work reports that" the Russian ordained in the presence of the large orthodox missionaries in Japan are congregation, the charge being de- said to be the most successful of all livered by Rev. Dr. George Alexan- the missionaries in that empire." But der, pastor of the University Place they receive scarce a quarter as many Church. The address to the mission- converts per year as do the Protestaries was made by Rev. Dr. Arthur ants, who have far overtaken the :Mitchell. Greek Church, and are rapidly over- taking the Roman Catholic. -N. A. Indians. The discussions in Congress over, Indian contract -The" Hochi Shimbun," a leading schools have brought to view where Japanese newspaper, says the progthe most money goes. The Catholics ress of Christianity in Japan is slow have had the lion's share of the funds, but sure. There is nothing striking and, of course, the largest opportani- about the numbe,' of converts added ties for influence over the Indians. each year to the roll of Japanese The amount set apart for the support Christians, or about the increase of of Catholic schools, for the education propagandists' ministrations. But, on of the Indian youth, has grown in five the other hand, the foreign faith ad- vances surely and steadily, planting years from $118,343 to $347,689 for its feet firmly as it goes, and never re- 1891. The whole amount appro- trograding for an instant. Those who priated for church contract schools estimate its development by the rehas grown, in the same period, from sults attained in a week or a day can $228,259 to $554,558. The Catholic form no true idea. They must watch Church had a little more than half of it for half a year or more, and they the whole appropriation in 1886, and will then discover that what it lacks it will have a good deal more than in extent it gains in stability. Opporhalf in 1891, leaving $206,869 for all tunities to test the influence it has ex- Protestant Church schools, including ercised upon the public mind are, of ~urse. few and far between. Its ing the expenses of transporting theili. to the points where they are to work, diligence in the cause of female educa- and in some cases tools have bee. given them." tion, and its untiring efforts to im- -Persecution of Jews in Russia.- prove the status of Japanese women It was recently announced that aD. edict had been published expelling are also quoted as easily discernible Jews from Russia. Official inquiry at St. Petersburg was met by denial that evidences of the progress it is making. any law on the subject had been pro- mulgated or was likely to be. But fill"- "In short," the Hochi Shin~bun con- ther investigation reveals the fact that the law was passed in 1882, but has cludes, "that Christianity will ulti- not been enforced; that it is now pro- posed to enforce it; and that when the mately attain to power by gradual Russian officials denied the enactment of anyrecent legislationon the subject, and steady accumulation of merits is they were simply juggling with words. According to the edict, ' 'No Jew is any a fact of which we are convinced by longer permitted to own or even farm land." All Jewishland-owners,farmers long observation. If it progresses at and agricultural laborers are thus ex- pelled from their village homes. Unless its present rate its future is assured." they have saved means enough for their subsistence they will be reduced 'The writer calls upon Buddhists to tobeggary. AIlJews,numberingmany thousand families, settled outside the bestir themselves in the cause of their sixteen specified counties, shall be ex- pelled. An equally large number of faith. DR. MUTCHMORE. the artisan class will be rendered homeless by the enforcement. Mr. -Jews.-Baron Hirsch gives $10,000 Benjamin Lewis Cohen, one of the most influential and respected Jews in a month toward the relief of theJews London, declares that the immediate effect will be to till"n adrift hundreds <€xiled from Russia and seeking homes of thousands of innocent and law- abiding citizens, many of whom must in the United States. Of the use made inevitably enter the already crowded labor markets in Europe. ,of this provision, the American He- -The increasing spirit of antagobrew says: nism to the Jews, of which the edicts of the Russian Czar are outwafd "A census taken of the district south manifestations, is disclosing itself in other ways. It is stated that an anti- ·of Houston Street and east of Broad- Semitic congress is to be held in Ger- many about the close of the present way, [New York], shows a population year. A congress in which every speech and every resolution will be ·.,f Russian and Roumanian Jews far levelled against one people, isolating them for the purpose of denunciation, in excess of 100,000, and the average and holding them up publicly to scorn- increase by immigration is about ful depreciation, is a novelty not to be 20,000 per annum. The committee anticipatted without pair and regret.
propose using the fund so far as pos- ,sible in educating these people so as to become self-sustaining by entering trades or occupations which are new to them, and to enable them to amal- gamate as rapidly as can be with the people among whom they work or ·dwell. To this end, classes have been .opened for teaching children sufficient English to prepare them to attend the public schools; for instructing adults in English, in American history, meth- ·ods and customs; for fitting girls for <lther occupations than tailoring; for making men handy with tools, where- by they can more rapidly obtain re- munerative employment. It has been proposed to teach them various trades and put some at agriculture, and so .soa.tter them in different v~ations.
With the aid of the employment bu- reau of the United Hebrew Charities, positions have been found for a large number of men, the Hirsch Fund pay- But the "Czar" and the "congress" morning till latest eve, and every de– may both be fulfilling that Divine pur- scription of work, every model of pose which is to make Palestine again worker, and every class of convert the possession of the Jews, and the was at this great review; nay, almost final abode of the long-wandering sons every nation under the sun was repre- of Israel. Meanwhile, better councils sented. It is claimed that 85,000 were concerning the Jew prevail elsewhere. on the grounds. Yet, though a quar- Mr. Reginald Radcliffe lately an- ter of a century has elapsed since nounced that a single donor, whose William Booth resigned his post as name is not given, had paid, through Methodist New-Connection Minister, the Bank of England, the sum of and commenced his "Christian Mis- $125,000 for a new edition of the He- sion," it was only in 1878 that the brew Testament. The editor of The name "Salvation Army" was adopted.
Christian (London) says that an ad- Two special features of our modern ditional sum of $25,000 has been given life the General has been quick to rec- for the purpose of distributing the ognize and to utilize: the musical Hebrew Testament by agencies not education of England, and England's now employed. This is better far passion for social philanthropy. We than imperial edicts and "anti-Sem- shall presently have to add to this the itic" leagues. effect upon the masses of the elemen- -Mormons abolish Polygamy.-At tary drawing, which is everywhere to- the general conference of the Church be insisted upon under the New Code.
of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints, Spain.- The conversion of Rev.
in Salt Lake, the official declaration Rafael de Zafra Menendez, ex-Roman of President Woodruff, forbidding, in Catholic priest, has greatly cheered the future, any marriage in violation Pastor Lopez Rodriguez and his de- of the law, was read before an audi- voted wife in their important work in ence numbering -10,000 persons. The Northeast Spain. Having been friar, apostles and bishops and leading eld- Jesuit, professor, apostolic mission- ers of the church, by unanimous vote, ary, parochial rector, and mission recognized the authority of the Presi- teacher in Spain, France and Af· dent to issue the manifesto and ac- rica, Father Zafra has had a varied cepted it as authoritative, and George experience. He is a Doctor of Divin- O. Cannon publicly announced his en- ity and an el<JllUeHL speake!". His dorsement of the manifesto and his public recantation of the errors of recognition of the supremacy of the Rome, and confession of faith in laws that had been declared constitu- Christ as the one Mediator, caused tional by the Supreme Court of the considerable excitement throughout United States. The conference also the province of Gerona, and a copy of re-adopted the original articles of his letter _of abjuration was sent to faith, among which is this: "We be- every priest and mayor.
lieve in being subject to kings, presi- The occasion of the recantation was dents, rulers and magistrates, in obey- admirably improved. In words of ing, honoring and sustaining the truth, lovingly expressed, Father law." This action settles the vexed Zafra declared how ardently he had question, and places an effectual bar devoted himself to all that is enjoined against future polygamous marriages by the Church of Rome, animated by in Utah. It is the most important step the hope of thereby gaining salvation, taken by the Church in more than a and ultimate glory. But he had failed quarter of a century. to find the peace and satisfaction he -Salvation Army.-"The Silver Ju- longed for. All was doubt and un- bilee," at the Crystal Palace, at Syden- rest. Like Luther, he imagined that ham, occupied the day from earliest surely in the" Eternal City," where dwells his Holiness, "God's Repre- powerful Gospel addresses to crowded sentative," he would obtain that which audiences in theatres and ball-rooms.
he so fervently desired. 'Sad decep- There can be no doubt about the sin- tion! Instead of purity and godliness cerity of the convert; for he has ex- he found a revolting mass of world- changed a position of influence and liness and hollow ceremonial. Al- pecuniary advantage for that of a most crushed in spirit, he sought a humble preacher of the Gospel, and a copy of the Scriptures, but found the mission-school teacher, with a small sacred volume distorted, and soiled . living allowance. Such of our readers, with human additions and subtrac- as desire more details of this very in- tions. At last he obtained a true teresting case are recommended to'
(Protestant) version, and as a traveler procure copies of recent "Letters in the dark seizes a torch to guide his from Spain," by Madame Lopez Rod- benighted steps, so he grasped the riguez, from Rev. J. C. Stewart precious " lamp" of God's Holy Mathias, Theberton Rectory, Sax- Word, the entrance of which gave him mundham, Suffolk, who is honorable light. In it he found all, and more treasurer of the Figueras Mission.- than he had for a lifetime so eagerly The Christian.
sought. Thibet.- The Moravians have a Satisfied that the simple Gospel is mission in this most inaccessible re- the truth, Father Zafra resolved at all gion. The mission premises lie about costs to throw off the chains of error 9,400- feet above sea level, and 1,000.'
and superstition which had so long feet above the narrow ravine, down bound him, and openly to leave the which the foaming torrent of the Church of Rome. But who was there Sutlej rushes. The village of Poo is to extend a helping hand? To have the largest in that remote district, bu.t disclosed his secret to personal friends the high passes leading to it are very or ecclesiastical brethren would have difficult at all times, and impassable for been fatal to his safety. In the dis- a good part of the year. Here live and guise of a peasant he went to the labor a missionary pair, occupying a as depot of the Religious Tract Society post about as isolated any mission in Barcelona, and inquired for a Pro- field on the face of the ea.-th. Their testant pastor. At that moment, nearest post-office is fourteen days Pastor Lopez Rodriguez, on business distant over Himalayan mountain from Figueras, entered the shop, and paths. 'Ten years or more may pass was introduced to the inquirer. Shown without their receiving a single visit into a private room, Father Zafra told from a European. But for thirty-two his story, and after answering search- years this outpost has been faithfully ing questions, the interview, which held, as a centre for evangelistic was long and interesting, closed with labors.
