The Missionary Review of the World — November 1891
OUR DEBT, OUR DUTY, AND OUR DESTINY
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIV. No. 11.-0ldSeries.–NOVEMBER.–VoL. IV. No.l1.-NewSeries.
OUR DEBT, OUR DUTY, AND OUR DESTINY.
[EDITORIAL, A. T. P.] The obligation to prosecute home missions finds illustration in three important texts of Scripture, at which we shall glance, in their application to this great theme.
I. "If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith. and is V,'orse than an infidel" (1 Tim. 5 : 8).
II. "Thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men llIay bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles" (Isa. 60: 11).
Ill. "I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth" (Acts 13 : 47).
We do not claim that these passages refer to the subject to which we apply them; but they serve as biblical expressions of our threefold relation to home missions, or the evangelization of our land.
1. A DEBT owed to a national family and household. 2. A DuTY owed to a nation's guests-the strangers that are within our gates, destined to become children of the nation. 3. A DESTINY connected with our providential history and mission to the world as a missionary nation. 1. THE DEBT. The nation is a larger family, and of this larger family the household is the type. In an emphatic sense we have all one Father. We have as' a nation a common origin. The nation had its birth-hour and birth-throes. The history of its nativity is written in blood and tears, and we are proud of it. We are bound by peculiar ties that make the whole family one. The very configuration, conformation, and physical features of the republic's domain proclaim our unity. The great mountain ranges and river systems run north aud south like backbone and breastbone and nervous and circulatory systems, and forbid division such as was attempted in the Civil War of a quarter century ago. Our history is one, and our interests are common. Here is one great household, in one great home, with a common tongue, common wants, and a common supply. We are under one beneficent system of household laws, where due regard is had to the liberty and rights and development of each. A paternal government of mingled freedom and restraint is over the household.
However widely scattered, we shall find, literally, that we are all one family. The members of our households are spread over the wide territory, our sons and daughters may be found from Maine to Texas, and from Atlantic to Pacific shores. In the savannas of the South, by the great lakes, on the ranches of the remote 'West, on the plains beyond the Rocky Mountains, on the prairies where grows the corn, on the hills where they dig out gold and silver, our children and members of our households are even now living. We owe it to our own to provide for them all the means of grace and the institutions of our holy religion. To leave them where they are destitute of such blessings, and for the time unable properly to provide for themselves, is worse than to leave a son or daughter, brother or sister, to literal starvation, by as much as body is of leEs value than soul. Never shall we make adequate provision for our own land until we regard the nation as one household, each member of which has the right and claim upon us to provide proper religious advantages. Those who go beyond the Mississippi and leave the Sunday-school and church behind them, and find none where they go, are in danger of finding that they have practically 1eft GOD too on the other side of the river or the mountains. 1'1) set up Christian schools, churches, prayer-meetings, sacramental tables, Bibles, and family altars is virtually to set God in the midst of them again.
The force of this argument grows upon us as we study the conditions of our common country. Our magnificent railway system, with the vast network of telegraph and postal communication, brings the remotest parts of our vast land into practical neighborhood. This facile communication and rapid transportation encourages the wide dispersion of households wherever personal ambition or business prospects attract; and in consequence twenty years, and often a single year, will so scatter one original household that its members may be found represented in every quarter of the republic. The man or woman who helps to plant a Sunday-school, church, or religious centre of any sort in a remote Western State or territory may be making unconscious provision for a son or a daughter, who in a few years may be a resident in that quarter, dependent for spiritual life and growth on the very institutions which the generosity of the parent helped to found. A pastor and one of his church-members in Philadelphia helped to establish a school in Arizona, where two years later both of them had daughters.
II. Secondly, we owe a great DUTY to the great influx of foreigners on our shores.
The facts about Immigration are not generally known; certainly they make on very few a deep and lasting impression. From 1783 to 1847 there came to these shores 1,063,567 immigrants. From 1847 to 1873, 4,933,562. From 1873 to 1890, 4,910,864. In the single year 1881, 441,064 ; in 1882, 455,450 j and in one day-May 11th, 1887-10,000. These figures are very instructive, and ought to be very impressive. The first period given above covered sixty-four years, and the rate was about 17,000 a year ;. the next period covered twenty-six years, and the rate had increased over eleven-fold; the next period covered seventeen years, and the rate had increased over seventeen-fold upon the first period, and over even the second above fifty per cent j while in one d(i"y of 1887 there were nearly two thirds as many as each year averaged from 17Sa to 1S47 I The sixtieth chapter of Isaiah, though it has an undoubted dispensational meaning, and is primarily applicable to the chosen nation of the Hebrews, could scarcely have been more appropriate to our own country if it had been written for our encouragement and admonition. It is the great home missionary chapter. It challenges us to use the light we have from God to irradiate the darkness around us, and reflect and transmit the rays which selfishness would absorb. How true it is of this land that the nations are coming to our shores as doves in flocks to their windows j the sons of strangers build our walls and palaces. The question is, Shall all these heterogeneous elements be assimilated into homogeneity j shall we get national unity out of this diversity j shall the fir-tree, pine-tree, and boxtree tog~ther be wrought into the woodwork of the sanctuary 1 These foreignen come with" strange gods," with notions, prejudices, habits, customs, foreign to our own and at war with them. They are prolific, and increase with very great rapidity. 'What sort of an influence are they to exert over coming days! Mr. Ellis, in his remarkable book on "The Criminal," has again brought to our notice the amazing ruin to society wrought by one vicious progenitor. The" Jukes family," so called, proved a brood of vipers. The ancestor, born between 1 720 and 1740, llad a numerous progeny more or less illegitimate. Two sons married bastard sisters. Descendants, traced through five generations, number at least 709, and really aggregate 1200 j and, on the whole, form a body of criminals, prostitutes, paupers and vagabonds. Not twenty skilled workmen belonged to the whole number, and half of these learned whatever trade they knew within prison walls j ISO received out-of-door relief; 76 were open criminals, committing 115 offences j and over 52 per cent of the women were abandoned to a life of shame. What a future is before a country where foreigners, ignorant, superstitious, degraded, often the criminal refuse of other lands, are permitted to find a home and multiply without any really educating, uplifting and redeeming influences!
The only hope for America is found in the assimilation of these foreign elements. They must be brought into unity as parts of one body politic. And history shows that but one assimilating power is equal to such a tasknamely, a common religious faith. We must Christianize pagans, or they will paganize Christians. We must elevate this foreign population, or they will degrade us.
Colonies of Portuguese, driven out from Madeira in 1S49, took refuge in Springfield and Jacksonville, TIl., and there, about thirty miles apart, two essentially Portuguese colonies have existed now for over forty years. The streets have been wholly given up to them in their quarter, and they have at least four churches of their own. If we go to the Sandwich Islands, amid a total population of SO,OOO we shall find several thousand Japanese and 20,000 Chinese. :rhroughout all the lands of this hemisphere, and especially in the United States, all foreign peoples are found j and the question is how they are to be made a part of our American civilization and republicanism.
III. Thirdly, we owe it to our DESTINY to redeem this land for our Lord. The United States has from the beginning been divinely stamped as a COlD- mh!sioned missionary nation. Here not only the great problem is to be wrought out, of liberty civil and religious, of individualism independent of all abnormal restraints, even of aristocratic caste; but most important of all, here is to be the great supply of workers for the world· wide field. Heathen Asia cannot furnish them, because heathenism is the field needing mission work. Papal Europe cannot supply them, for Romanism itself needs reformation and purification of her corruptions. Where shall the great training school of missionaries be found if not in this land ~ Great Britain is doing nobly her share in a world's evangelization; but whare, if not here, shall her great ally be found ~ The work of home and of foreign missions runs together. W"hen Dr. John Hall was visiting in Scandinavia, he learned at a missionary meeting then in progress in Sweden that in Wisconsin and Minnesota alone were 140 Scandinavian ministers laboring among their own countrymen, sent out by the mother churches of Sweden and supported by their contributions until such time as the Scandinavians resident in this land could take care of their own pastors. The same distinguished Presbyterian clergyman, coming out of the Yosemite Valley, tarried over night in a village where there might have been perhaps 1200 people, and where there was no church of any denomination! So oppressed was he by the sight of such destitution that he went from house to house, inviting the people to meet for worship, and himself addressed them. These two facts, or classes of facts, illustrate the kinship of all missionary work at home and abroad. Dr. Pentecost goes to India to evangelize English residents ih that stronghold of Brahmanism. The heathen come to our shores. We have here from 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 who came from African ancestry. The Chinese and Japanese are here by the thousands to learn our political system and our faith. If we do our duty we may on this very soil grow the seed of the kingdom to be planted the wide world over. Neglect of our own land makes all our future and the future of the world so far hopeless. To evangelize our country, to leave no part to desolation and degradation, to aband'on no class of the population to vice, crime, ignorance, infidelity, and irreligion j to build churches, gather Sunday-schools and Christian congregations everywhere, scatter Bibles, tracts and good books, to multiply all means of grace and bring them into contact with the entire population of the land-that is to root up evil growths and displace them by trees and plants of godliness, whose seed is in themselves after their kind. "We shall thus ge bread for the eater and seed for the sower. When the Lord by these means builds up our waste places and makes our deserts His gardens, we shall draw the eyes of the world to us, and we shall be prepared to send — into all the earth the sowers of the seed of the kingdom, and turn every other waste into an Eden.
RRJ,ATION OF MONEY TO PROGRESS OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM
THE RELATION OF MONEY TO THE PIWGRESS OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM.
BY REV. W. D. SEXTON, HILLSDALE, MICH.
In one of his sermons Horace Bushnell says: "The great problem we have now on hand is the Christianizing of the money power of the world. What we wait for and are looking hopefully to see is the consecration of the vast money power of the world to the work and cause and kingdom of Jesus Christ. For that day when it comes is the morning, so to speak, of the new creation. That tide-wave in the money power can as little be resisted, when God brings it on, as the tides of the sea; and like these also it will flow across the world in a day."
The day for which Bushnell longed has not yet come. We shall not see it until the power of money in the development of Christ's kingdom is more clearly understood. So far are we from the realization of this vision that Qven the money in the hands of Christ's own followers is not yet flllly consecrated to His service. The need of such a consecration is enforced by vastly more imperative claims to-day than ever before. How to bring about this consummation is one of the greatest questions which now confronts the Church of Christ.
The expression, " The progress of Christ's kingdom," which forms a part ofthe heading of this article, assumes that progress is the law of that kingdom. It assumes that great conquests are yet to be made in the name of the King. This assumption is both scriptural and in harmony with the clear indications of Providence. This progress of the kingdom is conditioned upon two things-Divine power and human agency. According to the Divine plan these are the two factors which combined are to work out the triumph of the Redeemer's kingdom. Both are embodied in the authoritative commission, "Go ye and teach; ]0, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. " We must not lose sight of either of these factors. It is ours to be the heralds of a world-wide evangelism; it is Christ's to furnish the power which alone can give success to our efforts. Christ gives to every believer the privilcge and the honor of being aSRoci. ated with Him in carrying out His far-reaching plans. "We must work the works of Him that sent me," said Ohrist in loving fellowship to His disciples.
Upon the side of human agency, what hinders the speedy fulfilment of command and prophecy! It is not distance and difficulty of access to the heathen world. Modern invention has brought the nations near to each other. With marvellous rapidity and in ways least expected God has removed the barriers which separated the Christian from the pagan world. Although there are many adversaries, yet with scarcely an exception great and effectual doors are everywhere open to the ambassador of Christ. Moreover, men and women are now coming forward in constantly increasing numbers, saying, " Here are we ; send us." The recent uprising of young men and women in our schools and colleges is putting an added weight of responsibility upon the whole Church. It should be remembered, further, that the agencies are now organized more fully and efficiently than ever before for carrying the Gospel to every creature. The experimental stage of missionary enterprise is past. While present methods are not to be considered as complete nor final, yet measurably permanent methods have been reached. What do all these things mean 1 He must be blind to the logic of events who does not see in them the manifest tokens that the hour is at hand when the Son of Man should be glorified. They are the heralds of God, proclaiming in unmistakable accents that new and rapid developments of God's kingdom are at hand.
At the present outlook one thing alone hinders an immediate, forward movement along the whole line. This one thing prevents the more rapid evangelization of our own country. In some measure it hinders the work and cause of Christ in almost every church. This one thing is the lack of money, absolutely needed to carry forward the work. Money is the factor most imperatively needed and most sadly lacking. Money is the greatest human power in modern civilization. This power has been applied in a very limited way to the extension of Christ's kingdom. It has been used mainly for purely secular purposes. It has come to pass that on this subject the god of this world has blinded the eyes even of the believing. We are brought face to face with a strange phenomenon: the whole world ready and waiting for deliverance through the Gospel of God's grace; the Boards of the Church organized and equipped for the work of meeting this need; men ready and offering themselves to be the messengers of this grace, but the treasuries empty, the officers compelled to call a halt, and the whole line of Christ's army forced to rest upon their arms. Napoleon used to say that soldiers fight upon their stomachs-a sententious way of saying that if you want a victorious army you must furnish supplies. As never before, the advance guard of Christ's host is ready for aggressive movement, but the commanders dare not move forward because the needed supplies are wanting. In sight of the fulfilment of great and precious promises, our Joahuas and Calebs are urging the Church to take the world for Christ; but the majority of God's people do not appreciate the greatness of the opportunity. While the opportunities are multiplying every day the resources for this work have come to a standstill. Something is wrong. God has not thrust this work and these opportunities upon ;His people to mock them. It is not inability which prevents the ample support of Christ's work. The income ofprofessing Christians is abundant to pour a continual stream into the mission treasuries, so large that everyone willing to be God's ambassador could be well supported. What we need is not more money in the hands of professing Christians, but, as Bushnell said, the " Christianizing of the money power," which they already possess. The question is not how can Christian people make more money, but how can they be Jed to understand and adopt the spirit and principles of their Master in the use made of what they now nave 1 The question, second to none which presses for solution is, How can the benevolence of God's people be brought up and made to keep pace with the opportunities of His provi- dence 1 We sometimes fear that this problem will not be solved by the present generation, which is so completely absorbed in material aim!!.
It is with a sincere desire to contribute something toward its solution that we present a few suggestions : The first thing-first in time and in importanc&o-which we need to do is to bring this matter before God in believing and importunate prayer. The whole movement of modern missions has been in answer to prayer. At first God's people prayed that the world might be opened for the mission- ary and the Gospel. So quickly and fully has God answered that prayer that His people are amazed at the answer to their own petitions. Then the prayer began to be urged for men and women to go as Christ's me!lsengers. That prayer too has been answered. Cannot God also touch the hearts of men so that they will re~pond to the calls for money 1 Assuredly He has not exhausted His power in this work. It ill possible that He has brought us to this emergency to teach us that even the gold and silver is to be forthcoming, not by the power of our own persuasion, but by the power of His might. We used very frequently to hear ministers pray.in their pulpit ministrations that God would give access to the pagan nations. We do not need to offer that prayer now; but do we hear as often the prayer that God would touch the hearts of Christian people and make them re!lponsive in gifts of money 1 We do need to offer that prayer. From every pulpit, from every family altar, from every closet, let this prayer go up, and then we may expect an equally ready answer.
But while we pray we must work. God has put a great responsibility in this matter upon ministers and teachers. The Church must be brought to a clearer understanding of the intended purpose of Christ's kingdom and of the Divine plan for executing thi!l purpose. Many Christiau people have very limited ideas of the real nature and purpose of this kingdom. It is really amazing how many there are who secretly do not believe in missions. They are not in sympathy with this idea of world-wide evangelism. This lack of sympathy is a result of gross ignorance. They do not understand the aim and spirit of Christ. The absolute need is a revival of personal loyalty to Christ, which will beget the spirit of enthusiasm for the progrells of His kingdom. The spirit and command of Christ must be presented as the fundamental motive for aggressive evangelism. It is a mistake to substitute the enthusiasm of humanity for the enthusiasm of Christ. The great need of the world ill an argument, but the greatest of all arguments is the constraining love of Chri~t. It is the businells of the Church to evangelize the world, and every Christian should be led to feel that he has a part in this business. Little permanent progress will be made in utilizing the money power of the Church until the aggressive nature of Christ's kingdom is more clearly understood and the spirit of His ministry is morl! widely
AN EXAMPJ.E OF SELF-SACRIFICE
diffused. It is the duty of ministers and teachers to iterate and reiterate these truths and to inspire the people with a high ideal of Christ's purpose and spirit. We fear that even the ministry has not yet risen to the high tide of interest in missions which the cause of Christ demands. The interest of the people will not rise higher than that of the ministry. Too man ministers are afraid to push the imperative claims of modern missions.
There is great. need also that the scriptural doctrine of the use of money should be set forth clearly. In brief this is the principle of stewardship. Growing out of this is the principle of systematic and proportionate giving. If these principles were applied fully and fearlessly the solution of the -great problem of evangelization would be at hand. People seem to consider their money as their own, to be used as they please. Such is not the teaching of the Word. Divine ownership and human stewardship is the sum and substance of that teaching. Each one is responsible, not merely for that part of his income which he use2 for benevolent uses, but for all that God has given him. He is bound to use all as one who must give an account.
Finally, the Church needs to be informed of, and impressed with, the greatness of the opportunity and emergency which now confront us. The opportunity is inspiring; the emergency thrills with its possibilities. We staO(~ upon the verge of unparalleled victories for the kingdom of God if the Church will only consecrate her gain to the Lord of the whole earth. That time is foretold in prophetic vision. If this generation does not realize its fulfilment and its corresponding blessing, some other will ; for the counsels and purpose of God shall stand. It is not a question of the ultimate success of the kingdom. That is assured. The question is whether this generation shall rise to the greatness of the opportunity and reap the blessing in store for those who fulfil the commands of the grea.t Head of the Church. Our opportunity and our responsibility are commensurate. Our reward or our condemnation is awaiting us.
AN EXAMPLE OF SELF-SACRIFICE.
The Missionary Herald tells of a Scotch woman whose practice it was to give a penny a day for missions, to whom a visitor gave a sixpence to procure some meat, on learning that she had not lately enjoyed that luxury. She thought for herself: /C I have long done very well on porridge; so I'll give the sixpence to God." This fact came to the knowledge of a missionary secretary, who narrated it at a missionary breakfast. The host and his guests were profoundly impressed by it, the host himself saying that he had never denied himself a chop for the cause of God. He therefore instantly subscribed $2500, and others of the party followed his example, till the sl1m of $11,000 was raised before they separated. This is a good illustration of the power of example. There is nothing so fruitful as self-sacrifice.
1891.1 LANGUAGES OF NYASA-LAND IN RELATION TO GOD'S WORD
THE LANGUAGES OF NYASA-LAND (BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA) IN RELATION TO THE SPREAD OF TIlE WORD OF GOD.
BY W. A. ELMSLIE, M.B., C.M., LIVINGSTONIA MISSION.
While Africa is geographically being opened up to our knowledge, the light thus kindled is revealing to us vast fields of knowledge yet unexplored. The various departments of science are at work, and all under God are bringing that great continent nearer our doors.
Among the various problems relating to Africa which now engage the mind of the country, the subject of the languages of Africa mnst be, to Bible and missionary societie~, and to all disciples of Christ interested in the spread of the Gospel, one of deep interest. As tribe after tribe is brought to light, each with a language of its own, our interest in these lan- guages must deepen when we consider that we owe them the Word of Life in their own tongue.
While we appreciate the results of travel and research in the many phases of the African problem, and feel grateful to God for those who, consciously or unconsciously, worked out His will in laying open to us the " Dark Continent, " it is to those faithful missionaries who have made their homes among the people that we must look for light on the great problem of how to give Africa the Word of Life in her own manifold speech.
The missionary feels, more t.han anyone not in actual contact with heathenism can do, that the Bible is the first and the best of all missionary agencies. Amid the varied occupations of a missionary's life in the field, his first and highest work is to make their language his own, so that he may give them the Gospel. It is a department of investigation in which no one can hurry. Patience and plodding are necessary, and so little by little is added to the knowledge acquired. In the linguistic field the missionary has the highest motive for careful and complete imestigation. He may benefit science by his labors, but he does not work for that, but for higller ends. He strives after that which shall be a correct vehicle through which to communicate Divine Truth to the benighted multitudes.
In many cases the general reader at home does not interest himself in this part of missionary work. lIe reads such a statement as this, and concludes that he need not trouble himself about it. "No one knows exactly who these people are. They belong, of course, to the great Bantu race; but their origin is obscure, their tribal boundaries are unmapped, even their names are unknown, and their languages-for there are manyare unintelligible" (Drummond's "Tropical Africa"). The confidence of ignorance is responsible for such a statement as that, which relates to the district to which the following remarks refer.
In 1883 Cust published his" Modern Languages of Africa," a marvellous work in two volumes, in which every language then known or heard of is referred to, and its locality indicated. The number of these is 438 Ian. guages and 153 dialects. Doubtless this is a difficulty, but by no means an insurmountable one. Each year diminishes the difficulty. With able men at work on all sides and pushing toward a central point, the field seems to contract and the number to lessen, as increased knowledge reveals what these languages are and to what others they are related.
All the languages of Africa fall into certain families or groups, each group having certain" marks common to each individual in the group.
In the present paper one of these groups calls for remark-viz., the Bantu group. Roughly, with a few exceptions, the languages spoken over the Bonthern half of Africa belong to this family. In all these the word " Bantu," or some form of it, signifies" people j" and so the word is taken to give name to that family of languages. We are not concerned with all the 168 languages and 55 dialects in this group. Confining our attention to the languages of Nyasa-Iand, we find they occupy a place in the eastern branch and in the southern sub-branch. It is not difficult in this way to go over the whole of Africa, since all that is known of these languages has been thus worked into a clear and scientific plan by Cust, who would not, like Drummond, speak of " unintelligible" languages.
In the locality of these languages the two Scottish missions-Blantyre and Livingstonia-and the Universities' Mission, are working. In 1875, when the Livingstonia Mission began work on Lake Nyasa, there were only a few words of the language known. It was not known what the Lake languages were. At present we know that in the territory of the Livingstonia Mission there are six in Ille j in Blantyre territory there are two ; and in connection with the Universities' Mission there are two. One language is common to all the missions j and we have therefore seven separate languages to deal with in Nyasa-land. In these there are now about thirty separate publications, ranging from an edition of the New Testament down to a school primer. For such a record of progress we owe hearty"thanks to God for help and success.
While the linguistic work of each mission is rightly reported by its own society, the work is a common work, in which all at home and abroad should bear a part. Let us now proceed to specify what we know of the languages of Nyasa-land. Of some we know more than of others, and we may, therefore, notice 1. LANGUAGES OF WHICH OUR KNOWLEDGE IS DEFINITE.
(1) Nyanja.-This is the most important language in Nyasa-land. It is spoken in all the district of Livingstonia, the Nkonde district at the head of Lake Nyasa excepted. It is at present, and will doubtless eontinue to be, the trade language of the Nyasa region. It not only covers a greater area, but reaches a larger popUlation than any other lake langnage. By means of it we have talked our way from Dandawc on Lake Nyasa to Quilimane on the coast.
All the tribes on the western shore of Nyasa from Dandawe southward use it. From the south end of Nyasa, along the right bank of the Shire to its junction with the Zambeze, it is spoken j and by those tribes on the hills to the west of the lake, from Mombera's, opposite Bandawe, to the country called Maravi on old maps on the south, where it runs into Nyungwe, the language of Sena and Tete on the Zambeze. With the exception of Mom- bera's Ngoni, all the Ngoni tribes on the high lands speak Nyanja. On the east side of Lake Nyasa it is in use on and near Likoma Island, where the Universities' Mission works. On the Shire Highlands around Blantyre and Mandala it is in use, and the Makololo and other tribes on the left bank of the Shire speak it also.
Its importance is further indicated when we mention that in this language the whole New Testament has been published by the Nationa: Bible Society of Scotland, and is to-day being sold not only by the missionaries on Lake Nyasa in connection with their work, but in the store of the African Lakes' Company at Mandala, and the language is used by that company's officials at the north end of Lake Nyasa, as well as by the boys left in charge of stations on the Stevenson Road.
Besides the ~ew Testament, there are editions of the Gospels, school books, and other works published in this language.
(2) Yao.-What Nyanja is on the west and south of the lake, Yao is on the east-an important language, destined to live and be the medium for communicating Divine truth to a numerous people. "The region over which is is spoken extends from near the coast on the east to the eastern shore of Lake Nyasa on the west, and from the latitude of the Rovuma sources on the north to tha Lujenda Ri~er on the south. Lately, however, a large district in the centre of this region has been devastated by the ravages of the Magwangwara, a powerful raiding tribe whose home lies to the north of the Rovuma River. Isolated villages and districts where the language is spoken are to be found on the western shore of Lake Nyasa and in the country lying interior to it. About 1860 one branch of the tribe forced its way into the Shire Hills, where now the mission stations of the Church of Scotland are situated, while another smaller offshoot established itself east of Mount Mlanji, on the trade route to the coast at Quilimane" (Hctherwick'8 "Yao Handbook").
It is therefore the language of the Blantyre Mission on the Shire Highlands and around Mount Zomba, and of the Universities' Mission on the southeastern shore of Lake Nyasa, and the left bank of the Upper Shire. Into it the Gospels and Acts have been translated and published.
(3) Ngoni.-This language is spoken by the people of the same name under Mombera on the plateau northwest from Bandawe. The area of it, use is not very great, as we know it to be a form of Zulu imported by the Ngoni who came north from Natal in the beginning of this century. The tribe is very powerful, and dominates the plateau for many miles around; but it has not impressed its language on those tribes who are enslaved by it, and its extinction.is only a question of time. Tshiwere and Mpiseni, who, with their people, live on the plateau farther south, broke away from Mom- bera. The people under the for~er now speak Nyanja; and nothing is definitely known regarding the present language of the latter. The so- called Ngoni in Tshikuse's country southwest of Lake Nyasa (Maravi on the older maps) also speak Nyanja. .
Meantime, as the rulers in Mombera's country speak the localized form of Zulu, a gospel and school-books have been issued in it for use in the mission.
The aforementioned three languages are the most important in the group regarding which we have definite 'know]edge, as the people speaking these cannot be evangelizpd meantime through any other.
(4) Tonga.-This language is spoken by those belonging to the tribe of the same name who are enslaved by the Ngoni, and by the remaining Tonga living in the vicinity of Bandawe. They are called Kamunga by the peo- ple on the east side of the lake opposite. The language is related to Nyanja, and more closely to Tumbuka. At Bandawe, Nyanja being the school language, and there being 4000 children in connection with the schools, it is quickly displacing Tonga without detrimellt to the people. The Gospel of Mark and a school primer have been issued in Tonga. '
2. LANGUAGES REGARDING WHICH OUR KNOWLEDGE IS INCOMPLETE.
(1) Tumbuka.-The existence of this language is definitely known, and an introductory grammar has been prepared. It has been placed in this group because the area over which it is spoken is not so well known. It is allied to Tonga, but may not be so easily displaced as that language. The numerous Tumbuka tribe, living under the Ngoni, have not only retained the use of their own tongue, but have impressed it on their masters. There are various forms of Tumbuka known to exist, but future investigation must show the position and relations of Tumbuka.
(2) Nkonde.-The district around the head of Lake Nyasa has been.
called the Nkonde district, and the name is applied tentatively to the language or languages there spoken. There are various tribes there speaking the same language with dialectical differences, and though there are some manuscript translations in one or two of these, we do not yet know what generic name should be applied.
(3) lVanda.-This is a language which is 5aid to llave a very limited area. It is spoken in the district of the chief Wanda on the Stevenson Road. Some Scripture portions have been i!lsned in it for use in the mission to those people. It bears ~ome resemblance to Tumbuka and also to Kongo, but further investigation is required.
3. LANGUAGES REGARDING WHICH WE HAVE ONLY HEARSAY AND CONFUSED INFORMATION.
West and north of Ngoniland there are tribes with whom little or no intercourse has been had, and whose language we are only familiar with through small collections of words or from hearsay. On the west the Bisu and Tsenga j on the northwest the Zingwa, Poka, and Henga have lan- guages which may be closely allied to Tumbuka or some more northerly tongue.
In the Stevenson Road country many names of people are given. The name is at times that of the chief, and at other times that of the country, but it has not been stated what language they speak. Accurate information regarding these is needed, and may be looked for from the Livingstonia Mission.
Having now classified our knowledge of the languages met with in the lake district, except that now in German territory on thc east side of the lake, we are able to coneider the work of gi"ing to the people the Word of God.
For large and populous districts on the east, west, and south of Nyasa we have Yao and Nyanja, in which already large portions of the Scriptures are issued. Two of the others named-Tonga and Ngoni-will be replaced by others in course of time, so that Tumbuka and Nkonde (the latter ab- Rorbing Wanda)· will complete the linguistic problem for the missions.
Thus the difficulties at first apparent are disappearing as our knowledge increases.
The workers in the field, by whose labors we are able to compile this paper, are Scott and lletherwick, of the Blantyre Mission j Maples, of the Universities' Mission j and Laws, Bain, Cross, and the writer, of the Living- stonia Mission.
As the work is being carried on at many points, it is necessary that all should be guided by certain principles, in order that the work may be syste~atized and presented on the same plan.
1. In writing or speaking in English of a language or tribe, the variable prefix of the word should be omitted, and the unvarying root form taken to indicate the language and people. .
Ordinary English readers do not always know that A-nyanja means the people, and Tshi-nyanja their language. It is a gain if confusion is pre- vented. If discarding the prefix both for the tribe and its language is con- sidered unscientific, I would remind African scholars that the profix does not' necessarily mean the language, as " tshi" may be applied to other things. Indeed, it is questionable whether the rude natiYe, unaffected by the white man, uses the prefix in that way at all. In Zulu the personal prefix is " ama" (Ama·Zulu), and there is said to be a language prefix "isi" (lsi-Zulu, the Zulu language) j but the native uses it in that way only because his teachers do so. The Ngoni do not speak of their language as "Tshi-Ngoni" except when following the white mau's error. Nyanja is named" Chimang'anja" on the Shire Highlands j but that is a Yao word, indicating people of the Nyanja sort, and inappropriate as a name for the Nyanja language. There is no difficulty in understanding what is meant wben we say, " English is spoken by the English j" and II Nyanja is spoken by the Nyanja" would be simpler than" Tshi·nyanja is spoken by the A-nyanja."
2. Tribal names adopted should be those by which tribes call themselves. Books of travel and maps of Africa are full of names which require to be revised. The Ngoni are variously named Mangone, Angoni, Bangoni, Wangoni, Maviti, and Mazitu, according to the district one may be in. Though it is right that we should call them Mazitu when we speak Tumbuka, or Wangoni if we are speaking Yao, there is no reason why all these forms should have to be acquired by ordinary English readers, if they happen to be attached to the work in the various mission districts, before they can intelligently follow the news from the field.
3. In order to hasten the spread of the Word we must economize in labor and means by avoiding needless versions of the Scriptures.
The three missions have presses from which are issuing portions of Scripture in the same language as that in which the whole New Testament is already published. The dialects of one language are thus being perpetuated where we think it ought not to be the case. As is pointed out by Cust, the vocabulary of an African language is continually changing j and the ease with which tribes can change their language makes it quite possible for all the Nyanja speaking tribes to uee the New Testament now in circulation. We have before us a few sheets of a " Harmony of the Four Uospels in Chimang'anja," which is being put forth at the Blantyre Mission press. The use of "ch" for" tsh," and some unimportant vowel differences are all that mark it as a separate language from Nyanja. In it the translator follows the Greek spelling of names, so that instead of one Rimple form for such names as Christ, Bethlehem, David, Jerusalem, we have three or more for each-a method which is more fanciful than useful.
4. Where two languages are spoken in a district, that one which has the widest range should be adopted. This seems self-evident. At first it was not possible iu some cases to act thus j but as we now know more of each language we are in a better position to carry it out. At Bandawe, where Nyanja and Tonga are both spoken, the former is made the school langnage, and, as we noticed, is taking the place of Tonga. There is no reason why the Livingstonia Mission should have to set apart a man to study Yao in order that the missiou may reach one or two isolated villages of Yao people who happen to be found in the centre of a Nyanja speaking district, while they can be reached by means of Nyanja. Even at Blantyre, where Nyanja is used, the people speak Yao.
Ol1r imperfect knowledge leads us often to attach a greater importance to a language than it warrants. We have not a native's power of speech, and where we see difficulty in introducing a slightly different form of speech, he has none in using it. Weare not warranted in seeking to prolong the life of small and unimportant differences where we hBVe such noble tongues as Yao and Nyanja with which to spread the Gospel of Grace.
Ve disclaim originality in these recommendations to our fellow-workers.
A MISSIONARY PRAYER
They are the wise results of earnest thought of one who loves Africans and has done much for them-Hobert Needham Cust-a quotat,ion from whose book, referred to, forms a fitting close to this paper: "When all are assembled before the great white throne, pleading with one voice in mutually unintelligible words the merits of the Saviour, One alone will understand all. There will be only one language then, the language of the angels. The imperfect coinage of wl.rds and marshalling of sentences will no longer be required. Language will have had its day. 'Lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, and they cried with a loud voice.' "
A MISSIONARY PRAYER.
BY REV. J. F. B. TINLING, B.A., LONDON, ENG.
Lord, whose glory is the song Of the sinlel:s worlds above, Heart and kingdom suffering wrong From the souls that do not love, Come and make Thy works rejoice, Marrying law with liberty j Righting each discordant voice In creation's harmony j Answering her sin-wrung groan, Lord of glory, claim Thine own !
Spring of every righteous power, Source of all authority, In Thy name, as in a tower, Hides our frail humanity.
Six millenniums have failed Christless order to maintain j Over all has sin prevailed, Man has toiled for peace in vain.
From Thy cloud-surrounded tllrone, King of nations, claim Thine own !
All the stores of earth are Thine, Thine the fulness of the sea, Thine alike in mart and mine, Lent, but owned eternally.
Thine the silver and the gold Lavished upon glittering toys, Thine the wealth the saints withhold From Thy cause, for carnal joys.
From Thy stewards, careless grown, Earth's Possessor, claim Thine own!
Saviour, from the dread abyss 'Who hast brought us nigh to God, Giver of eternal bliss, Through the merits of Thy blood.
All for all is love's confession, Less the Cross forbids to give, Of Thy Church take full possession, As Thy witness let her live.
Thou art worthy. Thou alone, ,~ Our Redeemer, claim Thine own I
REV. L. H. GULICK, M.D
REV. L. H. GULICK, M.D.
BY REV. S. P. LEEDS, D.D.
On November 3d, 1827, the Rev. Peter J. Gulick sailed from Bos- ton with his wife as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands. The ship took the second reinforcement to the mission, the first having gone five years earlier, and three years after the original establishment. MI'. Gulick was a native of New Jersey, born in 1797, and was one of a family of seven sons and a daughter. He was graduated at Princeton in 1825, and spent two years in the theological seminary there. Before leaving this latter he had decided to become a missionary, influenccd, as he afterward wrote, by " missionary intelligence portraying the wretchedness of the heathen." The same year he was ordained to the ministry, his kind friend, Rev. Dr. Luther Halsey, at that time a professor in the college at PIinceton, preaching the sermon and giving the charlre. The ncxt month he was on his way to Hawaii. Mrs. Gulick was from Lebanon, Conn. Mr. Finney, in his autobiography, speaks of hcr conversion under his ministry at Utica, N. Y. She had taught school before marriage.
Arriving at Honolulu the following spring, they labored at several points and in various islands for forty-six years. They" saw the Hawaiians in their nakedness and degradation, and they lived and wrought until they saw them a Christian nation." In 1874, when both had passed their seventy-fifth year, they removed to Japan, to be with a son and daughter, and lived to celebrate their" golden wedding" there. A little afterward the aged husband died, and it was not long before his wife rejoined him. What a career!
To them were born in the Sandwich Islands eight children, seven of whom reached maturity and survived them-six sons and a daughter. All of these have been engaged in missionary work, and five of them are so engaged at this time-three brothers and their SIster in Japan, and one brother in Spain. Of these the eldest was Luther Halsey Gulick, recontly deceased. He was born at Honolulll in June, 1828. At the age of twelve he was sent to this country for all education, " working his pas~age as cabin-boy around Cape Horn." His father's friend, Dr. Halsey, was his instructor at Auburn and in New York, in both of which places Dr. Halsey was connected with theological seminaries. The boy was full of zeal for knowledge, and a great reader-charact.eristics which marked his life in all situations to its end-and his tastes and longings were gratified in his friend's library. But inadequate health, or insufficient health and limited means together, forbade his taking a college course. He studied medicine at the University of the City of New York, increasing his small income hy lighting street lamps, and took his degree in 18.50-not yet twenty-two years old. Six months later he was ordained (in the old Broadway Tabernacle, New York), and in November of 1he following year sailed with his wife, LOUi!!a Lewjs, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for the Sandwich Islands, in company with the Rev. B. G. and Mrs. Snow, "the last sent from Boston around Cape Horn."
A new mission was then being projected for the Micronesian Islands, twenty.five hundred miles away from the Hawaiian, to be under the auspices of the mission in these last. What more natural· than that the son of a missionary, himself a native of Hawaii, should be selected as one of the party ~ Two Hawaiian missionaries and their wives went also, besides Mr. and Mrs. Snow, and the Rev. A. A. and Mrs. Sturges. They" were sent away from Honolulu with great enthusiasm." It was slow voyaging in those days, and what they found on arrival can easily be guessed. Doubtless the pithy description, recently given the writer by a venerable friend, of early neighbors of his, but partially Christianized, was still truer of these" children of nature" : "They were dirty, sensual, and without a thought worth entertaining." But this was not all. "Sea captains in Honoluhl had charged us," writes a survivor, " not to go to Ponape, be· cause wicked white men in large numbers had lived there, and they said they would not give a straw for ollr lives if we went. But it was the island most likely to be healthy, and we had no fear." There is scant room to tell of the seven years spent there, during which, among labors many and manifold, as physician, preacher, teacher, and even carpenter, Gulick-for a time certainly-read his Greek Testament daily, and the Hebrew also, and often studied such works as Edwards" On the Will" and Howe's " Living Temple"-room all too little to tell of trying experiences, among them a visitation of small-pox most wantonly brought there by a sea captain, and of the young doctor's incessant and heroic efforts for the natives. Narrowly escaping death from a wound received in dissecting a victim of the terrible disease, he was exposed also to the murderous plots of white men, whose iniquities he resisted, hut who were soon glad to save their own lives. The Ponapi language was reduced to writing, and the" Morning Star" was built for the Micronesian Mission.
A year in Ebon Island followed the seven in Ponapi; but the doctor was too broken in health to be benefited by the change, or by a year's residence in Hawaii. Accordingly he was recalled to America, where his great gifts in public address were put in requisition by the Board, and he visited many churches and conventions. Very many persons retain even now the memory of his powerful appeals at this and a subsequent period. Only last summer the writer was witness to an illustration of this, when a stranger, on hearing the doctor's name, spoke of an address he had when a boy heard from him nearly thirty years before. Returning to Hawaii in 1863, he was made Secretary of the Board of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, and remained in Honolulu until 1870. During this time he edited a weekly newspaper, and tm.velled much aIIlong the islands in con· nection with his work. But after eighteen ycars of labor in that part of the world, it was thought best that he should enter a new field, and he retul'neQ to Americl; with this in view. Japan was selected at first, but. the Board finally assigned him to Spain, as the pioneer in a new mission. This established, he was transferred to Italy. But the field was found to be well occupied, and it seemed best to both Dr. Gulich and the Board to concentrate its efforts. He made a protracted and fatiguing tour among the Board's missions ill Asiatic Turkey, and then returned to this country.
It might have seemed as if this were intended to be his home. Several circumstances-his power of popular address among them-pointed in this direction. But heathendom was his. chosen field. The American Bible Society wished for some one of experience to open up their work in China and Japan. To the latter country, then, he went in the winter of 1875-76. Here he soon established a Bible Depository, and supervised the publication of the Japanese version of the Scriptures, providing also for its distribution through the empire. But he travelled extensively in both countries, l'isiting missions, discovering and stimulating wiehes for new or improved versions, and scattering the Scriptures through various agencies. " Bible carriages" and, in the great rivers of China, boats, were employed. In the same interest he visited Siam once or twice, Formosa, Macao, and Manila. For three years, too, he filled the Union pulpit in Yokohama. The work grew till a new and distinct agency was needed in China. He transferred his home to that country, settling in Shanghai. From this point he " travelled the length and breadth of the empire in house-boats, wheelbarrows drawn by donkeys and sometimes helped by a sail, jinrickshas, mule-litters, palanquins. on horseback, in steamboats, and on foot." He edited the Missionary Recorder during his seven years' residence ill China, and started the Medical Missionary Journal. He also occupied the Union pulpit in Shanghai for nearly two years. Of his long service to the American Bible Society its secretary, the Rev. Dr. Gilman, writes: "During the whole, I have admired his promptness, efficiency, wisdom, and his fidelity to his trust. "
But (almost) forty years of a life so active, by one with so busy a brain and so sensitive an organization, wrought their inevitable effect. Intervals of change, not rest, could not avert it. Nearly or quite two years ago he began to break. It was hoped that another climate and other conditions would restore him to his wonted strength and energy, and he set forth accompanied by his devoted wife, who had gone out from native land to savage Ponape with him in his youth, and had been his companion in checkered experiences for two score years. The Bible Society treated him with a large and noble justice. and he came at length to this country. He was able for awhile to supervise the work by correspondence. But hopes and prayers and pains were all in vain. Slowly and intermittently he continued to sink, till on April 8th he quietly fell asleep, not quite sixty-three years old, at Springfield, Mass. It was remarkable that, after so long a residence in other lands and so many experiences by sea and shore, he should die in the home of his fathers, which he loved so well j for he was an earnest patriot as well as philanthropist, and everything which concerned A merica's welfare was of deep interest to him.