united prayer for grace and guidance. Turkey.-Dr. Farnsworth writes Having narrated these matters, Father of a revival in Cesarea: "We are en- Zafra solemnly recalled all the vows joying much more than our ordinary and oaths which, in days of darkness, prosperity. Rev. M. H. Jenenyan, of he had made and taken. Being thus Tarsus, is the Moody of Turkey. He free from Romish ties, he promised, is yet a young man, about 32 or 33 by God's help, in future" not to know years old, a native of Marash. He'
anything among men butJesus Christ spent some four years in America, and Him crucified." and returned to Turkey in 1888. Both Since his recantation, Father Zafra before he went and since his return, has accompanied Pastor Lopez Rod- he has been very successful in revival riguez to various towns apd villages work. The great revival at Aintab, a in the province, and has delivered year ago, was in connection with his, labors. In the spring of 1889 I spent Japan and India are there in direct 8everal days in Tarsus and met Mr. response to the call of the missiona- ..Jenenyan, and did what I could to in- ries, and are working in the closest re- terest him in ourgreat missionary field, lations with them. In Mr. Wishard's and he promised to come here when he presentation of the proposed associ- could and help gather in the harvest. ation work at the recent Chinese Mis- The result is that he has been with us sionary Conference at Shanghai, his seven weeks, and his labors have been assurance that the present missionary ~ven more successful than he had uprising in our American associationll -dared to hope. The first four weeks is 'being carefully guarded from the were spent in Cesarea, and, though organization of an independent s0- the season was very unfavorable, ciety, and is being directed into the many of the people being away, still channels of the regular denomina- he had very much larger congrega- tional boards, was received by the tions than we had ever before seen, Conference with hearty expressions of and an excellent impression was made. approval. About 175 expressed a desire to begin a new life." -Another step in the bringing of the ends of the world together is the -Dr. Cyrus Hamlin says: "Money, survey now being made for a railway not men, is what we want now. In through .Alaska, across Behring Strait, Turkey there is a large force of edu- and through Siberia into Russia. The .cated young men, one of whom, on enterprise, aside from its cost, is said -some lines, is worth two missionaries. to be entirely feasible. The Northern 'Yes,' said a missionary, 'there are Pacific and other trans-continental 400 young men and women fitted for a lines, "constitute the first American vast extension of the work, who can division of the proposed railroad. The now hardly earn their daily bread, plateaux and valleys along the base of and whom, at small comparative out- the Rocky Mountains offer a natural lay, we might send into the white route through Alaska to Behring harvest-fields. The Lord give His Strait. Bridging the Strait, the line people grace to know the times. I would cross over into Siberia and -still enjoy speaking twice on the Sab- thence running in a southwesterly di- bath, but I decline three times.' " rection, connect with the lines of rail- way now under construction, to giV61 -Yo M. C. A. and Missions.-_·-s to the Young Men's Christian Associ- the Russian government an outlet to ation sending out foreign missionaries independent of the denominational the sea at the mouth of the Amoor missionary societies, Mr. L. D. Wish- River. From this point of connection, ard, who has had so much to do with south and west, the lines would proassociations, especially in connection ject through the Chinese Empire, Inwith colleges and universities, and dian Arabia, and thence across the has lately spent much time in similar Isthmus of Suez into the Moroccos, work in Japan and other countries, and coastwise around the continent strongly urges the necessity of carrying on this work "in perfect harmony is of Africa. It proposed to bridge with the missionary societies." The action of the last IntP.rnational Con- Behring Strait, which is only 48 miles vention authorizing the International in width, with the Diomede Islands Committee to establish foreign asso- nearly midway. Bridges a little ciations, and the principles of action more than 20 miles long on either side soon afterward adopted by them, are of this island would make this conin full harmony with the policy, and nection. The water has a shallow, the secretaries already located in solid bottom in no place exceeding a depth of 40 feet.
-The mixed company at Pentecost finds its duplicate in the America».
MISSION A.RY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS. !J-H
republic. Swedes and Danes and Nor- is not an adherent. In Berlin, too, a wegians, and the dwellers in France, similar agitation has been in progress and Germany and Bulgaria, in B0- for some time, and has managed to, hemia and Poland, Italy and Russia attract a good deal of attention. and Portugal, and in the parts about Buddhism is the most highly de- Wales, and strangers from China and veloped and philosophical of heathen Japan, unbelievers and heathen, have religions, or rather ethical systems, congregatedinAmerica. Andnowthey for it is such rather than a religion. should hear, everyman, in the tongue' But with all that it is heathen and not wherein he was born, the wonderful Christian; and this is everything. works of God. Ten million souls of foreign birth are here. Nineteen mil- -Scientific fact, Among the nulion souls are here of foreign parent- merous facts interesting to science in age. The most of these are in the Mr. Stanley's "In Darkest Africa." northwest. They make up almost are some in relation to the effect of two-fifths of the population of these elevation upon the prevalence of mala- United States. Enough come to us rial fevers in Africa. This effect a pyearly to colonize new territory equiv- peared to be nil, as fevers attacked alent in extent to Arizona, Idaho, different members of the party at Montana, Nevada, Wyoming and places at sea-level, and a series of lo- Washington, peopling it as densely as calities whose altitudes varied from til} that district now is. to 4,500 feet. Mr. Stanley further observed that while ascending the Miscellaneons-Buddhism seems Congo and Aruwimi Rivers, with the to be becoming the fashionable folly winds astern, the party was unusually among religious dilletants at present. free from ague; but while descending In Paris the Orientalist, Professor de these streams, with the wind facing Rosmy, has been delivering a series of them, they were smitten with the lectures on this subject, at public ex. most severe attacks. He infers from pense, in the old university building. these facts that trees, tall shrubbery, The Paris papers report that not only a high wall or close screen interposed students and young people in general, between a dwelling and the wind curbut also men of all classes, esproially rent will mitigate the malarial infrom educated circles, were eager fluence of the latter, and suggests that listeners. They further claim that not a vail or face-screen of muslin might a few have accepted the Buddhistic prove a useful protection to travelers faith, although the professor himself against malarial exhalations.
III.-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD-FIELD.
OharleBton, 8. C. house of Judah are called in Scripture the- Ens. MISSIONARY REVIBW:-In your August Jews, a word derived from Judah and occurnumber there is a translation by Prof. Schodde ring for the first time II. Kings, xvi.: 6. The of an article by the late Dr. DeIltzsch, which people of the house of Israel are never soappears to me open to much criticism. styled, except in the case of those who ad- 1. In theflrst place this whole article is writ· hered to the family of David, as Benjamin, ten under the totally inadequate conception which was temporarily associated with Judah_ that all of Israel were Jews, and that the two Hence the Apostle Paul calls himself a Jew_ terms are in fact convertible. The one feature But the rest of the tribes can in no sense bemore prominent than any otherjnthe historyof called Jews. any more than we Americans can God's chosen people, is their division Into two be called Welshmen. houses, ofone of which Judah was head, and Joseph head of the other; the house of Judah One fact in the history of these two peopl~ and the house of Israel, called also by way of separates them as the poles assunder. The pre-eminence, Israel; also, Joseph and Ephra- Jews it was who crucified our Saviour, but im. After the separation the people of the Israel. i. e., the house of Israel, was not pres- ent, and had no hand in~e dark transaction. But, if in hi~tory,thesetwodivisions ofGod's prize such a useful gift, which some one will ancient people are seen to be so distinct, it is surely delight to send him.
not less so in prophecy. For we find from the The valuable, yet cheap gift, which he needs blessing of Joseph and his two sons by his is the writing-tablet known as the Edson father Jacob, in Gen. xlviii.; throughout the Mimeograph, manufactured by A. B. Dick Psalms and the Prophets, that this distinction Company, Chicago, TIl. I have one which I is always maintained, and that a future of find just the instrument I needed In my India widely dift'erent character is indicated for mission work. Producing hundreds of good Judah and for Israel-see Giln. xlviii., Ps.lxxx., copies from one writing, It saves much ex- Is. pasiUm, Jer. III. and xxxi.. Ezek. xi. and pense of printing, engraving, etc. In mission xvi., the books of Hosea, Amos, etc., etc. work it will prove especially valuable In re- In I. Chr. v: 2,we read that "Judah prevailed producing In the vernaculars all circulars, les- above his brethren, and of him came the chief sons, notices, etc., and even for printing small ruler, but the birthright was Joseph's." Has tracts. Native style of writing can be imi- God revoked His word? Or shaH we, because tated by this Instrument in a way that type the Almighty has hid his Rervant Israel in the cannot eITect.
flhadow of his hand, proceed to divide his Realizing the great, need of missionaries in name and his inheritance among Jews and this IIn~, and knowing of no other instrument Gentiles? to meet it like the mimeograph (1 have tried 2. Dr. Delitzsch's remarks on p. 576, that the other processes), I would urge that friends of Bible is "a book which is not less human missionaries see that they are snpplied with than it is divine, in which the human side is this most useful Instrument. Churches, Sun- flOmetimes more prominent than the divine, day-schools, mission boards, and Individual etc. " If this be so, how are we to separate the Christians, can help their foreign work greatly gold from the clay? This view of Scripture by carrying out this suggestion.
will lead toany length of infidelity and doubt, Yours, for the promotion of the great mis- and has indeed led the learned author Into sionwork, WALLACEJ. GUDWIN.
further and more questionable positions, as, 3. On p. 578 he says, that" In Old Testament Korea.
times the clear light of this divine Idea (1) (the Seoul, Korea, SepttJrnber 1, 1890.
restoration of Israel) Is obscured In rising In DEATH OF DR. HERON -THE NEED OF HORE the hearts of the prophets, In SO far as it Is HELPERS IN THIS FIELD.
colored by a national and ceremonial method You, of course, have heard of the sad death of Dr. Heron, one of the pioneers of our young of thought, which is inseparable from a re- mission; not sad for him, but only as we think of the lonely wife and fatherless little ones, vealed religion in its preparatory .stage," etc., and, as we look with wondering eyes, on the great fields, white for the harvest, from which etc. reaper after reaper has been removed, In the strange providence of God, who knows best, If we are to believe that prophetic truth has, and to whom we can only bow in submission with the words of His Son, "Thy will be done. " in ever so slight a degree, been sacrificed to No less than eight helpers have been removed from the field within a year and a half,. some national and ceremonial methods of thought, of whom were with us but a few months. We have now In our own Immediate mission Mr. or otherwise hangs upon human imperfection, and Mrs. GitTord, Mrs. Heron, Miss Doty, Mr. MolTett, Mr. Underwood and myself. Mr. simply because we cannot understand how MolTett and Miss Doty have been here only seven or eight months, and, of course, have certain prophecies can be fulfilled, then the only made a beginning as yet in the language, and even Mr. and Mrs. GiITord have scarcely bottom will SOOn be knocked out of all Scrip- been two years on the field. With this hand- ful of people what are the demands and prosture, and we shaJl find ourselves in a raging pects of the country1 Three new stations, Eni- ju, Pyng Yang and Fusan, are callingloudly for sea of rationalism, doubt and despair. foreign helpers, to take up the work which has been started by transient visits from our mis- Israel, in history and prophecy, is a subject sionaries and by the work of natives. In two of these towns a large harvest is ripe,and not only I should like very much to see thoroughly so, but they are all three great centres, and by settling some foreign missionaries In them the studied, as it deserves to be, for it is now very work could be carried through the country in every direction. As it is we receive reports from imperfectly understood. J. F.
The editor would add that, after our Lord's crucifixion the word Israel seems to be used In a larger sense to comprehend all Hebrew remnants. Compare Acts Ii : 36, II. Cor. iii : 13-15 Romans xi : 25-26, etc. We expect shortly to publish an article by the Rev. David Baron, himself a "prince of the Hou~ of Judah."
Miles, Iowa, SepttJrnber 15, 1890.
DEAR DR. PIERSON:-It would be a great boon to the many missionaries to have a mimeograph. How I have wished for an in- Iltrument of this sort during my long service in India. Any brother far away from home, t9i1ing diligently In • hard field, will greatly 'the colporteursthatvillageaftervillageisgoing the homes they are to fill, and we only seek to .over to the Romanists, who have their priests make Christian Koreans of them, not Ameri. scattered everywhere, and it hegins to look as can ladies. though the battle was to be waged between Romanism and Protestantism in this country, I wish I had ttme to tell you partiCUlarly of rather than between US and heathenism. We all Our work. • Dr. Scranton, of the Methodist . are expecting the arrival of a missionary and Episcopal Mission, and Mr. Underwood, until his wife this fall, and are intending to divide Dr. Heron's illness, were busily working over our little force, sending one man and his wife, the translation of the New Testament, which with one single gentleman, to a new station, work will soon be resumed, thOllghon account leaving two men with the ladies here at the of the severe illness of Dr. Scranton's dear chief centre, with two schools, two or more little girl, he may not he able to take up his classes of women, a church, with five native work for some time. Mr. Underwood has also services a week, the translation of Scripture, translated a number of tracts during the sum· tracts and hymns, the oversight of Bible and mer and finished the Shorter Catechism, and tract colporteurs (not to mention medical hopes ere long to publish some hymns, "Pil· work, which has for the present been dropped), • grim's Progress" and various other tracts. A ,all to be taken care of; and only one of us tract society has been established during the with any command of the language. summer, consisting of the memhers of the Presbyterian, Canadian and Methodist mis· The Canadian Presbyterians here are two in sions, and other Christian foreigners. Dur- number, and are working in harmony with us, Ing the extreme heat of summer, just after and often lending US most substantial assist- the death of our neighbor and fellow-worker, .aIlce. Mr. Fenwick has heen a year on the Dr. Heron, some of us ,took a ten,days va- ground, and is devoting his ttme to the lan- cation and trip to Nam Ham, "Southern For- guage. Mr. Gale has become already quite tress, " and found not only fresh air and reo proficient in the latter, and has undertaken newed strengtb, but a rich field for Chris· for a few months the entire charge of our tian work. Dally we were besieged by ear- orphanage. Mr. Gale has been stationed nest, interested inquirers, who, if other busi· alone at Fusan for nearly a year, and will ness detained us, would wait hours to hear and probably return there. There are about question about our religion, and who bought twenty-five boys in the orphanage, and they and carefully read many of our books and, .do a great deal of the work necessary for run- tracts. The woman's work is, perhaps, the ning the school, taking care of their rooms most promising of all, for a number of women and preparing most of their food. They rise of the higher classes have been studying the .at 5.304. )I., and after putting themselves and Bible Sabbath evenings with Mrs. Heron. I their rooms in good order for the day, study have scarcely given you thus an outline of <ihinese until eight, wb,en they have morning some of our work. prayers with one of the Foreign teachers, after which they have breakfast. Perhaps As a personal news, every member of our this will seem a very late breakfast after so mission has been more or less ill during the much work, but most Koreans breakfast be- summer, Mr. and Mrs. Gifford, perhaps more tween ten and eleven, and take only two meals seriously so than any, except Dr. Heron. Mr. a day, especially the poorer classes from Moll'ett started three days ago for the north, whom these boys come. After breakfast fol- in company with Mr. A. of the Methodist Epis· low a few English lessons (we have decided to copal Mission, and Mr. Hulbert., they will be 1;each very little English, as the best experi- gone probably six weeks at least. Mr. Moffett ence of the oldest missionaries in the field is hopes not only to scatter good seed, but to against it) and a Bible lesson. These recita- familiarize htmseJf more quickly with the Ian· tions are interspersed with short recesses and guage and customs of the people by this so· the afternoons are given to play and study journ in the country. hours, and Chinese, which is a most important factor in the education of Koreans. The board But now I must bring this long letter to a have been obliged to cut down so largely in close. If it will only interest our ladies some· , the appropriations for this school that the what in our work and make it seem more possihilltyof carrying It on at all has hecome closely their own, I shall be so thankful. I fear a very serious question. The girl's school, in the hurry of our work we do not take time now under Miss Doty's charge, consists of nine enough to make you so intimately acquainted, little girls, most of whom are about eight years as you have a right to be, with the work which ·old. They also do as much as possible of their you, as much as we, ar~ doing and are re- own work, learn to cook and sew in Korean sponsible for. fashion, are taught no English, but to read <ihinese and their own native "Erumun" lan- Yours, with love, guage, and, above all, are taught the Gospel LlLLIAsH. UNDERWOOD. and Gospel living. It is a great mistake to unfit these girls, by a foreign education for [Our readers may rememher that the great Saturday afternoon Bible Class, taught in Y. M. C. A. Hall in Philadelphia, by the Editor, has given about $700 to help publish the Pil- grim's Progress in Korean. The money is ready upon call.-ED.•
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS. [Dec_
Native Missionaries. shown to native as to foreigu missionaries_ Eight papers on subjects previously assigned. DEAR DR. SRERWOOD:-In Dr. Pierson's let- were read by them. The same liberty w"" ters from abroad (August number of THE given to them as to foreign missionaries, to REvIEW. p. 572), occurs this. sentence, found- speak upon questions presented for discused on the statement of Dr. Lunn~ "At the Ben- sion. Nine act';aIly spoke, though obliged to galore Conference of 1889, not one native speak in English-to them a foreign language minister had a place in the assembly" (italics -and some of these more than once.~' his). As there is nothing to indicate that this had reference to any particular mission, It Madras, Sept. 15, 1390. gives a wrong impression in regard to the general custom among the missionaries of South DEAR DR. PIERSON:-I call attention to the India. misstatement which occurs in the printed I attended a missionary conference at the same place in 1879, representing some twenty form of my letter at the top of the second societies in South India and Ceylon. In its reports, published in Madras and London, these colunm, page 69:3, September number. I wrote facts are given: "There were present, as members of the conference, 3 ordained native min- "This doe. not include," etc., but the senisters from the missions of the Church Missionary Society, 4 from the Wesleyan Mission ~nce has been changed to read .. This inary Society,3 from a mission of the American Board, 1 from the Free Church of Scotland cludes not more,~' etc. }fission, 1 from the Madras Auxiliary Bible Society, and 7 ordained native ministers, with 1 The inIpression would be made that of 131 evangelist not ordained, from missions of the London Missionary Society"-in aij, nineteen members, not more than 100 were "sustainordained native miniBters and one evangelist not ordained. And the same i'espect was ing" (i. e. merely contributors), which would not indicate that the young men were being reached to any great extent-ahout 30. The fact is, that we now have, in addition to lS0 sustaining members, 172 yO'Ung men enrolled (of whom 118are natives, 35 Eurasian and 111'
European). So, you see, we are growing COIl- stantly. DAVID MCCoNAUGHV.