Dr. Gulick had a remarkable life. As Rev. Dr. Clark, Secretary of the American Board, has said, "Few men have had such a record in mis- sionary service, beginning at Ponape and Ebon, laying foundations there which have since been the basis of Christian institutions and Christian homes; then doing loyal work as Secretary of the Hawaiian Board; then serving for a time in this country as District Secretary, and oftentimes electrifying audiences by his eloquent and impassioned speeches; then called to organize a mission in Spain ; and last of all, for fifteen years more having charge of the distribution of the Holy Scriptures in Japan and China ; ever faithful to his trust, ever realizing the high expectations of his friends." But Dr. Gulick was also a remarkable man. First, there was in him a singular union of executive and intellectual powers. The vigorous thinker and diligent reader in many directions (his library was very large for one in almost any position, and time was given to books which it is to be feared should have been given to sleep) was most prompt and energetic in action. Some will recall his telegram a few years since to Mr. Doane, in Micronesia, when in the hands of Spanish invaders-the swiftness and decision with which he told him of money deposited to his order, and bade him stand firm. Hill manner, the quick and quiet way in which he turned his head toward this or that speaker, has reminded more than one of a military commander. But with this blending of executive and intel. lectual qualities Dr. Gulick combined rare courage and true devotion. He was the loyal son of an earnest Christian father and mother, parents who commemorated their fiftieth anniversary of married life and missionary service with thanksgivings for what they had been permitted to do and for the moral and religious qualities of their children, and by a liberal gift to the Board's treasury out of their little store. He kept the faith of his youth and the purpose of his bright, early manhood to the end. And now he has gone to join those parents, their eldest son. May their other children long be spared !
It only remains to be said that besides his wife Dr. Gulick left six chilo dren behind him-Mrs. Fanny F., wife of Professor F. P. Jewett, of Oberin; Mrs. Harriet M., wife of Rev. C. A. Clark, missionary to Japan; Rev. S. L. Gulick, also missionary to Japan; Rev. E. L. Gulick, pastor at Groton, Mass. ; L. H. Gulick, M.D., who is connected with the Institute for Christian Workers at Springfield, Mass., and Pierre J. Gulick, a young man now p,ursuing his studies.
Experience is a torch lighted in the ashes of our hopes and delusions. . It is an old saying that charity begins at home; but this is no reason it should not go abroad. A man should live with the world as a citizen of the world; he may have a preff>rence for the particular quarter, or square, or even alley in which he lives, but he should have a generous feeling for the welfare of the whole.-Olarendon.
FOREIGN MISSIONS FROM THE STANDPOINT OF ART
FOREIGN MISSIONS FROM THE STANDPOINT OF ART.
BY WILLIAM BRENTON GREENE, JR., D.D., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
We all delight in the beautiful. When we travel during the summer we go where there is beautiful scenery. When we build a country house we seek a beautiful site. When we see a beautiful piece of furniture or a beautiful picture we wish that we had it for the adornment of our home. A beautiful face attracts our attention and chains our admiration. A beautiful sentiment we never weary of repeating. A beautiful action gives us the keenest pleasure. A beautiful character fills us with holy joy.
Aud this joy is peculiar to itself. The beautiful is not necessarily the useful. and it is distinct from the good. Otherwise we should not be at so much pains to decorate our homes. They would be just as useful if their ceilings were not frescoed j and there are kinds of stone that would be more durable and less troublesome than the marble of which the fronts of many of them are inade. If the beautiful were not a quality different from, though doubtless in its highest forms depcndent on the good, we should not be so anxious to render the good also beautiful. We feel that a good book deserves a beautiful binding. We rejoice when a good man has beautiful surroundings. It is the natural desire of the pious heart to beautify the house of God. The beautiful is, therefore, a distinct quality, and one in which we all delight. Consequently it will be profitable and pleasing to consider that the foreign missionary work, in addition to being useful and good, is pre-eminently beautiful. ,. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things"!
That we may appreciate this let us try, in the first place, to form some conception of what beauty is, or, at least, of that ou which it depends. I say some conception; for the question is difficult. We do not seem to have any such necessary convictions in regard to beauty as we have in regard to certain fundamental intellectual truths and moral qualities. I must believe that the sun exists as an extended body. It would be apprehended as I see it by any inhabitant of Mars or Jupiter endowed with the capacity to perceive the object. I must believe that falsehood is a sin always and everywhere, in the star Sirius as well as on earth-in the case of men, of angels, of devils. But I am not to the same degree compelled to belie'e that the objects which appear beautiful to me have a beauty independent of my mind. It is, therefore, peculiarly difficult to tell in what beauty consists. We cannot be sure how far things are beautiful or how far we only think them so.
And yet some analysis of beauty is possible. The greatest of German metaphysicians discovers two kinds of beauty. Olle he calls free or absolute j the other, relative or depenaellt. In the case of the former it is not necessary to have an idea of whut the object ought to be or do before we pronounce it beautiful. Flowers, 811..118, arabesques, music, are absol.teIy bellutiful ; that is, they are beautiful in themselves. and without reference to any end that they may serve. If now we ask in what this beauty consists, the general opinion since Plato is that it is in some sort of proportion or harmony. At the basis of music, for example, there are certain fixed ratios. In poetry there are measures and correspondences. Complementary colors, when seen simultaneously, are felt to be beautiful. Regular features are essential to a truly handsome man or woman. Moral beauty is the radiance of the moral law. The mind is made to delight in the unities of God. Its activity is a tendency toward unity. It is satisfied only when such an object is presented as will enable it at once to perceive a law or controlling idea in the object. Hence, those objects the parts of which are thus harmonized we feel to be beautiful, and that without any reference to the purpose to be served.
In the case of relative or dependent beauty such a reference is always implied. Here the proportion required must be, not merely between the parts of the object itself, but also between it as a whole and its design. As before, it is the perception of unity which gives rise to the feeling of the beautiful, but it is a more comprehensive unity. For example, a Corinthian pillar is absolutely beautiful. We should think it so if we had not the least idea for what it was intended. But we feel it to be much more beautiful when we see it used to support a glorious temple. We appreciate the beautiful correspondence between it and itR purpose. The fitness of the thing, even apart from its usefulnes:!, would seem to delight us.
Sueh, then, is the explanation of the two kinda of beauty. The analysis is far from complete or satisfactory j but it will help us, in the second place, to realize " how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things."
First, foreign misRions are absolutely beautiful. They could not fail to be so, for they are the conception of Him" in whom all things consist," and who" worketh all things according to the coungel of His own will." They must, therefore, be characterized by that comprehensiveness and unity of purpose which marks all the thoughts of God. And it is not difficult to discern this unity. In method, foreign missions are one with God's method. They are seen to be beautifully in harmony with all His procedure j and that, too, without any reference to their design. Now the Divine method is that of means or second causes. God has to an infinite degree what we name executive ability. He called all things into being by the word of His power. In like manner He upholds all things in being. At certain critical epochs He has Himself put forth His hand and wrought signs and wonders. He is always guiding and controlling, and so working through His agents. But He ordinarily employs these, and multiplies them infinitely. The angels are His messengers. Men are His servants. The whole brute creation does His bidding. The forces of nature are His instruments. He uses the universe as a mirror to reflect and so manifest His glory, which in itself no man hath seen or can see. It is, therefore, in beautiful consistency with the Divine method that when out of His infinite love God gave His own Son to be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, He should at the same time have commanded us to go into all the world and preach this Gospel to every creature. As the marble nose in some perfectly sculptured face is felt to be beautiful because of its harmony with the other features, so we may appreciate the beauty of foreign mis- sions when we study the consistency of their methods with God's pro- cedure everywhere in the manifestation of Himself.
Again, foreign missions are not only thus one with God's general method, but they themselves in all their activities are under the control of one idea. It is not simply their harmony with the other features of the Divine plan that i,!! beautiful, but also the harmony of their own various agencies. The nose of the sculptured face may be beautiful in itself and without any reference to the rest of the face. Indeed, this is the highest kind of absolute beauty. It is strikingly apparent in the case of foreign nnSSIOns. This is so, not so much because of the singleness of their pur- pose, as because of its unique comprehensiveness. Where else will you find so many and so diverse instrumentalities all subordinated to one end 1 The missionary himself is often a preacher, a teacher, an author, a trans- lator, a legislator, a mechanic, a physician, a scientist, an explorer i like Paul, " he is made all things to all men, that he may by all means save some.' , And then the missionary is but one of thousands of missionary agencies. The professorB who taught him in the theological school, the col- lege, and the academy; the pastor under who~e care his religious life and his missionary spirit were developed; his godly mother, whose uncllasing prayers for him and with him were the real means of quickening his divine life and purpose-all these were missionary instrumentalities, and were indispensable ones. And then we must not forget the rich men who founded and supported the institutions of learning in which he was trained, or the authors who wrote the books by which his mind was nourished, or the ancestors who left their piety as a precious heritage to his mother, or the thousands of men and women and little children who contributed to the Board which sent him out and maintained him. And we must remember, too, that the development of commerce, the progress of science, the policy of empires, home missions-all these have an essential bearing on his work. Thus under the foreign mission idea they are unified. Indeed, this is the only idea under which this can be done. Human history is a jumble until it is seen to be the record of events even the least important of which tends toward the universal establishment of the kingdom of Christ. If, then, beauty is in proportion to the diversity in unity, if a scene be beautiful in . proportion to the number of different objects harmonized in it, what. can be so beautiful as foreign missions, which subordinate to one divine purpose all human interests ~ Second, they are relatively beautiful. This is the more prominent truth in the Scriptures. It is the beauty of fitness, of opportuneness, which both the text cited and the passage of Isaiah whence it is quoted emphasize. And this relative beauty is easily discernible. It appears in the Divine adaptation of the missionary's message to those to whom he goes. They are under everlasting condemnation, and are" dead in trespasilcs and sins. " He tells them of One who bore their guilt in His own body on the cross, and who by His Spirit can quicken even their dead souls into newness of life. They are utterly and eternally lost, and He offers them the one absolutely certain and eternal salvat~on. What could be so opportune' Where else is their adaptation so needed or so perfect 1 "How beautiful, then, mnst be the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things"!
This appears again in the fact that the missionaries are men. There is a beautiful appropriateness in their selection as the heralds of salvation. No one can appeal to man with so much power as his brother man. The angels, though they are God's ministers, and though they rejoice over every sinner that repents, are not sent to preach to sinners. Even glorified men are not. Abraham eaid to the rich man concerning his brethren, " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." Our Saviour, when He came to seek and to save them that are lost, was made in the likeness of men, and lived with men and as a man. He wa& "tempted in all points like as we are. " Hence He can be "touched with the feeling of all our infirmities." And in like manner the missionary, because he is a man, can be touched with the feeling of the infirmities of those to whom he goes. He appears among them as one of them. At once there is a bond of sympathy between Him and them. As no angel could, he can understand their condition. He is the one finite being who is qualified to bring to them the message of salva. tion. Is it not, therefore, beautifully appropriate that he is the very one whom God has appointed to " go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" 1 Equal if not greater appropriateness appears in the multiplicity and diversity of foreign mi8sionary agencies. The great end of missions is the universal establishment of the Redeemer's kingdom. Now in order to this its subjects must be interested in it. The domain and power of the kingdom of God never exceed the hold that it has on tho hearts of its members. Their interest, however, will be proportioned to what they do for the kingdom. That this is so needs no proof. The great problem in every church is how to find work for all the congregation. It is generally recognized that the non-workers are likely to become non-attendants. How significant is it, therefore, that there is no one so young, or 110 poor, or so ignorant that he cannot do something for missions, cannot feel that he has a part in the advancement of God's kingdom, cannot pray for the growth of Jernsalem as for that in which he himself is personally concerned. Must there not be in all this a most beautiful appropriateness 1 This paper may not close without special reference to the highest form of beauty, both absolute and relative-viz., "the beauty of holiness," the beauty produced by conformity to the nat.ureand will of God. This is the gem of absolute beauty, becanse it is the reBection of the harmony of Him the characteristic of the relation between whose attributes is perfect pro- portion, anc. the law of whose being is that He cannot contradict or deny himself; and also because it is the expression of the all-embracing purpose of Him who is "the truth," and whose most comprehensive as well as highest manifestation of Himself, that in His Son as our Saviour, was in order that" He might bear witness unto the truth." It is, moreover, the gem of relative beauty because of its adaptation to its purpose to glorify God. Where else can adaptation so perfect be discerned ~ The heavens declare God's glory. The seasons, in their regular recurrence, chant His praise. What, however, can honor Him so directly and con- spicuously as good deeds, as right words, as a holy life, as a Christ-like character 1 The universe is the evidence of God's power, the revelation of His wisdom, the demonstration of His presence j but holiness is the repro- duction of Himself. In proportion as we become holy does God not merely support and guide us, but act by us, think through us, and live in Ull.
Nothing else, then, could glorify Him as holiness must. Other things may show us what God does; this cannot but show us what He is. In perfect holiness, therefore, would be the perfection of adaptation. No fitness can equal perfect fitness to its infinite end.
Now missions 8re the acme of " the beauty of holiness." Their one aim is that " all should he saved and come to the knowledge of the truth,"
and this is the wish of God. The life which they require is to leave home and kindred " to seek and to save that which was lost," and this was the life of the Son of God. Their result will be " a great multitude," which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, . . . who shall have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb j" and it will be at the sight of these, the fruit of missions, that from the whole angelic host will burst the magnificent ascrip- tion: "Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen."
" How beautiful, then, must be the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" No other beauty is so Godlike j no other fitness equals its adaptation to glorify Him.
Do we recognize as we should the beauty of foreign mission" ~ We be- lieve them to be necessary. We know that Christ instituted them and charged His Church to prosecute them. We feel it to be our duty to do so. We wish to do so for our Saviour's sake. And all this is as it should be. No motive is so reliable as the sense of duty, and none is so high and noble as love for Christ. But would it not be helpful if we went to our work also with something of the artist's spirit ~ His appreciation of the beautiful throws a halo around all his toil. Life is to him a long sweet song, because he recognizes how much of beauty there is in it. This might be true of Christian service. In the strictest and highest sense is the mis- sionary work toward which all really Christian service tends beautiful.
Shall we not, then, so cultivate our taste that we may perceive" how beau- tiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things" 1
THE OAREY EPOCH IN MISI!IIONS
THE CAREY EPOCH IN MISSIONS.
BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, BELLEVUE, O.
The closing years of the eighteenth century constitute in the history of Protestant missions an epoch indeed, since they witnessed nothing less than a revolution, a renaissance, an effectual ending of tLe old, a substantial inauguration of the new. And 1792 is annus mirabilis, the famous date from which to reckon forward and backward. 'VeIl may it stand with 44 A.D., when the Holy Ghost said, " Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have caUed them j" or 53 A.D., when in vision Paul was called to lay the foundations of the Gospel in heathen Europe. Before attempts to evangelize the world had been few, feeble, and far apart j sporadic also and isolated, without connection or continuity, and hence the results had been superficial and hansient. No uprising and onset of the Christian Church had hitherto been seen. 'Kings or trading companies were movers and promoters, and political and commercial considerations held a prominent place. But now came an entire change of basis, of method, of idea. A general movement was started, a trend was taken, or a tide set in which ever since has been rising and spreading with force irresistible. Whatever has been accomplished since can be traced to forces which began to operate almost exactly a hundred years ago. And, furher, in all that momentous period William Carey is easily not only the chief figure, but the supreme personal force-yes, under God the efficient cause of the surprising changes brought to pass. We may speak of the Carey epoch with as much propriety as of the Luther-Reformation. We may as fitly term him the apostle of modern missions as Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, or Ulfilas the apostle to the Goths, or Augustine apostle to the Britons, or Boniface apoRtle to the Germans.
A preliminary glance is in order at what had already been achieved, and at the status existing when the Spirit of God began mightily to move upon the soul of this humble Baptist cobbler-preacher. Gustavus Vasa and his successors had undertaken something in behalf of the pagan Lapps. The Dutch in the East Indie!' had done superficial work, and with results numerically large. In the early years of the century King Frederick IV. of Denmark had sent Von Westen to Upper Norway, Hans Egede to Greenland, and Ziegenbalg and Plutscho to Southern India. And Tranquebar had become a name well known and held in honor, and especially while Schwartz (1750-96) wrought with such marked energy and wisdom. In the century following Eliot and the Mayhews toil in behalf of the American Indians had been carried on (1734-57) by Brainerd, Sergeant, Edwards and Zeisberger. Most of all and best of all was the sublime missionary movement inaugurated by Zinzendorf and the Moravian Church, which in a single generation had carried the heralds of the cross to Greenland, the West Indies, America, and South Africa, and led others to attempt an entrance inlo Egypt, Abyssinia, Persia, Ceylon, China and Siberia. But since that so effectual beginning at Herrnhut in 1732, unless we except the work of Coke and the Wesleyans begun in 1786 in Antigua, when driven thither by a furious storm, nothing new had bcen attempted. And the Dutch missions were now at death's door. The Danish undertaking in Southern India had also fallen into a serious decline. From the beginning the men had come altogether from Germany, and of late the monllY had been derived wholly from British sources. The Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel for well-nigh a century had been raising annually and expending small sums, though mainly upon English colonists, and the So- ciety for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge had been helping with its funds to spread the glad tidings in the Old Wurld and the New. But, taken as a whole, Protestant Christendom had no concern for the heathen j doubted if aught should be undertaken in their behalf j did not believe that aught for their betterment was possible. Whether Established or Dissenting, not a solitary representative of the churche., qf Great Britain was found upon earth preaching Christ to those who had never heard His name!
But yet, though the outlook from this point of vision was sufficiently forbidding, and could scarcely have been worse, all unobserved and out of sight a preparation for better things multiform and widespread had long been in progress, and the set time for the blessed revelation Waf! at hand. In particular the forces of thc Wesleyan revival had long been riRing and spreading, and had stirred Britain tremendously from centre to circumference. The national conscience had been quickened, and in many thousands the flame of the higher affections had begun to burn. And so Howard, and Raikes, and Clarkson, and Wilberforce had begun to agitate. Then just before an empire had been added in the East, and so a vast heathen population had been thrust upon the notice and the care of the nation j and, moreover, by the voyages of Captain Cook in the South Sea, Islands innumerable, with millions more of wretched pagans, had been brought under the gaze of English Christians. Great industrial and social and political changes had recently come to pass, or were at the door-such, for example, as the steam-cngine stands for, and the spinning-jenny, and the cotton gin. And the spirit of freedom, whether civil or ecclesiastical, was in the air of Europe as well as of America. " The age of reason," " the rights of man," and" human equality" were phrases full of inspiration to the civilized world, and stood for ideas and entities in behalf of which millions were ready and eager to venture fortune and life itself. And even now it was, and in the very nick of time, that a voice was heard in the wilderness proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
Only a leader was lacking, some human spirit divinely endowed and called to inspire and guide, to supply II centre about which the spiritual forces of the time might crystallize. Nor h?d the same God, by whose ordinance the glorious work was at length to begin, failed to provide also the thoroughly furnished instrumentality; for, some thirty years before (August 17th, 1761), a babe WtlS born gifted among other things with a measureless hunger for knowledge, and a capacity seldom matched for end- less plodding and hard work. And a will·power was present able to push and persist without limit, but which could not by any means be allured or driven from the pursnit of any chosen object. To such fine qualities were joined later a stalwart faith and a zeal for righteousness so fervid and allconsummg that no difficulties or discouragcments could quench it. At the age of seventeen we find Carey a shoemaker's apprentice at Hackleton, nine miles from Paulerspury, his birthplace. Already he had commenced the study of birds, eggs, insects, and plants, and erelong had begun to delve into the mysteries of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and French. And early and often was he called to take lessons in the stern discipline of life. When about twenty he was married to one who was" querulous, capricious, obstinate," and without sympathy with his life aims, and all this, perhaps in large part, because of a predisposition to meutal disease. He passed also through a protracted season of ill health, and for years was tried by the ills of extreme poverty. And, further, when the voice of the Lord began to cal1 in clear tones, " Go, preach the Gospel to the whole creation," year after year for the better part of a decade he stood almost utterly alone in disposition to obey.
It cannot but be interesting and profitable to note the various steps in the wondrous unfolding of the Divine plan. This future hero for the kingdom of heal"en was well on toward manhood before his spiritual nature was effectually and savingly aroused, and then, though reared in the Established Church, a little later hearing a sermon from the text, " Let us go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach," with characteristic decision and practical energy he joined himself to a little company of Baptists because theirs was a faith despised. Nor was it long before acceptable preaching gifts began to appear. In 1785 he joined the Olney church, by which he was called to the work of the ministry August lOth, and two years after was ordained as pastor of the Moulton church, four miles from North· Ilmpton, and upon a salary of but £15, of which £5 came from London. To eke out II living, shoemaking and school-teaching were added to his occupations. While here it was that his attention was first called to the moral desolation of the heathen world, and his heart began to be moved to hasten relief. And the fact seems to be established that it was the reading of Captain Cook's voyages (1769-79) which brought this great matter to his notice, "though if ever an idea was originated in any man by the Spirit of God, it was this idea of the evangelization of the world." From boyhood books of science and history and travel had been his delight, and now, from investigating the world's physical features, he turned to an examination of the religious condition of mankind. It was at Moulton that Andrew Fuller, visiting Carey's shop, saw upon the wall near his bench a roughly sketched map upon which he had set in order all manner of facts and figures to picture to the eye what needed to be done for the diffnsion of the Gospel, the salvation of the race. Already also had fuel been added to the heavenly flame by a sermon of Fuller's upon" The Gospel Worthy of all Acceptation," which convinced him that, in spite of the current hyper-Calvinistic teaching to the contrary, it was the duty of all men to believe, and also the duty of Christians to tell the glad tidings to all. And a third impulse was supplied by Jonathan Edwards through his pamphlet, which exhorted God's people to union in " extraordinary prayer for the revival of religion and the advancement of Christ's kingdom upon earth." As a result of the reading of this the Baptist ministers in Northamptonshire resolved to set apart an hour for prayer on the first Monday in every month, that the power of the Cross might soon be felt to the most distant parts of the habitable globe. When with his brethren he could not but speak frequently upon the absorbing theme. but found few to listen with interest j while as for most, they thought him an idle dreamer. When once at a clerical gathering he was asked by Dr. Ryland, the chairman, to name a subject for discussion. and after much hesitation suggested, " Is not the command given to the apostles obligatory upon all ministers to the end of time~" as a reward he was dubbed" miserable enthusiast," and was reminded that at least nothing could be done until a second Pentecost should bring a return of the miraculous gifts j for as yet no one had begun to suspect that here was a man already possessed of the substance of that old-time enduement, even to the speaking with tongues!
But not in the least disheartened· or shaken in his purpose, Carey proceeded to prepare a paper of remarkable completeness and cogency, containing a tabular statement of thc size, population, etc., of the various coun~ tries of the globe, proving the Lord's commission to be perpetual, reciting the efforts which in each century had been put forth, and demonstrating the practicability of making further attempts. This great argument closed with an appeal for united prayer, and besides, since petition without effort to match would be but a mockery, for the gift regularly of a penny a week. In 1789 his ministry had bcen transferred from Moulton to Leicester j and, as revealing the burden whieh was upon his heart, the testimony comes that while there Carey was never heard to pray without making earnest supplication for the conversion of the heathen and the abolition of the slave trade. And that thc leaven of missionary zeal was spreading is shown by the fact that at thc association meetings held in 1791 the two preachers, Mr. Sutcliff and Mr. Fuller, chose kindred subjects, the former taking 1 Kings 1) : 10, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts," and the latter Haggai 1 : 2, "This people say, The time is not come that the Lord's house should be built." Noticing how deep and solemn was the impression produced by these discourses, Carey, in whom action as a matter of course must needs follow hard upon the heels of conviction, proposed to begin at once to organize and plan. But as yet for the others the vision was too dim, and he 8eemed to aim at objects too indefinite and out of reach. And so passed in inaction another year.
But May 31st, 1792, a date to be memorized by every lover of the kingdom, the ministers are again found together at Nottingham, and it wall the Leicester pastor's tUI'll to instruct with a sermon. And then it was that from Isaiah 54: 2, 3, "Enlarge the place of thy tent," etc, and with the two subdivisions, "Expect great things from God" and "At- tempt great things for God," was preached, judged by momentous and far- reaching results, one of the very greatest discourses ever heard in Christian history. The conclusions, the convictions, the desires, pent up for years, but steadily growing, now first found full expression, and not strangely the emotions of the audieuce were kindled with sympathy. But yet, though hearts were swayed and tears fell, large measures of doubt and hesitation still remained, and the assembly was about to separate without open commitment to any definite" attempt" in behalf of the speaker's "great things," but at his importunate suggestion finally resolved to adopt a plan for a society at the next meeting, to be hcld in six months. In due season the association came together at Kettering, October 2d, 1792, and no' doubt with slight conception of the magnitude of the matter in hand. In the evening of that most memorable day twelve men met in Mrs. Beeby Wallis's back parlor and fixed upon the constitution and by-laws of the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen, subscribed £13 2s. 6d. as a foundation for its funds, and accepted Carey's offer to add to this whatever profits might result from the publication of his pamphlet on missions which had lain in manuscript for years.
And how sublime was that act of faith, that venture far beyond the realm of sight! How exceedingly remote were the heathen, and what an uncounted host! And these Baptists were but a humble and feeble folk, one of the least of the sects, and with no famed men among them. And the movement started far from the metropolis, and only one London clergyman lent it his countenance. Hence the venture was vast and the issue doubtful. It was like the crossing of the Rubicon, putting forth from Palos, nailing the theses to the church doors, or burning the ships to make retreat impossible. However, it was easy to resolve and not so very difficult to subscribe, but now came the tug. The pertinent and very practical question was to be answered, Who shall be sent forth, and whither, in all the pagan world, shall they journey? A committee was chosen to investigate, and was not left long to wait, for the pillar of fire soon began to rise and move forward. A certain John Thomas, a surgeon in the employ of tho East India Company, had gone out to Bengal in 1783, had been led to engage in evangelistic work in behalf of the Hindus, had recently returned, and was now in London, endeavoring to raise money for further efforts. He was sent for, and was invited to return under the auspices of the new society, with the promise of a companion, " if a suitable one could be found." Accepting this offer, then at once Carey expressed his readiness to become the desired second person, only stipulating that, while he descended to explore what Fuller had termed the" gold-mine" in India, the brethren whQ remained at hOlne should" hold the ropes." Next an appeal was made for £500, and within a few weeks double that amount had been secured.
But trials and tribulations in plenty were yet in store. The Leicester church was loath to lose its beloved pastor, and touchingly alleged, " We have been praying for the spreaa of Christ's kingdom alIlong the heathen, and now God requires us to make the first sacrifice." Next Carey's wife, having no sort of sympathy with his aims, utterly refused to share in the risks and hardships of the undertaking; and though the thought cost a world of agony, imperative duty seemed to compel him to go without her, to remain at least for a season. And finally India was 15,000 miles away; the East India Company was in full possession; no Englishman could lawfully land upon its shores without a license, and, moreover, the Gospel was a contraband article. After the utmost influence possible had been brought to bear upon the company it became evident that no license could be had, and so, recalling that the apostles did not wait for permission from Rome or any earthly anthority, our hero resolved to set forth without the consent of the directors and take the consequences. Through the influence of Mr. Thomas passage was engaged and fare was paid upon one of the company's ships, but later, delayed long by storms under the Isle of Wight, the missionaries were ordered ashore. But fortunately a few days after a Danish East Indiaman lay in Dover Roads, npon which transportation was secured, and at the last moment, visiting his erratic wife, Mrs. Carey consented to accompany her husband. It was June 13th, 1793, that they finally set sail upon a voyage so pregnant with consequences to Christianity unspeakably great, and five months later arrived at Calcutta, and on the 9th of November.
Of course the passage of these events produced scarcely a ripple upon the snrface of the great social or political or even religious world, were almost altogether unnoticed and unknown. In those days the great stir over the American Revolution was quieting down, but only to be succeeded by a vastly more fearful commotion from across the English Channel. It will be instructive to set down a few dates which locate what many would even yet deem the great events of the period. In 1789 first burst forth the volcano of the French Revolution, and July 19th the Bastile fell. June 20th, 1791, King LouiR fled from Paris. August 18th of the next year, a few weeks after Carey's great sermon, the invasion of France by the allies began, and the next month followed the" September Massacres," and the republic was proclaimed. January 21st, 1793, the king ascended the scaffold; March 11th the Revolutionary Tribunal was set up and the Reign of Terror was inaugurated; and June 2d, a fortnight before Carey sailed, the Girondists fell; and as he was nearing his destination the hapless Marie Antoinette met her fate, the Girondists following hard after. As God, and angels, and glorified saints estimate human affairs, who will dare affirm that the Hackleton cobbler's part in history is not every way worthy to be compared with that of George III. and Burke, of Mirabeau and La'ayette ~ THE MELANESIAN MISSION.
BY REV. ROBERT STEEL, D.D., SYDNEY, N. S. W • •, The immense Pacific smiles Round a thousand little isles, Haunts of violence and wiles. But the powers of darkness yield, For the CROSS is in the field, And the LIGHT OF LIFE revealed."
The diocese of the apostolic Dishop of New Zealand, Dr. George Augustus Selwyn, embraced eighty-four degrees of latitude! It was made, by a mistake of the letters-patent issued by the British Crown, to extl:;nd from 540 south to 34 0 north. It embraced also 20 0 of longitude, and covered an area of 4800 miles by 1200. This is probably the rgest diocese ever marked out for a single bishop, and may truly be said to have included" a thousand little isles," almost all " haunts of cruelty and wiles." New Zealand itself wail an extensive enough diocese, and is now divided into six see8, though the Anglican Church has only a portion of the colonial population. Bishop Selwyn was equal to the occupancy of an extensive episcopate. He had been a famous oarsman in the University boat at Cambridge, and he could manage a schooner at sea. When roads were few and rough, he sailed along the coasts of New Zealand in the pursuit of his calling, and gained golden opinions among pioneering colonists for his courage and devoteuness. Meanwhile he cal!lt many a longing eye over the wide expanse of waters which the English Colonial Office had mapped out as his diocese. In 1847 he resolved upon a voyage of inspection, and fortunately got a passage in II. M. S. " Dido," when he had an opportunity of observing the insular groups in the southwestern Pacific, and the native population on them. In 1849 he got a small schooner of only twenty-one tOllS, the " Undine," with a crew of four men, and set sail alone on a trial Toyage. After ten days from Auckland, New Zealand, he reached Aneityum, a thousand miles away. This was the most southern island of the New Hebrides,' and where a mission had been started a year before by the Rev John Geddie, a Presbyterian missionary from Nova Scotia. The bishop met H. M. S. "Havannah," Captain Erskine, at this harbor, and in his company visited the islands of the New Hebrides and Loyalty groups, and also New Caledonia. His chief object at first was to endeavor to win the confidence of the natives. He had a rare art in this, and went unarmed among them, always keeping-his eye upon the cbief in each tribe, lest any mischief should arise. Like Van Amburgh among lions, Bishop Selwyn could tame cannibals for the time by the power of his eye! He was anxious also to get a few boys away to Auckland that he might attempt to educate them in the first principles of the Christian religion, and then return them to exercise some influence for good among their own people. The summer months were the most favorable for this training, while the winter was most favorable for voyaging in the tropic seas. Bishop Selwyn found a Babel of tongues among the dark savages of Melanesia-that portion of 'Western Polynesia in which he sailed. He endeavored to pick up a few words in each island, and carefully noted them down, along with the names of chiefs and others, so that when he returned he used these words and names again to the astonishment and delight of the natives. He thus pioneered missionary enterprise among heathen islands, as Dr. Livingstone did in Central Africa. He extended his voyages from year to year as his acquaintance with the islanders increased, and as he got a larger craft in which to sail. Most of the islands between New Zealand and the Solomon Islands were visited by him, and where there were no resident missionaries except on the Loyalty Islands, and on one of the New Hebrides group. He had zeal, wisdom, and courage for all his peculiar trials and difficulties. Few men have braved so many dangers with less means of defence in the service of Christ and His holy Gospel. In his first voyages he had no charts, and had to rely on his own drawings and on some old Spanish charts. He had, besides, to take observations, calculate distances, keep command, pull a rope, and manage natives on board speaking various languages. Some of the men had their wives occasionally with them, and as their clothing was very scanty, the bishop made dresses for the women, and when the mothers were sick he nursed their babies!
Thus he founded the M.elanesian"Mission. In 1850 he attended a meeting of bishops in Sydney, New South Wales, and got an Australasian Board of Missions established for the conversion and civilization of the aborigines of Australia and Western Polynesia. By contributions, given at the time, he was enabled to purchase and furnish the" Border Maid," a schooner of one hundred tons, and in 1851 the Bishop of Newcastle, N. S. W., who had been a comrade of Bishop Selwyn in the Cambridge University boat, accompanied him on a voyage. In 1852 he conveyed in his schooner to Aneityum a Presbyterian missionary and his wife free of expense. In England his powerful sermons at the University made a great impression, and he got Rev. John Coleridge Patteson, M.A., son of Mr. Justice Patteson, to go with him in 1855 expressly for mission work. This devoted man was trained by Dr. Selwyn to take complete charge of the mission, and he was consecrated Bishop of Melanesia in 1861. A fund of £5000 was raised by Bishop Selwyn to endow the see. Bishop Patteson followed in the steps of his great predecessor, and went annually on voyages among the islands, collecting boys for the missionary college established first at Auckland, New Zea1and, and afterward at Norfolk Island. He was joined by Rev. R. H. Codrington, M.A., Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, who subsisted on his fellow~hip, and, like his bishop, gave his services gratuitously. Many youths were taught who, after they were baptized, became teachers in their native isles. New openings were constantly sought, new missionaries added, until the work spread as far as the Banks and the Solomon groups. After the labor traffic began, and the natives w~re il.lGel.lsed by some kidnapping scenes, Bishop Patteson and a native deacon, Stephen, fell in 1871 as martyrs to the cause of Christ by the savages of Nukapu, in the Santa Cruz group. Great was the lamentation over the early removal of the devoted Patteson. But the good work went on. The Rev. J. R. Selwyn, M.A., son of the Bishop of New Zealand, was selected for the island episcopate in 1877. Amid many difficulties and domestic trials Bishop Selwyn has carried on his work. He has had a mission schooner with auxiliary steam power for cruising among the islands. And now a larger steam vessel has been got for the expanding work. Bishop Patteson left his entire fortune of over £13,000 to the mission. Miss Yonge, the popular writer, and authoress of the" Life of Bishop J. C. Patteson," gave the entire profits of " The Daisy Chain," and many other sums to the funds. A thousand acres were purchased at Norfolk Island, and the necessary buildings have been erected for the accommodation and instruction of the scholars and for the residence of the bishop and missionaries. The trust funds amount to £40,000, the interelt of which is used for workini expenses. The total income wal £6380 in 1890. Of this about £4000 came from Australasia. The expenditure was more than the income by £833. The bishop surren.dered £200 of his moderate income to help the deficit. The new ship has cost £9200. At St. Barnabas College there are 124 male and 32 female scholars from many different islands. The mission is carried on throughout the islands during all the year by native teachers, and during the winter months European missionaries reside, to superintend the teachers, preach the Gospel, visit the schools and open up new spheres for labor.
The' bishop, who has been very unwell or late by malarial sciatica, takes a yearly voyage through his extensive diocese. Many islanders, once savages, have been admitted into the Christian Church by baptism, numbers have been taught to read, others trained to teach, and several ordained to the Christian ministry. Dr. Codrington, who has now retired, published a valuable book on the Melanesian languages, in which he gave vocabularies and grammars of some forty tongues. Portions of Scripture and the liturgy of the Church of England have been translated into different languages, and printed for the use of the natives. One language is usedthat of the island of Mota-in the college at Norfolk Island ; but the missionaries cultivate and speak the languages of the islands where they labor. To give a few specimens of the work carried on at present, it may be stated that on the island of Florida, where there is a population of 5508, a little over 2000 have been bapt.ized and 56 confirmed. There are 62 teachers and 1020 scholars there. In the Banks group the Rev. T. C. Culwick reports that in 1890 there were 41 schools in eight islands, 234 adult and 102 infant baptisms, and in one church there were 117 communicants. The Rev. Charles Bice, who has been employed twenty-five years in the Northern New Hebrid.es, spent several months during 1890 on the islands; he reports that much disquiet prevailed, that the population had been greatly thinned
IMPORTANT DEATHS
by the labor traffic. Difficulties have arisen in some cases from the Frenoh traders who have settled on the islands. A great work is being done throughout many islands by Bishop Selwyn and his missionaries and teachers. It is to be hoped that the bishop may be restored to health, and that by the blessing of God the enlarged efforts practicable with a larger steamer may result in the expansion of the Melanesian Mission, and the ingathering of many dusky islanders to the fold of Christ.
STATISTICS OF THE MISSION.
Staff.-The Right Rev. John R. Selwyn, D.D., Bishop j English clergy: Rev. Charles Biee, Arthur Brittain, R. B. Conrius, J. D. Branne, B.A., T. C. CuI wick, John Palmer, J. H. Plant, M.A., R. M. Turnbull. Native ordained mi~sionaries: Alfred Lobu, Clement Marau, Robert Pantutun, Mano Wandrokai, Walter Weser, deacons j George Sarawia, Henry Tagalad, priests. Native teachers, about 200. Mission steam vessel, Captain Bongard engineer, officers, doctor and crew. There are 31 scholars supported at Norfolk Island by congregations in New South Wales j 10 by those in Victoria, 11 by those in South Australia, 5 by those in New Zealand, and 27 by those in New Zealand. Thus between 80 and 90 are known by name to congregations supporting them. Parcels of clothing are annually sent by working parties of ladies. A sum of £1500 per annum is contributed by friends of the mission in England.
TWO IMPORTANT DEATHS.
The death of Narayan Sheshadri, on the ocean, last month, and the death of Hormazdji Peestonji, in India, during the previous month, recall the stormy scenes attending the .:lonversion and baptism of these men, more than fifty years ago. The preaching of Dr. John Wilson, one of the great Scotch missionaries, was followed by a special blessing. Four young men, two of them Parsees .and two of them Hindus, professed faith in Christianity. All the inten'le hatred of the heathen heart was turned against these men. Legal proceedings were instituted against them in the civil courts in Bombay. Two of these converts were Danjibhai Nouroji and Hormazdji Pestonji, Parsees j and two were the brothers Narayan and Shripat Sheshadri, Hindus, and, in addition, Brahmans. Shripat Sheshadri, brother of Narayan, was remanded to Hinduism, as he had not attained to his majority. The others were baptized in spite of the violence of the mob, which threatened the mission house, and was restrained only by the presence of the military force. Narayan Shcshadri did his work afterward in connection with Presbyterians of Scotland. Hormazdji Pestonji went into the service of the Irish Presbyterian Church, and afterward became a Baptist, and was the head of the Baptist Mission in Poona. In the past summer death came to them both-to one on the sea, to the other at home.-Presbyterian.
18IH.] CONGREGATIONALISTS AND
CONGREGATIONALISTS AND MISSIONS.
BY REV. EDWARD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND.
A very important forward movement in foreign missions has just been inaugurated in England. The directors of the London Missionary Society have resolved, before the jubilee of the society in 1895, to add 100 more missionaries to its staff; a large increase, since the present number is only 192. The importance of this resolution will be apparent if it be observed': 1. That this is the oldest Foreign Missionary Society in England next to the Gospel Propagation and Baptist Societies, and has the largest purely foreign missionary income, with perhaps two exceptions.
2. Its basis is undenominational, but practically it has fallen into the hands of Congregationalists, and is the only Foreign Missionary Society which in any sense belongs to them.
3. It has a distinguished history, since it was the first Protestant society to Bend missionaries into Polynesia, China, Madagascar, Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, and to begin work in New Guinea on an important scale j and in some of these fieldll it has had distinguished success.
4. It stands eminent for the number of its illustrious missionaries- Morison, Milne, Griffith John, Ellis, Williams, Moffat j Livingstone being also of the number.
5. It has a larger staff of native agents in proportion to its European missionaries than any other society, since its ordained native ministers number 1224, its other native preachers and evangelists over 4100, and its school·teachers more than 3000, a large proportion of these being well tried and carefully trained.