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY SECRETARY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
The Faith Element in Missions. ance of the law of averages, as in a The whole work of foreign missions life insurance company, for while that is in a peculiar sense, a work of faith. regards merely the natural laws of So far as'its supporters are concerned life and death, this confidence deit is a work out of sight, far away be- pends upon the free action of human yond the sea, :tmong unknown races, wills, on the degree of missionary people who do not welcome our effort spirit which may exist in the church, and from whom we expect no return. on the efforts which may be made by It is a work done for Christ and those pastors and teachers, by woman's sofor whom he died, and it is the best cieties and young people's associpossible evidence of a belief in His be- ations, and, above all and through all, ing, character and work. on the Spirit of God moving upon the It is by faith that mission boards hearts of His people. and societies make large appropriations at the beginning of their fiscal Over and above all human elements. years, when no funds are in the treas- there is certainly a divine element in ury and when possibly they are al- the case, as seen in favoring proviready borrowing the means by which dences, great spiritual movements, unto support their work. Often a half looked-for responses to missionary efor three-quarters of a million of dol- forts, revivals wrought by the Spirit lars are thus appropriated with all of God in the churches at home on the the implied obligation of a solemn mission fields. pledge. 'This is a work of faith-faith in God This faith element in missions and in His Church. It is not sufficient should never be forgotten. It needs to say that this is limply an observ- constantly to be emphasized. Instead of less pra.yer and more organization, less trust in God and greater reliance- -on skillful management, there should ing condemnations, for I recognize be cultivated a feeling of almost des- the ardent devotion of many who dif- perate recourse to that Divine Spirit, fer from me. I honor some of those- who alone can touch the dead heart of noble organizations which, while heathenism to life, on the one hand, promising partial support, have de- ;and arouse, on the other, a careless, pended in part upon the faith prin- ~asy-going church that is ever forget- ciple in fixing the amount. I believe ting its duty. that a great spiritual impulse has been given to the cause of missions by those One of the most melancholy facts in who hold that view. the history of missions is the decline of the Monthly Concert. In very many But I wish to present a few prac- ~{)aSeil pastors have not faithfully tried tical points which bear on this impor- to maintain it! but in others where tant question in its present phases: faithful efforts have been made, they have been disheartened by unmistak- (1.) It seems desirable that the for- ,ableproofsthattheircongregations are eign missionary enterprise shall be so loath to pray for anybody but them- administered as to quicken the faith selves. Perhaps itisthisgeneralapathy and arouse the zeal of the whole and the aversion of Christian men to Church, rather than to encourage the ·contribute of their substance for mis- idea that it is to be carried on by the sionary work that have led to the inau- conspicuous self-denial and self-im- guration of what are known as "Faith molation of a few. Missions." The meaning of the term, .as it is generally understood, is not a There is needed a faith which, in- work WhICh expects a greater Divine stead of dispensing with the use of blessing on the use of means, but one means, shall lead to a great increase of which dispenses with certain means means; which shall, on all hands, call which are ordinarily employed on the forth more praying and more gener- part of missionary boards and the ous giving; which shall inspire self- -churches which support them. So far denial not merely in some sicklyswamp as appears in the public discussions of Africa but in the wealthyand com- "Faith Missions" are those in which fortable Christian homes of America. stipulated salaries are dispensed with. "The missionaries depend for support The world cannot be converted by a ·on some kind of secular employment few startling' object lessons in t<>il or on the voluntary gifts of God's and suffering. We are not encamped people. before Philistines, whom it is God's plJiPose to conquer by the faith and It is fair to recognize honest differ- valor of a few young Davids,while the ences of opinion on a subject like this, hosts of Israel simply stand still and "and to welcome a "variety of opera- see the salvation of the LOld. Instead tions," but the recent death of three of a benefit there may be positive inmissionaries in Africa, who, to all ap- jury in such examples. They involve pearances, died from insufficient sup- a false theory of Christian duty; they port, and from a persistent reliance on excuse the avaricious and ease-loving; faith instead of medicine in extreme they seem to remove the burden of sickness, brings this whole subject to responsibility from the Church as a the attention of the Christian Church whole. Not only do the missionaries and demands for it a candid and dis- need fixed and reliable salaries, to free passionate discussion. them from anxiety and keep them in health and secure their success, but I shall not here appeal to scriptural the Church needs topay these salaries; authority, for that is varionsly inter- its own spiritual life demands at least preted by"thbse who are at issue on that small share of the common burthe subject. I shall not deal in sweep- den, and any theory which maintains that a fixed support is not necessary for foreign missionaries, and which so far ing for themselves, and even collect- removes responsibility from those who ing their own fuel in the rainy season, stay at home, is a downright injury to hoping thus to gain the confidence of the whole spiritual life of Christian the natives. On the 9th of July tw~· lands, and in the end will retard the of the party died, both of whom had conversion of the world instead of been such stanch believers .in faith hastening it. cure that they had taken no medicine. Two days after a third died of ex- (2). Such theories do harm upon the haustion, from neglected fever, havmission fields as well as at home. I ing been ill for nine days. As the am aware that the plea has been made fourth patient in the list refused the that Orientals are accustomed to asso- services of the physician, the latter ciate habits of self-mortification with reported to the Governor that the misreligion, and that they will be more sionaries, by the course pursued, had readIly influenced by men who are originated a malignant type of fever, in / a sense ascetics, but there is which endangered the whole comanother side to this matter. Asceti- munity. He therefore quarantined cism has for ages proved useless and the house, and advised that the surabortive, and what is now needed is vivors of the party be sent back to the plain, unostentatious and vigorous America. Upon this the patient condevotion of an alert and healthy Chris- sented to be treated. tian life. The Gospel of common sense is inwoven with the Gospel of Nothing could possibly produce a Redemption, and where this is want- more unfavorable impression upon a ing positive harm is done. community of foreign residents, in re- gard to the whole work of missions, What are the recent facts in this than an event of this kind. oonp.ection, and what has been their influence? Nine missionaries sent And public sentiment throughout out in connection with what is known Christendom will condemn not so as the "Kansas nlovement," were much the misguided young missionlanded, some months since, at Sierra aries as that self-excusing sentiment Leone. None can doubt the sincerity in the Church, which seems to call for' of their devotion. such sacrifices. So long as a mission- ary cannot receive a modest salary They had doubtless been pained by without being exposed to criticism by the criticisms of a worldly church those who ought to be his cheerful upon the " luxuries of foreign mis- supporters, so long as there are thousionaries," and they resolved to cast sands of money-getting Christians who· themselves on the Lord, and without are ready to say of the faith missionsalary, and without even medical care, ary, "There is the man that I believe' devote themselves to the establish- in; he is not after the loaves and ment of a mission in Western Soudan. fishes; he is not going abroad to live in luxury, etc."-so long will sensitive For the sequel we refer the reader you~g men be found who would rather to the statements recently published brave danger, and even death itself. by the authorities at Sierra Leone. than to depend on such grudging sup- The British Minister at Washington has porters. At Sierra Leone starvation lately transmitted to the Department led to fever and death, and by all acof State a letter from the Governor of counts came ileal' to breeding a pes- Sierra Leone, including a report from tilence, yet people will soon forget it, the Colonial Surgeon at Freetown, and the plea of "cheap missionaries'~ relative to the case of the nine Ameri- will be renewed. can missionaries at that place. The report states that upon their arrival (3). Is it quite Bound, either as thethey began to live in native fashion, ology or as fact, to assume that God. eating native food, cooking and washintends a different measure of faith plies, and the means of preserving and a less regard to means on the health. foreign fields than in the work at home? Is there any more reason to It may be safe to assume that no suppose that a fortuitous Efupport can man has a right to expose a young be relied upon for missionaries than wife to the perils of such a situation, for our own pastors? The whole subject as she must be to the incidents theory of " faith missions" proves too of married life, and with all the ad- much; for, unless it be assumed that ditional burdens and trials which tt God has two different economies for woman must encounter. the work of the Church, then every department and every interest ought Fifteen years ago, while visiting to be conducted upon trust, and all missions on all sides of the globe, I salaries, all pledges, all contracts had opportunity to call upon one who should be dispensed with. was living with a wife and small child in a locality less than five de- The intervention of broad oceans grees from the equator, close upon the d.oes not change the general laws of sea-shore,with an environment·of hills, Christian service nor invalidate any- which made the place an oven. He where the divinely authorized prin- had no fixed salary, but was partially ciples that" the laborer is worthy of supported. on the faith principle. His his hire." abode was the upper part of a ware- house, and directly under a tiled roof, Nay, a guaranteed support is even the hottest, I believe, that architecture more indispensable on the foreign has yet devised. The low-necked antI field than at home. If one is to carry short-sleeved dresses of the' mother economy to the verge of starvation and child revealed numerous boils and anywhere in Christ's service, a savage scars of boils, of which, the missioncommunity in a malarious country is ary told me, they had had ninety. To the very last place for the experiment. the intense heat there was evidently If the ministry cannot be self-sup- added a serious want of nutrition, and ported in this country, where they are a consequent poverty of blood. The surrounded by friends and abundant missionary informed me that his salresources of every kind and a great ary was irregular and insufficient, and variety of occupations which open be- that but for his personal appeals to fore them, how much less in an A.fri- friends at home it was difficult to see can community, where labor of every how they could have survived. I kind can be secured for a pittance, have no comments to make on the where few comforts of life can be case, but these are the facts. I think found ·at the best, and where no busi- it right to publish them for the beneness enterprise presents itself as a fit of those well-to-do and luxurious possibility, and where any missionary, Christians who think that virtual selfundertaking to live asthe natives live, immolation is the duty of the foreign must be almost certain of sickness and missionary. death. A.bout a year ago a letter was re- The worst of all in these rash ex- ceived from a young missionary, who periments is the sending out of mar- felt that he must yield to popular ried men, with the increased hazards criticism, and live on a much smaller that must come to a family. Ifsingle salary than that which was assigned men were disposed to take such· risks to him, which was about $700. He alone, as an explorer would venture proposed to dissolve his connection into an unknown region, the case with the Board and throw himself for would be somewhat less serious- support upon the students of one of though no explorer ever proceeds our colleges. I urged him.to consider without a thorough outfit of sup- carefully the subject, since, irrespec(;- ive of the question of amount in sal- comes still worse, for nothing so ex- ary, it would tend to dissever the stu- cites the animosity of a business com- dents' movement from the regular munity as to be brought in competi- organized boards of the different de- tion with men whose stipends from nominations, which would be a cal- home enable them to underbid all rivals in business, or in professional amity. Many months passed before a services. This is a difficulty to which a medical missionary is especially ex- reply came, at the end of which time, posed.
he informed me that he had tried the There is still another difficulty. One or two missionaries engaged in trade experiment thoroughly of living on or other secular pursuits will be likely half salary, native food and in native to convey the general impression that . houses, and had given it up. all missionaries are in one way or another engaged in some sort of busi- He had tried honestly and earnestly ness for their own emolument. Very to commend himself to the people, widely the impression prevails in the who, as he supposed, would be in- East that this is true, as a rule, and fluenced by one who came nearer to sometimes this impression is madQ their ideas of what a religious man here at home. A commission merchant should be. But he found he wasanly of New York, doing business in South despised, and that he really made no America, expressed great surprise impression for good. He lived too when I told him that the rules of all well to pass for a fakir, and not well the great mission boards prohibited enough to claim respect as a mission- engaging in any kind of secular work ary. He was neither one thing nor on the mission fields lest the impresthe other. By the Hindu community sion of a mercenary spirit should be he was looked upon as a foreign made. The facts in his case were that tramp. He had made a conscientious he had sent invoices of goods to a and heroic effort, and his experience missionary working upon the plan of should inspire the young men of our self-support, and he had formed his country with zeal, coupled with just own generalization. Whatever of views of the missionary work. real good this self – supported mis- sionary may have accomplished, he (5). With regard to the question of had unwittingly done injustice to the supporting one's self by secular pur- great body of foreign missionaries and suits on mission fields-for example, to the societies which employ them. in some of the coast cities of South America or in Africa, I would say, let I am persuaded that the whole subthis be done by consecrated men and ject of missionary methods demands women who are willing to engage in at this time a fair, courteous and business for the sake of advancing thorough discussion. Among the Christ's kingdom, but let them go young especially there is a deep interest without missionary labels; let them in the subject, and it is essential that appear simply as Christians in the sound and Scriptural views should be communities to which they go. What- adopted, applicable alike to the foreign ever Christian work they may do, they field and to all forms of Christian will find no advantages ill being work at home. While it is well that known as missionaries; on the other there should be such variety of organihand, there are positive disadvan- zation and method as shall meet all tages. The incongruous mixture of views and utilize all resources, one secularities with what professes to be missionary work, will excite sus- thing seems certain: if the world is to picion and distrust, especially with foreign residents, and more or less be evangelized the burden of duty with the natives. If the so-called must rest upon all those who go and missionaries are partially supported by funds from home, the case be-
EDITORIAL ~OTES ON CURRE~T TOPICS
those who stay. The support of the majority of Christian people are exformer must devolve upon the latter, empt from any duty in the case, for it and it is the only way in which they is impossible that all shall go, and the can bear a substantial part. If the question, "How shall they preach missionary's salary is a needless or except they be sent?" is without questionable device, then the great meaning.
V.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS..
Our beloved Associate Editor, Rev. Madagascar.
James M. Sherwood, D.D., died on [With profound sadness we print Wednesday afternoon, October 22, at the last Editorial paragraph that will his lateresidence in Brooklyn, having ever appear from the pen of our"be- been stricken with paralysis just one loved but departed Associate Editor.- week before. We reserve for the A. T. P.] January number a fuller notice of An arrangement whereby France will this most valued friend and co-worker, be at liberty to assume control of and have only to say at present that Madagascar has been assented to by his death was as beautiful as his life Great Britain, with a proviso, ho,,,_ has been, and a fitting close to his ever, that the rights of all resident career of abundant and varied service. British subjects are to be preserved and perfect freedom for missionary Our readers will understand that, as work guaranteed. While from a misthis suddenly devolves on the sU~'dv sionary stand – point this guarantee ing editor the entire charge of this may be satisfactory, yet in view of REVIEW, there will necessarily be some the former bloody struggle of the delay and difficulty in the adjustment Malagasies to maintain their political of the large amount of correspondence .freedom we cannot but be apprehenand manuscript matter now to be ex- sive of a repetition of the struggle amined and arranged. Contributors and correspondents must exercise pa- should the French attempt to take adtience and forbearance. Some manu~ scripts which would have been used vantage of the concession they have gained.
The Christian (London) says: "It is with something like consternation that British Christians learned a few days ago that Madagascar was to pass nnder the protec- may now be returned to the writers. torate of France. This refers to the appre- Some letters may have to wait many hension of hostility to Protestant missions, days for replies. Meanwhile, all cor- such as the action of the French in the South respondence referring to the business seas naturally awakens. It begins to be evi- dent that Protestant Christians in many Jands affairs of THE REVIEW may be ad- may have to help French Protestauts in their dressed to Funk & Wagnalls,18 and 20 foreign mission work by money appropria- Astor Place, New York City, and all tions to them for work like this thrust upon communications referring to the edi- them in Madagascar now, as in Gaboon and elsewhere yesterday." torial department to Rev. Arthur T. We share in these fears. The policy Pierson,2320 Spruce Street, Philaiel- – of the French colonial authorities is phia, Pa. inimical to Protestant missions. There We ask all those interested in THE are many ways in which Jesuit art REVIEW and its work to remember in and trickery can subvert this proviso prayer the surviving editor, that he and hinder, and in the end drive out, .
may be made strong for the heavy re- the English missionaries. J. M. S.
sponsibilities suddenly thrown upon his hands and heart; and, likewise, The more we study that last great may we not invoke God's blessing missionary conference at Shanghai.
and the reader's sympathies and sup- the more we are pursuaded that it was plications in behalf of the famiry left like some great Ecumenical Council, without husband and father? and marked an epoch in missionary his- A. T. P. tory. There was something apostolic about it. It exemplified the unity of two at work where one now bears the the Spirit in the practical obliteration burden alone, and twelve would be of denominational lines; gray-headed none too many, is the easy problem of fathers and warm-blooded young men, utilizing the additional band if the disciples of every sect and class and Church supplies the workers.
clime, met to confer together over the Moreover, in this great field all great problem of Chinese Evangeliza- sorts of work are to be done and all tion. Then a remarkable spirit of sorts of workers are in demand.
prayer prevailed. There was mighty Preachers and teachers, evangelists pleading with God, and a certain con- and pastors, printers and carpenters, sciQusness, at times oppressive, of the doctors and nurses, men and women, Divine Presence. And withal, there every willing heart and skillful l~and was an apostolic fervor and zeal for can find employment for the Lord; the evangelization not of China only, the highest culture and the most mod- but of the world. Faith in the Word erate intelligence, sanctified unto the of God in its entirety, confidence in Lord, can be used in this" Middle the Divine leadership in missions, Kingdom." Why do not disciples ap- and in the ultimate success of the preciate the grandeur of the oppor- work, breathed in all the proceedings. tunity! Would that reinforcements Nothing was more remarkable than might pour in until proclamation the recommendation for union ver- should almost need to be made re- sions of the Bible, which, as a demon- straining the people from bringing!
stration of Christian unity, passed all the bounds of most sanguine expec- The China Inland Mission, met with tation. distrust and even ridicule at first, But nothing stood out more boldly, seems to be meeting with phenomenal like a headland at sea, than the over- success. It has several definite princi- whelming conviction that the SOO,OOO- pIes: 000 of unevangelized Chinese must 1. It allows no debt, and conse- have more messengers of the Cross quently guarantees no fixed salary.
sent among them, and that at once. It asks everything and promises noth- Hence the urgent and impressive call ing.
for 1,000 addititional mlsslOnari"s 2. It insists on the gift of God as in the next five years. There is some- the basis of qualification in candidates thing very vividly impressive in this rather than the acquisitions of men.
call. It reminds us of Mr. Lincoln's Compo I. Cor. iv:6 (R. V.); Ephes. iv: second call for reinforcements, and 7,11. Hence no uniform educational the prompt response of the nation, standard.
"We are cOming, Father Abraham, S. It holds that there is room in 600,000 more! " missionary work for all variety of The command of our king is more gifts, and hence welcomes artisans and imperial and more imperative; why mechanics, and unordained laymen.
should not the church respond as Compo I. Chron. xxviii:21. .
readily! The number was fixed at 4. It maguifies the great funda- 1,000, not because that number was mentals of doctrine and not denomi- considered at all adequate,but because national features;' hence all disciples it was regarded as practicable to put welcomed to work on same basis.
the supply immediately required at 5. It. emphasizes prayer-definite, this number as the lowest possible constant-for individrutls. E very mis- limit. As our friend, Rev. B. C. sionary and his work remembered by Henry, remarks, even this number name in the weekly meeting at would scarcely more than double the London.
present u'orking force. And to put 6. It makes no direct appeal for money; but leaves to the free will of than a thousand ten years hence. God's people, especially encouraging Hence there ought to be a full surrenno appeal to ungodly people. der of self and subshnce.
7. It lays stress on evangelization, not Now, granting many errors and exconversion-teaching that th.. Church Ceffies needing correction and restraint, is to bear witness among all nations how can any spiritually-minded disciat once and leave all results to God. ple look at seven such principles as these and not feel that they mark the Notwithstanding this high standard, Holy Ghost's leadership, and, in fact, this mission has 383 workers in the imply a very high spiritual level , Are field, and the money and the men and we to antagonize such a movement? women are still being freely offered. Should we not rather sympathize with it, and seek to guide and control it The Soudan Pioneer Movement in with wise counsel and restraint. If God has given the spirit of power and Kansas, to which we have several of love, may we not also prav for a sound mind to be added? Some good times referred, has awakened much and wise men have felt that the Y. M. C. A. was drifting toward a certain adverse criticism on the part of the exclusiveness and in danger of becom- ing a sort of religious club, with , Y. M. C. A. Central Committee and athletic culture and good fellowship, but a lack of the evangelistic and missome pastors as well, who think THE siomtry spirit. If there be any such tendency may not God permit this REVIEW at fault in giving this move- very movement to arouse missionary consecration and infuse a more heroic ment any countenance. The editor evangelism into one of the most won- derful and world-wide institutions of would only say that in so doing he the age? The death of Warren J. Harris, Frank Gates and Mrs. Kinghas not approved whatever is unwise man, when they had only just reached the field, may be God's way of restraincor excessive in the movement, but ing all excess of zeal and deepening all real consecration. only what, notwithstanding errors of Mormonism, if we are to trust judgment or excess of Gzoeda.lc, seems President Woodruff's edict, has offimarked by the spirit of When cially renounced polygamy. The ground of this action and proclamalately we heard a plain and simple tion is not any change of either prin- ciple or practice in the Church of statement of the way the whole matter Latter Day Saints, but the necessity of compliance with the law of the cdeveloped, it was somewhat thus: land. Those who ar(' familiar with the inside of Mormonism have no 1. A willingness to go anywhere, confidence in this measure. They re- gard it as nominal, and, in fact, hypo- "especially to the most destitute parts critical-a mere Jesuitical pretense. Polygamy, though not an original and ·of the regions beyond. essential element of this system, has become inwo,en with its whole tex- 2. A resolving the duty into the ture, and cannot be separated from it question of individual obligation to a lost world.
8. A conviction that the presump- tion is in favor of the darkest regions, :and that there ought to be a plain call to justify staying at home.
4. An impulse toward associated .labor; that all ought to go, one after .another, to give mutual help.
5. A determination to serve one's ·own generation by the will of God, so that the world in our lifetime may hear the Gospel; and to choose one's .calling supremely for service.
6. The command to go means going forth and not staying-aggressive .evangelism for Christ.
7. Our privilege is to give all, not ·enly interest or income, but capital as well. Ten dollars will go farther no' without uisintpgration. Not a few 4. Can one choose his field. or must he go as sagacious observers say that, like a the Boards direct ? compulsory celibacy, which is a cover to a promiscuous concubinage, this 5. Must one wait till the Boards of the renunciation of .polygamous mar- church are ready to send him out! riages means a secret and systematic concubinage without the seal of decent 6. What steps must one take who desires forms. We hope that this surrender to go! to the law may be a genuine step in the right direction, and we hope so 7. What preparation is necessary, or is there 'the more because we are satisfied that any special preparation needful, any pre- Mormonism will not long survive if scribed course of study, etc_? Is a theological this, the head and front of its offend- course a necessity? ing, be cut off. 8. Could a graduate from a high school, who All eyes are now turned toward the has a thorough training in the higher mathe- Jews. Russia seems fast fulfilling the matics, calculus, mechanics. architecture, prophecies which are believed to out- besides a general knowledge of the sciences, line her futUl'e, in a malicious and un- find a useful field abroad? justifiable persecution of the Israelite. The edict of 1882 she is now enforcing 9. Is there a demand for teachers, and if so, mercilessly, and the result will be the what kind ? expulsion from her territory of a mil- lion or more of this proscribed people. 10. Does the Y. ~I. C. A., in foreign lands, They seem to have no rights which a open a sphere for such as feel specially inter- Russian is bound to respect; to be lim- ested in, and qualified for, work among young ited tocertain Jew's quarters; and to men? be denied the privilege of owning or hiring land except u.nder outrageous 11. Where is there a field to begin work, and restrictious. Meanwhile Bishop Blythe that has the following characteristics: 1, un- calls attention to the litera~ fulfillment occupied by any other missionaries; 2, a lanof prophecies which indicate their ulti- guage that one who is a little tongue-tied mate regathering in their own land. cou1d master; 8, where missionaries have a Whereas in 1843 there were but 800 legal permit to euter? Jews in Palestine, now, 47 years later, the number is multiplied nearly ten- 12. What books would you suggest to read? fold, and is constantly increasing; and 13. 'What part of India would you advise as they have come to stay and are build- a field? What fields could you recommend ing extensively in the vicinity of espeCially as promising and inviting? Jerusalem.-ED. 14. Would the expenses of husband and wife be less than those of two single persons sepa- Replies to Oorrespondents. rately? Should one go married or single?