Various causes have led the more ardent friends of the society to desire that it should attempt greater things. Among these may be mentioned the splendid openings for aggressive work around many of its stations in India, China, Madagascar, and New Guinea; the painfully inadequate number of its missionaries in many important centres j the examples of faith and enterprise set by some other missionary agencies, and the growing consciousness among Congregationalists that they are not doing their full part in the splendid enterprise of giving the Gospel to the non-Christian world. Convictions of this· nature led four well-known ministers to issue a heartstirring appeal only a few weeks ago, entitled" Congregationalism and the Evangelization of the W orId," the main purport of which was that at least 100 additional missionaries tlhould be sent out: 40 more to India, 40 more to China, 10 more to Africa, 10 more to Polynesia, Madagascar, etc. This suggestion was embodied in the following resolution, which after most careful consideration was accepted by the board of directors at their first meeting in July : "That it is desirable that the Society should, notwithstanding the adverse balaQce with which the past year closed, at once proceed to provide
A NEW APPLICATION OF AN OLD HYMN
for the pressing needs which have already been recognized by the Board, and should further without hesitation enter upon the enlarged openings for work presented in connection with several of the great Mission fields in which the Society is laboring. And that an attempt be made to add One hundred additional Missionaries to the Society's staff before the Society's Centenary is celebrated in 1895."
The importance and gravity of this step is seen in the facts, that for some years the income of the society has not advanced as it should have done j that it has not found without difficulty the fifteen or twenty suitable men it has required year by year to keep up its present staff of missionaries; and that the proposal will necessitate an increase of £25,000 annually to the society's income. Nevertheless the resolve is wise, noble, and necessary; it has been made deliberately and with much faith and prayer, and it will probably elicit so enthusiastic a response from the Congregational churches and such a blessing from God that it will be carried to a most successful issue.
A NEW APPLICATION OF AN OLD HYMN.
To the Editor of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW: The old hymn of Thomas Scott might with a little alteration be ad- dressed to Christians j for in the mission work the wise, the merciful, the obedient the blessed thing to do is to haste.
Haste, 0 Christian ; now be wise j Stay not for the ml)rrow's sun j Wisdom if you thus despise, Harder is it to be won.
Haste, for many now "implore j Stay not for the morrow's sun, Lest the season should be o'er, Ere thii evening's stage be run.
Haste, 0 Christian j now obey j Stay not for the morrow's sun.
Haste, for many now do pray That salvation's work be done.
Haste, 0 Christian; now be blest; Stay not for the morrow's sun, Lest perdition souls arrest, Ere the morrow is begun.
VERSAILLES, Ky. PAUL V. BOMAR.
"NAlI: TRANG SONG."
." NAM THANG SONG."* BY REV. F. ELLIS, BRISTOL, ENGLAND.
NOTE.-The following verses were written some three or four years ago by the blind Moravian pastor lu Bristol, whose noble sister takes the part of eyes and hands for him. The inspiration of the poem is suffiriently indicated In the foot-notes, which also explain all references. It was originally printed In the Periodical Accounu, the English missionary qnarterly of the Moravian Ohnrch, but in the hope that the lines might prove a source of enconragement to other than Moravian missionary laborer., they have been offered for republication In this journal by permission of Rev. Benjamin La Trobe, editor of the Pmodical Accounts. We add that the Rev. Frederic Redslob, after 20 years nnremitting labor In the Tibetan Mountains, has been forced to retire on account of broken health, and his place has been supplied by the Rev. F. Becker Shawe, who has recently arrived in his far·off field of labor in the midst of the Himalayan Mountain., after a most adventuresome and arduous journey. In Alaska the work has progressed nobly since the fatal day recorded in the poem. Addi. tional volunteers have gone forth to this bleak and dreary field, and in spite of apparently insurmonntable obstacles, converts are slowly being gathered in.
NAZARETH, PA. PAUL DE SCHWEINITZ.
Cheerless in the evening hour is the prospect he commands, As at foot of Himalaya, wrapt in thought, our Redslob stands j Eighteen thousand feet of climbing is the task to-morrow brings, And he gauges all before him, and he thinks a llUndred things: Will the undertaking prosper' is the mountain pathway clear ~ Are the coolies to be trusted '-then a sudden sickening fear Seizes him, as gazing upwards he perceives that, lure and slow, Clouds, black heavy clouds, are gathering, ominous of falling snow. Let them but discharge their burden,-and they will, the coolies say, Then all hope of further progress must consume'in long delay. For a moment all is gloomy j blows the night wind bleak and chill : – Disappointment seems to crush him at the foot of Taglang hill j Yet it is but for a moment j soon regained his self-control, And the peace which passeth knowledge takes possession of his soul 1 For within his chamber kneeling, contrite, confident, and mild, Angels might have heard his breathing, " Lord, forgive thy anxious child j Pardon if for one brief instant I have sought to take from Thee What is Thine by right and promise j take it, take it, Lord, from me• • This Tibetan sentence, which implies, .. It has cleared np 1" or .. It is all bright again 1" was the cheering morning greeting of hiB coolies to the Rev. F. Redslob, snperintendent of the Moravian Mission in Oentral Asia, on the day when he intended to cross the Taglang Pass (18,000 feet in height) near the northern bonndary of British India. He was on his way to found a permanent mission at Leh, the capital of Ladak, when evening closed in with a dark and threatening cloud hanging far down the pass, portending snow and conseqnently enhanced difficulties and dangers amid those trackless wastes of rock and glacier if not protracted delay at the foot of the Taglang. .. The pass," says Mr. Redslob, .. seemed to my imagination an image of the future of our Ladak Mission, and my own immediate prospects. I felt dispirited, and lay down to rest with a weight of apprehension on my heart. But I endeavored to cast my care upon the Lord, and commended myself and onr whole mission work into His hand•.
.. How great WIlS my joy when the next morning I was awakened by the cry, 'NAJIl THANG SONG I' (' The weather is quit~ mght again. ') It was indeed a lovely morning. The clouds had vanished, and the snow, which had merely sprinkled the pass as with a thiu covering of sugar, had entirely disappeared before I reached the heights. I could not possibly have had more favorable weather for such an ascent and descent, and the exp.eriences of the following days were destined to fill me with deep gratitude and reveal very clearly how gracionsly the Lord had arranged all things tor me." Be to-morrow in Thy keeping; mine to follow, Thine to lead; Thine the wisdom and the power, mine the weakness and the need. Glad shall be my full submission whatsoever Thy decree, For my will with Thine is blended, and Thou, Lord, art all to me !"
With the daybreak rise the coolies, all expectant to behold Everywhere the sad fulfilment of the troubles they foretold. Scarce a flake of snow has fallen, not a cloud bedims the sky, And they shout for very gladness-" Nam thang song!" they loudly cry, As in eager haste they hurry to the sleeper where he lies; " Rouse thee quickly for the journey, ' Nam thang song, 'good Sahib, rise ; Gird thee for the upward journey ; bright the sky and clear the way; , Nam thang song,' good Padre Sahib, we shall cross Taglang to-day."
TPen with sanctified exertions Redslob and his coolies start, Every footstep fraught with danger, but there's music in his heart ; For the Master's smile is on him; this makes all his troubles light. Rocky shelving, mountain torrent, steep descent, and slippery height, Precipices, all he passes, till, by angel hand sustained, He haa left it all behind him, and his journey's end attained.
Work on, Redslob, with thy comrades in that hard Tibetan field; Ne'er despond, though scant the harvest which your labors seem to yield; For in God's own time the message ye so faithfully proclaim Shall be owned by tens of thousands to the honor of His name. And the wilderness shall blossom, and the desert place rejoice, At the brightness of His coming and the music of His voice.
Such the word to you, ye others, who on many a foreign soil Delve and sow, and yet know something of the fruitlessness of toil. COUl"dge, brothers! out in Greenland, and in ice-bound Labrador In the Western Indian islands; on the Nicaraguan shore i* On the rivers of Guiana, t or among the swart Fingoos it Or in Ramahyuck's § enclosure, tending the despised Papoos ; ,Or in Canada's dominions, serving out the Word of grace To the Delaware and Choctaw~ remnants of a fading race i Or like self-denying Miiller, II with his brave wife at his side, Tt:lling the in-gathered lepers how for them, too, Christ haa died,- Courage, one and all, ye brothers! no occasion for dismay i Let not " may be" come between you and the praises of .to day ; Ne'er anticipate the morrow, for ye cannot know its form ; Fretting never frightened thunder, sighing never stayed a stonn• • Mission in the Moskito Indian Reserve, Central America.
t i. e., Dutch Guiana or Surinam, and British Guiaua (Demerara). *MiBBions In South Africa to FingOOB, Hottentots and KaffirB. reserve § Ramah-yuck (Ramah. our home) is the second aboriginal nuder care of Moravian mis- sionaries in Victoria, Australia.
U.. House-father" of the Leper Home near the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem. But when clouds come darkling o'er you as ye face stern duty's height, Then remember He who sends them can disperse them in a night.
Work with patience, pray with trusting. each one faithful at his post, And erelong the wave of blessing which swept o'er Moskito Coast Shall reach your remotest borders, and refresh and gladden you.
Many a Daukra, and Quamwatla, Kukallaya, and Yulu,* Shall rise up to call you blessed, and to verify the words, There's success in David's battle, for the battle is the Lord's.
G'nadendal t shall yet burn brightly, as a lamp with freshened oil, Entumasi, Engotini, and Entwanazana'st soil Yet shall yield abundant harvest, and another Herald § soon Bear the Gospel's gladdening message over Mexican lagoon.
And you of this latest venture, who but yesterday went forth With your lives of consecration to the wild Alaskan II North, Take our heartfelt blessing with you, and amid your ice and snow On the drear Kuskokwim River let it comfort you to know That upon our hearts we bear you, and though miles may surge between, In the truest bond of union we are with you on the scene j We could understand your feelings as ye slowly sailed away From the harbor of Francisco on that eighteenth day of May, And we could but stand and wonder at those two of gentler form Who were thus prepared to join you in the solitude and storm j Spite of all your ocean-tossings, and the dangers that ye faced, Never once in spirit shrank ye from the cause ye had embraced. We could see you grouped together gazing on the outline blue, Till the mountains of Alaska shaped themselves to clearer view; We could see you, lone and wistful, by the warehouse on the land, Where the Lizzie Merrill l left you dazed, yet waving with the hand Towards the fast-receding vessel, bidding farewell to the last Of all things that seemed to link you with the brightness of the past.
Then ye nerved yourselves to action, though unused to rope and spar, Weighed the anchor, trimmed the sails, and launched your little Bethel Star >' Past the mu~banks safely guided,· up the river bravely bore Through those fifty leagues of sameness j saw the tundras** on the shore, Marked the pine-trees andgamutes tt sparsely set on either side, And the Eskimo bidarka tt swiftly floating o'er the tide j * Places affected by the recent awakening among the Moskito Indians.
t Genadendal, the oldest mission station in South Africa, commenced by George Schmidt in 1734.
~ Former and present stations among the Kaffirs. § New mission vessel for the Moskito Coast Mission. I Alaska, until 1867 Russian America. ,- The schooner which conveyed the Alaskan pioneers from San Francisco to the month of the Kuskokwim River.
** Tundras-H treeless, shrubless, mossy flats."
**tt Gamute-village. Bidarka-three-holed kayak, or skin-covered canoe.
CUBA AS A MISBION FIELD
Felt the rainfall, 'watched the nightfall, hailed the daybreak o'er the foam,- Till in Mumtreklagamute * ye arrived, and called it " Home !"
There, within your winter quarters, daily learning while ye teach, Slowly hinting at the Gospel which as yet ye cannot preach; We can see you striving, toiling, patient, yet withal so grave, As ye think upon the comrade lying low beneath the wave, t Which swept him to sudden glory, but left YOll to mourn a friend.
Patience, brothers! "Hope and Patience" be your watchword to the end.
Scant enough we thought your numbers, yet we read the lesson tme : God, who claims the victor's glory, ever wins by Gideon's few.
Feed upon the word He gave you on that fatal August day, And be sure that when in spirit you and we together pray, " God of Bethel, bless our mission on the bleak Alaskan shore,"
He will give the cheering answer, " Fear not; I have gone before. "t CUBA AS A MISSION FIELD.
BY w. J. MOMAN, CIENFUEGOS, CUBA.
Cuba is the largest of the West Indian Islands, and has been a Spanish colony ever since its discovery. It has an area of about 72,000 square miles, and the population is variously estimated at from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000. Its soil is most fertile, and the climate generally healthy except in some of the'towns, where the want of proper sanitary regulations is perhaps the chief cause of so much sickness at certain periods of the year.
The population is ~ixed up of Spaniards (natives of Spain), Cubans (natives of Cuba), and negroes. Among these classes the strongest prejudices exist. The pe.:>ple congregat"e mostly in cities and towns, but many live on and about the sugar plantations where they are employed. The chief towns are nearly all connected by rail or steamboat, so that travelling is not difficult, though somewhat expensive.
The whole country is divided into six provinces-viz.• Pinar del Rio,' Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba, each having a chief town of the same name.
The people are nominally Roman Catholics, but the majority, having lost faith in Rome, are drifting away into infidelity. While many have thus renounced belief in all religion, there iI!, on the other hand, a large number still fanatically devoted to Rome. Roma~ism was the religion of their • .The Alaskan missionaries have built their house near Mumtrekhlagamnte. a trading post of the Alaska Commercial Company, and called the ~tatlon Bethel. (Gen. 35: 1.) t Mr. Torgersen, one of the five pioneers, was drowned by accident on August 10th, 1885.
~ The text for August 10th, 1885, the day on which Mr. Torgersen was drowned, was Isaiah 52 : 12. fathers and grandfathers, and still possesses great power over them. These are generally ignorant people, who are entirely under the power of the priests, and render them a blind and unquestioning obedience. Betwe.en these two extremes there is another class-perhaps not a large one-who have ceased to believe in the Romish Church, but still believe in God, the Creator of all things, and feel the need of a religion which will elevate man's mind and pUIify his heart.
Until recently Protestant work could not be publicly done in Cuba. At present, however, all sects are tolerated and allowed to propagate themselves without disturbance, religious toleration having been granted under the revised Spanish Constitution. The whole island is therefore opened up to the Protestant missionary, and wherever he goes he may claim the protection of the authorities. I have already had a police officer accompany me home after conducting service in my chapel.
I wish to repeat and emphasize what I have already said about the amount of work which is being done here at present. It is in no way adequate to the pressing need of the field. The Southern Baptist Convention has missions in Havana and some neighboring towns, and a great work is being done by this soci~ty. There is an Episcopal mission in Matanzas, with a station in Havana, and recently a Presbyterian mission has heen started in Havana, with which I believe the Presbyterians of Mexico are identified. So far as I know, the only other mission work being done on the island is at CienfuegoB, a town on the south side, where the writer is laboring under the auspices of the Jamaica· Baptist Missionary Society. All these agencies together do not reach more than 500,000 persons, leaving more than 1,000,000 souls without the knowledge of the true way of salvation, and without any possible way of acquiring such a knowledge. Scattered all over the country are populous towns and villages without the light of the Gospel of Christ, where the people must either be satisfied with the dead forms and lying absurdities of Rome, or rellounce all religion. In the three southern provinces-namely, Santa Clara, Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba, with a population of about 600,000, I am the only missionary. These hungry, starving souls are daily crying for the bread of life. Day by day the cry goes up from thousands of burdened hearts, "No man cares for my soul." Their religion consists of processions, masses, baptisms, and such ceremonies, which Rome has invented, and with whiCH she has replaced the Gospel. The priest is the only mediator they know between God and man, and although dissatisfied with his religion, and not unfrequently with his corrupt morals, they are afraid to abandon the Church, as union with it is their only hope of salvation. ' , No priest, no sacrament j no sacrament, no salvation," is a maxim of terrible power over the minds of those who have been brought up in the darkness and superstition of Rome.
Less than 120 miles away from the great American republic lies a country with more than 1,000,000 persons, "who sit in darkness and in the region of the shadow of death," waiting for the light of the Gospel. How long shall they thus wait? One cannot but feel that the answer to this ques- tion lies with the Christians of the United States. There can bl1 no question about money and men, for the churches have both the money and the men. Since writing the last sentence I took up the MISSIONARY REVIEW for Feb- ruary, and find that the Protestants of the United States are supposed to have a surplus wealth of about $500,000,000 a year. What to do with it ? Why not spend $500,000 a year in trying to evangelize Cuba ~ With so much money in their purses, and so many men willing to go out as mis- sionary worker~, we fail to see any reason why every town in Cuba should not be supplied with a missionary of the Cross.
The people are very favorably disposed toward Americans and American institutions. In every city and town, it might be said in every household, the products of American industry and manufacture are well known. Why should not this be the case also with the religon which has raised the United States to the proud position she occupies among the nations of the earth ~ There is urgent need that the work should be done at once. This feeling grows on one the more he knows of the people. As I have already said, many are embracing atheistic creeds and theories which involve a negation of all religion. It is not unlikely that this anti-Christian movement will gain strength in proportion as the intellectual faculties of the people are / awakened and developed apart from true religion. It seems that the Church is losing its opportunity with regard to Cuba. People are becoming infidels chiefly because they do not know the true Gospel, and are disgusted with the caricature of Christianity which the Roman Church exhibits. Now is the time to seek to check the growth of iufidelity which seems likely to overrun poor, priest.ridden Cuba.
But there is another reason why the neld should be taken hold of at once, even if we should not succeed in turning the tide of infidelity. The human mind cannot long be satisfied with a negation of all religion. To be religious belongs to man's nature, and the religious faculty will sooner or later make itself felt in the setting in of a strong reaction in favor of religion. I think this is clearly taught by the religious history of the world. Wherever infidelity has seemed to triumph for awhile a reaction has invaria- bly set in in favor of religion, and sometimes in favor of the most degrad- ing superstition under that name. One feels sure that it will be so in Cuba; and if the pure, true Gospel is not made known to the people, the reaction will be in favor of the degrading superstition and idolatry of the Church of Rome, and no one can tell how long this may delay the evan- gelization.01 Cuba.
SOIDe seem to think that there is no room for other missionary societies than those that are now laboring here. A gentleman officially connected with one of the great missionary societies said to me not long ago, " We have lost our chauce in Cuba." This is by no means true. The field is
THE PROTESTANT MOVEMENT IN MEXICO
large enough to receive Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbytpriansin short, all evangelical societies who will preach the Word of God. There is no reason why all should not unite in the grand work of giving the Gospel to this benighted people.
The difficulties of the work are numerous, and different stations throughout the island will present different difficulties; but I have already taken up too much space, and cannot now refer to the difficulties except to say that they are not insuperable, and patient, persevering, faithful work in Cuba will surely meet with large success, although the laborers may have to work hard and wait long.
THE PROTESTANT MOVEMENT IN MEXICO.
BY ELEANOR P. ALLEN, CINCINNATI, o.
The innate ideas of our Protestant heritage are that religious and civil freedom are both alike necessary to the highest development of our race. In order to measure the value of these great possessions to other countries that hitherto have not enjoyed their benefits, let us consider for a moment by what feeble means, against what odds, at how great cost, that heritage of blessing was won for our own-land. There is no more interesting period • of our history than those seventy-five years of struggle which decided whether this land should be another New Spain, like poor Mexico, or another New England, such as, thank God, it is; whether, accord- ing to the inscription upon the arms of Columbus, "To Castile and Leon (alone) Colon had given a new world," or whether he had found that treasure for a greater people made new and strong and free by -a truer and a purer faith; for whether this struggle is called in Europe the wars of the" Austrian and Spanish Successions," and in this new unsettled world the wars of "Queen Anne," "King George," or the " French and Indian War," the central point at issue was the same. How- ever complicated by the personal ambitions of the French Louis-es or the monarchs of stately Spain, and the other princes of Europe from the dates of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 'lnd the success of the revolution in England by which it was declared that thenceforth no Catholic prince should ever sit upon her throne, the relll struggle for dominion in Europe and for the consequent possession of this continent lay between the over- grown powers of the Papacy, on the one hand, and on the other, the giant infant of the Reformation, late born in the lap of Germany.
What had Spain done 1 Marching from the southern seas in gorgeous panoply of scarlet and gold, her fiery, intensely religious, always greedy hosts conquered South America and Mexico at about the same time, and pushing far to the north and west, founded town after town upon our Pacific frontier, the centre and chief interest of which town was always the parish church, till here and there and everywhpl"e, above the soft seas and in the upper mountain air, was heArd the tender toning of her mid- night bells of prayer. Have we not to-day Santa Fe, founded by Spanish priests, away up on the plateau of the Rocky Mountains, now deemed the oldest city of our country 1 and San Augustine, the next oldebt, also found- ed by them as they came to pour other hosts across the southern slopes of our country to the Mississippi 1 What did France do 1 Were not the white gleam and shimmer of her lily standard seen through the wild woods of the St. Lawrence from its gulf along its course, through the great lakes and down the Mississippi till they met the forces of Spain in Louisiana! Have we not the traces of this course in the names familiar to us all-of Marquette, Juliet, Sault Ste. Marie, and Detroit, besides many another 1 Then did she not strive to secure possession of our own fair valley of the Ohio, that she might use it as an entering wedge with which to split apart the claims of the few and feeble English colonies on the coast! How many of those colonies were there 1 When this struggle began in 1688 there were twelve, and one of them was Romish. When we group these facts together, and remember the splendor and resources of these Romish countries at that period, and the weakness of the forces of Protestantism that were set to oppose them, can we not imagine that the angels above watched the close of this conflict with high joy, and that they all, together with the Prince of our people, sang aloud, " But as for His own people, He led them forth like sheep. He carried them in the wilderness like a flock." " We give Thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty, that Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned !"
William Carey began work in India liS the firST; Protestant missionary only ninety-eight years ago. It was in 1'793 that he alone, the leader of a vast army that should follow, set foot on India's soil for the redemption of the millions of that race. He toiled on seven full years before he gained his first convert-seven years of struggle for one soul! In 1800 he baptized Krishna Chunda Pul, the first Hindu Protestant convert. When Carey died (the man whom God lifted from the cobbler's bench first to the English pulpit and then to the highest throne ever erected on the soil of India) he was honored throughout EnglanQ, India, and the civilized world. He had introduced a work into India that would ultimate in the moral regeneration of the people and the social and mental elevation of a race. Schools. books, newspapers, moral associations-these, and a thousand other blessings followed as the indirect fruit of Carey's sowing on Indian soil. He died in 1834, hut not until he had seen thousands follow his lone convert into the fold of Christ j and when the Church celebrated the semi-centennial of his death 500,000 converts could be counted in the vast field of work he had opened up. American growth of population does not exceed twenty-five per cent for the decade just past, but that of the Protestant family of India exceeded eighty-six per cent. How wonderfully God has honored the teachings of William Carey, the so-called Sanctified Cobbler!
1891.J EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The Rhenish Missionary Society complains that, for some reason or other, its COllverts in Bomeo are so decidedly inferior to the Mohammedans in industry as to be at a disadvantage in every way. Yet they are learning diligence in one way-they are showing increasing zeal in supporting their churches.
– The Maritime Presbyterian, in reference to the New Hebrides, says: " In regard to the heathen, our outlook was never anything like so hopeful as at present." But who" we" may be we are unable to say, as the magazine neither gives a place of publication, nor the name of the editor, nor tells of what church it is an organ; and the writer is not learned enough in the ecclesiastical affairs of the Dominion to know whether the maritime provinces have a Presbyterian Church of their own or not.
-The Spirit of Missions quotes Louis Agassiz: " Every friend of Brazil must wish to see its present priesthood replaced by a more vigorous, intelligent, and laborious clergy."
-The Missionary Reporter (M. E. C., South) says: "Last year the net increase of the membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, waR larger than the entire home membership of the Moravian Church; yet they have four times as many missionaries in the foreign field as are supported by Southern Methodists."
THE CONTINENT.
-The Amerzcan NcAll Record calls attention (as, curiously enough, the Catholic Irish Review had also done) to the fact that, out of the 600,000 Protestants of France, half the first Grevy cabinet were Protestants. They went out of office, if we remember right, rather than sanction the persecuting policy of the government toward the Catholics. The Protestants of France do not have divers weights and measures of religious liberty. The great Protestant who has just been called home was never wearied of lifting up his voice for Catholic rights, no less than Protestant, against atheistic malice. This shows French Protestantism to be of the true metal. The Huguenots were deeply tainted with the persecuting leaven, but they worked clear of it in the long school of suffering, and in the largeness of individual faith. Now, says the Record, "men with religious convictions, whether Catholic or Protestant, dare confess their faith, undeterred by fear of ridicule."
-The Record says: "The Universite de Paris (the organ of the Students' Association of Paris), the Figaro, the .Tournal des Debats, and the Temps have each asserted in their own way that French students as a whole have ceased to be Voltairians. There is an evident recoil from the fri volou8 scepticisms of the past, and a tendency tuward mysticism, although Dot toward Catholicism." Viscomte E. M. de Vogue shows that even in those schools which have been the citadels of irreligion, sympathetic investigation is taking the place of mere mockery. "Our predecessors," he says, "too ellsily threw aside an entire domain of ideas which they deemed anti-scientific,; but we must see." "In other words," says the Record, "French students are willing to read the credentials of Christianity j let us do our utmost to present them. "
-The Mission Populaire Evangelique, of Marseilles, has rendered its modest report, from which we see that it has at least nine branches of work, religiuus and charitable. It is interwoven, we do not exactly know how, with the McAll Mission, whose work it warmly commends to the support of its friends.
-The Bible sales have largely increased in Italy, though the sales of Bibles and New Testaments have diminished, owing to the increasing poverty of the peasantry, compelling them to take portions instead of the whole.
Also : "In entering into the missionary current a church lifts itself to the greatness of its vocation on the side of infinity. It knits anew the tradition of the grand apostolate, which has the world for its field and mankind for its object, lowering all the walls of partition. Nothing can be more invigorating than to breathe this air of the mountain-top, from which we survey the vastness of the world, provided we are borne aloft not by the fallen angel, and aspire to subdue to ourselves, but by the apocalyptic angel, who carries in his hands the everlasting gospel, that we may learn how to save it.
"Our mission has been, as it were, the supreme expression of our Protestant development. Scarcely has the religious awakening coma to pass which has followed our great national crises, when we see it originate spontaneously, so thoroughly is it a natural consequence of reillumined faith. It rallies all our living, which as yet form but a single aggregate; it is the time of joyous unanimity j no other question is asked but this, What must we do to be saved ~ What must we do to save that which is lost? All the churches, pastors, and laity are but one heart, one soul, one spirit.
" We ought to spare no pains to bring our brethr.en to see that the conquest of the world for Christ ought not only to take precedence of all earthly interests, but that it takes precedence none the less of the reorganiza- . tion of our forms of worship, of our ecclesiastical contests, of our theological quarrels. Indeed, what can so certainly restore life to our worship, to our churches, to our theology as to be simply obedient to the supreme command of our Great Captain by raising the gospel torch to serve as a lighthouse to those who are perishing in the darkness of heathenism, to carry the bread of life to those who lie dying of famine without God and without hope ?"-PROFESSOR KRUG"'l" Journal des Missions.
– " Doubtless the wonderful progress which French Protestantism has made during the past eighteen years would have been made sooner or later, in any case. The Spirit of God has been manifest in that church, inspiring and impelling it to a new and vigorous life. But its progress has been facilitated and in some degree directed by the work and example of Mr. McAll. He went before them with methods which to them were entirely new, and proved their practicability j more than that, he proved their fitness to the actually existing condition. He made evident the undreamedof fact that the mass of the people were waiting for a religion, ready to be taught, longing for they knew not what, but what the result has proved to be the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "-American McAll, Record.
-In two of the central halls of Paris the aggregate attendance for 1890 has exceeded that for 1889 by 24,300. AFRICA.
-The New York Evangelist gives the following account of the LiTingstonia Mission of the Free Church of Scotland. The first-fruits were seven young men and two young women. "These were recently followed by nine others, and these more recently by thirty-four, making a native church of fifty-two members, besides hundred~ of hopeful catechumens and inquirers of both sexes. All the converts are missionaries to their countrymen. Including these fifty-two, the number of natives teaching in the mission schools at the close of the year was 120, of whom seven were women; and the number of pupils on the roll was 3080, of whom 2422 were in attendance on a given day, besides the children in three schools at the north end" of Lake Nyassa.
-Bishop Smythies, of the Universities' Mission, seems to be a man of very broad and brotherly sympathies. His intimate friendship with the Presbyterians of Blantyre is a standing rebuke, not to High Church opinions, which he entertains, but to High Church arrogance. On the other hand, he gives an earnest warning that jf Protestants in Africa will insist more on the deep differences than on the deeper agreements between them and the Roman Catholics, " it will be impossible to avoid deadly feuds." In other words, he holds the language of Robert Leighton, of Thomas Chalmers, of Richard Baxter, of Philip Schaff, and of the editor of this REVIEW.
-The ])aily Graphic of February 11th, says the Ohristian, has a letter drawing a sharp contrast between the French city of St. Louis, in Senegambia, where the writer did not see a sign of intoxication, and the disgusting intemperance of the British possessions along thc coast.
-The Primitive Methodist Mission has a growing influence on the Spanish island of Fernando Po, but, unlike Ponape, is treated by the authorities with j~stice and toleration.
-Dr. Laws, in his special report of the Livingstonia Mission, besides an account of the medical, industrial, literary, and evangelistic work result- ing in a church of 53 members and 70 catechumens, adds: "The indirect results of mission work, though not so visible to a stranger, are none the less palpable to a resident in the country. Much of the faith in the efficacy of the Mwave poison has in some districts been broken down, petty wars are less frequent, and there is evidently a greater readiness to settle amicably the differences which often arise among them without recourse to the club and the spear, as formerly. Not that war has ceased or that quar- rels are infrequent, for snch is not the case; but there is a marked improve- ment upon the whole. Slaves are better treated, and more sympathy is shown toward sufferers, and help often given them. Work is sought after, '
and its wages oftener enjoyed by the laborer than in former days. '
" The nnion of the Reformed Dutch Church of South Africa with the Free and the United Presbyterian Churches of Scotland in Livingstonia is one in which we rejoice, and we trust that the proverbial ~trength of the threefold cord may be exemplified in the help of these churches thus happily sharing in a common work fraught with common difficulty, but with abundant scope for work in the future. Already the Reformed Dutch Church contemplates strengthening the contingent they have placed in the field, and Mr. Murray has localities in view where other helpers may be stationed. ' , The Livingstonia Mission has spread out from five centres, " while the populous village>! to the south and north of the head station, Bandawe, on the west shore of the lake, are being gradually annexed to the kingdom of Christ. "
-Really Lewanika, under whose regis the heroic Coillard and his colleagues are laboring on the Zambesi, is turning out a different king from Mwanga. This is what he writes to M. Coillard: "I am not afraid of a revolution; but if I remain alivll and king of this country, I must put a stop to witchcraft, robbery, fornication, and drunkenness." By witchcraft he doubtless means the pretence of magic artd, which is often fatal to its victims through their fears, at! well as through baleful drugs.
– " My heart is hungry for something, and I don't know what it is."- Words of a Congo Valley African, Church Missionary Gleaner.
-Central Africa for May has an interesting article, read at Oxford by Archdeacon Maples, on the relation of the Moral Law to the Idea of God among the East Africans, and the Bantus generally. It appears that these all, apparently in the pure use of logical deduction, have arrived at the distinct belief in the personal God, the Creator of all men and things. They do not worship Him, being singularly indevout, and seem to regard themselves as standing in no moral relation to Him. They have also a distinct, though neither deep nor wide, apprehension of the moral law, but" as human, not divine." Therefore they 4ave properly no sense of sin. Their belief in God and their belief in Right, having originated independently, have both remained stagnant. But when God, being personal, is presented to them as necessarily standing in a supreme moral relation to them as personal, their consciences, the archdeacon declares, never fail to respond affirmatively. And this awakening apprehension of Right and Wrong as being also Holiness and Sin is that which first gives fruitfulness and progressiveness to the previous immemorial stagnancy of their whole spiritual development.
-The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has, in the hope of future conversi~:ms, obtained the erection of Mashonaland, between the Limpopo and the Zambesi, into a diocese. Matebeland, where the London missionaries are working, will not be mcluded in it.
-The Rev. James Parlane, writing of the Congo missions in the Missionary Record of the U. P. Church, says: "Another witness says, 'Of the members of these churches a very large percentage, considerably more than half, are persevering, energetic, aggressive Christian workers, such as put to shame the feeble and childish efforts of many Chlistians in our own land. To them, black men or white, Btate official of however high degree or slave of ever so mean a degradation, is either a ' son of God' or a ' son of the devil.' They know but two classes; and if you are not avowedly of the first, they immediately pronounce you to be of the second; • . . and then they present the gospel to you with all the eloquence and clearness of which their incomparable language is capable."
-Bishop Tucker has at last reached Uganda, after great sufferings. The ophthalmia, he fears, will eventually render an operation necessary. His letter of December 30th is published in the May Intelligencer. The biRhop says: "Truly, the half was not told me. Exaggeratioo about the eagerness of the people here to be taught there has been none. No words can describe the emotion which filled my heart as, on Sunday the 28th, I stood up to speak to fully 1000 men and women, who crowdEd the church of Buganda. It was a wonderful sight! There, close beside me, was the Katikiro, the second man in the kingdom. There, on every hand, were chiefs of various degrees, all Christian men, and all in their demeanor devout and earnest to a high degree. The responses in their heartiness were beyond everything I have heard even in Africa. There was a second service in the afternoon, at which there must have been fully 800 present. The same earnest attention was apparent, and the same spirit of devotion. I can never be sufficiently thankful to God for the glorious privilege of being permitted to preach to these dear members of Christ's flock."
The bishop was as unfavorably impressed with the king, as everyone else has been. But the teeth of the tiger have been drawn.
" I should say," remarks the bishop, "that such anotJ:1er open door does not exist in any other part of the world. And I should say, moreover, that in no other part of the world is there to be found a native church which is so disposed to support itself and its ministry as the church of Buganda. The land occupied by the missionaries is a gift from the peopie; the houses occupied by Messrs. Gordon and Walker were built for them by the Christians without any expectation of payment. And, to crown all, a large house of three rooms has been built for myself, and two amaller houses for the other members of my party. I have said that this crowns all, but it does not. Every day the Christians bring us food in such quantities that we have more than enough for sustenance. I do not expect it will be necessary for me to buy any food during the period of my stay here. The people are only too anxious to keep one here."
Since the bishop's arrival, the Roman Catholic and the Protestant Mission have held conferences, and have drawn out more fully the terms of the modus vivendi, mutually pledging themselves to see that it is thoroughly carried through, and that the scandal of contentions between the two forms of Christianity shall cease before the heathen.
The bishop has confirmed seventy persons, set apart six laymen as native evangelists, and advanced Messrs. Baskerville and Gordon from the diaconate to the priesthood.
– " In order to do justice to Mackay's real significance, we must go beyond his direct missionary work, and his technical and industrial achievements. What we must emphasize still more in his character are the fruitful thoughts which he casts into the discussion of the African problem, the grand points of view on which he insists for its solution, the glowing enthusiasm and indefatigable energy with which he interposes over against the IIpiritual and secular conquerors of Africa, for the healing of the woes of the Dark Continent." -C. BUSSE, Allgemeine MissionlJ-zeitschrijt.
-Zealous Christian young men of England seem to have their attention now strongly directed to the Central Soudan. We perceive from the Young Men's Magazine, the organ of the Y. M. C. A. of Newcastle-on- Tyne, that two Y. M. C. A. men have set oui on such ft mission. They are Hermann G. Harris, B.A., aged 30, and Edward White, under 20. Farewell services have been held in the former centres of Mr. Harris's Christian activity, at Bolton. Bath, London, Liverpool, and Weston. The two gentlemen have gone first to Tunis for preparation.
-The Women's Missionary Union of South Africa, closely connected with the Huguenot Female Seminary, which is a daughter of Mt. Holyoke, has affiliated with it twenty·five local societies, and supports eight workers in <Uf;terent parts of ~ol,ltb A,friQa. ~o~e are amon~ the Bechuanaa i SOIUQ are among the French brethren in Lessuto j and one, Madame Goy, is on the Zambesi.
.-The Sixty-first Report on Foreign Missions of the Free Church of Scotland remarks: "The postponement of a convention with the Portu- guese has interrupted postal and steamer communications. The free navi- I!ation of the Zambesi and Shire has, however, been secured, and a small British subsidy alone is required to make the Scottish settlements, mis- sionary and trading, in Zambesi and Nyassaland, independent of Portugal forever. "
-The Scottish Presbyterian, London Congregationalist, and Eng-lish Universities' Mission districts have been virtually formed into the consular colony of British Central Africa. Consul-General H. H. Johnston is first commissioner.
JAPAN.
-It appears that the German missionaries in Japan-personally most excellent men-occupy the extreme ground of the original Tiibingen . school, from which the great body of the modern critical school has far receded. But even·they are scandalized at some of the present tendencies of one wing of Japanese Christianity. Herr Munzinger is very apprehen- sive that it will bring over too much of its earlier paganism. "A single misstep now," says he, "might do incurable harm. . . , What could result from the endeavor to develop the Christian theology in connection with Buddhism and Confucianism ~ . . ' If youthful Christianity is not fully conscious of its essentially higher value above Buddhism, it will buy its seeming victory dear. At the present time it is not even advisable for Christianity so much as to ventilate the question of assuming a more con- ciliatory attitude toward Buddhism. Every word to that effect is inter- preted by the latter as weakness, and stimulates it to advance against the enemy with new courage and firmer confidence. The decisive conflict be- tween the two religions, which at this time is in its full heat, and is car- ried on by the Buddhists with the most passionate energy. would thereby take an unfavorable turn, and, in the best event, the vi~tory of Chris- tianity would be a good while postponed. Cold reserve is just now more suitable than affectionate coquetry." The Calw MonatsbliUter, from which we quote this, remarks: " We are glad to note that, in this respect at least, our countrymen see more clearly than some eminent ministers, who are blinded by self-confidence, national pride, and optimism."
-The noble impulse of patriotism seems likely to become, to a part of our Japanese brethren, as much a stone of stumbling as to Jewish Chris- tianity, a great fraction of which, perhaps the numerical majority, was ultimately led astray by national feeling to prune and pare its Christianity to such an extent as to leave in it scarcely anything that was distinctive of the Gospel.