The editor is constantly receiving These inquiries will give some idea letters of the following, or similar im- of the catechising process to which port and purport, end as he has to handle many thousand letters a year, we are subjected. We have numbered individual answers are impossible. the questions, and the answers will be We therefore reply to such correspondents in one general communication. found under corresponding numbers. The letters to which' we refer propound such inquiries as these: 1. The first matter to be settled with any man or woman is this: Am I cordially willing 1. Having given myself to the Lord as a for- to put myself absolutely at the disposal of the eign missionary, I wish to know how to go, Lord? The more our own will is merged and and where? lost in His will, the more usable we are. God does not allow an instrument long to be idle, 2. In volnnteering, does a person place him- which is thoroughly prepared for His uses. self under a mission Board ? And He has ways of His own of indicating both the field of labor and the path by which 3. Do the Boards pay expenses ? it is to be reached. Were there a truer self- surrender and less self-reserve; were there more believIng prayer, and less dependence on man, God's workmen would sooner get at work where He would have them. and be more suc- cessful in their spheres. This primary depend- ence on God's providential and spiritual guid- ance being assumed, ,,'e may take counsel of anyone who is presumably able to advise.
2. Mission Boards are merely the represen-' tatives of the various denominations in carry- ing forward their missionary schemes. If a volunteer wishes to go out to a field in connec- tion with any particular denomination he places himself at the disposal of the particular' Board of that denomination. There are SOllle . independent missionaries, and the field is large true preparation and for indications of His, will. Then it may be weIl to consult one's. enou«h for workmen who choose to goon their pastor, and .the secretary of the Board of too church, and learn vhat farther fitness is need,- own responsibility7 or in connection with a 10- ful, and so be guided in study and preparatory work. In our opinion, nothing is more needcal church. ful, however, than at once to enter upon Christian work at home, in the field nearest at 3. When missionaries are accepted by any hand. There is no more fatal mistake than to, postpone direct work for souls until one enters. Board, and sent forth by that Board, the sup· upon his permanent field. The most import· ant test of the reality of the missionary spirit, port of the parties is assumed by the Board, and the most important school for other work abroad is found in present, personal and direct together with expenses of transportation, and endeavor to save the lost. Actual experience in evangelistic work, especially among th.,. a certain reasonable allowance' for outfit. non-church-going classes in our towns and cities, will soon show whether a man or wo- The sum allowed for salary and outfit is de- man has any adaptation for the missionary field, and is worth more than any teaching in termined by each Board according t.o its own the class-room as a training for wider service.
scale, and sometimes differs according t.o the 7. As to general preparation, we can only say that the more complete the intellectual field chosen. Direct correspondence with the furnishing of a man or woman the better. Preaching and teaching the Gospel is a great secretaries will elicit all needful details of in- calling, and no fitness for it can be too amplH. Here, above all fields, there is no place fo,' formation. novices. Often, as in India, there is the severoot tax upon the intellectual resources of the mis- 4. Ordinarily, the Boards choose the field sionary. He finds himself confronting intelli- gent, subtle, sophistical Brahmans, and need;;, and locate the workers, according to their a well-trained and furnished mind. God is not in a hurry. Better come late to your life work judgment of comparative need of the various and come fit for it than hurry into it prema- turely. It cannot be said, however, that any fields; otherwise one field might be overstocked course, collegiate or theological, is a " neces~ sity. " God has called men into very SUCcesRand the others totally neglected. But, if for ful service, like Johnson in Sierra Leone, who have had nO scholarship or learning. But any reason a party is especially drawn to- it is foolish to neglect any intellectual pre- paration that is possible and practicable. ward, or fitted for any special field, the Board Ordinarily the churches ask of candidates for the foreign field just what they ask of will take all this into consideration, and it is candidates for the home pulpits, a school- ing in college and theolo.::ical seminary, or,its, well to state frankly to the secretaries the equivalent in private study. Exceptional cases are dealt with exceptionally. If a IQlJ.ll whole case. Sometimes a party offers to go feels Impelled to go abroad, and his age, his poverty, or other obstacles make an extended to a certain field, and others offer to support course impracticable, he should at least see that he Is grounded in a thorough knowledge him or her in that field; these proposals will of the Bible and of Christian doctrine. If he can familiarize himself with the great outlines always get a courteous hearing from the sec- of church history and learn to read the New Testament in the original Greek, and by pracretaries if they are true men, and not "wooden tice acquire facility of expressing himself in public, and by perscnal work learn how t~ perfunctorians." The best way is, ordinarily, counsel and comfort inquiring &ouls, he will have but little difficulty in getting an appointto offer oneself to go wherever the greatest ment to the fie!d. S. There is room on the foreign field for as. • need exists, • lIUtny varieties of workmen as on any other field at home. Graduates from high schools, 5. If a candidate nuts himself at the dis- normal schools, schools of technology, special- ists of all sorts, may find opportunity among' posal of a Board, of course he must wait uutil the Board is ready to send him, having a place for him, and money to pay his expenses and salary. If one is ready to go and provide for himself, as thousands should who are abund- antlyable, let bim go. We see no reason why men and women should not, at their own charges, go and undertake the work of teach- ing and evangelizing. As the lack of money is the principal embarrassment, the Boards woul4 gladly commission hundreds more workmen, if they would relieve the Boards of pecuniary obligation.
6. One who wishes to go to a foreign field would best begin by a close self-examination.
lIissions have in these days not a little ro- mance investing them. The fascination of foreign travel, the appetite for sight-seeing, the enchantment lent by distance to the view, the contagion of enthusiasm, and many other things surround mission work with a halo; and when this is dissipated, it is not easy to settle down to the real hard monotonons work of mastering a foreign tongue, and getting into closecontact with superstitious, degraded, and often dirty peopl… It is well to count the cost before choosing the foreign field, and ask whether the motive is really love to Christ and to souls, and whether there is a spirit of self-denial. Then the next step is, as already hinted, devout and belie!}ing prayer for divine guidance, and a proper waiting on God for a the papal, heathen and 110hammetbln popula- Turks" are invaluable. One would hardly go tion abroad for ample usefulness if conse- to Southern Africa without reading Living- crated to God's work. The nations of the stone and Moffat; or to China without reading ()rient are awakening to' the superiority of S. Wells Williams and Doolittle. R. N. Cust ()ccidental civilization. They are beginning has written most valOable works on philology, to demand the introduction of the improve- etc.; Dr. George Smith on the "History of ments and inventions of the most Christian Missions" and the biography of eminent men peoples, and consequently all knowledge like Duff and Wilson and Carey.
gained in our schools can be utilized in con- 13. As to fields. Every part of India has its nection with mission work abroad. Dr. Ham- attractions and obstacles. The southern part lin, when in Turkey, was known as the man has been most fruitful in missionary labor; of a hundred trades, and it is surprising how but the northern has probably the strongest his versatile genius and varied knowledge elements of popular character, and when found scope for exercise. thoroughly evangelized, will exercise more 9. Ifeachers are in great demand, and of all power in the Christian church. We question kinds, and everywhere. Japan offers to sup- very much whether it be best to select fields port them while learning the langnage if they according to the comparative attractions and will come and aid in the work of education. promise. We grow more and more into the Africa needs nothing more to-day than Chris- unalterable conviction that comparative desti- tian schools to train up a new generation from tution is the only law of choice. Fields that her millions of little children. The colleges we regard most hopeful God may see to be .and universities of Japan and India olfer most hopeless and contrariwise. Mary Lyons ·chairs to well-furnished teachers. used to say to her pupils: "If you would 10. The Y. 111. C. A. is spreading all over the serve God most successfully be prepared to go world. There are now formed upwards of where no one else 'v-ill." That deserves to be -4,000 associations, and of these 1,000 are in engraved as the motto of .a consecrated life.
papal lands. and nearly 300 in Mohammedan The most heroic missionaries have been the .and heathen countries. There are 21 in India men and women who went to those most .and Ceylon, 12 in Turkey, 6 in Syria, 12 in hopelessly lost to God without the Gospel.
Africa, 5 in China, 7 in Persia and 200 in 14. The expenses of a married couple are .Japan. There are going to be openings in generally less than those of two separate par- >every quarter for the young men who have a ties, abroad as at home. We believe that the fitness for secretaries and evangelists in con- question whether one should go married or nection with these associations. The same single must be settled in each individual case.
·conditions seem likely to prevail within There is certainly room for thousands of twenty-five years in China, India. Japan, single women; and as for men, it depends Korea, Africa, as in New York city, foraggres- largely on the field and the character of the .sive Christian work. work. If the work be largely itinerary, a wife 11. There are plenty of unoccupied fields. and family would be an incumbrance; if' the Districts 500 miles square in Africa, China, condition of society is very unsettled, as it .etc., without one missionary. Some countrieS; was in the South Sea Islands fifty years ago, a like Arabia and Thibet, have yet to be entered. man would best go single. But when a mis- Languages differ in difficulty of acqnisition. sionary settles down to a local work, among The Chinese is probably the most difficult on es..'!entially the same people, the family relation ·the whole to master; the languages of South- is a vast help, not to him only, but to his work, ·ern Europe the easiest. Missionaries have a as showing what Christianity can do for the l~al permit to enter most countries, but in household. A. T. P.
some cases the law is not adequate protection, not being enforced or restraining the popular Monster projects are now maturing prejudices. Yet in China, Japan, India, to bring the whole world into neigh- Persia, Turkey, Syria, Africa, the life of a borhood. The public mind is startled prudent missionary is ordinarily safe. to hear of the practical annihilation of all barriers to national communica- 12. The list of useful books for candidates for the mission field is very large. See the bibliography of the recent conference in – tion. London, which is the most complete list of missionary library ever published. But the Witness the new survey now in proreading ought largely to be determined by the gress to layout a route for a railway field chosen. One should have a general idea through Alaska, across Behring Strait <If the whole field and the history of missions, • by a colossal bridge fifty miles long, . .and then study the particular field where his divided in twain at the Diomede Islands, and so southwest through labor is llkely to be cast. For example, if one Siberia, the Chinese Empire, Indian is likely to go to Turkey, such volumes as Dr. <-loodell's " Forty Years in the Turkish Elnpire" and Dr. Hamlin's "Arnone' the Arabia, the Isthmus of Suez, the Moroc- {;OR, and around the African coast. would not withhold praise where it is For such a world-encircling railway due, even though we may be still the Northern Pacific and kindred' compelled to "protest" against idola- lines that span the continent furnish trous rites and iniquitous corruption the first division and the base of the and a formalism that obscures the Rocky Mountains offer a natural' vital truths of the Word of God.
route to connect them with Alaska. There is a catholicity which rises far Meanwhile three locomotives are above even our Protestantism, how- ~hipped to Joppa for the new railway ever conscientious our opposition to now building to Jerusalem, and bear the mass, the adoration of the virgin, the strange names of "Jerusalem," the intercession of saints, the supre- "Jaffa," and" Ramlehl" macy of the Pope, and the denial of the Bible to the common people.
The Editor has received an anony- mous communication deprecating, in The Presbyterian Board of Foreign .severe terms, the language of the Missions has had a deficiency of $158,- article in the October issue of THE 000 to face during the last two years.