-At the recent celebration of the tenth anniversary of Mr. Ischii's Orphan Hou~e, or rather of the church of which he is a member, warm expression was given to the sense of obligation felt toward the missiona- ries. This is described as exciting considerable surprise: but it does not appear that serious exception was taken to it. It will probably be some time yet before a Japanese Christian is actually put under thp, ban by his brethren for showing a measure of affection tow!lfd t1108e w40 brou~ht t11~ Gosrel to his land,
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT BDITlIID AND CONDUCTED BY BEv. 1. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Oauses of the Disturbanoe in Ohina. try of China, and, to 80me extent, the political unit, too, of the masses as [EDITORIAL, 1. T. GRACEY, D.D.] against all order as well as against the party in power in the Government. It is with trepid9tion that we venture They were lawless, and terrorized the to treat of this theme. and our modesty several communities where they were would make us prefer that it were pre- found. A great number of them took to sented by some one in China at this the Yangtsi valley, and were to be found time; but our own resources are so in all its great cities. It would 8eem full, and are from so widely separated that this disturbing element would, districts, that it is not easy to indicate however, be limited to the one generato any writer just what ground they sug- tion. Strangely enough, it has not been gest to us as desirable to be covered. so. When men have died substitutes We therefore endeavor to summarize have been found for them, and the corsomewhat of the result of our own pa- rupt distribution of the pension fund tient study of the situation, without has gone on. So powerful had these burdening our article with naming our didcharged soldiers become, and so capavarious authorities. ble of fomenting trouble, it was not easy for the Government to arrest the A PENSIONED ARMY. oorruption of its: funds in this way. Tseng Kuo-chuan was at one time It seems not possible to set forth the directed by the empress dowager to reunderground agencies which have been duce this pension list. He said, as he at work in the fomentation of the recent had maintained before, that it was imdisturbances, without going back to the possible. After his death the central Taiping Rebellion. At that time the Government undertook the task, and Chinese Government called into the this became' the occasion of wide disfield an extra military force of a million satisfaction fomented by these men. or so of men. At the close of the war the soldiers were pensioned. '.chere SECRET SOCIETIES. were other courses open to the Government which wisdom would certainly Another important factor in this rehave suggested rather than this course. view is the secret societies of China. China had vast tracts of country unde- We are not a little surprised in. searchveloped, and it would have been in ac- ing through the best books on China cordance with modern statesmanship in within our command to find that this the West to have assigned to these sol- element of Chinese society is conspicudiers these tracts rather than a money ously absent from them. The most income. China had also great public prominent political secret society in works, on which these men might have China was the White Lily Society, which been profitably employed. Neither originated in Hupeh, and spread into course was taken, however. The pen- other States. It was a Buddhist vegeta. sioned army was dismissed with suffi- rian society, which read Buddhist books cient financial resource from the na- and avoided animal food. But designing tional treasury to keep them in idleness men admitted to it converted it into a if they so chose, and the most of them political sect. Besides the societies did so choose. They became a restless having a Buddhist basis there are the community, wandering over the coun- PlanchBtte Societies of the Red Light try, and loafing at the opium ilen·-that I'~d, tl1f;} White Li~bt-a awo.~ bfQthe/i' up-it Qf 111 tbe or~lUlill<eq V~Cf;} 1!nd, <levUhood of men, which [mayor may not be to resist the continuance of this recog- political. They are Taoist rather than nized corruption. It has, however, re- Buddhist. They cut off the head of a cently brought pressure to bear on it, cock and drink the blood mixed with with the result of stirring up the opwine on taking the oath of fellowship. position of these men to the adminis- They afe subject to organic direction as tration. This is held by some to be the to when they are to resist civil or polit- chief cause of the present outbreak. ical authority, whether expressed in the military or police power. They are or- A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT. ganized for mutual protection. They may be patriotic. It is well known that the present rul- ing house of the Government is of Tar- One of these non-Buddhist societies tar origin. There is diversity of opincomes in for a prominent place in the ion as to how far this is offensive to the study of the present situation. It is people of China. There are those who known as the Kolao Hui, and is a mili- represent that the people are bitterly tary organization, originally benevolent opposed to this foreign administration.' only. It is recognized as the most dan. Others think that the dissatisfaction is gerous of the existing sects. It consists more with the administration than with exclusively of soldiers. It is a pro- its nationality. The charge is made of scribed society, being esteemed a secret universal corruption among the official conspiracy. It was found extensively class. Whether, therefore, the nationamong the army of the time of the Tai- ality of the party in power is offensive ping war. In that army were a great or not, its unpopularity can easily be number of men from the province of made to centre in objection to it as for- Honau. They had a constitutional fond- eign-Manchu, not Chinese. There is ness for a roving, restless life. They certainly serious complaint against the were naturally a turbulent community. Government among a large part of the They won a name in the time of the re- people, even if the better class are not bellion, and are still known as the solid against the nationality of the " Honan Braves." They had, to a good Peking authorities, and whether the degree, saved the country. They have people as a whole are indifferent on the been the centre of disaffection. During subject or not. the recent disturbance in Foochow, on account of which missionaries re- FOREIGN COMMERCE AND DISPLACEMENT. moved to a place of safety at the mouth of the Min River, under advice of those As to the foreign European element, in authority, there were from two to it is the occasion of serious disturbance three thousand of these discharged of increasingly large parts of the com· Houan soldiers from the Yangtsi valley mercial and industrial classes. The present in Foochow, and about eight trade of the entire Yangtse valley has, in thonsand men from Honan under arms truth, changed hands. Foreign-built in the employ of the Tartar· general. A steamers have displaced the old Chinese number of the regular standing army junks, and this has thrown out of emhave joined the Kolao Hui. Thus the ployment a very large number of people, army on which the Government has to who have not found any other means of rely is itself sown with organized con- livelihood to compensate for the loss. spirators. These cannot be relied on to It is not easy in the interior of China to subdue any disturbance fomented by make a new adjustment of industries. the Kolao Hui. These men have been The people are conservative in their among the most earnest antagonists of habits and set in their industrial the reduction of the total bulk of the grooves. Displacing a class does not original pension fund. Government open a corresponding avenue for their pail therefore beeu wellnigh powerless toil speedily enough. Naturally these people fall into the ways of thinkin6 of those who antagonize foreign aggression. When we remember, therefore, that the Naturally they drift toward parties who organized Kolao Hui honeycombs it, it are disaffected toward the dynasty, is readily seen that insllrgents led by which has suffered if not fostered this members of that order, or with which foreign trade. Naturally they come to they are in sympathy, are not to be have a dislike to the foreign commercial carelessly confronted with threats on the traveller, who is now everywhere in the part of the Government. In the Taipinterior, pushing the products of foreign ing rebellion the Government found itfactories. Naturally they do not dis- self unequal to the task of snbdning the criminate as between classes of foreign- insurgents without calling on European ers, whether missionary, scientific, po- aid. There is no reason to believe they litical, or commercial, in their dislike to are more able to cope with any widewhat is foreign. This feeling is liable spread resistance to their authority at to be fanned into fanatical fllry by bad this time. A combination of all the men. It can be made Ilse of by illlCh an forces and circumstances which we have organization as the .. Honan Braves" or feebly set forth might therefore result the Kolao Hui, when they are them- in a formidable attempt to overthrow the selves ready to foment disorder by which dynasty itself. The Kolao Hui would they certainly hope to profit. delight in the opportunity for plunder and possible other advance of their for- SUPERSTITIOUS PREJUDICES. tunes, which this would open to them. Altogether it is easy to see that the peo- Now add to these combustible ele- ple are very feebly governed from the mentR the fact that the people are super- Imperial Yamen at Peking, and that stitious and ignorant about the habits dynasty itself may very readily come to and beliefs of foreigners, and it is easily be so dependent on European force as seen how these Kolao Hui, or the lead- to lead to the result in practical politics ers of disaffection toward the Govern- that the Chinese Government itself may ment, can rouse the people by appeal- exist at their will ; and another &stern ing to their ignorant sympathies. Some- Question may be about to be precipitated times they declare that the foreign into the heart of European politics. The building or telegraph wire interferes contmued existence of the empire itself with Feng Shui, that all-pervading sci- may come only to await the agreement ence of LucIe which permeates every among the great military powers of Eupart of the Chinese theory of 80cial as rope as to the manner of its partition well as religious practice. Sometimes among themselves. an appeal is made to the human sympathies, as has been done so extensively Missions to the Iberian Peoples. in this present disturbance, by declaring that the foreigners steal children, that J. M. CHALLIS, D.D., SANTIAGO, CHILI. they may obtain their eyes to send abroad to make medicine. In one case Iberia was the ancient name for the it is said that the rioters went into the peninsula of Spain and Portugal. From cemeteries and took the bodies of re- this peninsula have gone forth the milcently interred children and paraded lions who now occupy the West India with them on exhibition through the Islands, Mexico, Central and Sonth streets, affirming that they found them America. These peoples number some in the Roman Catholic Hospital. sixty millions of souls, and are all in countries where the Church of Rome THE IMPERIAL ARMY_ has dominated for many centuries. Un- happily for the development of religiolls Still further, to comprehend the whole and moral life, the impress made by the case, we must refer to the regnlar army. Church of Rome has not been in accord- It is said that it exists withal q nite too ance with the spiritual teaching of the largely only on paper and the pay.roll. Word of God, nor has it been after a Hence a Hottentot dressed in a rag, liv. very high order or type. ing in a grass hut, and eating food which to us is repugnant, is in far more In the matter of education, wherever need of the Gospel than could be a the schools have been under the control Spanish maiden dressed in the latest of Romish priests or of Jesuit fathers Parisian styles, living luxuriously in a the res~lts have been limited, narrow, beautiful home. But it should ever be and unsatisfactory, the chief aim being remembered that civilization is not to exalt the Church rather than to give Christianity, even though Christianity knowledge; to bind the student more is a chief cause and a large element in firmly under priestly power than to en. civilization. There are civilized heathen large and strengthen the intellect; to just as certainly as there are uncivilized make abject slaves of the hierarchy or barbarous heathen. rather than bring the aspiring learner to independence of thought, of feeling, The Iberian peoples are to a very large or of action. Only when pressed by lib- extent civilized-enlightened, if yon de· eral or by Protestant competition has sire the highest expression. When you there been any active effort to meet the consider dress, appearance, house ap. exigencies of the case, and then only to pointment, and many items of social the smallest possible extent. To-day life, especially among the upper classes, there is need of Gospel missions and of you at once say these things are all one Gospel schools among that entire popu- can desire. The lamentable fact which lation which may properly be called the should be emphasized, and which ap- Iberian peoples. peals to the Christian heart, is, these peoples are not evangelized. Such a We are accustomed to estimate the im· statement may seem to some a most portance and pressing need of any mis· damaging one to the Church which has sionary enterprise by the immensity of dominated these peoples these three the popUlation to which our attention is centuries, and which during all these called. Many denominations have mis- years has had undisputed and despotic sions here and there in South America sway in all these lands. This arrogant and in Mexico, and to the constituency Church has had unhindered opportunity of these missionary societies the work to apply, by all its boasted machinery, seems less pressing than that to Eastern the Gospel of Christ to the intellect end fields, simply because the number of in- heart of these submissive millions; and habitants in any single republic appears if the application has not been made, it comparatively small. But the true way must be either that a wrong work has to look at this matter is not at a small been attempted or that there has been a work among the few in Cuba or Guate. terrible criminal neglect. Those who mala or Chili, but to efforts as directed are familiar with the religious life of the to a vast number who speak the Span. Iberian peoples, whether revealed in ish and the Portuguese tongue, and that Madrid, in Mexico, in Rio Janeiro, or this vast work is one. When we plan in Santiago, uniformly testify that a for it, work for it, give to it, we should dead churchism is all that can be found plan, and work, and give with sixty mil. as the outcome of these centuries of lions of unevangelized men and women unobstructed domination. Those who as the object of OUf interest, our gifts, know the moral life of these peoples our efforts, and our prayers. testify that the beauty of innocency has departed, and that under the whited ex· Then, again, interest in any specific terior of fashion and style and elegance mission field is measured largely by the is the rottenness of vice and crime, degree of civilization of the people to which shows that conscience has been whom we go. The more degraded a foully debauched, and thatmoralst&nd. people are physically as well as morally, ards are gauged only by the world, the according to our standards of style and appearance, the more needy they are. :fiesh, and the devil. The priesthood we are disciples of Christ as well as immoral, corrupt, venal, and inactive in manufacturers, that we are missionaries promoting any moral or religious life of the cross as well as merchants, we among the people ; the better classes, shall not have fulfilled our whole duty. with many splendid exceptions, dissi· We should be as anxious to plant in pating, and in many cases grievously those lands the banner of the cross as sinning in velvet and broadcloth lind to establish business centres. We elegance; the lower classes, to a great should be as zealous to make known to extent, following the behests of a degrad. those peoples the fact of human redemp. ed appetite in homespun and COBrse at. tion as to tell them the story of onr tire and in unkempt surroundings. It American resources. We should be as must be said that while the general type eager to plant aU that immense region and trend of life is irreligious, and, ac. with Christian schools as to build their cording to American Christian stand· railroads and to open those vast rivers ards, immoral, yet in spite of bad exam· to American commerce. pIe, false teaching, and a corrupt priest. hood, there are some priests who are Until we have taken this view of onr pure and true in spite of their surround. responsibilities, and as honest disciples ings, and that among both upper and of Jesus Christ, and as genuine lovers lower classes are some who are better of our fellow·men have acted according. than their times, pnrer than their con· ly, we shall not have discharged our ditions wonld lead one to expect, and tremendous responsibility to millions worthy of all praise in their faithful of humanity who are our neighbors, effort to live above the prevailing type, and who are destined erelong to hold and to be noble and good in spite of the most intimate relations with our beloved hindrances which are so abundant and land. so strong. What may be true by excep· tion does not prevent the great fact that That we may adequately measure this the Christian Church needs to study vast work, let us place before us the im· with intense interest and consummate mensity of the region inhabited by the care the tremendous problem of evan· Iberian peoples, not to speak of Spain gelizing the Iberian peoples. and Portugal, since these countries are nearer our brethren in Great Britain; This mighty work interests Christianb although the American Board has mis· of Great Britain, who alroady have their sionaries there, let it be emphasized missions in Spain and Portugal. This that in the Western Hemisphere we vast work challenges the enthusiasm of have a region inhabited by these peo· American Christians of whatever organ. pIes equal to almost three times the size ized company, since the eyes of Ameri. of the United States. Mexico and Cen· can statesmen, manufacturers, and mer· tralAmerica have about 1,000,000 square chants look with peculiar interest to miles, South America has 7,250,000 Mexico and to'the republics of Central square miles, while the United States, and South America. We may plan for less Alaska, has but 3,400,000 square reciprocity, we may' subsidize steamers miles. In these countries are about and ships, we may endorse the canal 60,000,000 of souls, and toward these enterprise, we may prepare our sam· immense republics, especially in South pIes, we may establish business connec· America, a vast European immigration tions along the mighty rivers of South is tending. Before we shall be able ~rica and over her vast plains, we fairly to enter upon this tremendous may send our vessels to all ports, we work the population of these lands will may send our locomotives screeching be augmented by 50,000,000 more. It and puffing through all her wild fast. takes time to inform the mighty caval. nesses, but unless we remember that we cade of humanity now moving toward are Christians as well as statesmen, that her shores tbat the gates of the United States are being gradually closed. It
November
takes time to tell these restless hordes of all these countries should be consethat in the huge continent of South crated to God and not to Satan. It America the doors are opening wider means that the men and women and and wider to all who will come. It took children who are in these lands should many years to publish to the millions be taught the nature of that Gospel who have come to our shores what in- which will not keep them as slaves to ducements our great country offered an imbecile system, but will make them them. It will take years, though not so free men in Christ Jesus. It means that many, to tell those who are left behind those who are now there must be really how much greater and richer are the Christianized that they in turn may welnatural advantages South America offers come to Christian influences and condithem. Brazil had hardly declared her- tions the vast numbers whose coming is self a republic but thousands were ready so near. It means that the power of to leave the despotism and starvation of Divine truth shonld dominate the hearts the Old World and hasten to enjoy with of all, when the golden era dawns. It her the new-found freedom, to taste her means that these peoples should be led rich productions of fruit and grain, and to appreciate and possess the refined to bask in her welcoming sunshine, or gold of Divine riches better far than the rest under her luxuriant foliage. Brazil gold of Ophir, that they should know equals the United States in square miles. where to find the treasure hidden in a Already the immigration to the Argen- field, where can be secured the pearl of tine Republic is immense; and this coun- great price; how they can secure such a try is larger than the part of the United relation to Him who gives the corn and States east of the Mississippi River, and the olive, the silver and the gold, the every inch of it arable. With the Argen. emerald and the diamond, so as to betine, the other republics make an aggre- come sons and daughters to a King, and gate of square miles equal to the entire may possess not garments of silk and United States south of Canada, and the fine wool, but the robe of Christ's rightwhole is either available for agricultural eousness, and may not only become citipurposes or is rich in mineral wealth. zens of grand republics, but may be Mexico and Central America are begin- crowned as kings and priests unto God. ning to be known, and these contain a million or more square miles. Already To-day Brazil and the Argentine Remen of energy and foresight are seeking public, and Chili, Colombia, Mexico and out the more favored localities, and Central America, and Cuba are all open these lands will soon be as well under_ to Gospel preaching in churches and stood as our own States. Gospel instruction in schools. Peru is on the eve of unbarring the doors, so In all these republics are mUltiplying long closed by ignorance and superstiall active influences for a mighty devel- tion. Bolivia will soon follow in removopment. Railroads are in process of ing every legal obstruction to evangelical construction which will unite the three effort, and in due time Equador, the only Americas in bonds not only of steel, but country absolutely faithful to the papal of peace, fellowship, and brotherhood. see, will cast off her chains, and to the Capital from England and from America representative of the Gospel, to the is flowing into these lands, and the Word of God, will say, "Come in, thou mighty resources of the richest parts of blessed of the Lord; why standest thou the whole earth are about to be placed without ?" Across the sea Spain and in the hands of whoever will go and Portugal, the prolific fountain-head of take them. all these peoples, bids messengers of Christ enter and abide. Sixty millions And what does all this mean? Busi· of people now wait your coming, oh, ness, prosperity, wealth, comfort, lux- ~erald of the cross, and before your ury to many, yes; but it means vastly voice has penetrated the busy haunts of more. It means that the mighty wealth
INTERNATIONAL Dll:PARTMENT
present activity, sixty millions more, cheapness of American literature would from all nations under the sun, will have come to those favored lands, will be like the multiplied loaves from the have there established their homes, and will need your ministrations. hand of Christ as He fed the multitude Now is the time to send the preacher in the wilderness., of glad tidings and gather the people into the fold of Christ, and to instruct Sixty millions of people is no insig. the children in piety and truth. nificant constituency for some ambi- Now is the time to establish Christian schools in all the busy marts and in all tious and Christian publishing house. the widely scattered hamlets; now is the time to give a Christian education A Spanish or Portuguese edition of St. to those who are soon to be the men and women of action. The purpose of NicholaR, or of any of our beautiful illus. all this work ill to make homes of godli. ness, to purify business and social life trated magazines, not to speak of a refrom its false principles, and from all that is opposed to good morals, and to production in those languages of some permeate the public life with the reo straining and elevating power of that of the very beautiful, pure, and ele. wisdom that cometh from above. Now is the time to introduce into all these vating secular literature of our day, lands a Christian literature which, like the light of the morning sun, will scat· would be a blessing of untold value to ter the miasmas of ignorance and vice, and put in its place the pure air of those millions who are hungry for any truth, which, as it touches the brows of the youth, will preserve the bloom of kind of intellectual food, but who are innocence and give the strength of spiritual health. Oh, that some of our now largely supplied with the poison of great publishers could see the tremen· dous opportunity not only to establish error and with the death.giving pabu. a grand business, but to do an infinite amount of good in providing a pure lum of lowest vice. literature for sixty millions of the Iberiltn peoples! Poorly supplied now with The Iberian peoples wait the kindbooks that are costly for the poorer classes, abundantly supplied now with ness of American Christians. Business books that are full of error and im. morality, these peoples are hungry for men of Germany, of France, and of Eng. any intellectual food, because just be. ginning to taste the pleasures of educa. land are trying to introduce their prod· tion. Millions just learning to read! They have been starving for genera. ucts ; but from none of these landl are tions. Intellects have been dwarfed and repressed by Jesuitical restrictions missionary efforts put forth to save and and by the conditions which the Rom. ish Church has forced upon them. But elevate these peoples excepting in old now has come the hour of awakening. The new appetite is omnivorous, and Spain and Portugal, where British the devil is busy with his sweetly put poison. Good books of the quality and Christians, as ",ell as the American Board, are doing missionary work.
Americans are seeking by treaties, by plans for quick and cheap intercom· munication, to secure a part of the trade of these republics, and to American Christians has by a common consent been left the mighty work of evangeliz- ing these vast republics south of the United States, and of preparing influ- ences which shall receive and transform into good citizens the millions who are in the next half century to crowd in upon those nations now so ill prepared to receive them. .
So while we are seeking as Americans to secure commercial advantages, let us remember that in no way can we better discharge our neighborly responsibility and our duty to God than by respond.
ing to the opportunities God is opening to us by supplying these peoples with the elements of prosperity which have done so much for our land, and by help.
ing these peoples to the moral elements of a Christian citizenship. Let us take care lest. in our effort to secure the populous empire. At least that is as wealth that may come from closer na- we see it now.
tional and business relations without giving them of our precious spiritual JOINT PROCLAMATION OF THE TARTAR GENERAL HSI, AND THE VICEROY PmN. treasures. we take to ourselves a cancre that will eat and corrode rather than On the 6th day of the 6th moon of the bless. 17th year of Kuanghsii, we received a Then let American Christians push despatch from the Tsungli.Yamen to their Master's business among the Ibe- the following effect : rian peoples with a greater zeal than the " On the 7th day of the 5th moon of American manufacturer, business man, the 17th year of Kuanghsii, this Yamen or statesman shall push his schemes for memorialized the Throne re the fre· personal gain or for national aggrandize- quency of Church questions in the vari- ment. ous provinces and praying that ~trin· gent orders should be sent to the Vice· The Ohinese Government ana Ohristian roys and Governors to take prompt Missions. [J. T. G.] action. The Privy CmIDcil have this day received an Imperial Decree run- We have been favored with a copy in ning thus :" Chinese of the Edict of the Tartar General of China and the Vice.Emperor of " We have received a memorial from the Empire concerning the crisis in that the Tsungli-Yamen in reference to the country created by the uprising of cer- frequency of Church questions in the tain persons of " the baser sort." It is various provinces and praying that strinfortunate for our apprehension of it that gent orders should be issued to the Viceit is accompanined with a translation roys and Governors to take prompt into English, which we' now present to action. It is stated therein that some our readers. It is held in China to be time in the 4th moon of the present the most favorable State paper ever is. year, Churches at Wuhu, Anhui provsued in that country concerning foreign. ince, were burned down by mobs; ers and Christians, that at Tanyang district, Kisngsu, prov- ince, and at Wusueh, Hopek province, Apart from the immediate status of Churches were also destroyed in succesthe case, this is an historic document of sion ; that these villains should be at great interest and importance, and many once apprehended and stringent measwill be glad to have it preserved in this ures of precaution should be promptly form for future reference. It is certain· taken. It is provided in the treaties ly important as an index of the hold that foreign mispionaries may propagate Christianity has on the situation. There will be no real set.back to West· their religions. In Our previous Dpcree, ern influence owing to this movement, We ordered the provincial Authorities as this proclamation commits the Gov. ernment to the defence of Christians, to afford them protection at all times. both native and foreign. If it is ahle to For many years, Chinese and foreigners execute its own decrees it will be com_ have lived side by side in harmony. pelled to do so, and if unable, then it How is it that only recently, cases of burning and destruction of Churches have arisen (almost) simultaneously. This is really very astonishing. Evi- dently, there must have been principal perpetrators secretly plotting to secure accomplices and disseminating false rumors to unsettle the minds of the peo.
pIe, with a view to seizing an oppor- tunity to commit plunder. The worst is that even innocent people who had hitherto been peaceably attending to will be obliged to resort to forpign as- their duties were enticed to become their sistance as it did in the Taiping rebel. accomplices. Their actions brought lion, and thus come still more under about pregnant cases. Should these obligation to the foreign powers. In people be not rigorously dealt with, how either case. therefore, the result must can the majesty of the law be mainbe, on the whole, an advance of West· tained and the community enjoy tranern influence and increased opportunity quillity. for Christian work in that vast and "We now command the Viceroys of Liang-kiang and Hukuang and the Gov- ernors of Kiangau, Anhui and Hopeh at once, to direct proper officials, civil and Christians discriminatingly; and even military, to have the principal criminals if the Christians are guilty of unjust or arrested, and when tried and found lawless acts, let the people appeal to the guilty, decapitated as a warning for the authorities and await trial. When right future. The religions of the Weste::n and wrong are brought to the light, laws nations aim at teaching people to do will be duly administered.
good, and though people become adher- It has ever been our way to exercise ents of the religions, they are still Chi- our most unbiassed judgment, and when- nese subjects and continue to be sub- ever cases of lawsuits between the ordi- ject to tl>.e authority of Chinese offi- nary people and the Christians are re- cials. There is no reason why the' ported to us by our subordinates we al- Christians and the Non – Christians ways judge equitably and never in the shOUld not be able to live in harmonv least side with anyone party. Of late and the sole caUBe of the trouble may years they have got along fairly well; be attributed to lawless elements in. From and after the issuance of this venting groundless. stories in order to proclamation, let the people break off gain 0. chance to create disturbances. their further prejudices against, and be Such evil characters are everywhere to on friendly terms with the Christians.
be found. Do not give a ready ear to floating re- .. We hereby command the Tartar ports and wantonly cause trouble, thus Generals, Viceroys and Governors of incurring severe punishment. Injuring the various provinces to issue procla- others is to injure yourself, and repent- mations of notification warning the peo- ance will come too late, etc.
ple against giving ready credence to such idle reports and wantonly causing trouble. In case there be any evil·dis_ posed persons making anonymous placards and fabricating stories to excite the A Thousandfold More }fission Work people, no time should be lost in insti- Needed.
tuting strict and secret inquiries and Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop has for two apprehending and severely punishing them. The local officials must at all years past been making a tour of mis- times protect the persons and property sions in Asia. Beginning with the of foreign merchants and missionaries Keith..Falconer Mission at Sheikh Othand not suffer them to be disturbed or mann, Arabia, she passed on to India, harmed by evil characters. and thence to Kashmir, where she spent " Should the precautionary measures not be sufficiently stringent, and dis- three months. She visited the devoted turbanoes be the outcome, let the local Moravian missionaries in Thibet, of authorities be severely denounced and whose work she says "we hear so litcashiered. tle, and who need our pTayers so much."
•• We also command the Tartar Gen- erals, Viceroys and Governors to take Her tour through Persia intensified prompt measures for dealing with and her convictions .. of the absolute need of closing all outstanding cases and not to increasing missionary qJort a thousandallow their subordinates to shrink from old. ' , She says: •• Just think; from diiD.culty and delay the settlement. We proclaim this for general information." Karachi to Bagdad, among the populous "Having communicated with the various foreign ministers at Peking, this cities and villages of the Persian Gulf, Yamen has now respectfully copied out of the TigriR and Euphrates, throughout the a.bove Decree for your observance." Arabia, throughout south and southwest Besides sending separate instruc- Persia, not a missionary! From Bag. tions to our suboTdinate officials, civil and militaTY, ordering them to act in dad to Teheran-almost the most popuobedience thereto, we deem it proper to )ous district of Persia-'not a mission- immedia.tely proclaim this to you, so}. ary! The great oasis of Feraghan at 0.
dierli and people under our jurisdiction. height of 7000 feet; with 680 villages Know ye that the adherents of the Christian reli~ion are also Chinese sub- craving. medical advice, never visited, jects and continue to be amenable to scarcely mapped! Then Juifa and the jurisdiction of the local authorities. Ham"dan, with their few wOTkers, al.
In case of lawsuit, the merit of the case most powerless to itinerate, represent alone, and not the condition of per- the work of the Chur.ch for the remain. sons, is to be considered. Christians der of PeTsia! Two million nomads and non· Christians are to be treated alike. The people must not look on the never touched." .
EDITOlUAL NOTES ON CtlRRENT TOPICS
III.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The following is an extract of a letter himself may justify the hope that un- ceasing prayer may be offered in his berecently received from Rev. H. C. Velte, half that, in undertaking this great of Lahore, India: work of preaching to a congregation LA.HORE, PUNJA.B, INDIA., July 7,1891. singularly prepared by affliction and prayer for the sowing of the seed of the The editor of the MISSIONARY REVIEW kingdom, he may have a special anointwill have heard of the death of Rev. ing. For months daily supplication has John Newton, in Merrel, India, on July been offered for Mr. Spurgeon at the 2d. Tabernacle, and the whole people are in a very receptive frame; there is every " He was the oldest missionary of the indication of a great harvest. Will not Presbyterian Church, and the oldest the reader follow the writer of these lines missionary in India, having come to with devout and daily prayer, and ask India in 1836, and havbg been in mis· for Mr. Spurgeon himself full recovery sionary service for fifty·six years. and rapid restoration to his accustomed spheres of work with voice and pen? The Lahore station was opened by him immediately after the Punjab had ARTHUR T. PIERSON. been annexed by the British Government, and here he labored to the end A Solemn League and Oovena.nt. of his life. He died in his eighty.first year. These are days of alliances-alliances for prayer; the Anti.Opium League, A Personal W0rd. Personal Purity Covenant, organized opposition to rum, to tobacco, to Sun· Before this number reaches the read- day papers, and Sunday travel, etc. We er, the editor-in·chief expects to be on have recently heard of an organization the ocean, if not in London. By a in Great Britain whose members bind strange series of peculiar providential themselves each day to perform some lowly act in helping those who have the leadings, he has been guided to respond drudgery of life as their portion-to to a cordial invitation from Pastor help some burden-bearer with his load, sweep a crossing, drive a cart, saw a log, Spurgeon and his church officers to lay a wall-or in some other way iden. come and preach in the Metropolitan tify one's self with the honest Bons of Tabernacle for a few months, during the toil. From what threatened to be his convalescence of the beloved pastor. dying bed, the valiant soldier, Charles H. Spurgeon, dictates a solemn league No reference would be made to the and covenant to his brethren scattered matter here, but that it is perhaps due throughout the wide world, which is to the readers of the REVIEW to know meant to unite all who believe in the that. in the absence of the chief editor, full inspiration of the whole Bible, and there will be every provision made for in the old truths from which so many the proper supervision of this important are now departing, in one brotherhood work. Any communications for the first of closer affiliation ; and it is a sublime department, the Literature of Missions, document; it sounds like Paul the aged may be sent direct to Rev. A. J. Gar· writing from prison cell in Rome. We don, D.D., 182 West Brookline Street, venture to reproduce it here. Boston, Mass. Anything pertaining to the International Department to Rev. " Impelled by concern over increasing J. T. Gracey, D D., 161 Pearl Street, changes and defecthns among their Rochester, N. Y. And any Statistical brethren, and by the absance of any ao. Reports, Reports of Societies, etc., to Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, Ohio. The address of the editor.in.chief, until further notice, will be Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, London, England.
The editor announces this providential call in these pages, in hopes that the tie formed between the readers and cepted formulas of belief in their de- union. Yet, if there be any power in nomination, the Rev. Charles H. Spur. such close association, we know no rea· geon and other leading Baptist ministers son why it should not be utilized in reo in England recently drew up and signed spect to missions. It is manifest that the following confession of their faith, if this work of a world's evangelization which is being extensively circulated is to be accomplished, it must be, not for signatures: by dependence on the great body of church.members, but on the church " • We, the undersigned, banded to· within the Church, the .. soven thougether in fraternal union, observing sand" who have not bowed the knee to with growing pain and sorrow the the Baal of this world. So long as we 100Rening hold of many upon the truths judge the available force of the ChU!'ch of revelation, are constrmned to avow by numerical standards we deceive ourour firmest belief in the verbal inspira- selves. No calculations as to the numtion of all Holy Scripture as originally ber of workers who can be obt,ained, given. To us the Bible does not merely or the amount of money which can be contain the Word of God, but is the collected, can be other than misleading Word of God. From beginning to end so long as the church·rolls are the basis we accept it, believe it, and continue to of calculation. No one can deny that preach it. To us the Old Testament is millions of bad fish have been caught in no less inspired than the New. The the great drag.net, and that the tares book is an organic whole. Reverence are growing conspicuously and plentifor the New Testament, accompanied fully in the wheat field. by scepticism as to the Old, appears to us absurd. The two must stand or fall But there is a remnant, according to together. We accept Christ's own ver· the election of grace. Why should not dict concerning "Moses and all the that remnant draw closer and come to a prophets" in preference to any of the mutual understanding? Why should supposed discoveries of so·called higher not the Church of God learn what pro· criticism. portion of its members are really ready to receive aud obey the Lord's last com- … We hold and maintain the truths mand, and live as under some practical generally known as .. the doctrines of sense of obligation either to go, or send grace." The electing love of God the Bome one who can and will go, to the Father, the propitiatory and substitu' unsaved souls of heathendom? Just tionary Ilacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ, now these more consecrated livers and regeneration by the Holy Ghost, the im. givers are often met at the conventions putation of Christ's righteousness, the of believers, where the Word is studied justification of the sinner (once for all) and a higher type of piety is urged. by faith, his walk in newness of life and And they make these conventions what growth in grace by the active indwelling they are in power and interest. They of the Holy Ghost and the priestly in. give grandly when the Lord asks for tercession of our Lord Jesus, as also the money. At Niagara Conference, for some hopeless perdition of all who reject the years past, thousands of dollars have Saviour, according to the words of the been poured into the missionary treasu. Lord in Matthew 25 : 46, " 'rhese shall ries by a few humble givers, most of go away into eternal punishment," are, whom are poor in this world's goods. in our judgment, revealed and funda· At a recent meeting of believers at the mental truths. Our hope is the per· seaside, Pastor Simpson, of New York, sonal, premillennial return of the Lord received $30,000 for his independent Jesus in glory. mission work. At Keswick Convention, in Britain, not only have large offerings Signed ,. C. H. SPURGEON, A. G. been made to the Lord's work by a com- BROWN, J. DOUGLAS," and others. paratively few perlilQUIl, but from tbv.t It is possible, of course, to place undue relillnce on ft UOmillftl bond of annual gathering have issued some of evening in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, the most inspiring and aggressive move- London, in behalf of C. H. Spurgeon, ments ever known in modern mission which, at the date of this writing, are in work, and in that most self-sacrificing of the eighth or ninth week of their con· all labor, the work in the slums of our tinuance. No wonder if, as Spurgeon great cities. says, he could not die -the prayers of his people would not let him die. What The Church of God, corrupted as it if God, angels, and men could see the is by worldliness and formalism, con- Church assembled daily for prayer from tains the saints of C}od-those who live seven o'clock A.M. to nine o'clock P.M., nearest to Him in holy love and walk; asking God to raise up and to thrust and if, instead of being separated from forth laborers, enlarge the liberality of e" ,h other, and so unconscious of the His people, open all closed doors, and deep sympathy and wide extent of this enable His Church to complete the carfellowship, they could be brought into rying of the Gospel to every creature! contact, and, above all, conference, what Who dares to doubt that grand results results might not issue! Why should would follow, the like of which liave not some closer compact bind those dis- never yet been seen! ciples who feel the privilege and power of intimate walk with God-to whom Many of God's people who may not the last command of Christ is all-im- join Mr. Spurgeon in his Calvinistic portant, and who arB ready both to give views, are ready to join in an agreement and pray, to go if God permit, or help of prayer to carry out some such solemp. to send if they cannot go? Suppose confession of duty, faith, and privilege that in the thirty or forty millions who as the following: are on the roll of Protestant churches there are thirty or forty thousand who •• We, the undersigned, deeply feeling would unite in daily and definite prayer, the reproach and dishonor of the at a certain hour, for the immediate Church of God in the long neglect of evangelization of the world, for a new the perishing millions of our race, and display of pentecostal grace and power, in the selfish hoarding and spending of for a new advance to the very outposts money which has been committed to of the globe; who would undertake to disciples as stewards; and painfnlly live a self-denying life, and give all they conscious that unbelief has led to the can save or spare from their reasonable still worse neglect of believing prayer wants to the spread of the kingdom ; in behait of a world's evangelization, do, who would offer their children to mis- in the name of Jesus, declare our deep sions, as Hannah gave Samuel; who conviction that it is the duty and priviwould covenant to live, without regard lege of the disciples of Christ to bear j;o the prevailing low type of piety, a the Gospel message to the whole race of biblical life-from such a band of men man with all possible promptness; that and women what new power might be every believer is responsible before God going forth! For ourselves, of nothing for the carrying ont of our Lord's last this side of God do we feel a greater command; that the avenues of self-in_ need than of this close contact and con- dulgence shonld be closed that we may verse with those throughout the world have the more to give to those that who feel the need of a new obedience need; that we ourselves should be ready to the whole spirit of the last commis- to go wherever we are sent, and to send sion. Can anyone help us to attain others where we may not go; that our this oloser bond? children should be consecrated, from the womb, unto God's service, and en- No more sublime spectacle has been couraged to cherish the spirit of mispresented to the world since apostolic sions. And we are especially impressed days than the daily prayer-meetings, ihat ilaily and believing prayer should coutinued fl"o~ e~ll ~ol"ninl;l to lat~ be o~efed fOf t:ie speedl eVln8eli2<at~oll of this world £ond the coming of the While the baron gracefully compli. kingdom of God. We believe it is the. ments Mr Carnegie for his benefactions privilege of all true believers to implore of "libraries, green parks, beautiful God for the speedy outpouring of His churches," etc., he prefers, for himself, spirit in a world-wide pentecost of to devote his wealth to the alleviation power. of suffering. He says: "And in this faith we do solemnly .. In relieving human suffering I never undertake, in holy agreement before ask whether the cry of necessity comes God, however widely separated from from a being who belongs to my own . each other, to meet each other at the faith or not; but what is more natural throne of grace in the early morning than that I should find my highest pur- hours of each day in earnest and im- pose in bringing to the followers of portunate prayer." Judaism, who have been oppressed for a thousand years, who are starving in Will not those who wish to join such misery, the possibility of a physical and an alliance send on their names? moral regeneration ?-than that I should try to free them, to build them up into A blunder in the October issue of this capable citizens, and thus furnish REVIEW, in some unaccountable way, humanity with much new and valuable placed at the head of the Monthly Con. material ?" cert matter, on pages 786-90, the name of J. T. Gracey, D.D. This part of, our This benefactor of his race begins at recent issue was contributed .by our as- the right end, and seeks, first of all, to sociate editor, Rev. D. L. Leonard, and make a new manhood, to change a tramp should have been credited to his accom· and a dependant and a consumer into a plished and versatile pen. man and a producer and a supporter, and so to prepare the way for the recon- Baron Hirsch has come to the front, structed man himself to reconstruct his and, in the Newth American Review, pre. surroundings. Baron Hirsch has learned sents his" Views on Philanthropy." A that the environment does not make the man that is perhaps the most munifi- man-he makes his environment, or cently liberal of all modern givers· has may, at least, modify it. 8, right to be heard on the philosophy of gIvmg. He modestly but positively Baron Hirsch's hopes as to success are puts forth his opinions. His funda- stimulated by the fact that several hun- mental proposition is very close akin to dred Russian Jewish families of wan- the doctrine of Christian stewardship, dering tradespeople, exiled to the Ar- and if practically adopted would over- gentine Republic some years ago. have turn completely the modern system-·or become thrifty farmers. "who with rather lack of system-in benQvolence. plough and hoe know how to farm as well as if they had never done anything ,. It is my inmost conviction," says else. They layout their farms in the the baron, "that I must consider my- best manner, and build themselves such self as only the temporary administrator pretty little houses that every one in the oj the wealth I have amassed, and that it vicinity employs them as carpenters in. is my duty to contribute in my own way house building. ,. In devoting himself to the relief of the suffering of those who to the same line of work, he feels cer- are hard pressed by fate. " He contends tain that" he who frees thousands of his that the old system of almsgiving only fellow·men from suffering and an op- makes so many more beggars ; and that pressed existence, and helps them to the greatest problem in philanthropy is become useful citizens, does a good .. to make human beings, who are capa- work for all humanity." pIe of work, out of those who otherwise must become paupers; and in this way The New York Times, September 11th, gives the details as follows: to c~eate useful w.e~bera of aociet;r." "lJafon Hirac4'li m~niii.ce~t licl1e~~ takes the form of a limited liability ing buildings, etc. The rest is to be company, called' The Jewish Coloniza-, applied to expenses of transport, and tion Association,' registered, the office otherwise to assisting emigrants.
of which will be in London. Its nom- Moneys not in active use will be invest- inal capital is £2,000,000, in 20,000 ed in public securities of England, shares of £100 each. Of these, Baron France. Belgium, Holland, Germany, or Maurice de Hirsch subscribes to 19,990. the United States. The governing body Seven Hebrew gentlemen are named in will be a Council of Administration, the articles as owning one share each- consisting of from three to six men, who Lord Rothschild, Sir Julian Goldsmid, need not necessarily be members of tho Earnest John Cassel, F. D. Mocatta, and company and who will be elected for Benjamin Louis Cohen, all of London, fi ve years. These will have no salaries, and Salomon Reinach and S. H. Gold. but will have their actual expenses.
schmidt of Paris. This leaves three This council will appoint directors, shares unallotted, and doubtless these three or less in number."
will be offered to representatives of the United States and Germany. The ob- There was a curious scene in St. jects of the association are : to assist the Paul's Cathedral, London, one Saturday emigration of Jews from countries in. afternoon not long since. A large con- Europe and Asia where they are sub· gregation, chiefly Jews, assembled under jected to special taxes and disabilities the dome to hear the Rev. GOl'don Cal· to other parts of the world, and estab. throp on "The Jewish Question." lish colonies in North and South Ameri. Converted and unconverted Jews minca for agricultural and commercial pur. gled in the audience, and joined at the poses. No colonies will be attempted close in singing the hymn" 0 praise our in Europe. The association takes to it. great and gracious Lord." self full rights to carryon trade, com- merce, and all industrial operations which may facilitate the objects of the Apologies for self-indulgence are hi company; to purchase property, nego. many and as specious as channels for tiate securities, etc. The whole prop. personal gratification are varied. Re- erty of the company and the income ferring recently to the deoease of a cer· arising from it are consecrated solely to tain lady worth forty millions of dollars, the work in view. None of it can ever whose life work and practical monument be taken, directly or indirectly, as a has been the erection of a sumptuous dividend or bonus. If upon the wind. and palatial residence which rivals the ing up or dissolution of the company royal homes of the Old World for mag.
any property remains, it is not to be nificence and munificence of outlay, distributed among the members, but the editor of a leading religious journal transferred to some other Jewish insti- remarks that if, in her dealing with the tution with similar objects, for the hundreds of workmen and skilled arti- benefit of the Jewish community resid- sans of America and from Europe, whom ing out of Europe and needing pecuniary she has employed, she has been consid.
aid. In the event of such dissolution erate and generous, her life and fortune all persons who at the time hold lands have not, perhaps, been wasted.
granted them or their predecessors in This reminds us of a pretext for this title by the company shall be released kind of self·indulgence which is becom· from further obligation of annual or ing more and more common. We had other payments to the company, and a friend who, like Mrs. Searles-Hop· the same is tru8 of those to whom ad- kins, built a palatial residence, and fur· Tances have been made. Not more than nished it with' all the comforts, con- half of the capital is to be applied to veniences, and luxurious appointments aclI!uirin~ propertr, buyinS lands, erect· which Illoder~ l!O~II:QO~ and art! co~- joined with vast wealth lavishly expend- spirit of Christ is to displace the spirit ed, could procure. And be was wont to of evil. say that all this vast expenditure was .. putting just so much money into poor A Jewish mission has been begun in men's pockets." New York City, under the City Mission' and Traot Society, at De Witt Memorial Grant it-that this keeps money in Churoh 280 Rivington Street, and Her. circulation which otherwise would lie mann Warszawiak has come from Eu. in coffers or in safety-deposit vaults; rope to take charge of it. On the Satur. grant it-that thus workmen are em. day in August, when the first chief meet. played and kept in food and raiment. ing was held, the chapel was not only What of the influence of such lavish filled, but many could not get inside, expense on the man spending? Is his and the earnestness of the Jewish listen. motive the helping of poverty and mis- ers was remarkable. The sermon was ery to a competency and a life of com· from Jeremiah 6: 16, as fulfilled in fort and happiness, or is it his own in- Matt. 11: 28-30. Many of the Jews dulgence of the lusts of the flesh, the present expressed willingness to follow lnsts of the eyes, and the pride of life? Jesus to get rest. Mr. Warszawiak Is this wholesale expenditure; that ends wishes to establish a " Home for Jews," onone's own home and its appointments, and some $500 toward the $3000 reo calculated to restrain and repress that quired have been subsoribed and paid. self-indulgence or give rapid develop- John Wilkinson, whose work in Lond{ln ment to that selfishness which needs is well known in the so-called" Mild. only to be fed to become gigantic and may Mission to the Jews," has presented monstrous and despotic! 20000 New Testaments in Hebrew and J;dica-German, and offers to pay for Balzac in his "Peau de Chagrin," their distribution in the United States. has used the myth of the magic skin as On this new effort to provide a GOSp61 the basis of a fiction not without a refuge for the poor perseouted convert· moral. This skin confers on the wearer ed Jews and Russian refugees, all of the power to gratify every wish and Q:od's dear children will de…outly in. whim; but with every such indulgence voke a blessing. the skin closes more tightly about the wearer, until he is hopelessly and fatally Rev. Robert Steel, D.D., of North embraced in the very means of his own Sydney, N. S. W., adds It note sup. gratification. We do not hesitate to say plemental to the letter .published in that of all the means whereby the best July last, p. 560, as to the mission to the impullles in us are quenched and the aborigines of Australia in Northern worst strengthened, we do not believe Queensland : anyone influenoe is for rapid and sure results equal to simple self·gratification. " The Federal Assembly of the Pres· To say, of all things, that I want to byterian churches of Australia:. which have or to do, 'I will have this' or' I will met at Brisbane, Queensland, m July, do this,' and to have the means to carry appointed two missionaries to labor out the selfish wish, is the most danger- among the aborigines. They were se· ous of all possibilities. It develops lected by the United Bret~ren o~ Herrn. oftentimes a monster of sel:qshness; hut, in Saxony, and arnved ln Mel" and the wisest of the wealthy recognize bourne in July. They are at present the peril, and antidote it by abundant under the care of the Rev. F_ A. Hage. cbarities and self denials unknown to nauer who has labored for more than the world. The rioh as well as the poor thirtyyears among the aborigines of Vic. may bear the oross after Christ, though toria, and who is able to give the new the spheres of self-renunciation may be missionarips valuable counsel. The different; but there must be self-denial Federal Assembly appointed two of its mernbers-Rev. Andrew Hardie, Conand self.abnegatioll 1I0meh.ow if th.e veller cit the ltijijllio&:l OOIDlIlittee, a&:Id
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
Rev. Samuel Robinson, both of Mel- sympathies and prayers of all interested bourne-to proceed to the proposed site in the welfare of the aboriginal races. for the mission and to inspect it. They The celebrated missionary of the New had an interview with the head of the Hebrides, Dr. J. G. Paton, was present Government, the Hon. Sir Samuel at the Federal Assembly in Brisbane, and delivered an address on the mission. Griffith, K.C. M.G., who promised all necessary aid in the matter of reserves, " The missionaries to the Queensland rations, and clothing for the blacks; aborigines are the Rev. J. G. Ward, an but the Church would have to pay the ordained minister, and Mr. Nicholas missionaries. The brethren referred to Hey, a young farmer from Herrnhut, have reported favorably of the site, who has been trained for mission work. which is on the Batavia River, on the The Fed"ralAssembly sanctiolled an apeast side of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in peal to the American Government and the Peninsula ot Cape York, the most churches to assist in having the restricnortherly point of Australia. The tions regarding the sale of intoxicating aborigines are numerous there, and are liquors and fire arms applied by all at some distance from settlers. It is countries, and urged the British Govhoped, therefore, that a fair opportunity ernment to provide for the settlement may be got for Christianizing some of of disputed land claims. them, if they can be induced to settle on the reserve. This race has not been •• It was· reported that the mission readily brought under Christian infiueDce, owing to their very migratory among the Kanakas on the sugar planta_ habits. Some, however, have been en- tion in Queensland was making encourlightened, converted to Christ. and have aging progress. The Rev. J. M. Macinexhibited the graces of Ohristian char. tyre had baptized 70, while 1336 had put on the blue ribbon. A great imacter. This new attempt deserves the provement has taken place among the laborers since the mission began."