REVIEW on the Roman Catholic move- This we regard as defying any reason- ment in Korea, as apologetic toward able justification or explanation. Here the Roman Catholic church. And our is a church with a membership of ~orrespondent thinks the article has nearly 800,000, whose adherents repre- all the appearance of being in sym- sent as high an average of intelligence, p~thy with Catholic propagandism, piety, culture, wealth and liberality as -etc. The editor wishes to say: any other body of Christians the 1. That he has not much respect for world over. All that the General mwnymOtt8 communications. When- Assembly has asked for its foreign ~ver a correspondent desires to offer mission work has been a trifle over suggestions, or even strictures, a frank one dollar a year per member-less and open letter will be welcomed, and than a half cent per day, and yet even the name will be kept in confidence if this has not been forthcoming! To desired. But no man is entitled to a make the problem the more perplex- hearing who has not the noble frank- ing, the Presbyterian Board of For- ness to avow himself the writer of a eign Missions is conceded to be com- letter. posed of the most intelligent and 2. The editor cannot be responsible sagacious ministers and elders iri the for every sentiment in a correspond- whole body, and at its head as secre- ent's paper, even though published in taries are men believed to have no THE REVIEW. We are not "censors," superiors in the world in their spe- to cut and carve communications un- cialty. Not to speak of Dr. Lowrie, til they are rid of every objectionable the senior secretary, and Dr. Gillespie, word or phrase. There is a certain the junior secretary, in order of ap- freedom of thought and speech that pointment, where can be found in any must be conceded to our contributors. church men more widely recognized Our Editorial Notes alone represent as qualified in every respect to lead the views for all of which the editor the van of the missionary host than .stands responsible. Drs. Ellinwood and Mitchell? When 3. While we have our individual the General Assembly of 1890 author- <opinions about the serious and radical ized the further employment of a field .errors of the Roman Church, we are secretary, it was hard to say how disposed to concede to many of its such a quartette of missionary generals adherents,and especially mi.ssionaries, could well find or need any addition a zeal and consecration that few Pro- to their number. We do not believe testants can hope to surpass, and we that the Preshyterian Church requires any added force at its mission house necessary that retrenchment that cuts on Fifth avenue. We are persuaded, down supplies, recalls work9rs ami and recent intimate contact with the closes schools and mission stations t churches confirms the impression, Pastors, the coming era of reform in that what is now imperatively needed missions may, after all, depend on is, that e:very pastor shall regard him- you! self as the representative of missions in his own congregation; shall take The Board of Foreign Missions of the pains to inform himself of the wants Presbyterian Ohurch in the U. S. A. of the world-wide field; shall familiarize himself with the history and 53 Fifth Avenue, biography of missions, and instruct, arouse and educate his own people on NEW YORK, October 29, 1890. the subject. The pastor is the natural organ of sympathetic connection To EDITOR OF MISSIONARY REVIEW between the Boards and the church. OF THE WORLD ;-In your Novemb(·r His advocacy costs nothing but a little number, on page 870, is an article systematic labor. His flock will hear headed" A Remonstrance that Shoul(l and follow his voice while they flee be Heard." It is heard, and will you from strangers. His appeals impress kindly endorse the response with emhis own people as unselfish, unofficial phasis equal to that used over y01l1" and genuine, while they may some- signature in the article. times think the official representative Js perfunctory and, like other special- Will you kindly say to your corn's– ists, prone to overestimate the com- pondent that the Presbyterian Board parative importance of his own work. of Foreign Missions has not and does, After no little observation, we are not " cut down the meagre salaries of prepared to affirm that no outside its missionaries?" appeals, however powerful, can accomplish a tithe of the lasting influ- The men and women who have left ence of a pastor who is full of intelli- home and kindred to carry the truth gent zeal for missions, and that in abroad are not to pay the debt of the every case where a local church is church. They, one and all, alwaysfound to be a leader in missionary receive their salaries in full, according activity and liberality such a pastor is to agreement, and with absolute regunow or has been at its head. Give larity. The burden of the debt is carthe Church such men to instruct and ried at home, and it is only fair to the inftPire its memJ.iers and 'there will be Foreign Board to have this'iactclearly an end of debts and deficiencies in the known. Boards; missionary secretaries will be left to do their proper work, to act as As treasurer of the Board I can the channels of communication make this assertion with full knowlbetween the churches and the foreign edge of the facts, and can only regret fields, while the pastors themselves that so incorrect a statement should shall become a grand body of home have become current in the Church. secretaries, supplying the channels of It has probably been occasioned by communication between the churches the unfortunate habit of thinking of and the Boards. What new intelli- the Boards of the Church as, in a gence, zeal and liberality will be way, pursuing one and thfl same evoked when such a state of things methods, and, of course, liable to tne obtains. What cheerful self-denial sa~e criticisms. Both from necessity will meet every increased demand for and on principle each Board has its men and money, instead of making own methods. Each has problems enough of its own, without being held responsible for those of the others.
We are in debt; we must have larger gifts or abandon the work. But we will not, I know, allow one farthing encouraging them when converted to unite with Gospel churches. -w be exacted from the missionaries. "We will support our public schoolfl Yours sincerely, and seek to keep in them the Bible, "YILLlAM DULLES, JR., Treasurer. and exclude from their management those who are opposed to its being the If Tetzel did not sell indulgences in the 16th century, the present Pope, it guide to our youth. '" is admitted, granted a "dispensation" "We will oppose using public funds to the Duke of Aosta to marry his own niece. Fifty thousand dollars was the for the sectarian purposes. price paid to the poor man of the Va- "We will seek to induce our Roman tican for this last quoted "indulgence." How long shall Rome rule Catholic fellow-citizens to take their Boston? and New York? and "Yash- church property out of the hands of ington ? If the spirit shown by J esuitism in Boston is a fair specimen of this the bishops, and place it in the hands upas tree, it is lligh time that every of trustees, in accordance with the Protestant in the country should pre- general law that governs other pare to uproot it utterly. churches. The Pauline Propaganda, of which "We heartily endorse the sentiment, Rev. J. D. Fulton, D.D., is president, publish, as a circular: 'In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity,' and so "This Society shall be known as the it shall be our aim to aid the brother- Pauline Propaganda. hood by any means at our command, and advance the interests of the true "The object of this Society shall be and good, so that the state may be built the conversion to Christ of Roman up in the faith of our fathers, and that Catholics and others, the calling at- God may he glorified as our rightful tention of the people to the aggressions of Romanism, the opposing by Ruler." all legitimate means the elevation to civil, political or military positions, The critics of missions are like Oscar <>f men who owe allegiance to any for- Wilde, who found fault with the -eign potentate or power. Atlantic Ocean, and thought Niagara "We pledge ourselves to pray for Falls defective in Hogarth's line the conversion of this people, and of beauty; and, like him, they are work fal' it by speaking, in love, to those whom we meet, by seeing that fast sinking into a well-merited obthey are supplied with a copy of God's scurity. Canon Taylor sought to ex- Word, and with such literature as alt Mohammedanism, and even to ahall be helpful in building them up make it appear that the late Alexander in the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Mackay upheld his encomiums of this end we will support the preach- Islam. But Rev. R. P. Ashe, speaking ing of the Gospel to those now shroud- -ed in the darkness of Papal night. from personal knowledge, affirms that "We will strive to gather children the devoted missionary hero of.Uganda into Sabbath-schools, promote the oh- held that, to allow Islam to occupy aervance of God's holy day, and se- the field before the Gospel of Christ <:ure places of worship (such as tents, halls and meeting-houses), as shall be was preached would be fatal; and best suited to the necessities of the that to represent Mackay as encouragj)flople among whom Wol are to work, ing the Mohammedan Propaganda as a preparation for Christianity is out- rageously to distort the views of the plucky and energetic Scotchman. Wherever the green cloak of Mo- hammed is spread it brings men to the dead level of semi-barbarism, and beneath its folds hides a social " cancer," which, whether it develops slowlv or rapidly, is " never cured or curable except by entire extirpation of the poiaon."