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
South America is the smaller half of whom not less'than five per cent are the New World. Four fifths of it lies in European subjects. There are also the tropics. It has been remarked that about* a half million sa vage Indians, or, it is largest where North America is roughly, approaching twice as many as smallest, and smallest where it is largest. the totaI Indian population of the United Some have thought its physical posi- States, including Alaska. These are tion, so largely in the tropics, gave it a confined mostly to the interior of the great advantage prospectively over the continent of South America, with a few northern part of the hemisphere, which small tribes, numbering, perhaps, 5000, has so great a proportion lying in the in Central America. Three-tenths of cold of the far North. This is not to the population of South America is put be taken without some caution. It is down as pure white and one-tenth relatively deceptive when merely judged negro; others are of mixed blood. The from the map. Commercially, the most rapid immigration of Europeans of late largely productive part of South Ameri- years has, however, been materially ca, after all, is found within its temper. modifying these proportions. ate, not within its tropical districts. Brazil is the size of the United States, The physical resources vary much in but a small part of it is esteemed capa- the several States in relation to comble of agriculture. The equatorial val- merce. The Orinoco is navigable for ley is filled with dense forests. Yet '1000 miles, the Amazon for 2600 miles. South America is, as a whole, very in- From its base to the Andes, with its teresting and important. Fifty-some tributaries, it presents 6000 miles of say sixty-millions of people are the total population of Spanish America, in- * We are following the official docnment of cluding the West fudies and ;Brazil, of William Eleroy Cnrtis, printed at the Govern- ment Printing Office at Washington in 1889. Oth- ers will present divergellt ligures from these, navigable waters. The Upper Paraguay itually paralyzed by the Roman Church, and Southern Parana present an unin. which here has for 300 years laid the terrupted waterway north and south palsy·smiting hand of excessive Ilnd like the Mississippi. A United States heretical sacerdotalism on the people. Government document says that the river Platte offers a more extensive sys· Brazil presented three obstacles to tem of unobstructed navigation than progress to the mind of Agassiz-slavery, any river in the world, and, with the a corrupt clergy, and a lack of educa. exception of the Amazon, pours more tional institutions. Now slavery is water into tbe ocean. It affords more gone; but even with it Agassiz could miles of navigation than all the rivers say, in his" Journey to Brazil" : of Europe combined and more than the Mississippi, with its several tributaries. ".There is much also that is very It is tidal 260 miles from its mouth, cheering that leads me to believe that and ocean ships of 24 feet draught can her life as a nation will not belie her be floated all the year for 1000 miles, great gifts as a country. Should her and those of 16 to 20 feet can go 2700 moral and intellectual endowments grow miles into the interior of the continent, into harmony with her wonderful natuand a small expenditure of money and ral beauty and wealth the world will not labor would enable a 4000·ton ship from have seen a fairer land." New York or Liverpool to go direct into the. very heart of the continent in Brazil But now of her 14,000,000 people, by way of Buenos Ayres. The Amazon those who have made a careful study of is 0 ustructed, but the Orinoco is open to the most accurate statistics procurable large vessels, and the Rio Negro affords estimate that four·fifths are unable to accoss into Patagonia. read. Dr. Chamberlain, a very compe· tent authority, widely familiar with the An equal number of cattle can be pur. larger part of the entire Western world chased in Argentina and Uruguay for by personal residence in various parts half the money paid for them in Texas. of North and South America, says that There are 96 sheep, 18 cattle, and 4 South America offers one of the widest horses for each inhabitant in the river fields of the world.wide parish, homo. Platte country. The foreign commerce geneous in character to a wonderful ex. of Brazil is almost double that of Cuba. tent in language, customs, and institu. No less than five routes for an inter.con· tions, and hence affording peculiar ad. tinental railway have bee,n shown to be vantages to the work of the Gospel. It possible, and some of these have roads is, he says, the widest empire of Rome, surveyed or operated for one·third of and the conditions are such as to give the distance between Buenos Ayres and the best vantage ground from which to Bogota, and that within three years. brjng influence to break down that hoary system of error, fraud, and op. This is a larger proportion of our pression by scattering the seed of the space than would have been given to Word, and raising up a new people who these material matters but that they will walk in the right ways of the Lord. emphasize the prospective relations and Surely, he says, the Christian churches obligations of Protestant North America of North America have a grave responsi. to this south land, the spiritual care of bility toward the more than half pagan which devolves the more largely on us or less than half Christian multitudes in that European churches leave these of South America. papal and pagan peoples almost wholly to our labors, and they are coming CENTRAL AMERICA. nearer and nearer to us. They need the same care that we propose to bestow Central America is the nearest unoc· on the dead churches of the East, or on cupied field calling for evangelistic European communities which. are spir- agencies, in the world to the Christians in the United States or Canada. "Ex. cept the small Presbyterian mission in Guatemala, there is no organized effort as • virtual heathenism.' It would be for Christ's Gospel in all these lands, easy to fill pages with evidences of this, or so it was until" recently, when the and so to demonstrate that whatev~r Central American Mission was formed lukewarmness toward missions to the for carrying the Gospel to the Qnevan- papal countries of Europe Christians gelized lands of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, may tolerate in themselves, their argu- San Salvador, and Honduras. <rhe ments fall to the ground when applied Jamaica Baptist Missionary Society has to missions to Spanish America.
a missionary at Port Limon, which is " In Costa Rica, as in other Central exclusively among Jamaica negroes, em- American republics, the population is ployed as laborers at that place; and divided by the line of education. The that is all there was, until the Central uneducated masses adhere blindly to American Mission recently opened work the degrading superstitions in which by sending Mr. McConnell, from St. they have been reared; the educated Paul, Minn., to commence a mission at few, in the language of a diplomatic San Jose. Mr. C. I. Scofield, the secre- representative of this country, • are tary of this mission at Dallas, Texas, in- growing unmindful of their ancestral forms us that it is undenominational and religion, and the next generation will entirely in the hands of laymen. There see a more rapld deoline of the power are three classes of natives-of pure of the priest. Business and professional whites a few; of Indians about 3000 ; the men never attend mass.' "
remainder, composing the bulk of the population, are of mixed Indian and OUR YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG Spanish blood, the Spanish element WOMEN. predominating. These are distinguished above all other Spanish·American peo- Y. M. C. A. and Fbreign Missions.- ples by sobriety and simplicity. Indo- The Young Men's Christian Association lence, however, is a universal character- work on the foreign field developed istic, and their superstitions are of the spontaneously. The first organization in grossest form. Of late the wealth of the heathen lands was at the Jaffna College, country has increased greatly, develop- Ceylon. Syria followed with one at ing a tendency to I uxury, gambling, and Beirut, and Turkey with one at Aintab.
the use of in tDxicants. In 1885 an association was formed in " Besides those three native classes, the Methodist Anglo-Chinese College, there are about 2000 Europeans of the at Foochow, China, one' at the then better class, 300 North Americans, 1500 called •• Wiley Institute," now Peking Italian laborers, and 1500 Jamaica University, and one at the Methodist negroes. The population is mainly College at Tokyo. At the Student Vol- gathered upon the central plateau. The unteer Movement meeting in Inter- entire population is probably between national Convention at Cleveland, in last 225,000 and 250,000. March, Mr. McBurney illustrated the " Costa Rica is nominally Roman Cath- spontaneity in Japan. Mr. John Trum- olic. In writing of the religious state of bull Swift had gone to Japan. He.had any Spanish American country, it is not had experience as a secretary of the necessary to enter upon a consideration Y. M. C. A. in this country, and in of the Romishsystem as it is under- Japan was attached to the Union Col- stood by its more enlightened votaries lege of Tokyo. He thought to try to in Europe and America, for even they form a Y. M. C. A. society in the Impe- concede that in Spanish America it has rial University in Tokyo. Some people degenerated into sheer idolatry. The said there weI'e no Christian students in Abbe Dominec, chaplain to the Em- the institution. Quiet investigation re- peror Maximilian, denounced the form vealed the fact that there were a num- of Romauism which he found in Mexico be.r. and 50 were enrolled who were nominally Christians. Thirty of them deavor, JiJpworth Leagues, etc.-It is not came to a meeting, and not one of the 30 easy at first sight to perceive what direcpreviously knew that the others, or any tion ought to be given to the money quesof them, were Christians. They were tion in the new societies of young people all alike timid in making any profession whioh have risen all over the land like of their faith in these college relations. some magical creation of a fairy region. An association was thus formed in the That their practical working might inlargest university city, with the largest clude some form of financial expreg.. number of students in the world, there sion of consecration seems right enough being between 60,000 and 80,000 stu. in itself. Whether that ought to find a deuts there each year. This associa- separate place from the already existing tion was formed at the request of the plans and methods of the several mIssIOnaries. Two buildings at Tokyo, churches is a matter of opinion, or costing $60,000, have been erected- rather about which opinion should be one for students, 9ne for business men. judiciously formed. In 1885 $5000 was asked for a Y. M. C. A· building in Osaka. The United States A considerable effort has been made responded with $2500, Canada with to direct the contributions of these so- $1500, and Australia with $1000. cieties to some special object. In some cases only a general rousing of their Student Movement. – It . is given as interest for foreign missions has been authentic history that the Student Move- sought, leaving all contributions to flow ment grew out of the Y. M. C. A. working. in the channel of the regular denomina- Mr. Wishard asked Mr. Moody in 1886 to tion to which the society or individual give him an opportunity as secretary of is attached. It was after this excellent· the International Committee to meet spirited way that Rev. A. A. Fulton of some college students at Northfield for Canton, China, while in this country Bible study. It was at the gathering during the year, stirred the young that followed on this invitation that the Christian Endeavor people to give two Student Movement originated at Mt. cents a week for foreign missions. The Hermon. There were present 251 young result of that effort was the enrolment men from 89 colleges. of several thousands of persons pledged to give that sum. It was reported that This movement enrolls 6200 volun- in Philadelphia on one evening 6000 teers varying in age from 20 to 30 years, persons took that pledge, and within a and 2600 of whom are in institut.ions few months the number had increased pursuing their studies. About 1300 of to 50,000, and waf< rapidly pushed bethis list are, from various causes, count- yond that, with an appeal to make it at ed out of the probable force that will go once 100,000. We have not the statistics abroad. Some 320 have sailed for the up to date of writing, but the fact of the field. Of the entire force about three enthusiasm of these young Christians sevenths are ladies. The volunteers remains, and that other fact of the posrepresent denominationally seven of the sibilities of their properly directed enerprincipal churches and others, in the gies in the interest of missionaIY conratio of 27 p& cent Presbyterian, 24 tributions, and, what is equally of worth, per cent Methodist, 17 per cent each of the dissemination of missionary in- .Baptist and the Congregationalists, 3 telligence. per cent Lutheran, 2 per cent Protestant Episcopal, and 10 per cent Friends and Sunday Schools.-As allied with and others. Of those who have gone abroad contributive to all that we have written 33 have gone to Africa, 229 to Asia, 5 to about missionary zeal and work among Europe, 13 to Central and South Ameri- the young, it is vastly important that ca, 6 to the South Seas; 23 are miscel- we do not let slip the greatest factor of laneously grouped and " not located." all of them-the Sunday.school. Every Sunday-school in the land ought to be Young People's Society oj Christian En-
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGll:NCE
a school for the study of missions, as most purpose and pleasure of the Roman well as for education in the grace of Catholic Germans. Here were a thou- benevolence represented by the mission- sand delegates, including men eminent ary offerings. The study here should in the professions and in public affairs, be systematic, and continued through a who decided to support the Triple Alli- .course of, say, three years. ance, and to urge upon the Government the recall of the Jesuits. 'fhey dealt But by one means and all means let boldly with the question of the restorathe young men and maidens, and along tion of the iemporal power of the Pope, with them the children, be inspired and appointed a committee to arrange with the privilege and obligation to tell for a congress to be held in Switzerland, out and push out the truth of salvation most likely, on the one hundredth annithrough Jesus versary of the birth of Pius IX., May 15th, 1892, for the gathering of repre- "Till earth's remotest nation has learned Mes- sentatives of the total Roman Catholic siah'8 name. " communities of the world, to see what can be done to secure the proposed THE PAPACY. restoration of the sword to the head of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. The Roman Catholic Congress, which met in Berlin early in September, is supposed to have represented the fore- V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, O.
-According to the extensive and ex- tIed the facts in the case. Omitting all haustive tables of statistics appended to over nine years of age, the number of the second volume of the "Encyclo- communicants is 6,250,045, or, if that predia of Mtssions," recently published class is included, the total will be inby Funk & Wagnalls, of societies doing creased by some 735,000. The organizadirect general missionary work in the tions are 10,227, and the church edifices foreign field, there are 47 in the united 8765, with a cash value of $118,382,000. States, 32 in Great Britain and Ireland, More than half of the Catholic popula- 10 in Germany, 6 in Holland, 105 in all tion is found within the limits of five Christian countries. In addition to States, New York leading with 1,153,- these, there are 51 women's societies, 26 000; Massachusetts following next with special, or publishing societies, 9 medical 614,600; and after this Pennsylvania societies, 35 doing work in behalf of the with 551,600; Illinois, 473,300; and Jews, and 39 which sre classed as indi- Ohio, 336,000. Wisconsin has 249,000. vidual or miscellaneous. Including all As illustrating to what an extent this of all the various kinds, the sum is 280. Church is polyglot, in !I. single diocese A complete bibliography is also given, in Pennsylvania confessions are heard in which are contained more than 5000 in German, French, Spanish, Italian. titles of books on missions and mission· Hungarian, Polish, Bohemian, and ary themes; and in the alphabetical Lithuanian. Ecclesiastical rule is in list of stations upward of 2400 are given the hands of 1 cardinal, 13 archbishops, from all continents and islands. and 66 bishops.
-Much speCUlation and many wild -The public schools of this land may guesses have found their way into print not improperly be set down among the concerninll; the strength of the Roman home missionary forces which work Catholic Church in the United States; mightily for tho public weal, and the but now the census seems to have set- figures are not far from stunning. The teachers alone are a great host, number. been baptized and 2032 children en- ing 361,273, while the scholars are 12,- rolled in the mission schools. 563,891. Of these, 1 327,822 are colored. Or if the 686,106 in private schools -The stated clerk of the Presbyterian and the 673,601 in parochial schools be Church (North) has issued a comparative include:l, a grand total of almost 14,000,. summary of the work or that denomina- 000 is reached. But even this leaves out tion during the past six years. The the thousands found in all our acade- following table partially shows the in- mies and schools of higher grade. crease: -The latest figures from Utah give Ministers………… .. 1886. 1891. this as the encouraging summary of Churches………….. .. Christian work done in the territory, 5,546 6,623 and representing what has been mainly Communicants .. . …. . 6,281 7,0;0 accomplished by 15 years of effort. The Sunday·school members. 666,909 806,796 71 ministers belong to 9 denominations 743,518 883,680 (including the Unitarians, but not in· cluding the Catholics, with 20 churches CONTRIBUTIONS. and 7893 members). The churches are 75, with a membership of 4500. In the Home missions, ……… $760,947 $995,625 85 schools scattered through 68 towns Foreign missions…….. 651,160 784,406 are 174 teachers and 6800 scholars. In Education…………… 97,954 154,518 these from the beginning not less than Sunday-school work….. 34,739 181,915 30,000 have received instruction, of Freedmen……………. 91,273 124,814 whom about 70 per cent were from Mor· Congregation •……….. 7,640,855 9,7'64,379 man families. This work is sustained at an annual cost of $200,000.. and in- Expressed in totals, the gifts for all purvolves the holding of $1,500,000 for poses in 1886 amounted to $10,592,231, church and school purposes in land, buildings, etc. or over $15 per member; in 1891 to $14,062,356, or over $17 per member. -One of the first two fields chosen and occupied by the American Board -The Hawaiian Kingdom is made up was among the American Indians, and of many nationalities. Numbering 80,- during the next 30 years more than half 000 six years ago, it has now a populaof its missionaries were sent to the same tion of 90,000, of whom 40,000 are napeople. As late as 1830, of 225 upon its tives and half· castes, and of the rest roll, 147, including 34 unmarried wom· about 20,000 are Japanese, one fifth en, were devoting their lives to the reo women ;'13,000 Chinese, 800 of them demption of the red men. In all 15 women; 9000 Portuguese, 2000 Ameritribes were reached, and 48 churches can (born in the United States), 1200 were gathered, with 3940 members. In English, German, and French. Protlater years, as calls from the foreign field estants number 30,000, Catholics 20,- became more numerous and urgent, and 000 ; the rest are Asiatics or indifferent. as other instrumentalities were fash- For the Asiatics and Portuguese earnest ioned, this part of its work was gradu. missionary work is being done, as well ally given up. as in some of the islands of the South- ern Paci fic by the Hawaiian Evangelical –Bishop Thoburn, of the Methodist Association. Of this society the income Episcopal Church, says that 90 "North. last year was $61,500, of which $13,900 field missions" have been established was expended upon the Japanese, Chiin India with the money so generously nese, and Portuguese. contributed at Northfield in 1890. In these new missions 1500 persons have -America, through the American Board, expended in 50 years $1,250,000 to evangelize Hawaii, and has during that time received about $4,000,000 a year in trade. England's missions are said to bring back ten pounds in trade for every pound given to convert the heathen. Christianity means a demand for clothing and utensils. The fitst sign of grace in a penitent savage is a request for a shirt. If only rum could be kept out! But rum and Bibles are apt to go contributions for home work were $6433, in the same ship for Polynesia and and for work outside, $713. Africa. -The Basel Society bas a prosperous -The Church of Scotland issues its mission upon the southwest coast of annual report in the form of a bound India, in which are found a total of 125 volume containing 1069 p.ages. The missionaries, including 52 ordained men members number 593,393, and the net with their wives, 18 laymen, and 2 unincrease last year was 5439. The in- married women, with 15 ordained nacome, omitting all endowments, etc., tives and 145 other native helpers-a standing for" by-gone liberality," was total of 285 toilers. To the churches 177 $1,813,265 from contributions, and were added last year, making a total of $339,520 from seat rents, or $2,152,785 5197 members. In the 121 schools 6372 in all. The receipts for foreign mis- are under instruction. The nat.ive consions, including $52,685 from women's tributions were $6372. societies, were $224,855. The missionaries number 70, of whom 22 are or- -A large proportion of the money exdained, with 7 ordained and 89 unor- pended in behalf of Moravian missions dained native helpers–a total force of is contributed by the benevolent of 166. The 29 churches have 951 mem- Great Britain and elsell'here, who ar:e bers, including 285 added last year. Of not members of that body. Thus ever schools there are 89, with 5287 scholars. since 1818 the London Association in The native contributions were $49,907 Aid of Moravian Missions has been in 1890. Among the" schemes" of this gathering funds, and the amount col- Church is a work in behalf of the Jews, lected last year amounted to $14,330, for which $28,700 were contributed. and legacies were received amounting to $8100, while but $24,060 were derived -Within 19 years the McAll Mission from the Brethren's congregations, etc., has grown from a single small room in in Europe and the United States. The Paris, with 40 chairs and 2 workers, to total expended upon the missions in 134 stations scattered all over France, 1890 was $100,115. and including suoh important cities as Marseilles, Bordeaux, Lyons, Nice, New -The British Society for the Propa Rochelle, Nantes, etc., and in Algeria gation of the Gospel among the Jews as well; 18,061 sittings, and more than has had an existence of 48 years, and 600 persons engaged in the work. Dur- its income, according to the last report, ing 1890 upward of 27,000 domiciliary has reached $31,620. The field of visits were made, and for adults alone operations includes not only the British 16,111 services were held. The total at- Isles, but Germany, Austria, Turkey, tendance was 1,237,688. The entire and Russin as well. In Wilna hospital cost of the miSSIon was $89,563, of 24,000 were treated last year. And in which sum $33,910 was derived from all, as the report states, " thousands of the United States, $19,909 from Eng- Jews have been drawn to the cross and land, $17,762 from Scotland, and $13,- throne of Jesus." In aid of this and 340 from France, Switzerland, etc. other similar societies, the British and Foreign Bible Society has issued in He.. -The Societe des Missions Evangeliques brew 404,000 Old Testaments and 490,. 000 portions, 8300 New Testaments anQ a Paris has prosperous missions both in 40,000 portions, and 204,000 diglot copies of the Scriptures, or those CCott. Tahiti and in Basutoland, South Africa, taining the Hebrew and some other la1J, with 3~ stations and 123 out-stations, 29 guage better known to the readers. missionaries, and 85 native preachers. The church members number 9111, the -The London Medical Missionary cateohumens 3781, and 222 were added Association has for its object the educato the church last yellr. The number under instruction is 8339. The native tion of physicians, as well as the found- -In the year 1855 there were in Briting and support of medical missions, ish India 430 schools, both government whether independent or otherwise. The and missionary, having 30,000 pupils, income last year was $11,530. In the chiefly boys. By the recent census it entire foreign field are found 139 medi- appears that there are 130,000 schools cal missionaries holding British diplo- of all grades, and over 4,000,000 pupils, mas-an increase of 14 in a year. China a goodly percentage of these pupils being alone is blessed with 104 devoted men girls. Marvellous as this growth is, we and women, who, like their Master be. have only to remember the enormous fore them, give themselves to healing population of India to see that there is the sick. a vast work. yet to be done; for though there are 4,000,000 pupils in the schools, -Although Bavaria has a population this is but one and one fourth per cent of only about 5,000,000, it has no fewer of the population. than 17,992 endowments of various kinds, the sums amounting to 421,996,- -The English Baptist Society is soon 035 marks. Of these 202,878,887 marks to have a new steamer upon the Upper are for charitable institutions and pur- Congo. The Peace has been in use poses, 159,757,226 for religious pur- since 1882, and has rendered invaluable poses, about 60,000,000 for educationa- service, but is not large enough nor purposes. Of the' sum total devoted to Iwift enough for present purposes. The religious purposes, 140,036,054 are for new v.essel, the Goodwill. is to be 84 the Catholic Church, and 18,242,767 for feet long and 13 feet beam. Every the Protestant; The former has 8474 particle of the vessel, hall, boiler. enendowments, the latter 1174. This is gines, and all, will have to be carried about in proportion to the population. on men's shoulders some 230 miles over a very hilly road. The work of this so- -The Christian Mission Church in ciety extends more than 900 miles from Belgium, organized 53 years ago, now the base, at Leopoldville. As yet more numbers about 8000 souls. The in- than 1000 miles of the waterways of the crease in the last three years has been Congo Valley have never been visited only a little over 500 ; but the only sur- by a missionary, and 2000 miles have prise is that there has been any gain at been traversed very hurriedly, so that all in this land, where both Roman there is a great work for these mission- Catholicism and MateriMism are equally ary vessels to do. ready to crush the Gospel. The number of Protestant churches is 93, served -Harput, in Eastern Turkey, accordby 21 pastors and evangelists, aided by ing to the thought of not a few, stands 9 Bible readers. The Evangelical So- I1.t least upon the outskirts of ancient ciety controls the Protestant work. and Eden. The field, of which this city is has founded the Evangelical Sunday- the mission centre, contains 59 stations schools, of which there are 52. The under the care of the American Board, last report of the society shows that the with 25 churches and 1717 members, income in the last year was 151,278 including 159 added last year, 10,330 francs. A large proportion Of this is adherents, 7000 hearing regularly the given' by the friends of the cause in word, and 5000 following the Interna- England and elsewhere. tional course of Sunday-school lessons. The various congregations contributed -Says The Mission Fwld: "In India $7200 last year, leaving only $3300 for a single 'church, Whose members have a the Board to raise outside of the salaries total income of $]800, gives annually of the American missionaries, and the $400 of that sum for religious objects. a parents paid besides $3550 for the board quarter of which is set apart for the and tuition of their children ill the support of a native missionary in an- schools. other district.·, Statistics of Missionary [THE following tables are intended to inclnde only Foreign Missions, that is, missions to foreign work of the Methodists and Baptists and others in Europe, as well as efforts for the evangelization from the published reports Of the various Societies, and, with rew exceptions, present the facts as has been received from the Encyclopredia of Missions and the Concise Dictionary of Religious desired, earnestly aimed at, and most diligently sought; but, as it always occurs in such nuder· Home Missionary _ _ _-"Cc::0.=n=stituency. Income.
II . ; I UNITED STATES ..~fs~i ~ – fi – – .~,; – ~'" ~ AND 2S CANADA. –~ – ..E.. =~:I Se~'" – -~Q) ~ ———–1– -Q – – -<Ij Baptist Missionary Union……… ….. 1814 6,138 7,786 717,640 $492,275 $51,038 Sonthern Baptist Convention'………. 1845 8,824 16,091 1,235,765 113,522 1,771 Free Baptist.. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. .. … .. .. 1836 1,531 1,314 82,683 25,497 400 Baptist General Association. . . . . . . .• .. 1873 560 200 50.000 500 Christian (Disciple)……………….. 1875 675,000 67,750 1 4,678 3,388! 1,023 American Christiau Connection. . . . . . . .. 1886 1,500 1,700 120,000 3,000 1,500 Seventh Day Baptist……. , …….. …. 1847 100 110 9,000 4,500 Congregationalist (A. B. C. F. M.}……. 1810 4,619 4,817 506,832 762,Q86 117,494 Methodist EpiscQpal, North……….. 1819 12,914 22,833 2,783,967 566,347 204,300 Methodist Episcopal, South… . . . . . . . . . . 1846 4,862 11,767 1,166,019 219,940 8,147 Methodist Protestant… . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 1882 1,441 2,003 147,604 13,32-3 460 African Methodist Episcopal.. . . . . .. . . . . 1886 2,500 3,000 100,000 7,000 1,600 Wesleyan Methodist …… , …………. 1887 300 600 18,000 2,000 440 Seventh Day Adventists…. …. …. . … 1874 930 26,112 1.485 Evangelical Association……………. 1876 3541 2,043 145,603 12,000 United Brethren………… … …….. 1853 1,864 I 4,203 197,123 10,000 1,467 I I 10,801 Protestant Episcopal…… .. .. …. .. .. 1835 4,163 2,435 508,292 189,184 6,800 Presbyterian, North .. .. 1837 6,158 6,894 775,903 942,691 49,423 Presbyterian, South … . 1862 1,200 1,144 169,000 112,952 3,976 782 902 United Presbyterian… . 1858 124 106,385 1,040,871 1 30,695 124 Reformed Presbyterian. . . .. .. ……. 1856 2,776 I I 1,646 11,289 . 19,614 Cumberland Presbyterian……….. …. 1852 165,940 22,260 1,812 Reformed Dutch.. … …………….. 1832 560 551 88,979 117,090 8,003 Reformed German…….. , ………… 1878 835 1,554 200,498 17,000 I 3,000 Associate Re.formed, South …………. 1879 81 117 8,534 I 3,Q.37 1 300 German Evangelical Synod… .. …. …. 1883 1,3,55 Lntheran General Synod. . . . . … . .. . . . . 1837 650 870 150,000 9,010 41,202 979 1,437 151,404 Lutheran General Council…. …. …. 1869 910 1,52'2 264,235 12,177 50 Methodist Episcopal, Canada……. …. 1873 1,285 1,268 233,868 27,503 6,491 Presbyterian, Canada…………….. 1844 972 1,920 160,105 105,525 4,172 Church of Englaud, Canada… … …. 1890 .~~ ..~~ 10',~57 ~~ 1:::: 1 . Congregationalist, Canada…….. .. …. 1886 Baptist, Ontario and Quebec ……….. 1873 532 550 77,247 36,0421 677 Totals 73,235104,888 -10,936~3171 4.180~602 507,s83 Societies for 1890-1.
countries under the care of missionaries other than natives. And hence is omitted the bulk of the of the Jews and the Freedmen, the Chinese and Indians. Of course the figures are derived mainly they existed during the last half of 1890, or the first half of the current year. 8ubstantial assistance Knowledge, which have appeared within a few months. The utmost of accuracy has been eagerly takings, the desired, earnestly aimed at, sources of error are numerous and most perplexing.] Missionaries. I Native !:' 1 g Helpers. oj 1 :g 1 ~Sg ·1;:I • .~; ".~ <1i ~ .is I .§; ~ I ~ l1-4l1~01 ~:zg j .;0) .~…. ] i~"''' ~ "" ~S ;"a.0 g'" >."-.<. "0 " .e; "wil. ~ ~ -<5- ->'"1 ~ w. 0 ->-<- -(5 – -(5 – – – – – . – -:5 – — – I 1,390 139 13 119 107 232 626 1,645 681 76,603 8,708 1,038 20,107 185 38 …. 31 17 23 53 161 67 2,377 402 21 823 12 9 1 9 6 5 13 43 11 646 55 105 3,619 6 1 1 1 …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….
41 17 …. 18 …. . … 25 60 12 1,418 158 10 817 32 2 …. 2 …. .. 7 11 3 92 35 …. . …
3 2 …. 2 2 2 7 18 1 30 5 2 29 1,058 183 17 181 152 174 2,243 2,980 387 36,256 4,554 1,025 47,319 373 169 10 160 126 1 447 2,571 3,483 334 52,956 5,747 1,090 33,844 516 52 2,000 169 50 …. 40 1 1 . … 99 224 60 4,944 6 256 . … 5 257 35 1 300 76 . … 3 5 …. 51 4 …. 12 29 2 203 12 . …
12 9 9 121 3 .. , 7 40 10 356 …. j2 2 2 …. 1 … 7 1 300 9 3 … 35 …. 5 5 17 882 31 5 …. 31 …. 5 24 :l7 5 378 …. 1 18 17 18 25 16 5 3 67 134 131 6,712 1,150 14 591 19 3,494 349 220 25 … 1 129 82 3,196 6 19 27 52 457 210 40 186 140 348 173. 1,097 377 28,494 2,87'5 605 27,813 100 33 3 26 18 15 12 107 25 1,284 246 16 1,300 28 1 21 25 24 495 554 39 9,832 735 252 10,480 21:1 1 5 6 …. 5 22 3 209 12 26 710 5 10 6 …. 6 6 2 171 37 11 63~ 63 4 298 155 23 4 23 12 30 283 375 51 5,326 552 113 4,069 24 3 …. 3:1 2 7 15 30 12 1,656 218 2 66 11 2 …. 2! 2 2 4 12 4 285 24 4 65 10 4 …. 41 1 . … 15 24 3 234 34 4 250 12 5 …. 4! 3 4 167 183 338 6,492 580 195 4,784 6 4 …. 31 …. 2 7 16 2 832 1 89 1,073 19 11 …. I … 45 71 10 1,538 578 4 485 15 ….
130 . ~j 324 1 24 6 152 220 87 8,172 711 141 4,100 1 1 …. …. ." …. …. …. …. . … .. . ….
—— _:;I_~l_~ 40 202 .. . 39 30 1,796 299 36[ 5,700 9 16 …. 141 187 22 2,493 415 41 350 -7218 4.649 1,066 145 966 736 1,341 11,946 129,806 8.625. 235-:-276 ! 4,867 1169,451 British Poreign Missions. By Rev. James hood a spiritual power. M. Coillard Johnston, Bulton, England. calls for a teacher of boys, and regrets that he has often to decline applications United Presbyterian Church of from dark little applicants because there Scotland's Foreign Mission.-This is no instructor. A young fellow· worker, vigorous denomination, so notably a Rev. A. Jalla, of the Waldensian valmissionary church, reports extended leys, described as worthy, active, and help on behalf of its continental and amiable, had just gone to Kimberley colonial mission stations. In foreign imd the Cape to meet his bride. The work it occupies 7 mission fields, on leader of the mission was taking the opwhich sened 117 fully trained agents, portunity of sending under his care of whom 57 were ordained European Litia. the eldest Bon of the king, to the missionaries; 20 ordained native teach- Morija High School, Basutoland. This ers, 10 medical missionaries, of whom 4 youth's intelligence, prepossessing manwere ordained; 5 European evangelists ner, and evident susceptibility war_ and 25 female missionaries. These rants M. Coillard in hoping that by and agents superintended 97 native evange- by he may become a trusted missionlists, 332 native teachers, 67 nati ve Ze- ary's friend. Upon a canal six miles nana workers, and 42 other helpers. long, connecting Sefula with the Zam- The native church membership last year besi River, M. Coillard had been busy showed an increase of 900 soula-the for two years. 'l'his year he hoped to greatest addition ever recorded. In the see its completion. Mr. and Mrs Goy year 1880 the members in the native had been laboring at Sesheke, and were churches numbered 9687, and ten years about to go (D. V.) to Seomaat the Gonge later, 15,799. The foreign mission in- Falls. The absence of a settled popucome in 1890, including the contribu- lation at Sesheke, which is used as a tions for Zenana work, was £40,592, meeting-place for some dozen or more and an additional sum of £13,605 was chiefs from far off villages, has natugiven by the natives themselves in sup- rally prevented systematic labor. At port of missions, schools, and hospitals. Kazungula, L. Jalla, an esteemed broth- United Presbyterian missionaries at er, had been struggling with fever. His present on furlough number among station, yet in the stage of infancy, is others Dr. John Husband, Rajputana; destined, from its topographical posi- Rev. Dr. William Z. Turner, .Tamaica; tion, to be an important centre. In the and Rev. Johu W. Stirling, Kaffraria. autumn another esteemed young broth- The Presbyterians are fulfilling the ex- er, Mons. Vollet, from Paris, was expecthort..tion of Dr. J. Monro Gibson in ed, accompanied by two (M. Coillard being both self-sustaining and self-sac- says, " we fain hope more") evangelists. rificlng. At these different centres the work is developing slowly,· the laborers having The Barotsi Mission (Central Af- the blessing of "good understanding rica).-In M. Coillard's earnest labors and union. " several Christian friends in Glasgow are deeply interested, and regular support- Very kmdly M. Coillard alludes to the ers. Amid difficulties in journeyings new missionary expedition of the Engand tribal negotiations the missionary lish Primitive Methodists to Mashikusteadfastly holds forth the Word of Life lomboe Land. Its leader, Rev. Mr. in these long-neglected regions. The Buckenham, rad accompanied M. Coilpoor state of health of Mrs. Coillard is lard to interview the king for the privia sore burden on this whole·souled toil- lege of establishing a station in his er. To his joy there recently arrived territory. To the joy of all, permission Miss Kiener, from Neuchatel. This was given. The arrival of the Primitive lady's consecration and affectionate Met·hoilist brethren after many perils disposition will make her in alllikeli- and hardships, M. Coillard observes, is the answer to many prayers. Help in ity were appreciated very warmly by sustaining the beloved :French pastor's philanthropic and missionary workers labors will be sent per Mr. William in West Africa. In reply to an address, Ewing, 7 Royal Bank Place, Glasgow, Sir Alfred observed that in regard to the Scotland. education of the nativel! great credit was due to the various self-sacrificing English Missions in Canada.-The missionaries, who had been and connomination of the Ven. William Day tinued to be the popular educators. Reeve to the bishopric of Mackenzie He spoke of the need of open and safe River, in succession to Bishop Bompas, roads for the onward progress of the recently translated to the new diocese country, and the value that the repatriaof Selkirk, has the approval of the Arch- tion of negroes would be to Africa. .The bishop of Canterbury. He was educat- question, he contended, should now be ed at the Church Missionary College, viewed in the Old and New World in Islington, ordained by the Bishop of the light of retributive justice to Africa Rupertsland in 1868, appointed bishop's for the wrongs inflicted on her in the chaplain in 1880, and archdeacon in past. His policy in befriending negro- 1883. He has done years of honored land had been guided by the three C's work in Northwest America, notably at –consideration, conciliation, and cul- :Forts Simpson and Chipewyan. In the ture. With a splendid record of sucprime of manhood, still under fifty, a cess, Sir Alfred Moloney has sailed to great career may be anticipated. He fulfil his new appointment as Governor was on furlough a little while ago. The of British Honduras. consecration will probably be performed by the Canadian bishops. Native Races and the Liquor Tra!- fic.-By the two envoys of Gungun- With the translation of the Bible into hana, chief of Gazaland, who have rethe Cree language, the Bishop of Moo- turned home after a visit to British sonee writes home that he is making shores, the United Committee have sent rapid progress. Next winter the task a letter expressing their pleasure that may probably be finished, when the be wishes to exclude the white man's Bishop of "The Great Lone Land," drink, which has recently been introwho has occupied his see since 1851, duced there, and assuring him that the will likely resign. The endurance of governments of Europe have agreed privations in an uninviting region, and that strong drink shall not be forced on cheerfully borne, have proved his mis- chiefs or people against their wishes. sionary character and secured him the The letter oncourages him to forbid the devoted attachment of the Indians. sale of this ruinous t~affic, and urges The Rev. J. A. Newnham, a Canadian, him, in conclusion, in these earnest has sailed for Moosonee, and should he words: "Keep it out of your country feel himself capable of bearing the of Gazaland entirely; it is a deadly strain of the work, his name may be enemy alike to the chief, to the head. submitted to the Archbishop of Canter- men, and to the common people." Rebury in succession to Dr. Horden as ports from abroad and by personal bishop. testimony unite in exposing the spread of this fearful evil. From Africa-east, The Aborigines' Protection Society. south, and west-from Madagascar, from -Always in close sympathy' with the India, from the South Seas, and from cause of missions, the society has lately .Alaska there is a great outcry against done honor to Sir Alfred Moloney,' a the foe which makes heathenism more pof-ular WeAt African governor since awful, and likewise paralyzes the growth 1867, and widely esteemed for his just of native converts. and politic dealing with the natives of the interior. His valuable services to Wesleyan Foreign Mission Fi· commerce,' civiliza'tion, and Christiannances.·-At the Nottingham Confer. Another aspE'ct of Catholic affairs was ence in July the present adverse balance presented by the Rev. L. C. Casartelli of £20,000 was the subject of a warm to the delegates attending the Catholic discussion. The representatives of the Conference held in London. The speak- Committee strongly repudiate the charge er, who is the editor of the English organ of blame which has been made. Much of Catholic foreign missions, stated that of the criticism and unrest the Rev. nothing was practically known in Eng· Marshall Randles considered to be the land of the Catholic Church Rsthe great. result of a ground swell following the est foreign missionary in the world, folevents of two yeal'S ago. No new policy lowing the observation with an extraor. was advocated for the removal of the dinary assertion-viz., that in India last debt save the appointment of adult col· year there were 841 Protestant mis. lectors, and the responsibility of district sionaries, whose reports indicated that sub·committees to a central committee, only 298 converts had been added to the and the arousing of fresh interest in the native churches at a cost of £48,000. claims of foreign missions. For the The Catholics, on the other hand, were fair name of the influential Wesleyan able to show in one diocese where they community, whose servants abroad and labored, which had a population of officials in London are not surpassed, 7,000,000, that their missionaries had the obligat.ion of extinguishing the received more than double that number heavy debt is an immediate duty. A of adult persons. The former part of communication was read to the Con- this statement is completely disproved ference announcing the death of the by the latest returns from three societies Rev. Thornley Smith, 6f London, for· alone in British India-the Church and merly a missionary pioneer in South Wesleyan Missionary Societies and the Africa, where he successfully labored American Baptists. half a century ago. He was the author of several works relating to missions. Miscellaneous.-Much uneasiness is felt by the London Missionary Society Roman Catholics in England and for the welfare of their converts, sta- India-a Contrast.-Much surprise tions, and training institution in Samoa, was caused at the Annual Conference of through the antagonism of Mataafa to Catholic Young Men's Societies of Great the rule of Malietoa. Business at Samoa Britain, lately assembled in Wigan, Lan. is stagnant.-The inquiry into the Pal· cashire, by a paper which the Rev. Aus· estine Mission is being conducted by the tin Powell read on ., Submerged Catho. Archbishop of Canterbury in London lics" who were lost to tho Church. He with closed doors.-A member of the said that never since Elizabeth ascended Calvinistic Methodist Missionary Sothe throne of England had the pros. ciety has promised a legacy of £30,000 pects in the country been darker. In to the Jubilee Fund.-In 1895 the Lon_ most parts of England the Catholics don Missionary Society will reach its cenwere losing in numbers both relatively tenary, an event which the directors wish and actually. Emigration to America, to anticipate by placing a hundred ad. which affected them, wasa non.prevent- ditional missionaries in the foreign field. able cause, whereas great and partially -Excellent patronage, including that of preventable causes were apostasy and the queen's, has been given to the South the aversion of young men to matrimony. African Choir, at present on a tour in In reply to his critics the essayist 0 b· England.-The General Assembly of served that figures could not be gain- Ireland reports successful work in India said. Liverpool was the only diocese and China, and among the jungle tribes, showing an increase, and even there it with a revived interest in missions at was not in proportion to the growth of home shown by a gratifying increased population. income. Monthly Bulletin. Baptist missionaries with their wives sailed from New York July 15th for Africa. -Susi, the last of those faithful Brazil. In 'Goyaz, there is a daily paper servants of Dr. Livingstone, who brought protesting against elections on Sundays, his body to the coast on that most reo as the Protestants will not vote on that markable journey, one of the grandest day. The influence of Sabbath.keeping funeral processions the world has ever is a mission and evangelization in itself. seen, died at Zanzibar on May 6th. Chili.-The Presbyterian Mission in -Along the West African coast there Chili has five organized churches, as are now 200 churches, 35,000 converts, well as preaching halls in the principal 100,000 adherents, 275 schools, and towns of the country. Evangelists make 30,000 pupils. Thirty.five dialects or long tours, scattering the bread of life. languages have been mastered, into There are two schools-an elementary which portions of the Scripture and reo one at Valparaiso, attended by 200 ligious books and tracts have been trans· scholars, and a superior institution at lated and printed, and some knowledge Santiago, with 80 scholars, some of of the Gospel has reached about 8,000,000 whom have come from homes in Peru of benighted Africans. and Balivia. A young Spanish pastor, -King Lewanika. the ruler of the M. Francesco Diez, who studied at great Barotse, on the Upper Zambesi, Lausanne, has recently settled at San· has been converted from human sacri· tiago in connection with the mission.
fices, the slave trad e, and alcoholism. -Mr. C. PolIhiIl Turner, one of the The king has not offered a human sacri. .. Cambridge TIand" which went to fice for three years, has become a tee· China in connection with the China In- totaler, and forbids the sale of liquor in land Mission, is studying the Thibetan his capital. He has sent his eldest son, language in Kansuh province, on the Litia, to Morija, in Basutoland, to reo borders of Thibet, preparatory to carry- ceive Christian instruction. The chief ing the Gospel into that country.
has many excellent parts, and for some -Li Hing Chang, Viceroy, and the time has been on terms of friendship most powerful man in China, has writ. with Mr.. Coillard, of the Paris Society ten a preface to a medical work by the of Missions; and Litia himself is a prom. Rev. S. A. Hunter, M.D., giving the ising young man of Christian character. sanction of his name to foreign thera- -The Church of England is begin. peutics and medical missionary work.
ning miSSion work in Mashonaland, -Dr. W. A. P. Martin has returned South Africa, in good earnest. Dr. to resume his important duties as Presi.
Knight Bruce has been called to the dent of the Imperial College of Pekin.
bishopric of that country, and has gone It is nearly forty.lrwo years since Dr.
there by way of the Pungwe River, ac· Martin first set out for China as a mis· companied by one clergyman. Previous· sionary. Then almost six months were ly six laymen had been sent, by the spent on the voyage; now in less than overland route, with supplies for the one month the same journey is made.
mlSSlOn. Among these is a carpenter Then there were sixty missionaries, now who was with Dr. Livingstone through there are more than a thousand.
his 'second African expedition. Three -The twenty.fifth anniversary of the Christian natives from Gazaland are with China Inland Mission was held at Mild· this party. An American layman pro. may Hall, May 26th. A full letter in poses to follow shortly, paying his own lieu of a I'eport was read from Mr. Hud· expenses, while guided by the rules of son Taylor. In this letter he spoke es· the mission. pecially of the new headquarters of an Brazil.-Dr. G. W. Chalnberlain and Australasian branch of the society. In family, Mr. Myron A. Clark, and three giving statements in regard to the work he showed that the number of baptisms bis large toleration for Christians who reported was 407 as against 536 last differed from him in forms of worsbip year. But the number of unbaptized or in forms of ecclesiastical order. converts reported is much larger than the year before, more than making up Japan.-Mrs. Large, widow of the the deficiency. The total number of missionary of the Canadian Methodist communicants is over 3000, more than Church, who was murdered in Japan 4500 having heen baptized from the over a year ago, and who was herself commencement of the work twenty· six severely wounded in trying to save her years ago. husband's life, after a year's visit in Ontario, is now returning to Japan to -The death is announced of the Rev. re-engage in mission work. Dr. Bissell, of the Marathi Mission of the American Board. Dr. Bissell has -The Hongo Church, in Tokyo-in. spent forty years in India, and was one tended specially for students, R9v. Mr. of the most able missionaries in that Yokio (Ise) pastor, a man well known in country. His departure was sudden, America-was dedicated a short while as he was in his usual health until about ago. It is a substantial brick building, two hours before his death. He leaves corresponding in style with the buildfour sons in the ministry. ings of the university and national schools, near which it is located. It -The Scotch missionaries in the seats about 700. The entire cost of lot Punjab rejoice over a rich harvest of and building, with a small native house souls. At the station of Sailkot they bap- for a parsonage, was about $11,000, and tized 30 converts four years ago; but it is paid for. Most of the money was last year the number was already 800, raised in this country. and the blessed work is going on increasingly. Papal Lands.-Four of the members of the first Christian Endeavor Society -The venerable Dr. John Newton, formed in Mexico, at Chihuahua, have who died at Merrel, in Northern India, left to study for the ministry at Juarez. on the second day of July, was in the They have started another society, and eighty-first year of his age, and had the societies in Spain plan to unite with been in the missionary work in India those in Mexico in publishing literature for fifty-six years. Very few men have in Spanish suited to their needs. been permitted to pass through so long a period of service, and few have Russia. – The Russian Orthodox wrought so diligently and so well. He Churr.h is doing mission work among was stationed first at Lodiana, but more the nomad tribes in South Siberia. than forty years ago!> was transferred to Over 3000 adults were baptized last year. Lahore, where his chief work was done. A magnificent cathedral will soon be He was well qualified in scholarship dedicated at Tokio, Japan, in which and in his linguistic acquirements for country the Russian missionaries are the tasks which were appointed to him. most successful. The Moscow Mission. He published the first grammar of the ary Society numbers 12,000 members; Panjabi language, and the first and only and receives $150,000 annually. The Panjabi English dictionary. He trans. seminary at Kasan prepares young men lated the New Testament, and wrote for work among the Siberian tribes, giv. numerous tracts and essays. His influ· ing them instruction in the native diaence with civilians and men in high lects. office in the Punjab was large, and always wielded for the advancement of -The King of Siam has settled an civilization and good morals. Men gave annual allowance of $1500 upon the him unfeigned veneration, and loved three young sons of the late Dwight Bradley, son of the early missionary, l;liJll for hi$ BweetIless of. temper and Dr. Bradley. Mr. Bradley was in the government. service at Bangkok.
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1890
PROTESTANT MISSIONS A Ht:NDRED YEARS AGO AND NOW
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIII. No.2.-01d Series.–FEBRUARY.–VoL. III. No. 2.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS. PROTESTANT MISSIONS A HUNDRED YEARS AGO AND NOW RESPO:NSIBILITY AXD ENCOURAGEMENT. BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, F. S. S., LONDOX, E:NGLAXD.
In our pamphlet, "A Century of Protestant .Missions," we fixed ou the year 1786 as the period of their commencement, and. we have seen no reason to alter that date as a fair approximation. Foul' of the greatest missionary societies ill the world can trace their 'origin to within a few months, if not to that very year; not in the formal organization of their outward framework, but to what is the true birth of missions, the union of spirit for prayer on behalf of the heathen, and the earnest desire for their conversion by the preaching of the Gospel. Not only the fathers of the Baptist Missions, but the founders of the Church Missionary Society, and the London Missionary Society, had their spiritual birth at that time; and the Rev. Dr. Coke was sent out to found missions among the heathen in our colonies in the West Indies that year by vVesley and his fellow laborers.
Missions, like their ~Iaster, are born f!'Om above. . Born of the Spirit, and that was the period of the Epiphany of the missionary spirit, which is ever latent in the Christian Church, though it may long lie dormant, and even seem to die. .
It has often been in my heart to follow up that pamphlet, "Century of Protestant Missions," which was of set purpose written to arrest thought on the great work which still remains to be done in the vast unoccupied fields of the heathen world, by another, showing the means for a much greater work in the future, and the encouragements to prosecute it with new vigor and hope. "A CentUl'y of Christian Progress," which came ont in an ill complete form, owing to the pressure of other duties, was confined to oue aspect of the subject; and the limited time at my disposal will ollly allow me now to put together a few facts, which may, with God's blessing, stimulate aud strengthen the Churches of Christ; in the words of Carey, "to attempt great things for God, and to expect great thing~ from God." I.-THE lI11SSlON ~'IELn.
Let us glance at that field, which" is the world." The first thing that strikes us is the great increase of our knowledge of the world and its inhabitants. A hundted years ago the vast regions of heathenism were comparatively a blank to the minds of most Christians. Of the hundreds of millions in China, we knew little beyond the meagre inf()rmation to be gathered f!"Om the journals of The Polos, and of Roman Catholic Missions, and from a few traders on the coast, ignorant of the language of the people. Vast tracts of India were untrodden by the feet of our countrymen, whose almost sole concerns were trade and conquest. Africa was a terra incognito beyond a few miles from Egypt and the Cape, except for a few bold but imperfect explorations up the Nile and the Niger. Our maps of the interior were either a blank or a blunder-deserts and plains, wbere lakes and rivers, a~d mountains ha,'e been discovered, with a teeming population and fertile soil.
This vast increase of our knowledge acts ill a two-fold way on the Christian Church. First, it excites interest in, and sympathy for, the poor and the perishing; and second, it awak.ens a sense of responsibility for those with whom we seem by our knowledge to be brought into personal relations. The qnestion, ""Vho is my neighbor?" acquires a new meaning and a wider scope. Our fellow man who has fallen among thieves, is now found by the Samaritan spiI"it in the Church, not on the way down from Jerusalem to the neighboring city, Jericho; he is found wounded by sin".and robbed of his Divine inheritance by the idolatries of heathenism and the deceptions of the false prophet in all lands.
This feeling of sympathy and sense of responsibility are greatly intensified by the facilities for eagy and rapid communication with all parts of the world. It makes us realize that we are now in that period of prophetic history, when "many shall run to alll~ fro, and knowledge shall be increased." The whole world is now at our door. It is only a few weeks easy travel by land or sea to reach the most distant parts. By post and telegraph we know daily what takes place in the most remote regions. ';Ve seem to hear the sounds of sorrow and woe in the dark places of the earth, and to feel the anxious beating of the hearts of the thousand millions of the world's inhabitants wh'o are ignorant of God and of His Christ.
n.-THE OPENINGS IN THE MISSION FIELD.
If we compare the world a hundred years ago with what it is now, the calls to work and sense of responsibility will be intensified a thousand fold. When our Protestant missions began China was hermetically sealed. It was death to preach the Gospel in Japan. India was closed against all missionaries; even our own countryman, Carey, had to seek shelter on a little plot of ground owned by a foreign power. South America was tabooed by the Church of Rome. T~e difficulties experienced by African travelers were enough to deter the most adventurous, and Asia Minor was inaccessible, while Mohammeda.nism stood in its pride and independence.
These countries from which the missionary was thus excluded were peopled by the highest and most advanced races outside the pale Qf the Christian Church. Almost the only peoples accessible to the missionary were the inferior and debased races, inhabiting the soft and enervating islands of the South Seas, or the freezing latitudes of the Polar regions; races living under conditions inimical to a high development, and, in most instances, races which were dying out under the double pressure of native vices and the evils attendant on modern «ivilization. Along with these, missionaries had access to certain tribes of Africa, on their native soil, or transplanted to America and· the 'Vest India Islands, under the degrading influence of slavery.
These were not the races whom the wisdom of man would have selected, and but for the overruling providence of God shutting up the new energies of the awakened Church to the degenerate and apparently hopeless specimens of the human family, they would proba.bly have been thought beneath or beyond the reach of the Gospel remedy. That such beings have not only been delivered .from idolatry by the simple prea'ching of the Gospel, but made to shine with the beauty of holiness, giving all the evidences of a nature regenerated by the spirit of God, and abounding in the fruits of righteousness; the strongest proof of the Divine origin and power of Christianity on the one hand, and the clearest demonstration of the disinterested character and aim of Protestant missions on the other. There was nothing to be gained by the churches from conquests over such as these, save the blessing of the Lord on those who obey His commands, and thus enjoy His favor.
But now the whole world is open to missionary enterprise; we can not even name the countries which have been thrown open. It would occupy too much of your space. There is only one isolated little nook from which missionaries are absolutely shut out-the one exception which confirms the rule, and, if we mistake not, even that one exception is likely soon to cease to be one. By her insults to Britain's power and attacks on British interests, Thibet is preparing the way for the overthrow of her clerical exclusiveness.
There is one feature of the great change which has come over the world during this last century, for which the Church is not sufficiently grateful; of which, in fact, no one seems to take note, viz.: that among the nations of the earth thet'e is not one Kingdom ruled over by an independent idolatrous Ruler. The small States in India, under Hindu Rulers, are no exception. They are all under British dominion or influence. EYen .Assam, Tonquin, Corea, and such like powers, are directly uuder the influence or control of the Briti~h, French or Chinese governments; and even the last is monotheistic in its national worship. Thibet, the one apparent exception~ is under Chinese protection. The tribes under the yoke of naked savages we do not reckon among the nations and kingdoms of the world. This overthrow of idolatrous rulers is not the work of Christian missions; but it has been chiefly brought about by Christian powers~ and is surely a part of the Di vine purpose for preparing the way of the Lord. 'l'hat the rulers of all civilized or semi-civilized nations- ill fact, all nations with anything corresponding to or resembling civil government-are monotheists, is well fitted to encourage the mission- ary spirit, and the hopes of the Church. He who has put down the idolatrous power will fulfill His prophetic word, «the idols he will utterly abolish."
HL-THE ENLARGElIIENT AND INCREASED RESOl7RCES OF THE CHURCH.
The altered position of the church in relation to the heathen world, is a cheering fact, and should be a powerful factor in the future. A hundred years ago the numbers of professing Christians of all the three great sections of the Christian Church, were less than 200 millions, now they are over 430 millions; and of this great increase in a hundred years, by far the larger share falls to the Pro- testant Church. vVhile the Roman Catholic and Greek churches only doubled their numbers, the Protestants multiplied nearly foul' fold.
The numbers, as given in our" Century of Christian Progress," stand thus: 1886, Increase 4 fold. less than 2 fold', 1786, 137,000,000 205,000,000 2 fold, Protestants. ' …..•…. 37,700,000 89,000,000 Roman Catholics …… 117,000,000 Greek Church, … , …. 46,000,000 200,700,000 431,000,000 In our brochure, "A Century of Protestant Missions," we called attention to the fact, that while Protestant missions had gathered three millions into the fold of Christ ill a hundred years, the heathen hall increased, by the ordinary birth rate, by 200 millions, in the same time. But if we take the entire increase in the nominally Christian population, which was in the same period 230 millions, we alter most materially the relative numbers, and find that the Christian is rapidly overtaking the heathen and :Mohammedan popUlation of the world. . In 1786 the entire population of the world was probably about ·1,000 millions, of which profesl'ling Christians were 200 millions, forming 20 per cent. of the whole, and 25 per cent. of the 800 millions of heathens and Mohammedans. In other words, the Christians were 1 in 4 of the heathen and Mohammedans. In 1886 the population of the world was estimated at 1450 millions, but the Christians of all ~enominations had risen to 430 millions, that is, 43 per cent. of the 1000 millions of the heathens and Mohammedans, or about as 1 in 2, .or more nearly 1.02!-.
If we take only the Protestant population at the two period,s, the relative change is more striking still. In 1786 the 37 millions of Protestants were to the 960 millions of heathen and Mohammedan population only 4 per cent., or as 1 in 26. In 1886 the 137 millions were to the 1313 millions, 10 per cent., or as very nearly 1 in 10. But the gain is not only in numbers; in learning and science, in wealth and power the gain is greater fat·.
Take this rapid and great increase in the nnmbers and resources .of the church in connection with the opening up of the whole world to evangelistic enterprise, and have we not a clear instruction of the ~esign of God? The one condition, without the other, would have had little significance. If the world had been open, but the church poor and weak and few in numbers, there might have been an excuse for indolence, although the memory of Pentecost and the little company in the upper room, might have inspit'ed even a feeble few to sttempt great things in the name of a risen Redeemer. If the church had been large and strong, but the world closed, she might have taken it as a plea for attempting little. But when we see an open world, .easy of access, and a church so prosperous and powerful, there is not the shadow of an excuse for idleness. There is every encouragement, snd the loudest call to a supreme effort for the evangelization of the world. The heathen are calling, God is commanding His people to srise in His might, and to take possession of all nations, in His name. It is at her peril that the church of Christ neglects the call of Provi- (lence, which is the voice of God.
IV.-FACILITIES FOR lIUSSION WORK NOW, AXD A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
The advantages for a new crusade are inconceivably greater in .our day, as compared with what they were in the days of our fatherR. Then the work was new and untried. The few specimens of work (lone were not models of wisdom, or examples of success. Some were .of value as a wal'l1ing, rather than encouragement. Everything was new and strange, all had to be built up-the very foundations had to be dug. Can we wonder that mistakes were made? It would haye been a miracle if they had not. The condition of the savage tribes smong whom they began was so entirely different from anything in bome experience, we can only wonder at the co.)urage, and faith, and wisdom, of the early founders of our missions.
The tools with which they were to work had to be invented and nlade. Languages had not only to be leal'l1ed, they had to be fashioned and clothed in the forms of written speech. The fleeting sounds from the lips of savages had to be coined into visible words, snd construed in harmony with the strange usage8 of people innocent of grammatical rules. Dictionaries had to be made out of the crude materials of these hitherto unformed tongues, requiring the greatest nicety of ear, and the utmost accuracy in reducing sound to its equivalent in words; and last, but not least, the translation of the Word of God had to be made unto these newly formed languages, and fickle and restless savages had to be taught to read the sacred page.
The amount of this kind of work that has been accomplished is. almost incalculable and incredible. All this is clear gain, which does not need to be repeated in these languages, which now number probably 400, in all parts of the habitable globe. New missionaries, going to these nations and tribes, find their work in acquiring the language of the people comparativaly easy-a clear gain to the church in time and money and men; making spiritual results, under God, more easy and rapid.
Compare also the present with the past in respect of the numberof laborers with which we start this new era in missionary effort. Our fathers had to begin with a mere handf~l of laborers, untrained and inexperienced, with no knowledge of the habits and customs and modes of thought of the various peoples among whom they werll to· work. They had no native helpers or preachers to assist them in theirwork. Everything was against them. The possibility of the preach· ing of the Gospel saving and sanctifying such depraved natures as· those of cannibals, was an untried problem. The natural way would have been, like the first Moravian missionaries, to prepare them by education and civilization for the Gospel message. But, with a sublime faith in the Divine commission to preach the Gospel to ever.1f creature, they went forth with no weapons of modern science or learning, but with the sword of the Spirit, and with that they fought and conquered.
Now, how different are the conditions in the mission field, with 7,00(} European and American missionaries at work, half the number ordained ministers, and nearly all of them educated men and women, acquainted with something like 400 languages, or distinct dialects. But what is a greater advantage than these for aggressive work, ~re the native evangelists, now making little short of 30,000, and of these, nearly 3,000 are educated native pastors, placed over congregations of their countrymen. Greater than even these advantages, arc the three million of converts, two-thirds of whom are either active or passive witnesses for Christ iu the midst of their heathen countrymen -lights, all the more conspicuous from the darkness which surrounds them.
Take in connection with these advantages in the mission fields of the world, the vast increase in the number and resources of missionary societies at home, with the augmented means, their more complete organization, their knowledge and experience of the methods.
DR. PIERSON'S JIlISSIONARY CRUSADE IN SCOTLAND
which have heen lllostowned of God for the conversion of the heathen, their closer touch with the churches, the increase of missionary spirit in England and America, the great wealth in the hands of Christian men, the favorable disposition of most of the ruling powers of the world,-and we have a condition of matters such as could not have been dreamed of a hundred ycars ago, and which lays an immeasurably greater responsibility on the Christian conscience and on the churches of Christ; while they are fitted to put doubt and unbelief to shame, and to inspire the greatest courage and hope in the breast of missionaries abroad, and Christians at home. Surely God is speaking loudly to all, to seize the present opportunity, and make a supreme effort for an advance along the whole line.
We close with a word of wal'lling. There is a danger of trusting to the great increase of knowledge, and numbers, and wealth, and :power. We do well to remember the words, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." We have enough to h-Jmble us in looking to our sinful neglect in the past, when we tr.ink of the generations of men we have allowed to go down to the grave in darkness, while we had the light. We have enough to Bol.emnize us, when we look to the work which lies before us in the future; not only the one thousand millions of heathen and Mohammedans, Christless and hopeless, but the hundreds of millions of the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, corrupting the truth of God and dishonoring the Lord who bought them. Let our attitude be that of humble, earnest, prayerful effort, and devout, hopeful expectancy, trusting "in the living God who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
DR. PIERSON'S MISSIONARY CRUSADE IN SCOTLAND.
[It is known to most of our readers, that in compliance with the earnest request of the leading friends of missions in Scotland, our Associate has gone there to complete the work he began after the rising of the London Conference on Missions in 1888. We give below the first of a series of letters on his mission and its results, which will appear in successive numbers ·of the REVIEW. If all of them shall possess the extraordinary interest of the first, they will surely be read with heartfelt interest and gratitude to God. We invoke the prayers of our readers in behalf of Dr. Pierson in this mission of love, for such it is, May the reflex influence of this mighty wave of missionary interest on the other side of the ocean reach our shores, and mark a new era in the history of the cause among us !-J. lI1. S.] Jfy Dear Dr. Sherwood: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, Nov. 27, 1889.
There was no need of coming to Scotland to " kindle the flame of a Missionary Revival," as the brethren of the Committee were pleased to suggest. It is quite obvious to me that a revival of missions is already in progess, and that all I can hope to do will be to feed ancl fan a flame already burning.
The good ship Etruria had a very rough passage, through a very "choppy" sea. 'Ve were rolled to and fro, and tossed up and down, and found it quite har.} to keep ollr.~elvei> in 0111' berths at night ,or maintain our standing, or even our sitting, on deck by day. N evertheless we landed at Liverpool quay at about 7 o'clock on Saturday evening, November 16th. The brethren came to meet and greet Ufl, and bid us " Welcome in the name of the Lord," and cheered us as a similar embassy comforted Paul at the "Three Taverns." There is no disposition either in England or Scotland to allow our sojourn to be one of idle lounging or pleasure seeking. Ve found arrangements made at Liverpool for a series of meetings, beginning with one on the very night of our arrival. In fact, no time could be spared even to attend to "customs," and so leaving our kind host with }frs. Pierson to look after the luggage, I was hurried off in a cab to Gordon Hall, where a large and select company of the Christians of Liverpool were gathered to offer a cordial welcome. Canon Burbidge was in the chair, and the familial' face of ~lr. Reginald Radcliffe beamed close at his side. At this meeting I made a brief address on the "Present Aspect of }fissions," and was greatly cheered by observing a very manifest spirit of prayer prevailing. This was my first impression, and that impression has been constantly emphasized and intensified during these eleven days.
As I intimated, my sojourn on this side of the water is not likely to suffer by lack of employment. I left Liverpool for Edinburgh on Wednesday morning, November 20, having already held in that city seven meetings, closing with a grand and enthusiastic gathering in great George Street Chapel, which will hold easily two thousand people. The attendance at all these meetings evinced an intelligent and hearty sympathy with the }fissionary cause, and furnished an auspicious forecast and foretaste of the gratifications in store. In Edinburgh, on the night of OUI' arrival, a marvellous assembly convened in the Hall of the Church of Scotland, Principal Cairns in the ohair. Rev. Dr. Lowe, Chairman of the Committee, having direction of the meetings, remarked to me that no more significant gathering had ever met in Edinburgh. The various denominations, which have been divided by conscientious differences of opinion, and have sometimes waged wars, not without much bitterness, came together with a profound and sincere sympathy, to further the common cause of a world's Evangelization. }fen that had met in the arena of theological and ecclesiastical controversy, and engaged in fierce conflict, came into that Hall on a common footing of cordial good will, rallying around a humble advocate of world·wide missions, forgetful of all past issues and minor differences in the one absorbing object-giving the gospel to tMs generation.
The Chairman was Dr. Cairns, a very proper man about whom to gather; It has been said of him that "no man carries under his hat, through all Scotland, a bigger brain." Eminent as a preacher, a writer, a teacher, an ecclesiastic, he is eyen more conspicuous as a. Christian. His charity is pre-eminent, and in the atmosphere of its gentle glow, the ice of antagonism and apathy may well mdt away. The students made a sort of cartoon, not long since, in which they represented "Principal Cairns' introduction to the Devil." He is made to say to his Satanic Majesty, that he has "heard very unfavor- able reports touching his moral character," but that he has "no doubt these reports are very much exaggerated, and that on furthel' acquaintance they will be able to get on together very well." The jest, as Horace intimates, hides behind a laugh a serious truth; for the dear Doctor is always looking for and hoping for the best from everybody.
The object of this first meeting was to express a hearty welcome from all the bodies represented, and to assure me of the most cordial co-operation in the purpose of this Mission Tour of the (;hurches. The welcome was given with all the enthusiasm of true Scotchmen. These people are not so easily moved as some, but when they do move it is with great momentum. Meeting after meeting followed, the details of which space does not allow m.e to give; suffiJe it to say, that, as in Liverpool, they have followed each other in quick succession, on Thursday in the great Synod Hall, on Friday in the Free Assemhly Hall, mainly for )Vomen, on Saturday morning in Moncrieff Hall, fO!' the students, when even the standing room was all in demand; then after two sermons on Missions, the Sabbath evening found me confronting an immense audience at the U. P. Synod Hall, where the most marked movement of the Spirit of God which I have ever witnessed in such a gathering, subdued and melted all hearts. My subject that night was" Individual Responsibility with reference to Missions," and as the duty and privilege of individual giving', and especially prctyill[J, was urged, and the grand promises to prayerful souls were arrayed before us, a sudden hush fell upon the whole assembly; there was a. painful silence, and many bowed in tears before God. As fOI' the speaker, it was with him as with Daniel, when, in his vision beside the Hiddekel, "there remained no strength in him." (Daniel, x :8.) The sense of the divine presence was positively overwhelmillg; no man could produce such an impression; it was manifestly of God, and all felt it to be the gateway of Heaven.
Such a meeting has but one explanation. Ever since it was known that this Mission Tour of the Churches was determined on, and that arrangements were definitely made, there has been an unusual spirit of prayer. Those who on their hearts bear the precious interests of God's kingdom, in this land of Martyrs and Missionaries, began praying in secret and praying in little circles, for a mighty manifestation of God's presence and power. Instead of looking to any man, there has been a disposition to fix the eye of faith and prayer on God alone, and those that honor Him, He will hOllOI'. Of all the meetings I have ever attended, I remember not one in which God more plainly set all human instruments aside, to speak for Himself in the language that has no human speech as its expression and can be heard only by ears open to the still small voice. Some persons were so moved that they had to leave the hall. When the meeting adjourned all left in silence, and since then, token after token of the blessing keeps coming to our knowledge. The next day we received a note in a lady's hand, enclosing the money which would buy "one pail' of four-button kids," in response to an appeal which I made to Christian women to forego luxuries for the Lord's sake, and turn the money to His treasury. The same day brought a half sovereign, the expression of like self-denial; and a letter, enclosing two pounds, ten shillings, the proceeds of a bracelet, sold for the I"ord's sake. These are but a few signs of God's presence and of a coming harvest of missions. Every day brings increasing encouragement. "Ye can only praise God, and give glory to Him.
With Sabbath evening's meeting the series of gatherings in Edinburgh closed for the present, fifteen meetings in all since the Etruri(t anchored in the Mersey River, eight days before. 'Yith Monday we began, accompanied by Mrs. Edge, recently returned from Canton, China, and Rev. Henry'Rice, on a furlough from: Madras, India, to visit cities and towns in the neighborhood of this Scotch Athenl'l. On Monday we held two meetings in Leith, on Tuesday in Peebles and bnerleithen, and to-day in Dalkeith. The afternoon meetings are principally for the women, and the evening assemblies, held in the largest available places, are crowded to overflowing. 'Ve were told yesterday that meetings so large have not been known even in times of great political excitement. Surely God is marching on, and a new departure in missions is at hand.
'Ve cannot bring this letter to a close without remarking upon the grand men and women who in this great Scotch metropolis are arrayed on the side of Christian faith and Christian Missions. 'Ye seem to be back in the times of old when there were "giants on the earth in those days." Think Qf a series of meetings in the interest of }Iissiom~, held day after day, with such men as Principals Cairns and Rainy, and Sir 'Villiam Muir, in the chair; when such men as Rev. Dr. Andrew 'l'hompson, George Smith,LL.D., Dr. 'Velsh, Professors Laidlaw, Blaikie and I.indsay, and 'l'homas Smith, D.D.; Reverends 'Vm. Balfour, tVm Stevenson, 'Vm. Robertson, John McMartrie, Dr. Norman McLeod and Dr. Alison; Duncan McLarew, Esq., and John, Smith, Esq., Professors Calderwood and Johnstone and A. R. Simpson, M.D.; with Reverends W m. Grant and R. Craig, and I . ord Kinnaird, from I"ondon, Principal Simon, Mrs. ,Jane .Millel', representing the Friends, and a host of others, came together to OffCl' the right hand of fellowship in behalf of all branches of the Presbyterian Church, the Baptist~, Episcopalian~, Friends, etc. The Committee having in charge the details of my Tour of the Churches have made singularly complete and satisfactory arrange- ments. They have secured one or two 1'Iissionairies, now at home from their fields, to accompany me. Mrs. Edge is a ready and accomplished speaker and gives vivid glimpses of Chinese home life and sociallif~, showing the marked influence of the gospel in modifying and transforming especially the women and girls of the Celestial Empire. Rev. Henry Rice is one of the most fluent, intelligent and strik~ ing speakers on Missions that it has been my good fortune to hear. He touches with rare skill the salient points of Missions, and gives both picturesque and impressive views of East Indian religions and customs. His book, recently published, on " Native Life in India," printed by the London Religious Tract Society, compresses into a brief Rpace an immense amount of interesting and instructive matter. He is full of missionary zeal, and zeal according to knowledge. It is with not a little gratification that we add such a man to our REVIEW list of Editorial Correspondents, and announce a series of articles as ab.out to appear in these pages from his instructive and attractive pen.
The details of these meetings we have given to some degree, because these pages will be read not only in Great Britain and the United States and Canada, but in far off lands where Christ's Godly messengers are telling the old, old story. Such a movement at the great centers of Christendom will be felt at the outermost bounds, as a mighty heart throb pulses warm life blood to the extremities of the body. And we bid all missionaries in God's name, "Be of Good Cheer." There is a revival of missiollary knowledge and zeal at home, and it means blessing abroad. The key note struck at the opening meeting was" the gospel to be published through all the world in this generation," and this thought seems to be taking possession of the most earnest, prayerful and consecrated men and women on both sides of the sea. God has given us a thousand facilities unknown to our ancestors. lIe has thrown open the doors to the nations and challenged us to enter in and possess the land. "Vhat are we waiting for? AU things are now ready. A united movement all along the lines-more men and women to the front, and the Church of God backing them up with more money and prayer and sympathy; more Godly parents giving their children to God and to Missions from the cradle; morc enterprise for God, pushing the conquests of the cr08S as we push seculal' and scientific endeavor for objects infinitely less i~portant – who can tell what glorious and speedy results may follow a true awakening of the Church of God to the duty and privilege of proclaiming the gospPl to every creature!
THE CHARITIES OF GERMANY
THE CHARITIES OJ!' GERMANY.
BY REV. A. n. BRADFORD, D.D, ~rO~TGLAIR, X. J.
[We offer no apology for embracing "C'harities" in the gospel of Missionary work. The mission of the Master did not overlook them-nay, specially honored them. The Church of Christ has ever been foremost in this work, The true Missionary will find work to do wherever the poor, the suffering, the unfortunate and criminal classes are found, and they are found in great numbers in, Christian lands as well as in heathen. We are sure this paper will be read with ini!erest,-J, M. S.] I Christianity has been called "the romance of the poor." What- ever controversies have marked the history of the Church, and how- ever deeply stained its pages may be with tears and blood, from the first its progress may be traced in the development of charities. It created charity. Paganism had no place for the aged, the infirm, for children without friends. It peopled its schools of gladiators and houses of prostitution from those who, in our time, are beautifully called "the children of the public." Charities are the necessary fruit of Christianity. ,'rhe world has not yet grasped the significance of the incamation-God entering into human conditions to save the outcast and the sinful. 'Vherever Christ has been preached, instantly there have arisen institutions whose object has been the amelioration of human suffering. Philanthropy and Chl·ist.ianity are inseparable.
Lecky, in his History of European Morals, says: "The high conception which has been formed of the sanctity of human life, the protection of infancy, the elevation and final emancipation of the slaveclasses, the suppression of barbarous games, the creation of a vast and multifarious organization of chllxity, the education of the imagination by the Christian type, constitute together a movement of philanthropy which has never been paralleled or approached in the Pagan world." * One form of Christianity devotes its energies to making conver- sions; another form seeks by Christian nurture to place around the children of the poor and vicious such conditions as shall make the new life a second and better nature.
Dr. Channing, in an eloquent passage, says: " Society has hitherto employed its energies chiefly to punish crime. It is infinitely more important to prevent it. And this I say not for the sake of those alone on whom the criminal preys. I do not think only or chiefly of those who suffer from crime. I plead also, and plead more, for those who perpetrate it. In moments of clear, calm thought, I feel more for the wrongdoer than for him who is wronged. In a case of theft, incomparably the most wretched man is he who steals, not he who is robbed. What I want is not merely that society shall protect itself against crime, but that it shall do all that it can to preserve its exposed members from crime. It ought not to breed monsters in its own bosom. If it will not use its prosperity to save the ignorant and the poor from the blackest vice, then it must suffer, and deserves to suffer, from crime. If the child be left to grow up in utter ignorance of duty, of its Maker, of its relations to society, in an atmosphere of profaneness and intemperance, and in practice of falsehood and fraud, let not the community complain of its crime. It has quietly looked on and seen him, year after year • '.,1. II, p,lUO, arming himself against its order and peace; and who is most to blame when at last he deals the guilty blow?"
The conception of Christianity which recognizes in it a gospel for the whole life of man, for man physical as well as spiritual-this gospel of a healthful environment as well as of free forgiveness-is day by day coming into fnIler recognition.
The subject of Charity in Germany is too large for one paper, and. therefore this is chiefly limited to those forms of philanthropy which are known as "Child-saving." 'rhe one exception is that universal chai'ity at Kaiserswerth which could not, with propriety, be classified in any department of philanthropic work but seems rather to embrace them all.
The work of child-saving was begun in Germany in 1695, by August Hermann Franke, in the city of Halle. Franke was a German minister and teacher, and Professor in the University of Halle. "He commenced with a capital of three dollars and a half. ,Vhen he received it, he said: 'With this I must do a great work.'" Halle is a beautiful city of about 70,000 inhabitants, ill N orthel'l1 Germany. It is best known as the seat of one of the largest German Universities. It has always been a center of evangelical theology. It must be rememc bered, however, that that term is more inclusive ill Germany than in America. The University has been a favorite with American students, especially in its theological department. Halle is distinguished not only for its institutions of learning, but equally for its orphan asylums, which Ol'iginated as fullows: It was the custom for beggars, on certain days, to seek alms at private houses. Not satisfied with merely giving them bread for their bodies, Franke began to catechise them, both the old and the young. He discovered among them such utter ignorance of religion that he began to think of providing a school for them. "He opened a little school in his study; in less than a year he found the place too small. He was pained, however, to see that the children's home-life destroyed what his school had builded up. He therefore formed the idea of taking the entire training of a few children upon himself. A house was purchased for this school; twelve were received into it. The next year a new house was purchased."
Rapidly the institution grew. There was no capital, and yet the work flomished. Faith and prayer were his capital. Franke himself said: "From week to week, from month to month, has the Lord crumbled to me, even as one crumbles the bread to little chickens." A Home for Unmarried Women followed the Orphan Asylum; then a Home for Widows. Around these centers schools were founded in which students of the University became teachers. One curious means of help was devised by an eminent physician who gave the institutions the receipts for some very valuable remedies. The sale of the medicines added greatly to the revenue of the charities. They were widely sold in Germany, and even in America and Africa. Another auxiliary enterprise was the Orphan House Book Establishment, conducted by a man named Elers, who put his income at the disposal of the Orphan House, and was content to receive clothing and food. The work among the orphans and the poor at home was followed by Missionary and Bible work in Germany and foreign lands.
There is little about the managem'ent of these charities to distinguish them from others. Dormitories, laundries, school rooms, and play grounds are everywhere the same. The difference between institutions of this kind is chiefly in the system. The congregate and the cottage systems both have their advocates. The Asylums at Halle belong to the former class. His friend Elers once asked Franke as to who had taught him this work. His reply was, "My mother's love." The secret of his marvellous career is in that answer. When King Frederick William first saw the Orphan House, 1713, and was conducted through the book-stores and the warehouses, he was amazed; and he asked Elers how much he got out of all tIllS r " Your Majesty," replied Elers, "only just what you see." Then the King clapped Franke upon the shoulder and said, "Now I see how he accomplishes so much. I have no such servants."
The establishment still remains, and its influence is boundless. The buildings are a quarter of a rile in length, and six stories high, built around an oblong court-yard. In the court-yard is a bronze statue of Franke, by Rauch. In the Asylum are sheltered about 500 children, while schools, a labratory, a printing office, and many charitable associations find a home under its hospitable roofs. If Franke had been a soldier and displayed such courage and zeal, his country would have built him a splendid monument in the capital. If he had been a Romanist, he would have been enrolled among the saints. He was both a soldier and a saint, but he needs no monument and no canonization, for his works do follow him.