PROGRESS OF MISSIONS–MONTHLY BULLETIN
VI.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
Africa.-A formida ble religious movement these men are written in English and are well executed. against the Sultan of Morocco has broken -In Denver, Col., a Chinese mission school out. The Sheik Shereef, belonging to the has been carried on for some years, and as· the fruit of their labors, they have on the powerful fanatical tribe of Eldrissi, has raised churcb roll of the Central Church the names of 25 Chinese converts. the standard of insnrrection, and proclaimed -Rev. Dr. S. L. Baldwin, formerly a mishimself appointed by Allah to the throne of sionary in China, gives in The Independent instauces of thl) disgraceful absurdities occathe Snltanate. . sioned by our iniquitous anti-Chinese legisla.- tion. For example, a Chinese merchant, who. -The Country of the Oil Rivers comprises was in San Francisco before the passage of a large part of the Niger Delta, south of the the Exclusion Act, is takeu ill and must die. territory of the Royal Niger Company. It. ex- His wife and children are summoned to come tends from the principal month of the Niger to him from British Columbia. They reach (known also as the Nun), east to lohe German San Francisco, but it requires a telegram from boundary of the German Cameroons. It has the Custom House authorities to Washington a dense population. This is also under and a special session of the President and "British influence," with a capital of $10,000,- his Cabinet in order to make it possible for- 000, and the power to increase this to $25,000,- the family of the dying man to go to his bed· 000. The interest is largely in manufactnring. side "under agnard from the Custom House" It is a kind of pooling or trust of 25 or 30 Eng- and remain in this "glorious land of freelish manufacturing corporations; many of dom" only till after the funeral. them have factories in the territory. They have applied to the English Government for a France•….:.ln Paris, a few months ago, there charter similar to that of the Logos Company was formed a " national leagne against and the Royal Niger Company. Their trade atheism." Every member of the league must with the -natives is already enormons, being engage to oppose with tongne and pen, and last year $9,000,000, and their exports $5,000,- by every legitimate means, all forms of 000. In this, and the territory of the Royal atheism. The league is open to any person Niger Company. the resources of the country of either sex, of any religion, and of any increase as we pass into the interior. philosophical opinion who affirms the exist· ence of God. -Four thousand reading tablets in Uganda were shipped from London in May. They were Japan.-The old edict was, "So long as printed under the control of Missionary Ashe, the sun shall shine upon the earth, let no Chrisand contain, besides the Uganda alphabet and tian be so bold as to come to Japa.h, and letall a few exercises in reading, the Creed, the know that the King of Spain himself, or the Lord's Prayer, and a concise "Way of Salva- Christian's God, or the great God of all, if he tion." violates this commandment. shall pay for it wit" his head." Thus it is taught in Japan, -Efforts are making by the Congo Free after the delay of 200 years, "that man only State to introduce copper and silver money; proposes, and the Christian'S God .disposes." but, except at Banana and Boma, where the natives see many whites, it is almost impos- Jews.-Dr. Edward Bendeman, the direcsible to get them to touch tbe new money. In tor of the Dusseldorf Academy of Art, from the cataract region the natives will take the whose brush proceeded the celebrated pictures coins in trade if they may give them their own -" Boaz and Ruth," "The Jews before Babystandard of valne. The amount of provisions, IODt " "Jeremiah upon the Ruins of Jerusafor instance, which they sell for a dollar's lem "-lately died as a Christian Jew. worth of blue beads, they will not part with for less than $2.50 each. This has settled the -There seems to be a decline of orthocurrenc~- question thus far, and strings of blue doxy among the Je";s in this country. Those beads continue to be' the only acceptable in favor of changing their forms of religious medium of exchange. worship to correspond more nearly with the- altered condition of Jews under the liberal Chinese.-The first Chinese corporation American laws are rapidly increasing in num· of New York city is the Chinese Charitable ber and influence. A prominent rabbi refers and Benevolent Association of the City of to the movement in several cities to build New York, whose certificat.e has been filed houses of worship on a grander scale than has and recorded by the Secretary of State. The ever heretofore been attempted. In New York, objects set. forth are to ameliorate the con- a synagogne is Boon to be erected by the dition of the Chinese poor in New York city. Temple Beth-el, at Fifth avenue and 77th The trustees for the first year are Leung street, which will cost more than $500,000, and Jum, No.8 Mott Street; Mon Lee, No. 5~ }fott Street; Wong He Chong, No. 19 Bowery; Tom L. Lee, No.4 Mott Street, and William A. Hang, No. 13 Pell Street. The signatures of is designed to be the handsomest building of bands, and an aggregate income of more th!1~ its kind in America. Schoolrooms, large $1,730,000. enough to accommodate 500 children, will be arranged in an adjoining building. The Ken· -The Origin of Zenana Work. Dr. Pier- eseth Israel congregation, of Philadelphia, son, in the July number of the MISSIONARY and the Anshe Maarh' congregation, in Chi· REVIEW OF THE WORLn, prints an interestinlr cago, intend to invest large sums in new syna- note from Mrs. Sale, of Helensburgh, briefiy gogues. In addition to these, handsome syna-' describing the earliest movement in Zenana gogues are now building, or soon will be, in work, which that lady, inaugurated in 1856. Dayton, 0., Chattanooga, Tenno) Brunswick, Our readers will recollect that we published a Ga., and Providence, R. 1. All these belong to full account of Mrs. Sale's pioneer Zenana the reform wing of the Jews, and the rabbi work in an early number of the Leader. who mentioned them challenged the orthodox Before Mrs. Mullens arrived in India in 1860, to point to a single house of worship recently Mrs. Sale had obtained an entrance to three erected by them.-The Examiner. Zenanas, where the ladies were daily hearing the Scriptures read, and' some had so far -In Russia a special commission, com~ broken through their fears that they were' prising members of the Government and the learning to read. "In 1860," says Mrs. Sale, governors of the provinces which the Jews in- H my husband was ordered to Europe, when I heard of the arrival of Mrs. Mullens and her .habit, has beeh appointed to consider the daughters. . I wrote to her of this opening, position of the Jews in Russia. when she came and was introduced to the ladies of the three Zena.nas. And from that Palestine.-Jaffa and Jerusalem Railway. time the work spread rapidly. Now there is On the 21st of March the first sod of t,he new no need of work as a bribe to learn to read; Jaffa railway was cut in the presence of the so anxious are the ladies in the Zenanas for governor of Jerusalem, and the works will instruction that where we have one female DOW be actively pushed until they are com- missionary we ought to have a hundred, and pleted. It is expected, also, that steps will would if the Christian Church were alive to- immediately be taken to improve the harbor its responsibilities." – Christian Leaderof Jaffa, so that visitors to the Holy Land will (London). be able to land with comfort and proceed to the capital without delay, unless they choose -Mr. Gladstone is credited with the followto stop a train to see the house of Simon the ing: "Talk about the questions of the day: tanner. It is a striking circumstance that there is but one question, and that is the gosduring the last two years the early and latter pel. It can and will correct everything need- rains have returned-a visitation which has iDg correction. All men at the head of great been unknown for generations previously. movements are Christian men. During the One consequence of this is a revival in agri- many years I was in the Cabinet, I wasbrought culture. What it means is not clear, but into association with sixty master minds, and Russia is manifesting an extraordinary inter- all but five of them were Christians. My onl)' est at present in Palestine. She is said to hope for the world is in bringing the human have secured all the best building sites in mind into contact with Divine revelation." the hill country of Judea. -The Roman Catholic papers have a gr"air -Denominational strength. Methodism deal to say of the success of the Catholic, and in this country has over four and a half the failure of Protestant missions. We may million members led by over 30,000 preachers; prick that bubble with a few figures. The- Baptists nearly four million followers, led Catholics have been at work in India for three by over 28,000 ministers; Presbyterianism a hundred years, the Protestants for one hunmillion and a half, led by ministry of 11,500; dred. According to Marshall's "Christian Lutherans 1,023,000, headed by over 4,200 Missions, " which Catholics swear by: Vol. II., preachers, beside a host of smaller denomi- p. 147, the Catholics of British India in 1857 nations, and a band of Sabbath-school schol- numbered 895,000. By the census in 1872 they ars, numbering over 9,000,000. In the whole were 914,691, and in 1888 they were 963,958. country there is a gain to the Christian They had increased in 26 years by 68,058, or churches the past year of 1,089,853 members, 2,596 ann<Ially. The statistics of Protestant 4,867 ministers, and 8,494 churches. missions gave 102,951 adherents in 1851; 213,57~ in 1861; 318,363 in 1871, and 528,590 in 1881. This Miscellane;'us.-Less than 100 years ago gives an increase of 425,539 in 30 years, 0'- the first Protestant foreign miSSionary society 14,184 per year, or more than five times as. wa.~organized. Now there are more than 200 much as the Catholics. The Catholics have such societies. These have a force of more 701 European mission priests in India; the than 7,000 missionaries and assistant mission- Protestants, in 1881, had 658 male missionarip.8 aries, and more than 35,000 native helpers, of in India (including Burmah), and may now whom 3,000 are ordained. Thirty years ago have 760, while their decennial statistics fo.- there was nota woman's foreign missionary 1891 will show 700,000 native adherents. Now.
society in America. Now there are 00, with 25,000 auxiliaries, more than 8.000 children's let our Catholic contmnporaries muse on these that the report that these two organizations facts just a little. and try to explain them.- are about to unite, has no truth for its basis.- The Independent. J.M.S.
-As a proof that Japan is not £he only field -Those who may have chancedto seea most ~here rapid progress is made by missions, unreasonable and astonishing onslaught upon read Mr. Parmelee's letter from Trebizond, on a missionary of the American Board, in a let- the Black Sea, just where the Russians are ter from Robert Louis Stevenson, probably trying to crowd in and seize the country. discovered the antidote to ita venom in the Since 1882 the Protestant adherents have in- letter itself, and no serious reply is called for. • -creased from 170 to 697; communicants from Mr. Stevenson's own statements in regard to 26 to 125, and contributions from $97 to $800. the character of the late Father Damien $800 is not bad. furnish ample warrant for what Dr. Hyde had said in refere~ce to the matter. The Hawaiian -Moravian Mission in Alaska.-The wife Gazette well says of the letter, "It seems in- -of Bishop Bachman, who so heroically went credible t-hat Robert Louis Stevenson should be to the rescue of the missionaries on the Kus- its author. In the attempt to fiay Dr. Hyde, did kokwin in the Spring of 1889, has returned to the author fail to see that he was laying bare the states, and has brought with her two his own narrow, bitter, and pr.e;udiced soul ?" Alaskan Eskimo boys-the first fruits of the -Missionary Herald. mission-to be educated if possible for mis- -sionary work amoug their fellow-country- -Mrs. Osborn's Missionary Training Insti- men. tute, Brooklyn, N. Y., opened September 1(th -The following missionaries, under ap- pointment of the Presbyterian Board, were to with about 40 students and with increased adsail for India September 30: Rev. J. M. Irwin, Miss Rachael Irwin, Rev. and Mrs. Harrison, vantages. The students represent, as usual, Miss Esther R. Patton, Rev. and Mrs. A. H. Ewing, Rev. H. D. Griswold, Miss Jennie L. Col- various denominations and several nationali- man, and Miss Margaret Morrow. Miss Patton, who has spent ten years in India, returns after ties. Ten languages will be taught as required. .a rest in the United states. The new rooms add much to the comfort and -The American Baptist Missionary Union has just sent out about 40 missionaries to Bur- convenience of the Institute. • mail, Assam and India. We believe this is the largest number of missionaries ever sent from -The Bryant School, a flourishing instituthis country at one time by any denomina- tion at Roslyn, Long Island, N. Y., one of the tion. prettiest villages near New York city, makes a very kind o/fer to the children of mission- -Rev. Dr. Gulian Lansing, of the United aries. It will educate them as far as the close Presbyterian Church, and for 40 years a mis- of the sophomore year, so that they can enter sionary in Egypt, Is now in this country, and the junior class at college at half price. In is enjoying a season of well-earned rest at his case ,of a few ministers, who, on account of -old home, now the residence of his brother, small salary may be unable to educate their Visscher Lansing, Esq., of Lisha's Hill, N. Y. children, the same privilege will be extended. Dr. Lansing Is the father of Professor J. G. Lansing, D.D., of the Reformed Dutch Theo- -The Inter-seminary Missionary Alliance logical seminary, and one of the most useful held Its eleventh annual session in AUeglleny -()f missionaries. last month. There were about one hundred and forty young men in attendance, repre- -The great International Sabbath-school senting the theological seminaries of the Convention, at Pittsburg, reported a total of Evangelical Protestant churches in Eastern, 10,328,298 persons attending the Sabbath- Southern and Central Western States, belongschools of the United States and Canada. Of ing to the Presbyterian, Methodist, United this numher 609,014 are in Canadian schools, Presbyterian, Baptist, Disciples, and Reformed leaving 9,719,284 in the Sabbath-schools of the Presbyterian and possibly other churches. United States. -The revival influence in Turkey has -The Woman's Christian Temperance reached Cesarea. At Mardin, on the first Union and the Salvation Army. We are re- Sunday of June, thirty Persons were receivM .quested by Miss. Frances E. Willard to say into the church on confession of faith.
-There are one hundred and nine medical missionaries in China, of whom thirty-eight are women, and of these last thirty-six are Americans. In all but four of the provinces medical missioml ha.ve beeu established•