The ancient city of Erfurt is picturesque and quaint. It is chiefly celebrated because of its connection with the history of Luther. There he was a monk and a professor. There he had that terrible inward conflict which ended with his discovery of the Bible in the library of his monastery. In that old church he preached. There are still the cells in which he lived and worked. '1'he very place where he found the Bible is still in good preservation. If you would find that old church and monastery ask almost anybody for the "Martinstift." The monastery has been born again. It is now a school, and a home for poor children taken from the streets and prisons. The principle of management is not different from that of other institutions of the kind, and the advantages offered are not so numerous as in some other homes. As in the asylums at Halle, the congregate system is in uSe. Two things especially distinguish this home and school. First, it is not only for children from the street, but from the prisons also. A prison with children in it is a school where criminals are trained. This was clearly recognized by Rector Charles Reinthaler, who founded the Martinstift in 1819. The second fact which distinguishes this institution is that it is the noblest monument to Luther in all Germany. Germany honors Luther as Scotland honors Bruce; His figure in the attitude of a preacher, or a doctor of philosophy, is at Eisenach, at Eisleben. at Erfurt, at Wittenberg; but this home for the homeless, which is nobler than any bronze, is his most appropriate memorial; for it is an unfailing benediction to those who are as desolate as he was in Eisenach, where Frau von Cotta was charmed by the sweetness of his voice, and divided with him her living.
Vienna is, in many respects, the most beautiful, and I think in all respects, the most corrupt capital in EUI·ope. Its buildings surpass even those of Paris. St. Stepheu's is hardly inferior to Notre Dame, and the Votive Church is, in its way, quite as wonderful as La Made- leine. The University buildings are the most splendid for the.purpose in the world.
Two facts conspire to make "child-saving" especially imperative and especially difficult in Vienna. It is imperative because of the vast number of illegitimate, and consequently neglect.ed children. There are about 50,000 women in Vienna licensed to lives of shame, and, perhaps, as many more who are not licensed but whose lives are equally illicit. The number of homeless children where such moral conditions prevail is always large; and to care for them without increasing vice or diminishing the con- sciousness of responsibility on the part of those who bear children, is always difficult. The difficulty is increased by the poverty of the lower classes. There are rumors of dynamite conspiracies in Vienna. They were to have been expected. People who are oppressed, as the poor are there, . will sometimes break their chains and rebel. Women who work all day on buildings, doing what we call hod-carrying, get 40 cents; masons get 75 cents a day. Women who make shirts get 75 cents a dozen. Farm-laborers are cared for, and get from ten to twenty cents a day for doing what, in this country, in harvest time, a man would get $4 for doing. Meat costs about the same there as in New York, but meat is not for the poor. Nowhere in the world is woman's labor so poorly paid. Women in the postoffice and telegraph departments get from $5 to $7.50 a month, and "find themselves." They never have a home furnished with their work; that favor is only for men, and rarely for them. On the other hand, there are numerous day-nurseries, or creches, provided by the government, where the children of the poor may be placed while the parents are at work. Crime and suffering are compulsory where such wage~ are paid.· When pe0ple thus treated learn their power, the existing social order always trembles. That time has already come in Vienna.
Seeking what was being done in that city of splendor and infamy to relieve or to prevent pauperism and crime, I was directed to the Waisenhaus, a Roman Catholic institution, under the direction of " The Brothers of Christian Love." This, in its equipment, is the most complete institution of the kind I have ever seen. It is supported by its endowments. The congregate system is in. use. It has four dormitories, and provides a home for three hundred and sixty boys. After the uniform excellence of the appointments, that which especially distinguishes the institution are the facilities afforded for education. For instance, in the musical department I counted six pianos and three organs, in as many rooms. In other rooms were other instruments. The Museum of Natural History, one of the best equipped in the city and filling a;n immense space, is in daily use. The wash rooms are as interesting as the school rooms. Each boy has his towel and his box: of toilet articles, and the neatness and order are perfect. The older boys rise at five, and those younger a half-hour later. Their study-hour is from quarter before six to quarter before seven. A very large proportion of these boys are waifs. They have no idea of any other home. No motives of love inspire them. The poorest learn trades, and the higher class prepare to be clerks or to enter the army. The fact that they do not know their parentage does not indicate that their parentage is unknown; on the other hand, it is often known, and it is no contradiction to speak of waifs of "higher" and" lower" classes. The order and advantages of the institution were well nigh perfect. The Brothers were exceedingly courteous, and yet there was something about them which was positively repellant. I left the place feeling that it was not good to be there. "The Brothers of Christian Love" are evidently affected by the moral atmosphere around them. The Superior, for instance, spoke of woman, and of unfortunate children, lightly and flippantly. He seemed to have no profound appreciation of the misery he was seeking to relieve. I may do him injustice. Individuals often receive the censure which belongs to the social order. The Waisenhaus is a wonderful institution, but splendor of equipment and perfection of organization can never compensate for the absence of moral earnestness. Thus one of the most splendid charities in Europe made on me the impression of being simply a great machine for providing for illegitimate children. "The Brothers of Christian Love" may be the noblest and most self-sacrificing of men, but the environment of corrupt social life seems to have affected their ways of looking at things. if not· their characters and principles of work. It could hardly be otherwise.
The location of Hamburg is as beautitul as are the buildings of Vienna, and its residences, especially around the Alster Binnen, are worthy of this location. It is the commercial center of Germany, to that Empire what Glasgow and Liverpool are to Great Britain. A few miles out of Hamburg, at Horn, is the Rauhe Haus, which divides with Kaiserswerth the glory of being the most prominent charitable institution in the nation. It consists of a series of buildings around a small park. Each house is a home by itself. The dor- mitories and school rooms have nothing peculiar about them. "Vhat especially impressed me there was the attention given to industrial training, and to the religious nurture of the children. There is a ~ystem of mutual education going on all the time. The teachers, ", Brothers" they are called, who have charge, a,re preparing for other work. They are to be city missionaries and are serving their apprenticeship with children from the lowest and vilest city wards. A man who knows a street boy knows a city's darker side. The boys are training the men and the men are trainiJlg the boys. The " Brothers" remain, I think, for three years.
Three characteristics distinguish the Rauhe Haus. It is a congeries of families, each with its 110me and home-life; it provides industrial education of a very thorough kind; and is a place for the training of city missionaries as well as outcast children. It has it higher department called the Pensionate, where those fitted for it receive the same instruction as in the best German Gymnasia. This institution was founded by Dr. John Henry Wichern and his mother, in November, 18;:13. Dr. Wines says: "The fundamental idea of the Rauhe Haus is that of the famil:y, and it is the mother of all those child-sa,ing institutions, of which the number is continually increasing, that have since been organized on the family plan." Perhaps the finest example of the perfection to which this plan may be carried, is the village of Girls' Homes, at lIford, Essex, neal' London, which is a part of the wonderful sPl'ie~ of charities founded by Dr. Bernardo. There are thirty beautiful brick houses built around a small park, each with its own "Mother," and family from the London slums. But the Rauhe Haus antedated Dr. Bernardo's Homes by at least forty years.
Some one asked Dr. ",Yichern how he was able to produce such wonderful changes in the conduct of children under his care. His reply reveals the secret of his success: "By the word of God and music." The religious training of the children is given the first place. Everything is made bright and beautiful. When possible, each child has its own flower bed; flowers help in the work of educa-. tion. Dr. Wichern once said that "the man who cannot play and enter into the plays of chhhood with his whole heart, is unfit to be an assistant in a child-saving institution." I cannot better describe the spirit of this institution than by quoting words spoken at a public meeting held in Hamburg prior to its opening, by Syndic Sieveking. He said: " The children's institution was not to be a workhouse, nor an orphanage, nor a place of punishment, nor a house of correction; but an institution that allied itself to the family, to the gospel, to the forgiveness of sins, to the first and last thought, that is to the essential nature and work of Christianity." * It is impossible even to mention all the names of the distinguished workers in the field of Charity in Germany. Pestalozzi, the founder of the Kindergarten, did a noble work, but in it the religious element was lackin£,. "At the age of eighty he saw for the first time what he had been striving for for his whole life, when, in 1826, he visited the institution of the venerable Zell'er at Beuggen. When the children of that institution presented him with a beautiful wreath, as they sang one of their sweet hymns, Pestolozzi said.to Zeller: 'This is what I wanted to accomplish.' His mistake was that, in his school at Stanz, there was no place for religious instruction." t In these child-saving institutions in the German Empire, there are' fewer girls than boys. Some of these Homes are managed by the State, and children are sent to .them as punishment; but these must not be confounded with what is done by individuals. There were about three hundred and sixty of the institutions in 1880. Wurtemburg leads all the German States in this work.
" The Deaconess Institution of Rhenish",Yestphalia," at Kaiserswerth, is the most remarkable charity in.Germany, if not in the world. On a dismal day in August I visited Kaiserswerth. The ride from Cologne by train is about one hour to Calcum, and then about a halfhOllr by carriage. The country around is flat and damp, like most of • Wines' State Prisons and Child·Saving Institutions, p. 74. t Wines' Child-SaVIng Institution, p. GOO. that along the lower Rhine. We were set down at the post-office, and then sought the institutions. We could find little besides; they make the town. There is a famous Roman Catholic church, but it attracts little attention. But first, how did we come to be interested in Kaiserswerth? By reading the lives of Elizabeth Fry, Agnes Jones, and Florence Nightingale. Elizabeth Fry unconsciously inspired its ol'lgm. Florence Nightingale and Agnes Jones both resided there and received the instruction and studied the examples which were to stimulate their lives of heroism and sacrifice. A young German pas- tor, Fliedner by name, was settled in Kaiserswerth about fifty years ago. A period of financial depression compelled him to seek foreign help for the continuance of his work. He went to England. He met Elizabeth Fry who was in the midst of her career in the London prisons. From her words and example, Fliedner was moved to go home and attempt the same work. Soon after his return a degraded woman, named Minna, a discharged prisoner, came to him for help.
There was no room in his own house, but there was a little summer- house adjoining. He gave her a home in that, where she could be under the watchful eye of his wife. Soon another homeless and abandoned woman came to him. She, too, was sheltered in the sum- mer-house. There was no place for them to sleep except an attic in the same building, to which they climbed by a ladder. When they reached this place of rest the ladder was removed. That was the beginning of the Deaconess Institution at Kaiserswerth. Now it contains the following departments of philanthropic work: The Mother-house and Hospital where the deaconesses chiefly reside; the Penitentiary where women discharged frolll prison find a home until they can get a new start for a better life; the Training College for teachers, with an infant school; the Orphanage; the Lunatic Asylum for women; the House of Evening Rest for deaconesses no ionger able to work; Paul Gerhard's Home for women, chiefly invalids; a school f()r the training of deaconesses; a school for girls; numerous hospitals, etc., etc.
The exterior of the buildings is severely plain and simple. Many of them are connected. The halls are apparently endless. All is quiet, cleanly and cheerful. In one room children are taught; in another, babies are tended; in another, the sick are nursed; in another, girls just out of prison are trained to industrious and virtuous habits; in another, surgical operations are performed; another is a chapel; another is a parlor for old women; all around are little bed-rooms; and in all is the appearance of a charming and beautiful home. Our guide through these institutions was Sister Charlotte Drude, a tall, gaunt, angular, but exceedingly attractive German woman who has been long in the Sisterhood. Her hospitality and enthusiasm were boundless, and her love for philanthropic work an inspiration. The present Director at Kaiserswerth is Julius Disselhoff, a son-in-law of the founder; and a son, a second Pastor Fliedner, is the chaplain.
Kaiserswerth has literally reached around the world. It is now fifty years old. The Training-school for Nurses, at Salem, near Rati- gen; an Orphanage at Altdorf; a Boarding-school at Heldern; the :Martha'sJIome at Berlin, with infant and elementary school attached; the :Martha's home at Dusseldorf, with infant school; the Home for Prisoners, and the Asylum at Brandenburg; the Convalescent Home for Deaconesses and Children at ""Vallbaum, are all owned by the same society and managed and served by these Sisters. Outside <>f Germany, there is the Talitha-cumi Hospital and School at J erusalem; the School and Orphanage at Smyrna; the Hospital at Alexandria in Egypt; the Orphanage and Boarding-school at Beyroot, in Syria; a Boarding-school in Florence; and minor stations in almost all lands. The Deaconess work of modern times was begun at Kaiserswerth. It has increased marvellously. In 1880 there were fifty-three Central Deaconess institutions, with more than forty-eight hundred Deaconesses working in more than fifteen hundred different places. They were like angels on German battle fields. They nurse, and they preach; they bind wounds, and tell "the old, old. story." For both <>ffices they are trained. No vows are taken. At the consecration to the office, the new Deaconess _promises to be true to her calling, and to live in the fear of God and according to His holy Word. They nurse over 50,000 patients annually, and consequently preach Christ to at least the same number. Theyare the most persuasive preachers, for their message goes to hearts already opened by gratitude. They can leave when they choose, to go to their friends, to marry, to do what they will. Few choose to return to society. Those who wish to become Sisters pass through a course of preparation extending over five years, under the direction of those with whom they are later to be associated. They can be sent anywhere, but may decline any service. N one do decline. They realize that their place is in the midst of the world's suffering, and they covet the hardest posts, like soldiers in battle.
The rooms for the Deaconesses are plain, but comfortable. One into which we were shown was decorated with flowers for a Sister who was, in a few hours, expected home from work in a foreign land. She was worn out and sick, and was coming home to rest; and it was a place as sweet and inviting for one weary with anxiety and labor as the most exacting could desire. The Sisters receive no pay fOJ: anything they do. Their only reward is the consciousness of serving Christ and humanity. They are cared for while they live, and buried when they die; God takes care of the rest. Some belong to the nobility, some to the middle classes, some to the poor, and all to the Kingdom of God.
This Deaconess institution has started others like it in different parts of the world, and thus its work is both direct and indirect. In England and the United States similar Sisterhoods are already in operation, and the sphere of woman's work in the amelioration of human ills is without discernible limit. The seed sown by Pastor Fliedner has grown beyond his most sanguine dreams. Incidentally he came in contact with Florence Nightingale and Agnes Jones. The
THE JUBILEE OF THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION
former has revolutionized the war-hospitals of England and all the colonies, and effected sanitary reforms wherever the English armies have gone. The latter, in a few short years of service in the Liverpool workhouse hospital, effected reforms among workhouse hospitals hardly less remarkable in their way than those of her more illustrioU'S sister. The influence of these women is felt in almost all institutions for child-saving and for the alleviation of pain, and the reform of criminals in Great Britain and America. The mustard seed which Fliedner planted is already a great tree whose branches reach into all lands.
No attempt has been made in this paper to compare the methods of charity in Germany with those among English-speaking people. In many respects they are radically different, but in more respects alike. It is enough to say that charity is the expression of love, and love is not limited by social or racial distinctions. Its forms of manifestations are everywhere the same, and so charity employs substantially the same methods and works toward the same ends among all people.
THE JUBILEE OF THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION.
BY REV. ROBERT STEEL, D.D., SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WAI~ES.
In November, 1839, fifty years ago, the" Apostle of Polynesia'~ -John Williams-gave his life in an eNdeavor to pioneer the gospel of Jesus Christ in the islands of the New Hebrides. He had heard of the savage cannibals of Eromanga, and of the many atrocities committed by them; but as he knew the effects of Christianity on some of the Polynesian isla-nds, he was anxious to extend its blessings .to other groups. He had awakened an immense interest in South Sea Missions by his visit to England and by the publication of his "Missionary Enterprises." No book of its class ever created so great a sensation. The Archbishop of Canterbury, after perusing it, declared that it read like a new chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Peers and Peeresses not only read it, but sent their donations to aid the work of evangelization in Polynesia. The press reviewed it with favor. In a few years 40,000 copies were sold. John 'Villiams became the hero of the hour, and many sympathizing friends breathed their benedictions as he sailed away on his new mission for the extension of the gospel among the isles of the Pacific. It was not long after his return to the scenes of his triumphs in Raratonga and Samoa that he set his heart on a visit to the New Hebrides. It had been one of his philanthropic utterances: "It is our duty to visit surrounding islands. For my own part, I cannot content myself within the limits of a single reef." He, therefore, took twelve native teach('rs as pioneers and sailed in the Oamden, under Captain Morgan, for the New Hebrides in 1839. As the vessel neared the group he was all anxiety as to whether the savages would receive him in a friendly spirit, and allow the landing of a few of the teachers to prepare the way of the Lord. The first island of the grOtlp at which the vessel touched was Futuna, a huge rock which rises up 2,000 feet above the sea. The natives there were friendly, but there was not opportunity for making arrangements to locate teachers. It was otherwise at Tanna. The harbor of Port Resolution was a safe anchorage, and had been visited by European traders. The chief promised protection to the Samoan teachers, and three were left. To Mr. Williams this was a notable event. lIe wrote of it in his journal thus: "This is a memorable day, a day which willbe transmitted to posterity, and the record of the events which have this day transpired will exist after those who have taken part in them have retired into the shades of oblivion."
He little thought that the very next day would be rendered still more memorable, not indeed by the landing of teachers, but by his own martyr death at Eromanga, on the 20th of November, 1839. He landed, along with Mr. Harris, a young man sailing in the Camden, and seriously thinking of giving himself to missionary work. CaptainMorgan and Mr. Cunningham also landed. All seemed pleasant at first, and the party proceeded inland along the banks of the river at Dillon's Bay. Suddenly a shout was heard. The natives became hostile, and it was necessary to seek safety in the boats. Captain Morgan and Mr. Cunningham were nearest to the shore and got into their boat. Mr. Harris was struck and fell into the river. Mr. 'Vil- Iiams was clubbed just as he reached the bay. No help could be given, and their friends in the boat saw the natives spear and kill both Williams and Harris. Arrows flew around the boat, and the men had to pull for their lives. The bodies of the martyr pioneers were dragged into the bush by the infuriated cannibals for their horrid feast. When the vessel reached Samoa great sorrow was awakened by the heavy·tidings of the death of John ·Williams. From island to island the wailing cry arose, "Aue Williamu! Aue Tawa!-Ala~, Williams! Alas, our Father I"
But as of old, "the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the <lhurch." It was at once resolved by the mission brethren in Samoa that another effort should be made to place Christian teachers on blood-stained Eromanga. The Rev. T. Heath offered to lead the forlorn hope on the condition that if he also fell, another man should take the colors. He succeeded in his effort, and in 1840, six months after the death of 'Villiams, two Christian Samoan teachers were landed. A veteran survivor of that eventful period, the Rev. A. ,Yo Murray, author of the "Martyrs of Polynesia," "The Bible in the Pacific," and other works on missionR, visited the island in 1841, when Mrs. Williams was on boanl the mission vessel on her way to England and saw the scene of her devoted husband's death in the cause he loved. The teachers were fOl:nd alive, but they had a tale of living martyrdom to relate, and had experienced so many sufferings and hardships that they had to be removed. In England, after the sad intelligence of the death of the heroic vVilliams, it was also resolved by the directors of the London ~lissionary Society to· endeavor to plant the standard of the Cross at once as near as possible to the spot where the apostolic pioneer had fallen. Two young missionaries, with their brave wives, were forthcoming, ready to take their lives in their hands and go on the perilous enterprise. Messrs. Nisbet and Turner reached Tanna in June, 1842, and got what seemed a hopeful reception from the chiefs and natives of Port Resolution. "But," Dr. Turner says, "we had not been twenty-four hours on shore until we found that we were among a set of notorious thieves, perfect Spartans in the trade, and like the ancient code of Lycurgus, the crime seemed to be not the stealing, but the being found out." For seven dreary months the little mission party tried all their arts of conciliation in vain. Difficulties increased, and their lives were in imminent danger. At last, in dead of night, they had to seek safety in an open boat, but they were driven back. It was a critical condition for them to occupy; but providentially a trading vessel called the next day, and they got a passage to Samoa, where for many years they rendered fruitful service to the work of missions, and in the closing years of their residence trained many native teachers ana pastors and aided the work of translation and revised translations of Scripture, till thcy carried through the press an edition of the whole Bible with references in the language of Samoa. The London Missionary Society'S vessel from year to year sailed through the New Hebrides group, and the deputies on board, as Mr. Murray minutely testifies, watched for opportunities of locating teachers on several islands. Much is due to the brave enterprise of these devoted brethren in connection with the New Hebrides .Mission, and it becomes us, as we recall the work of fifty years ago, to record the fact that it was the London Missionary Society that pioneered the gospel to these islands where, in subsequent years, the Presbyterian missionaries had their trials and triumphs. It was their vessel that conveyed the first Presbyterian missionary. It was one of their missionaries that stayed with him during his first year. By their deputies he was visited and cheered from time to time. The Jubilee honors and rejoicings of the mission mu~t, therefore, be shared by that great society.
The first resident missionary on the New Hebrides was a Presbyterian-the Rev. John Geddie. He was a native of Banff, in Scotland, but had been taken in his infancy to Nova Scotia, where he became, in course of time, a student for the ministry. He was licensed to preach when he was only twenty-two years of age, and was ordained as a pastor at Cavendish, in Prince Edward Island, within a year thereafter. He was connected with a church compara- tively small and poor, and unable to afford more than a scanty income, often much in arrear', to its ministers, yet he had the courage to pro- pose that a Foreign Mission should be adopted. It is recorded that when he made known his views" there was not a man in the church who thought it practicable. Many looked upon it as utterly chimeri- cal, and were ready to pour contempt upon it as folly, while even his f~iends received the proposal with a smile of incredulity." The Church had in all only thirty congregations in the Provinces, and most were poor and str·uggling. Mr. Geddie, however, persevered, and in the course of a few years, carried his motion in the Synod. Vhen the proposal to seek a missionary was made, it was carried only by a majority of one! The attention of the Board was directed toward the islands where John Villiams laid down his life, and at length it was agreed that New Caledonia should be the field of their mission. That island had been named by MI'. Villiams to the Secession Church in Scotland as a sphere that might be occupied by their agents. Mr. Geddie belonged to that branch of the Presbyterian Church in Nova Scotia. He offered himself to the work~ and was accepted. He knew how little could be expected in the way of support; but he was not to be daunted. After visiting all the congregations of the Synod, and endeavoring to excite a prayerful and liberal. interest in the mission, he stw.died medicine for a time. In November, 1846, he sailed along with his wife and family. He was detained at Boston for two months before he found a vessel sailing for the Pacific, and even then the port to which a passage could be got was Honolulu, in the Sandwich Islands, far from the contemplated sphere in the South Seas. Six dreary months were spent in rounding Cape Horn ere they reached Honolulu, and seven weeks passed before a passage could be got to Samoa. Mr. Geddie had, however, an opportunity of seeing the working of the IIawaian Mission, and afterwards that of Samoa. Vhen he reached the latter place, he found that no opportunity could be got to reach New Caledonia 01' the Loyalty Islands for six or seven months, when the mission vessel John TVilliams wottld call. Besides, there then seemed no opening in these islands, as the energetic Bishop of New Zealand (Dr. Selwyn) had expressed a wish to conduct missionary work there. One of the islands of the New Hebrides afforded a single gleam of hope, and Mr. Geddie, with the advice of brethren at Samoa, agreerl to undertake a mission there. The venerable MI'. Murray, who still sllrvives, was a chief adviser and helper of Mr. Geddie during this period. It was proposed that one of the Samoan missionaries should accompany Mr. Geddie for a year, and the Rev. Mr. Bullen was chosen to do so, but amidst preparation for the expedition Mr. Bullen died. The Rev. T. Powell at the last moment offered to go with Mr. Geddie, and they left in July, 1848., They reached the most southerly island of the New Hebrides-Aneit- yum-where some native teachers had been settled, but what was the surprise of the mission party to find eight Roman Catholic priests and eight lay brothers already established in the island! The mission vessel then cruised throughout the group, calling at the stations where native teachers had be~n left. It was hoped that Mr. Geddie might find a home on the island of Fate. An awful tragedy had, however, taken place there the previous year when the British Sovereign had been wrecked. The crew were all saved with one exception. The natives appeared at first to treat them kindly, but it was only to allay suspicion. The whole of the survivors, twenty-one in number, each being placed between two savages in a march, on a given signal were brutally massacred, and their bodies, divided among the villages, were cooked and eaten by the cannibal people. It was selfevident that a missionary could not at that time be safely settled in that quarter. The mission vessel returned to the South, and Mr. and Mrs. Geddie, with an assistant, found an opening at Aneityum, where they settled under the protection of the chief at the harbor. The Rev. 'r. Powell remained with them for a year. The Roman Catho- lic priests and brothers left soon after and never returned. The Geddies had to pass through a hard and trying expet:ience in dealing with a people so low and savage. Their property was stolen, their hollse threatened with fire, and their very lives imperilled. Meantime the horrid custom of strangling widows on the death of their husbands continued. Inter-tribal fighting was chronic, and people wel'e afraid to go from one side of the island to the other for fear of being killed, cooked and eaten. There was little to encourage the mission party. They were, however, cheered by a friendly visit of Bishop Selwyn, who remained a fortnight on the island, and traveled on foot with Mr. Geddie to see as much of native life as he could. He kindly offered the use of a cottage at Auckland to Mr. or 1'lrs. Geddie should they need a change for a few months to recruit their health. On his voyage in 1852 the Bishop conveyed the Rev. John Inglis and his wife, with all their furniture, house and luggage, to Aneityum. Mr. Inglis was a minister of the Reformed or Covenanting Church in Scotland, and it was a pleasing circumstance that an Anglican prelate thus aided the Covenanter. Bishop Selwyn ever after kept up this friendly relation, and also introduced Bishop Patterson to these brethren. He even asked Presbyterians in·New Zealand to contribute, and on one occasion brought over £100 to Messrs. Geddie and Inglis.
By the time Mr. Inglis had settled on the opposite side of the island, the tide had turned in favor of Christianity at ~fr. Geddie's station. Fifteen had been baptized, and the I.ord's Supper had been observed on the visit of the London Missionary Society's deputation that year iu the John Williams. The two missionaries occupied different sides of the island, but labored with equal zeal and great cordiality. They preached, taught in school,., translated Scriptures, composed, and Mr. Geddie printed a class-book, built premiseA, and exercised an influence for good all over the island. Young people were all taught to read and write, congregations were organized with elders and deacons, fifty day-schools established, and over 2,000 persons admitted into the visible Church by baptism. The whole people were evangelized. It was a marvellous change in a degraded and cannibal people. At length the whole Scriptures were translated, and first the New, and ultimately the Old, Testament were printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society in London, but paid for by the contributions of arrowroot from the Christian converts. After a visit to Nova Scotia in 1863, where he got the translation of the Book of Psalms printed, Mr. Geddie returned with the honorary degree of D.D., from the Queen's University in Canada, to resume his labors. But he had to retire in 1872, prematurely aged by his toils and exposures. He died at Geelong in the end of that year, leaving a widow, one son and four daughters. Two of the latter were married to missionaries on the New Hebrides. He was a noble, self-denying pieneer, and led many into the fold of Christ. He had a happy way of dealing with the natives, and was also very handy in work. It was my privilege, by the kindness of a few friends, to place a wooden tablet to his memory on the wall of the stone church he had erected at Anelgauhat, Aneityum. The record of his labors, inscribed on it in the native language, concludes with these words, " ,Vhen he landed here in 1848, there were no Christians, and when he left here in 1872, there were no heathens." Since first published, this inscription has gone round the world, increasing in value, as it was retold, until the latest account makes the tablet marble and the letters gold!
Mr. Inglis continued at his station till 1877, and then retired to carry the Old Testament through the Press in London. He also published his translation of the Shorter Catechism and Mr. Geddie's abridged translation of the first part of the" Pilgrim's Progress," and some hymnl'l. He added a Dictionary of Aneityumese. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from the University of Glasgow, and in a green.old age still served the mission both by speech and by books in Scotland. His patient toil, his wise management, his clear style of instruction, and his benevolent life, aided by his late excellent wife, did much for the Christianity of Aneityum. It is meet that both Dr. Geddie and Dr. Inglis should be held in grateful remembrance for their successful efforts in bringing a whole island of cannibal people into the peaceful fold of the Good Shepherd. Ainidst a decreasing population the cause of Christ has flourished on the island, and the contributions ot
"TO EVERY CREATURE."
arrowroot from the Christian church at Aneityum nearly supported their resident minister-the Rev. J. H. Lawrie. 'fhis church was the first of the Papuan race embraced within the visible kingdom of God, and it became the pioneer of others among the thirty islands of the New Hebrides.
"TO EVERY CREATURE."
BY REV. J. HUDSO"Y TAYLOR, OF THE CHINA I"YLAND MISSION.
We are nearing the close of another year, and of an important decade in the history of Missions. In our own Mission the last ten years have been specially important; at their commencement the pioneering journeys of ~fr. (now Dr.) Cameron and others of our brethren were not yet completed; woman's work in inland China was barely com- menced, and not at all in the western provinces; during this period the number of our stations and out-stations has been about doubled, and the number of missionary workers more than trebled, for in the year 1880 we had but 91 missionaries, including wives, while now it considerably exceeds 300. This decade has witnessed the out-going of the 80 missionaries whom God gave us in response to our prayers for the 70, and in the following year of 40 others, among whom were the well-known Cambridge band; many prophesied the early return of the members of this band, but we are thankful to know that they are all engaged in diligent service in inland China, and that each one has been blessed and made a blessing.
Then we have to praise God for the 100 missionaries given us in 1887, and for the more than fifty who followed them last year, including the first American party. 'Ve rejoice in first fruits gathered in many of the more recent stations, and that over 1,000 were added to our native churches by baptism during the years 1887 and 1888, with continued additions during the current year. 'Vhile some converts have undoubtedly been received prematurely, causing subsequent trial and disappointment (a result which the experiencc of the oldest missionary cannot always avert), a large proportion are showing by the fruit of the Spirit that they have really been born of God. For the 80 little missionary churches now connected with the C. 1. M., we give to God unfeigned thanks, as also for all those gathered in other districts by His honored servants, the missionaries of the various European and American societies.
When we turn, however, from the total number of Protestant communicants-under 40,000-to think of the population of China, the contrast is appalling; double, treble this number to include adherents, and suppose each adherent to be a centre of light to ten of his countrymen, and you reach but 1,000,000 of China's vast population. The Master's words are" to every creature;" how far we are from fulfilling them! In 1877 thc Confercnce of Missionaries assembled in Shanghai appealed to the Christian Church to evangelize China in the present generation, and many hoped it would be accomplished within the present century. More than half the time before the close of the century has passed, and not one-hundreth part of the people have been reached, y~t this generation is the last of sixty since our Saviour gave the command, which, as Dr. Pierson has well pointed out, has laid the responsibility on the church of each successive generation to give the gospel to each individual living in its own period.
How are we going to treat the Lord Jesus Christ in reference to this command? Shall we definitely drop the title Lord as applied to Him, and take the ground that we are quite willing to recognize Him as our Saviour Jesus, so far as the eternal penalty of sin is concerned, but are not prepared to recognize ourselves as bought with a price, or Him as having any claim to our unquestioning obedience? Shall we say that we are our own masters, willing to recognize something as His due, who bought us with His blood, provided He do not ask too much; our lives, our loved ones, our possessions are our own, not His; we will give Him what we think fit, and obey any of His commands that do not demand too great a sacrifice? To be taken to heaven by Jesus Christ we are more than willing, but we will not have this Man to reign over us.
The heart of every true Christian will unhesitatingly reject this proposition when so formulated, but have not countless lives in each generation been lived as though" it were a proper ground to take? How few of the Lord's people have recognized the truth that Christ is either Lord of all, or is not Lord at all! If we can judge God's Word instead of being judged by the "Word; if we can give to God as much or as little as we like, tlien we are lords, and He the indebted one, to be grateful for our dole, obliged by our compliance with His wishes; if, on the other hand, He is Lord, let us treat Him as such. "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" "If ye love Me keep My commandments." Thank God, an increasing number of His children are truly seeking to crown Him Lord of all, and are searching the Scriptures daily that they may know His will, in order to do it, praying continually, "Teach me, 0 Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end."
To all such the Master's command, "To every creature," will come with great power; knowing it to be His will that every living human being shall be evangelized, everything that prayer and effort can do towards its accomplishment will be felt to be a privilege as well as a duty; each will ask himself, "What wilt Thou have me to do?" Will not the very youngest believers pray and give, and interest their young companions? and what mighty power there is in the simple, trustful faith of a little child who believes in Jesus! Will not those who are older recognize the probability of their being personally called to missionary labor and make definite preparation for it, that if pcrmitted a share in this holy enterprise they may be the better fitted? Shall it not become a holy ambition to all who have health and youth to court the Master's approval and tread in His steps, in seeking to save a lost world? and shall not Christian parents encourage their enthusiasm, feeling that they have nothing too precious for their Lord who gave himself for them?
There is no impossibility in our Master's command. Were the Government of England to determine on the conquest of a distant land, they would think it a small matter to land 10,000 troops in any part of the world's circumference; and the Church of God to-day could easily, within the next five years, effect the evangelization of everyone of China's millions. No very great effort was needed in America to secure the signature of over 3,000 college students to a pledge that if God opened the way they would devote themselves to missionary enterprise. Were the enthusiasm and devotion of all our churches aroused, and not merely that of a few individuals, more than that number of effective workers might easily be found on each side of the Atlantic for China alone. But no such numbers are needed in order that every man, woman, and child in China should hear the gospel once, at least. If, in addition to the workers now in the field, one thousand whole-hearted evangelists, male, and female, were set free and kept free fur this special work, they might reach the whole number of China's millions before the e::rd of the year 1895, and this allowing two years of the five for study of the language and preparation for the work. Estimating the population of China as we do at 250,000,000, there will be about 50,000,000 of families; if fifty families were reached daily for one thousand days by each of the one thousand evangelists, every creature in China could be reached in three years' time, leaving the evangelists two or three Sundays for rest each month. If it be said that unexpected hindrances would be sure to arise, it should be noted that this calculation takes no account of the help to be given by the one thousand missionary workers now in China, mainly devoted to pastoral work, to shepherding and feeding the converts; and it takes no account of the help to be given by native Christians, which would, of course, be immense and invaluable. Shall a work which one thousand workers might accomplish in three years of steady work, after two years of preparation, be thought of as chimerical, and beyond the resources of the Christian Church?
But is it reasonable to suppose that a missionary evangelist could reach on an average fifty families a day, and this all over China? In reply we may draw attention to the fact that a large proportion of thc Chinese live in courts or quadrangles containing from four to ten families each; were five the average, then to take the gospel to ten such courts would accomplish the necessary task. And this would llOt nee<1 to be uone unaided, for each missionary evangelist would easily secure the companionship of one 01' more .native Christians as helpers. There are, it is true, a few (though but a few) parts of China where the people are so hostile that we can scarcely' call them now open to this kind of effort; but it must not be forgotten that the Opener, who still holds the key of David, has given His word of promise to be with such workers "all the days." And no such effort could be made without an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church universal, which would include the native Christian churches of China, and make the tens of thousands of native Christians, apart from the foreigner, a mighty power for the evangelization of their .own people. God gives his Holy Spirit to them that obey Him. Even if the churches were unwilling to take it up, are there not 500 Christian workers in Europe who might go out at their own charges and do this grand work? But shall we suppose that the Episcopalians of England, and the Presbyterians of Scotland and Ireland, have. not each among them 100 men and women fit for this glorious enterprise? that the Methodists of the United Kingdom could not provide another 100, and that Congregationalist and Baptist churches could not each supply a similar contingent? VlTe may feel well assured that the United States of America and Canada would not be behind, and thus the 1,000 evangelists might easily be forthcoming.
How shall a project like this be translated from proposition into practice? First, by earnest, believing prayer; this was our Saviour's plan, and it has been left on record for our guidance: "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will send fOl·th laborers into His haryest." 'Vhen we sought for the C. 1. M. the 70 and the 100 in prayer, and accepted them in faith, we received them in due course from His mighty, loving hand.
Then, if there is to be the fullest blessing, there must be the united simultaneous action of the whole body of believers; it is by "the effectual working in the measure of every part" of the members of the whole Body that its growth and building up are to be effected.
Third, There must be intelligent co-operation and such division and sub-division of the field that one part have not an undue share of workers while other parts are neglected.
Fourth, There must be Christly giving on the part of individuals and churches of their real treasures to the Lord for His service, and Christly service by those who go forth in His name. By Christly giving and service, we do not mean that which is done for Christ's sake merely, but that which is done after Christ's pattern. His service began with emptying Himself, involved toil and suffering all along the line, and enrled only with the perfect accomplishment of the object for which lIe came iuto the world.
THE CREDULITY OF SKEPTICISM
Fifth, There is no time to lose, for if we commence at once, millions of those now living in China will have passed away before the message can reach them.
Will each of our readers join us in prayer that God will send out 1,000 evangelists for China very speedily, and personally ask Him the question: "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Let us not forget that to preach the gospel to every creature, is not a mere human project, but a divine command.
THE CREDULITY OF SKEPTICISM.
BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D., NEW YORK.
The credulity of unbelief has become proverbial. There are instances which would be amusing if the subjects were less serious, and their treatment less bitter. Almost as a rule the wildest and most preposterous theories are held by men and women who have made shipwreck of faith. They above all others are ready for a seven-fold possession.
A remarkable instance of excess of faith was brought to myatten- tion not long since, in a book entitled" The Bible in India." Looking on the title page for the authorship, I at once recognized the familiar llame of Louis J acolliot, an intense French infidel whom Professor Max Muller had mercilessly ridiculed in his lecture on "False Analogies." The book was published by a well-known firm in New York, and has doubtless given great comfort to many a foe to Christianity_ M. J acolliot, while acting as a judge in the Courts at Chandel' N agore in the Madras Presidency, warmly embraced the idea that all the religions of Western nations had been derived from India, and that a little searching would find the sources of the Old and New Testaments in the Sanskrit manuscripts. He gave his leisure hours to Sanskrit. He found pundits who were even more ready to promote his purpose than he had imagined. They produced manuscripts, he translated, and the bonanza which he had struck well nigh turned his head. He had not learned, as had others who had preceded him, that a two-fold appeal to the race pride and the cupidity of the impecunious pundits would bring forth Sanskrit treasures of any desired variety or extent.
The essential history, the ritual, and many of the important prophecies of the Old Testament, were found in a Hindu mould, and the god Krishna, 01', as Jacolliot spelled it for greater effect, "Christna," was clearly foretold. New Testament parallels in abundance were also produced, and the mercurial Frenchman was in ecstacies. He could not satisfy his enthusiasm with a plain statement of results; he must work off his overpowering emotion by the following apostrophe to India: "Soil of ancient India, cradle of humanity, hail! Hail, venerable and efficient nurse whom centuries of brutal invasions have not yet buried under the dust of oblivion! Hail, fatherland of faith, of love, of poetry, and of science! May we hail a revival of thy past in onrWesternfutnre. I have dwelt midst the depths of yonr mysterious forests, seeking to comprehend the language of your lofty natnre, and the evening airs that murmured midst the foliage of banyans and tamarinds whispered to my spirit these three magic words: Zeus, Jehovah, Brahma! ..• "
"How often have I heard on the evening air, hoarse moans, wailing complaint that seemed to rise from desert marshes, sombre pathways, rivers' banks, or woody shades, etc.! Was it the voice of the past returning to weep o'er a lost civilization and an extinguished grandeur ? Was it the expiring groan of Sepoys mowed down pele mele by grape, with their wives and, children, after the revolt, by some red-jackets who thus revenged their own pain? "
. . . " Then it was that I sought to lift the obscuring veil from the past, and backward trace the origin of this dying people, who, without energy for either hatred or affection, without enth~iasm for either virtue or vice, seem to personate an actor doomed to act out his part before an audience of statues. How glorious the epoch that then presented itself to my study and comprehension. I made tradition speak from the temple's recess, I inquired of monuments and ruins, I questioned the Vedas, whose pages count their existence by thousands of years, and whence inquiring youth imbibed the science of life long before Thebes of the hundred gates or Babylon the Great had traced out their foundations . . . "
"And then did India appear to me in all the living power of her originality -I traced her progress in the expansion of her enlightenment over the world- I saw her giving her laws, her customs, her morals and her religion to Egypt, to Persia, to Greece and to Rome. I saw Djenimyand Veda-Vyasa precede Socrates and Plato-and Christna, the son of the Virgin Devanagny (in Sanskrit created by God), precede the son of the Virgin of Bethlehem."
J acolliot's theory applies to the Greek and Latin classics as well as to the Old and New Testament Scriptures. The civilization of Egypt has also been borrowed from" the fatherland of faith, of love, of poetry and of science." The Justinian Pandects of Rome were traced to the Laws of Manu, and all the best institutions known in Europe were shown to be parts and parcels of the one great heirloom.
The facile adaptation of derivative names was enough to astonish the most learned philologists. They are generally thankful for slight analogies between European and Sanskrit roots, but no sooner had J acolliot's pundits been made acquainted with the renowned names of the Greek classics, and furnished with some historic clew, than they brought forward original Sanskrit counterparts whose verbal resemblances and whose meanings were startling.
Hercules was derived from Hara-Kala, Rhadamanthus from Rhada manta, Andromeda from Andha ra meda, Centaur from Kentura, Minerva from Mana rava, J upitel' from Zupitri, Pythagoras from Pittia-guru, and Pl'otagoras from Prataguru. Otber nations of Europe had been favored with vocabularies, and had dared to make only the slightest possible changes. Odin came from Yodin, Swede from Suyoda, Scandinavian from Scanda-nava, Celts from Kallata, Gauls from Galota, Baltic from Bala-taka. Philologists have found in true Sanskrit abundant resemblances to roots of European languages. Each branch of the race developed many changes, but that one of them furnished names to order for all the others is a unique hypothesis. It is to be regretted in the interest of the theory that the resemblances had not been toned down to fainter lines; the average credulity of readers is ovel·taxed; the clever work is over- done.
After witnessing the completeness of this linguistic performance no one will be surprised to know that the leading New Testament in- cidents are reproduced almost entire. 'Vhat is known as the" Krishna Cult" is worked to the greatest advantage. Nothing of originality is left to the Christ of Judea.
Among the demigods of the Hindu mythology Krishna figured as a good-natured and rollicking Bacchus. Nothing is known of him in the earlier Sanskrit literature, but in the epic known as the :Mahab- harata and in the Vishnu Pm'ana he appears· as an incarnation of Vishnu. After the rise of Buddhism, Hinduism had discovered its lack of a more sympathetic being than had yet appeared-a god among men who should unite with the powers of deity something like the Buddha's sympathy and pity.
Around Krishna, therefore, there grew up an increasing interest- not that he furnished an ethical model, for his history corresponded very nearly with that of the lascivious satyrs of the Roman mythology, but because he was warmly and sympathetically human. The Krishna Cult was not fully developed until the early centuries of the Christian era, and it pl'Oceeded along two lines. In its popular aspects it kept pace with the growing corruptions which appeared in the Tantras, and were illustrated in the immoral orgies of Siva worship. The festivals in honor of Krishna were, and to a very recent date have continued to be, occasions of unspeakable vice.
The other line of development was theoretical; Krishna was treated as a Divine Counsellor and friend in the Bhagayad Gita, whichthough embracing older materials-was probably composed about the fil'st or second century of our era, and the Bhagavad Gita has, in its. high ethics, often been compared to the New Testament, though falling far enough below a parallel. But the legends by which Jacolliot matches "Christna's" life with leading incidents in the life of Jesus were partly the growth of those later centuries in which Hinduism was brought in contact with Christianity in Southern India, and partly the probable work of our author's own subsidized pundits. Even if the scholarly criticism of Max :Muller had not befaJIen this unfortunate author, the Frenchiness and pruriency with which he clot{led the story of Adam and Eve (" Adima and Heva") ill the Garden, as well as the general extravagance of his statements, would have aroused suspicion. The learned Oxford scholar seems to have felt that some sort of apology was necessary for treating with seriousness so absurd a case of pedantry, and he found it in the fact that so much credence was given to the book. But he proceeds to say that" many of the words which M. J acolliot quotes as Sanskrit are not Sanskrit at all, others never have the meaning which he assigns to them, and as to the pas- sages which he assigns to the Vedas, they are not from any old Sanskrit writer, they simply beloJig to the last half of the Nineteenth Oen- tury." lIe regards them as "simple in:ventions of some slightly mischievous Brahman who took advantage of the zeal and credulity of his employer." And he adds" that such is the interest, or rather the feverish curiosity, excited by anything that bears on the ancient religion, that J acolliot's book has produced a very wide and very deep impression. .In fact, 'if anytldng were wanting to show that a general knowledge of the history of ancient religions ought to form Ct part of our education, it was tlie panic created by tlds book."
But there had been earlier instances in which zealous opponents of Christianity had sought and found the evidence which they desired to prove that Christianity was a plagiarism upon the Sanskrit literature of the Hindus. Voltaire was carried away with enthusiasm when some one presented to him a copy of a portion of the Veda which corresponded in a remarkable degree with the teachings of the Bible. No time was lost in turning this new evidence against Christianity to the best possible account.
But after a time it appeared that an overzealous Jesuit missionary, thinking that the end would sanctify the means, had written certain Sanskrit texts designed to convince the Hindus that the Bible and the Vedas were to a large extent in harmony. This very immoral and fallacious project, however, proved most futile, and the only result was to dupe the arch infidel, Voltaire.
Some years ago Lieutenant "Wilford, who had read Sir ·William Jones' theory that Greek mythology was largely borrowed from that of India (a theory which Sir William finally abandoned), conceived the idea of tracing the teachings of Christianity from the same source. He proceeded to persuade the Brahmans that a thorough search among their ancient records would disclose not only the Greek mythology, but the Old Testament history. He was persistent against their reserve and reticence. He related to them the principal events of the Old Testament record, and at the same time promised ample rewards for their labor. At last the pundits yielded. They resolved that what he so eagerly sought should be supplied. 'faking his stories from the Pentateuch, they adapted them to the Sanskrit style, and brought forth astonishing results. Even Sir ·William Jones was COI1vinced, and congratulated Lieutenant vVilford on his success. The story of Noah was reproduced with a truly Indian picturesqueness. But when at last it was found that a forgery had been committed, that upon leaves which had been inserted in the ancient manuscripts the pundits, under pressure, had rendered in correct Sanskrit all that thev had heard about Adam and Abraham, Lieutenant Wilford did n;t hesitate to confess publicly that he had been imposed upon; yet, as Professor Max Muller says in his account of this matter, the mischief had in the meantime been done. Lieutenant vVilford's Essays had been read all over Europe; they retained their place in the volumes of the" Asiatic Society," and to the present day some of his state· ments and theories continue to be quoted authoritatively by writers on ancient religions.
Speaking further of J acolliot, Max Muller says" he has no doubt found out by this time that he has been imposed upon, and if so he ought to foilow the example of Colonel Wilford, and publicly state what has happened. Even then I doubt not that his statements will continue to be quoted for a long time, and that Adima and Heva (supposed Sanskrit for Adam and Eve), thus brought to life again, will make their appearance in many a book and many a lecture room."
The whole theory of those who would make India <, the source of all faith and love anu poetry and science," rests upon an erroneous assumption as to the antiquity of Illdian chronology. Sir VilIiam Jones was among the first to fall 11I1~ler this errol', and all his dates have been rectified by the consensus of later scholarship. As for the position assumed by Jacolliot, that Egypt b01'ro"ed her faith from India, it need only be said that the chronology and the monotheistic faith of Egypt can be traced from a period at least several hundred years earlier than any well esta.blished date of Indian history. There is ]]0 certain evidence that either the Yedas or any national records were committed to writing much earlier than 300, B. C., and it can only be a matter of conjecture that Europe or Palestine possessed any extended knowledge of India before the invasion of Alexander and the revelations concerning her institutions which were made by IVlegasthenes, the ambassador of Seleucos, his successor.
It may be said, with great propriety, that Christians,' as well as skeptics, have sometimes been very sanguine and even credulous in regard to those phases of heathen faiths which seemed favorable to their views. Max Muller mentions some instances among the earlier Jesuit Missionaries in China. 'l'here were certainly some serious mistakes of the kind on the part of the early Spanish Padres, who fancied that they found many elements of their faith in the traditions of the Aztecs of Mexico. Within our own generation illusive hopes were very generally entertained in regard to the Christian tendencies of the Brahma Somaj in India, and especially the remarkable utterances of Cheshub Chunder Sen. But no such elaborate theories as those of J acolliot have been built upon these fond hopes, which were "too
THE MORAVIAN MISSION ON THE KUSKOKWIM
good to be true." The persistency and intensity of such illusions can be found in full force only in the minds of those who are too wise and cautious to believe the Christian revelation. Any misrepresentation of missionary enterprises, or of the truth which missionaries teach, has always a charmed vitality.
A malicious story which I found more than a dozen years ago in Japan in relation to the building of a Missionary chapel, has been refuted at least a hundred times only to spring up with fresh life again and again. The scene at first was laid in Japan and concerned the Reformed Mission in Yokohama, but I have since seen it re· produced in new dress, located in Shanghai, and published with great particularity as an incident in the American Episcopal Mission of that city. Two years ago my attention was called to an ar~icle in a sporting paper in New York, entitled "Outing." There I found the same old story with the scene laid in Chefou, and given with all the gusto of some ignorant and conceited globe-trotter who had probably either I forgotten where he had heard the story, or where it belonged, or who had located it where he was more familiar with the ground or could present it with the most picturesque effect. The story, though false to the core, is annually heard by hundreds of Pacific steamer passengers who receive it as a clear, straightforward record of truth and verity.
THE MORAVIAN MISSION ON THE KUSKOKWIM.
BY REV. PAUL DE SCHWEINIT.
A lady missionary, returning from China, says: "One does not to have to be a hero any more in order to be a missionary; one goes forth prepared endure all things heroically, and finds that friends at home have so thought of and cared for every want that there is scarcely any call for heroism at the station." That is as it should be. Those who remain behind by " the stuff" should bountifully supply every need of those fighting at the front. But there are fields of labor, which, even in this day of easy and rapid communication and transportation, and in spite of the warm love of Christian friends at home, remain heroic in every sense of the word. Let the following simple historic narrative of one of the newest of the missions undertaken by the Moravian brethren witness to that. Missionary heroism is still extant among these pioneers of modern missions.
In the winter of 1884 Dr. Sheldon Jackson, of the Presbyterian Church, appeared in Bethlehem, Pa., to plead for a missionary to the Eskimos of Northwestern Alaska. He presented the oouse to the Moravians in this wise: That these Eskimos were so degraded, so debased; that the conditions of missionary labor among them were so severe, so dreary, so cheerless; that these forlorn people were literally so God-forsaken, that he could find no one who was willing to carry the 116 THE MORAVIAN lIIISSION ON THE KUSKOKWDI. [Feb.
gospel message to them in their inhospitable regionR, where they dwelt in unspeakable degradation. 'As a last reso~·t he came to the Moravians. No man cared for the souls of these degraded heathen savages-would they have mercy upon them? That was an appeal which the Church that had sought out the Hottentots of Africa, and the Innuits of Greenland and LabradOl', could not resist. Five of the students who were to graduate from the Theological Seminary that year expressed their willingness to go. Two were afterwards chosen.
First an exploratory tour was undertaken by a veteran missionary, accompanied by one student. They found, as is usual in such northern climates, the Eskimos living o~ly in small groups here and there, scattered over a wide stretch of country. The description of their degrada~ion had not been exaggerated in the slightest degree. Filthy and disgusting in their habits, to an extent that forbids description in public print; their morality at such a low ebb that they may practically be said to have none; parents willingly making prostitutes of their daughters from nine or ten years on, ruthlessly taking their daughter from one man and giving her to another, if they thought they could make more by it; the related crimes of killing off helpless aJ;ld old people and unwelcome infants being considered the incontestable right of the persons otherwise responsible for their support; and so on through the revolting catalogue. Their form of religion was so low that it could scarcely be dignified with the name. Priests they had none-only "sachemR," i. e., medicine men. They live principally on fish, of which, in the short summer, a sufficient quantity must be caught to last through the dreary winter. However, they met the missionaries in a friendly manner, and the latter felt justified in selecting a site on the Kuskokwim river for a mission station.
Now that it has become fashionable to run summer excursions to Alaska, it no longer seems so out of the world; but these excursions run only to Sitka. Few have any clear idea of the extent of the territory. Roughly speaking, Alaska is as large as all the Northern lakes east of the Mississippi; and the Moravian mission station on the Kuskokwim is as far from Sitka as Baltimore, Md., is from Minneapolis, Minn. There are no means of communication with the station, except once a year, and then only through the kindness of the Alaska Commercial Company. When once there the missionaries are absolutely separated from all civilization, from all help, from all supplies, for a whole year. Everything must be taken along, as nothing but fish and some game can be procured there.
Nothing daunted by this report, the little band of missionaries prepared to start. On account of the low moral condition of the people, and the unfortunate relations existing between the few white traders and the natives, in order to avoid all possible suspicion of evil, as well as for many higher and nobler reasons, it was absolutely necessary for the missionaries to go out married. They were all young people-the men just a year out of the seminary-and all leaving the refinements of civilization for a desolate country, where they would first have to build a house with their own hands before they would have where to lay their heads. The ordination service of these two devoted young men was impressive beyond description. Their names are worthy of record: The Rev. "William H. Weinland and his wife, Caroline Yost; the Rev. John H. Kilbuck and his wife, Edith Romig. The former had been on the exploratory tour. The latter is a full-blooded Delaware Indian, the son of a chieftain. He had received a full course collegiate and theological education. He is probably the first Indian ordained by the Moravian Church. Now he, as a representative of the Church which had reclaimed his people from heathenism, in turn went forth as an apostle to a much more for- saken and degraded people. There is a true apostolical succession! "He had served one year among his own people in Canada in the ab- ,sence of the regular missionary upon the exploratory tour mentioned before. His wife is an American, who married him in the genuine old- time Moravian spirit, being filled with an unquenchable zeal to serve the Lord in this forsaken corner of the earth. One lay brother, Hans Torgessen, leaving his family behind, accompanied them, in order to help them in building a house.
June 19, 1885, the little band reached the Kuskokwim. Battling their way up the river in a violent storm, Hans Torgessen fell overboard and was lost! A year must elapse before help could reach them, yet strong in the strength of Christ these young men, fresh from college though they were, girded themselves to erect a house, and with their young wives prepared to face the unknown horrors of an Arctic winter, ill provided, on account of the loss of time caused by this accident, both in provisions and in shelter, for its hardships. 'rhe Church at home waited the outcome in dread suspen,se-a year. Then came the heroic message: 'Ve are, thank God, alive; and we will·remain. Send us help and we will start a second station! The history of that and succeeding winters was full of thrilling incidents -lack of space alone forbids their narration. There was no wood at hand, the woodland beginning far inland, and laborious journeys up the river had to be undertaken ~o gain fuel as well as !ogs for building purposes.
In 1887 a second station was begun at Nushagak, and in 1888 an assistant sent to the Kuskokwim, but the two stations afforded little companionship to each other, as nearly 200 miles of almost impassable ~ountry lie between them. That on the Kuskokwim has been christened Bethel; that near Nushagak, Carmel.
In spite of tremendous obstacles missionary work was at once begun. Of course, in order to gain the adults, the language had first to be learned, but for the children a school was at once opened. Only the history of the station on the Kuskokwim can be followed. The missionaries were not in a populous country, as China, Japan or India; the children had to be laboriously sought from village to village, and the only way to teach them was to keep them at the Mission House. That meant to board them, to clothe them. The task thus set the noble wives of the missionaries can scarcely be appreciated by us dwelling amid the conveniences of civilization. All were thus brought into constant personal contact with the most disgusting features of the most degraded heathenism. The work, however, went bravely on.
But, alas! the vessel which brought the new missionaries to Carmel, to the consternation of the Church at Home, was compelled to bring Mi~sionary Weinland and his family back to the States, completely broken down in health. (He has since undertaken a mission among the Indians of Southern California, in the San Jacinto Valley, made famous by H. H.'s "Ramona.") The Kilbucks heroically resolved to remain alone and hold the post until re-enforcements came, or death called them away-Mrs. Kilbuck the only white woman in that desolate region among degraded heathen.
The next year brought electrifying news. Scarcely two years had the missionary been there, and he could but imperfectly stammer forth the message of the cross in that uucouth language of the North, when its stolid people awoke, and the bleak and desolate land began to blossom with the fruits born of such self-consecration. The simple yet wonderfully impressive Moravian Christmas, and especially the Passion Week services, made a deep impression on the natives. From far and near they gathered, besought the missionary to come to their villages too; that they would build chapels for him; that they "wanted a share of the blood of Jesus to take away their bad" (sins). In Greenland the Moravians labored five years before they made a single convert. When Karjarnak was baptized the hard-tried missionary sent the message home: "Sie wollen nem "-they want to be saved now. And when this historic message was sent from bleak Alaska, after two years' labor, the Church was thrilled with holy joy. The appeal sounded forth for re-enforcements, for aid for the noble woman, who, alone of her kind, was battling for the Lord in the stronghold of Satan in the North. Eighteen responded-four single sisters, three single brethren, one widower and five married couplessome of the latter volunteering to leave their children behind. But before the chosen ones could be sent, a terrible winter had to intervene. Mrs. Kilbuck became sick. It was evident that she would have to go back to the States, or an experienced nurse be sent to her. Think of the dreary months of waiting! This noble couple resolved to separate. The wife would travel as soon as spring broke to the
TRANSLATIOlS FROM FOREIGl :lIISSIONARY :lIAliAZDIES
States, with the children. The husband would not forsake the post, but labor Oil alone. Heroism has not died out, and the Moravians are still the gens eterna! This resolution had to be, if possible, communicated to the church. They heard of Lord Lonsdale coming down from the Arctic regions, and in the midst of winter Missionary Kilbuck had to start out to meet him. Seventy-three days elapsed before his return to his sick wife, left alone with the assistant. Terrific storms, temperature 59° below zero, tell the story. He was given up for lost. His noble wife resolved then, if the Lord gave her strength, to remain herself alone with Assistant "Veber at the post! But her husband, miraculously preserved, returned, the message brought by Lord Lonsdale reached the States in time. But there was no time for a new call for volunteers. Aid had to be sent at once. A person of experience was required. The heroine was found. The official item, without any ostentation, simply announced in Moravian style: "Sister Bachman has received and accepted the appointment to Bethel, Alaska, for one year"-that was all. But those who knew, knew that that meant that the wife of the presiding bishop of the church had been willing to leave her husband and family to serve the Lord among the Alaskan Eskimos!
The re-enforcements are now there. The last message proclaims Mrs. Kilbuck's recovery. With characteristic Moravian caution, only 22 converts have been actually admitted to church membership, but the awakening still continues. Another year must elapse before new information can be received.-So ends this narrative. It has been simply told. Lack of space forbids dwelling on single acts of heroism. All that must be read between the lines. But it shows that Mi8sionary heroism has not yet gone out of date; that there is no nation so degraded that the Lord cannot find some who will go as His apostles; and where His word is proclaimed, there it never returns void unto Him!
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES.
BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
More and more it impresses itself on the minds of missionaries, how much less competent they are than the native helpers to reach the inmost minds and hearts of the heathen. These words of a native preacher give us a glimpse of this: "Agreeably to our missionary duty, we go so often as opportunity offers into the various villages and houses and preach Jesus Christ, the crucified. But the manner of preaching, as it is used in the ordinary congregations, does not please the Hindus. They are not accustomed to listen attentively to a continuous and somewhat lengthy discourse. Therefore, it is hard to obtain an auditory for such a sermon. And if any means are resorted to of enforcing attention, they endeavor to disturb the preacher by all sorts of objections. .At such times they all talk in a body, to no intelligible effect. Therefore, it is very useful to proclaim the gospel with intervals of hymns and psalms, sung to native melodies. All Hindus are delighted with such songs, even when they do not understand their purport. For the Hindus hold noth- ing so high as song. So often, therefore, as we go out to preach to the heathen, we first sing to the accompaniment of violin, cymbals, kettle-drum, and other musical instruments, hymns of our native composition, and thereupon we preach." It seems that in the Madura district the native helpers of the Leipsic mission go through the heathen villages three days in every week, preaching three times every day, relieving each other in turn. The presence of a white missionary, however, they say is a great additional attraction. "On one occa- sion, when a great idol feast was in progress, and we had {;:ome into the neigh- borhood with music and song, there appeared the priest of the pagoda with his son. They not only urged the nume;ous company of hearers to be seated and listen quietly, but made us sit in the veranda before the pagoda for three hours, sitting themselves as hearers. Finally the priest despatched his son to perform the ceremonies before the idol, and said: 'All that we do is only for our belly's sake. We know that all that you say is true, and that your Veda (the Bible) shows the way of salvation. Come back here every year, and teach the true religion.' As a farewell honor he offered all of us the usual tribute of betel and areca nut." .
-The Berichte of the Rhenish Missionary Society remarks, in speaking of the first Christian Chinese family at Bandjermasin, Borneo, of whom it gives a very interesting picture taken from a photograph: "The first Christian family in a church to-be newly established is of great significance. Even in the Acts we find names of the tlrst families tbat received baptism. So long as only men and youths become believers at a station among the heathen, the Church has no thoroughly constituted existence.. There is lacking to it its nerve, the family with its family worship, Christian training with prayer, in brief, Christian domestic life. "
-A Missionary of the Rhenish Society in Southwestern Africa, remarking that under the influence of Christianity the natives and half-breeds are becoming weaned from their nomadic ways, and are settling into more steady labor on their stations (aided of late by providential affluence of rains), adds: "That Christianity brings also earthly blessing is plain to be seen in the case of our Church, especially with those who have learned not only 'Thou shalt hallow the Sabbath day,' but also, 'Six days shalt thou labor.' He who learns this with us may assuredly hope for earthly blessing also."
-In view of the terrible increase of necromancy inour own country, thefollowing words of Missionary Fehr, of the Rhenish Society, on the Island of Nias, SJimatra, have more than a far-off interest: "The fact that, in all the sicknesses and distresses prevailing among us, no one of our Christians has allowed himself to be misled into sorcery and sacrificing, is a cause of thankfulness to the grace and protection of God. In such times of trial the thoughts and hearts of men are wont to be revealed, and it then appears whether or not the faith of Christ has already struck abiding root in them. And in truth it does require an energy of faith and no common confidence in God, for people who have grown up in heathenism and idolatry, when they see their nearest and dearest at death's door, to remain steadfast, and to refrain from resorting to any forbidden means of help. Herr Fehr says: "When people pass over from heathenism to Christianity they commonly suppose that the good God must now be especially gracious to them and bless them, because, they say, he is surely stronger than our idols. And how glad the missionary would often be, if, to such young beginners, especially in cases of sickness, the Lord would give experience of his especial help and kindness, that in this way, too, they might experience and learn that the Lord is the true Helper. But in many cases the Lord does the very opposite of this, that no one may flatter himself with false hopes, and thereby be misled into crooked ways. Here in Lololofaoso, for instance, there was a leading family, which, after long gainsaying, had tlnally inclined to Christianity, and had begun to visit the public worship. Soon after, however, their little son was taken sick, and, in spite of all medicine and all our prayers, died. Almost at the same time the child's grandfather was attacked by a very long and painful eye-trouble, so- that he was almost beside himself for pain. Under these circumstances the confidence of the family in the cause of Christianity suffered a great shock, yet thus far they have continned nniuterruptedly faithful in coming to church. How earnestly, in such cases, one is tempted to wish that he had the apostolic gift of healing."
-It is sometimes said that in Greenland the Danish Lutherans and Mora- vians have haptized the last heathen Esquimaux. This, 1 believe, is true as to the natives of the West Coast. But lately the natives of the East Coast have been coming across to the Moravian brethren. This inaccessible region was once far milder in climate, and was, as we know, the seat of a flourshing Danish colony, from which Eric the Red, or his son (1 am not sure which), is said to have come down along the shore of New England. But some 600 years ago a sudden lowering of the temperature took place; long piles of icebergs began to line the coast; the last bishop of the colony consecrated at Trondhjern, in Norway, set out for his diocese, but ~either he nor his people were ever heard of again. Whether these Eastlanders that are resorting to the Moravians are a mixed race of Eskimos (Esquimaux) and these old Northmen, or pure Esquimaux, 1 do not know. It is said that a European has lately made his way across Greenland from east to west. If so, we shall know more about the region so long mysteriously secluded. Missionary A. Riegel, in t¥ CalweJ' Missionsblatt of June, 1889, writes: "Having been able in my last report to give account of 6 newly baptized Eastlanders, this letter will report 50 additional baptisms of heathen. The first family dwelt very quietly among us, and we took a good deal of satisfaction in them, although they were little enough advanced in Christian knowledge. The man had a boat, indeed, but got little by it, so that the family was none too rich, especially as in the winter the man fell sick. The sickness increased till spring, and then the Lord took hhn to Himself. He felt disquieted in view of his family, but was glad to go home. The countrymen of this man, who had returned to the East Coast, kept their word and came back. In September they came to this station and made ready for living here by putting up three houses; expressing the desire to become Christians, they received catechetical teaching, and at Easter were baptized.
'Unhappily they were very sick and wretched, and several died; nor did they earn any too much, for there were fewer seals and birds than usual. As this naturally implied a scarcity of winter provisions, it came sometimes very near to famine with them. Since Mayall the people, the newly baptized among them, are at the summer-grounds, that is, the seaward islands; yet unhappily we only hear of a very scanty take of seals. This raises forebodings for the coming winter, yet the Lord may secure them an ample autumn fishery. How these neophytes will develop' spiritually, remains to be seen. We cannot expect that all will turn out to be of the best quality.
" You believe that there must come a time when the Greenlanders can maintain their churches and their Christianity without European pastors, even though under European oversight, 'and with European money.' If you had added this last, 1 too should not doubt of the possibility. That the Greenlanders will themselves voluntarily meet the costs of their churches and schools, only he can believe who does not know the Greenlanders. But it will be practicable to maintain paid catechists, upper and lower, at the different settlements, to work under Europear. direction. 1 believe that is the aim of the Danish Mission, because they can secure hardly any pastors or missionaries for Greenland. "
There we see Christiauity struggling to live, chiefly because the race that professes it is struggling to live. -Primitive, uncivilized natures, in whom self-control has never been devel- oped, are subject to very extraordinary mental affections, which, it is true, are sufficiently common among ourselves. In Amalienstein, South Africa, there lately died. aged 71, a cripple, Elizabeth Klaasse, doubtless a Kaffir or a Hottentot, who, in consequence of a church quarrel, in which she had taken part, had sunk into melancholy, and for nearly twenty years had only jumped along like an ape, muttering unintelligibly, and repelling all pastoral attention, until finally Missionary Schmidt succeeded in inducing her to pray with him, and to come to church once more. Thenceforth she was never seen sitting in the church otherwise than with a radiant face; "she followed the preaching as a bird of prey does his quarry, nodding in smiling assent to all that was said."
-Missionary Bieger, writing in the Mededeelingen of the Dutch Missionary Society, gives, in a single sentence, a powerful impression of the deadness of soul engendered by Mohammedanism, which knows absolutely nothing of inward spiritual experience, takes absolutely no account of it. Herr Biger has labored in Java, where the people are almost all Mohammedan, but has lately gone to the little island of Savoe, where they are or have been heathen. He remarks: "What I have not seen in Java in fourteen years, I have seen here in four months-a tear; the genuine witness of the fertilization of the sinner's heart by the seed of the gospel.·'
-Christianity in the East Indian Islands has the greatest prevalence in the Minahassa, the northermnost of the three eastward stretching arms of the island of Celebes. Heathenism being largely overcome, at least in various districts of the Minahassa, of course the number of adult baptisms will be apt to diminish. In 1887 there were in the Minahassa: Adult baptisms, 476; infant baptisms, 5,021; communicants received, 1,182; school children, 7,240; Christians on the Island of Savpe, 3,783.
-M. Duvoisin, of the French Basuto Mission, speaking of finding himself overwhelmed, in addition to all his evangelical cares, with the labor of building, says: "I have already passed through trials of many sorts, but there is one of which I had not yet had experience, that of feeling one's self overwhelmed on all sides, and of finding one's self anew, day after day, in presence of a task for which one is not made, and from which, on the other hand, he cannot withdraw himself. But I have found that this also is good. I have understood better than hitherto this word of St. Paul, • Cast down, but not destroyed,' and I begin to realize the fact that when the Lord invites us to cast all our cares on him, he doubtless means all, the task of building not excepted."
-The extensive awakening among the pagans of the Basuto country has declined, although not until after large additions to the churches. M. Duvoisin remarks: "The outward circumstances were only too favorable. In the Lexuto–as elsewhere, I imagine-temporal and spiritual blessings are a little like the two buckets of a well. Now the late harvest has been most abundant, there is in the country a great number of mabele; that is, for the pagans, numerous and riotous gatherings around great pots of yoala, gatherings which, too often, take place on the Sunday; and for Christians, leting, that is, mild ale, at discretion. Unhappily these latter have not yet learned to use all things as not abusing them." "Yet, if there is in our churches a current of evil which draws away more than one, others again yield to the attraction which draws them to the feet of the Saviour, and these latter, I will believe, are the more numerous."
-" The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty."
OUR VOLUNTEER MISSIONARY STUDENTS
This is painfully illustrated in the description given by M. Louis Jalla of the Barotses, the heathen dwellers on the banks of the Zambezi. "These people are children in many respects, but they are true savages, cruel, ferocious, even in every direction. Their pleasure lies in witnessing suffering. It is very hard to bring our boys to kill a hen before plucking it. How jolly it would be, said some men one day, if we could flay an ox all alive! When a man is condemned to death, they do not give themselves the trouble to kill him. They only half strangle him, fixing their nails in his throat, and then conduct him to an islet in the river, leaving him to die there of hunger."
Yet these same people, who are very fond of receiving visits, are, at home, polite and affable. The women also, at least those of the higher ranks, making an ambition of keeping their houses neat and in good order. They esteem themselves much honored by receiving visits from the missionaries, who seem to be slowly, but surely, weaving a network of Christian influences around them, in a dreary, unwholesome region, one of the most ill-provided in the world with the means of enjoying even common comforts.
-Our French Protestant brethren have a mission in the French possession of Senegambia. The following, by M. Escandre, is a lively description of the }fohammedan negroes, the chief part of the population of the town of Saint Louis: "A new comer recognizes them at once; you see them pass in the streets, furnished with enormous rosaries, which they are telling in a very absent-minded manner. Then, women, babies at the breast, all are loaded with gre-grees (amulets), enclosing fragments of the Koran, which, it appears, possess marvellous properties. Then, when the hour of prayer is called at the corners of the streets, on the square, and chiefly along the river, you perceive files of natives bending to the ground, like a thicket of reeds before a breeze. Take care not to enter one of their shops at this hour, for, in the very middle of your purchases, you would see the merchant leaving his business in the lurch and begin his interminable genuflexions, your objurgations not being of the slightest avail. You needs must summon up your best patience, or walk off, until his salaam is at an end. The other evening, from my balcony, I noticed a woman making ready for these exercises, and stationed myself to observe her. You would scarcely believe it if I should tell you that having had the curiosity to count on my fingers the number of times that she kissed the ground, I arrived at the respectable figure of thirty-one. Her salaam had lasted twenty minutes by the watch! She must have been, doubtless, a great sinner, some penitent Magdalen, or possibly she had terrible arrears to wipe off, for you are aware that the Koran authorizes such adjustments."
OUR VOLUNTEER MISSIONARY STUDENTS.
" Upon the young men of this generation God lays a responsibility never before known." Who are the responsible young men of this generation? They are to be found in our educational institutions, and they represent a host. Two million young men will graduate from our schools and colleges in this generation, and, surely, we ought to be able to give one per cent. of this number to Foreign Missions, which would mean the "evangelization of the world." It does not seem possible that there could be 20,000 young men "willing and desirous, God permitting, to be foreign missionaries;" but the fact is, if the number increases as it has since this movement was inaugurated, it will not be long ere the pitiful cry that is coming from across the seas from the millions in darkness and death, will be heard by thousands of our best educated young men and ,,·omen. The number of ,olunteers up to the Northfield meeting was 3,847, of whom at least 1,000 are young women. Since that time, through the aggressive efforts of leading volunteers, the number has increased 500 more. Volunteers may now be found in nearly every country in the world; 195 have already sailed for the foreign fields. These 195 volunteers settled as follows: 29 in Japan, 28 in India, 12 or 13 in Africa, 46 in China, being distributed in 21 different fields, and representing 25 different organizations. Forty-nine institutions in the United States and 5 in Canada are contributing , to send out or support their representatives, pledging last year between $26,000 and $28,000, of which amount all but about $3,000 was pledged by students.
A remarkable fact, to be especially noted by those who are wont to criticise the movement in thinking that it is opposed to our Missionary Boards, is that, with the exception of five or six institutions, which are State institutions, and hence undenominational, all the money has been sent to the several Boards, and the missionary sent out is connected with the Board representing the church of which he is a member.
This, in general, is a bird eye's view of what is being accomplished by the movement. In particular, the work of Mr. R. E. Speer, the present traveling secretary of the movement, is very interesting and profitable. He has been speaking since Sept. 4 in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and is now about to enter upon an active campaign in Ohio. During that time over 500 volunteered, and about $4,000 were pledged either to the support of some alumnus in the field, or to swell the funds for the Young Men's Christian Association building that is to be erec- ted in Tokio, Japan. Up to November 9, Mr. Speer had visited 27 colleges, 7 city associations, 17 churches, besides attending 5 State conventions. Among the colleges visited were 5 State universities and 4 normal schools, where the religious life is very low. In spite of this drawback, in these 9 institutions there were 65 new volunteers, an average of 7. At a normal school at Fort Scott, Kansas, there were 15 volunteers and $364 pledged, and at the State Normal School of Missouri, they intend to raise $500 for the Tokio building, three college professors have volunteered, and the Secretary of the St. Paul Young Men's Christian Association, who has a burning desire to.go to the Soudan, when he told his wife of .his intention, she answered, "Go! I'll go with you." A missionary of the Presbyterian Sunday School Union volun- teered, giving this as his reason: "The fact that the heathen could not get the gospel now even if they wanted it, was enough to call him fron: a field, needy, to be sure, but where the people could have the gospel whenever they wanted it." A lady physician, whose daughter had already volunteered, offered her services at a young woman's convention in Nebraska. Can any more beautiful sight be imagined than to see mother and daughter ready to leave home and friends for the sake of their dying heathen sister! At the Kansas young women's convention, the whole delegation, consisting of 36, vol- unteered before they returned home. St. Paul had so many volunteers, 26, that they intend to put some of their business enterprise into missions, by sending a Golony to the Soudan, and one gentleman showed a determination to have his representative in the field by signing the following paper: "I am willing and desirous, God permitting, to support a missionary from St. Paul." Minneapolis, St. Paul's great rival, has raised a large sum for the Tokio Young Men's Christian Association building. At a meeting in Iowa, an incident occurred which may affect not a few Christian parents. Mr. Speer was teil- ing the story of how an old l.o.linister appealed to an audience to make a per- sonal consecration of themseh-es to missions. When he finished speaking his
GENERAL ~IISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
own daughter came forward and knelt before him, but raising her the old man said: "I did not mean you, my daughter." The next day, after relating this in(:ident, an old gray haired man came to Mr. Speer, and said: "You have hit me. My daughter wished to go out from the Methodist Board. and they wanted her, but my wife and I held her back," and then he added signifi- cantly: "We have not felt so well as before." How many parents there may be who are thwarting the will of God and are saying in their hearts, "vVe have not felt so well as before."
It will no doubt be interesting, now that so many volunteers are in the field, to hear what they think of the battle while they are at the front.
Mr. F. W. Brown, a volunteer from Hillsdale College, Michigan, writes from India, while on a mission boat on the Byturney river, near Orissa. He says: "How goes the work? Here I am in this hot ]jed of idolatry. We feel that we are on the eve of a big break here, and are looking for it soon. The Lord hasten it on. I went to Puri to the Ratti Jutra; I saw enough to tire my soul. They stoned us while preaching. I have the stone that a wall opposite me kept from hitting me on the head." Mr. S. R. Gulick writes from Japan calling for 34 volunteers to go out under the A. B. C. T. M. He says the movement is an inspiration to the soldiers in the front, and they are looking b~ R~R n.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
ACrica.-Mr. Stanley has emerged in his path, and which to the average on the western shore of the Indian man would have seemed insurmount- Ocean from his marvelous mid-Afri- able. True, he is as yet his own hiscan march, the most successful ex- toriographer, but there is no reason to plorer in the world. It would be diffi- doubt a narrative the very simplicity cult to imagine a narrative more and modesty of which gives it the wonderful or fascinating than that of stamp of tJ,"uth, and in which the his journey from the Aruwimi to the humblest of his followers is made to Albert Nyanza, through a forest larger share in heroism with himself. There than France, and through the matted is no attempt at advertisement. "Nothundergrowths of which the starved ing happened," he writes in his acand dwindling column crept at the count of the march from the Albert rate of less than three miles a day. Nyanza to the coast, "save a fight or That awful itinerary, filled with fever two with theWanyoro," though on that and fighting and hideous sufferings, march he discovered that the Muta continued for more than five months Nize was the source of the White Nile, before the hundred and more thin a discovery which other men would skeletons emerged into the plain re- have deemed glory enough for a life gion; and with food and plenty about time. And yet there is a full apprethem, began to take heart and hope. ciation of the horrors of the journey, But more fighting awaited them, with and of the importance of its results, the dreary counter-march back to the as well as the expression of a reverent Aruwimi, disappointment and waiting and unfaltering faith in God, who had and horrors on end, consuming nearly led him on his way, and turned what a year more, until, in February last, seemed defeats into success. No other the explorer met Emin and forced his explorer has endured and overcome reluctant consent to be relieved. Dur- so much, adding to his own burdens ing all this time Mr. Stanley never lost responsibility for others and for rehope or changed his tone, or permit- sults, and yet has so steadily grown in ted himself for a moment to be over- himself and in the estimation of the come by the new obstacles that rose world. Great cities vie for the honor of entertaining him, and nations, with the journalistic reporter who went to find Livingstone at Ujiji in 1872, and African possessions to develop, are the wise, hardy, heroic, broad-minded and indomitable rescuer of Emin bidding for the assistance of the boy Pasha and discoverer of the heart of Africa, is far greater than usuaUy befrom the Welsh poor-house. For he longs to human life. Few men so distinctly find their mission, or reis pre-eminently a man of action, ceive such enhancement of personal power and character from rendering with a genius for the government of the service to which they are called. We may well enter his name in the barbarous peoples, and it is on the list of providential men, like Colum- bus, William the Silent, Washington organization and government and de- and Livingstone, raised up for a i7eat purpose and divinely guided till their velopment of the black races that the work is done. It is not the least strik- ing part of our first messages from world must rely if anything is to be this man, as he emerges again into the light of 'blessed civilization,' accomplished in Africa. But while that he recognizes the divine' hand in the thrilling experiences and delivermankind will not withhold its meed of ances of these three memorable years. And it is an eminent sign of the place praise from Mr. Stanley, there is a he has won in the popular judgment that the secular press, no less than the darker side to his success-the fact religious press, takes note of this de- vout acknowledgment and justifies it. that in its first great contest with the "For the moment the withdrawal of Arab for control of the Dark Conti- Emin Pasha leaves the vast and popu- lous territory of the Soudan stripped nent, Europe has suffered defeat. of every civilizing, restraining and uplifting influence from without, and The gallant explorer has survived the opens the way for the Moslem faith and the accursed slave trade to revive march through the tangled forests of and flourish in that imperial domain without let or hindrance. But this the Aruwimi, but the darkness of situation cannot long continue. Stan- ley's exploit has powerfully drawn night has closed in behind him, and the thoughts and interests of the civ- ilized world to this great center; and of aU that Europe has won in the past it is next to impossible that some one of the great powers should not assume ten years, nothing remains but Egypt, the responsibility of giving order and stable government and protection to the scattered stations on the Congo, the native tribes, and access for for- eign commerce and missions, throughand a few points on the shores of the out this splendid country. It will be thought an intolerable thing that the Indian Ocean. Wadelai, Darfour and path thus first broken by this intrepid explorer should be closed up as soon Khartoum are garrisoned by Arab as it has been opened, and one of the richest and most populous parts of the armies, as are the Central Soudan States; and encouraged by their recent successes, they are bent on the con- quest of Abyssinia, and the re-conquest of Egypt. The tide will turn, of course, for Africa will not be aban- doned to barbarism, but more vigor and means will have to be put into the task, and the fact brought home that civilization can march only where there are highways.-The In- terior. I -" Stanley and Africa."-Dr. Jud- son Smith, in the Oongregationalist, writes most intelligently on this sub- ject. We have space for only his closing words: "What results may we expect from this great expedition? It is too soon to ascertain all the facts, or to draw aU the inferences. Without doubt this brilliant and heroic exploit will distinctly add to Stanley"s steadily rising repute as a man, a philanthro- pist, a scientific explorer, and a mili- tary leader. The contrast between whole continent left to fall back again the Arabs were up in arms. The into primeval barbarism, or the deadly blockade of the coast maintained by blight of Mohammedanism and the Germany infuriates the rebels because infamous slave traffic which it fosters. it stops their traffic, and they will, it The challenge to the Christian world is feared, massacre all the missionaries to enter this fair domain, and fill it on whom they can lay hands.
with the Christian faith and the benefi- Missionary interests have become cent institutions which flourish wher- very extensive in East Africa. The ever that faith holds sway, is as bold Church Missionary Society and the'
and inspiriting as we can well con- Universities Mission, of the Church of ceive. England; the Established and the "Almost the last word which we Free Church, of Scotland; the London have from Stanley declares his convic- Missionary Society, the United Meth- tion that the mantle of Livingstone has odist Free Churches, and the Church fallen upon him, and his purpose to of Rome, all have missions on the devote his life to the exploration of coast or in the interior. The Church Africa. We would fain believe that Missionary Society has two distinct above this man's thought presides the lines of missions-one with its basis same divine purpose which controlled at Mombasa, in the English Sphere of his predecessor's life and shapes the Influence, with eight stations, some fortunes of the nations and the ages, of which are on or near the coast and and that through all his varied and some in the interior. One is in the heroic efforts that which was the in- neighborhood of Mount Kilimanjaro.
spiring aim of Livingston's marvelous The second line of stations is that career-the evangelization of Africa- which stretches from Zanzibar to shall be hastened apace. May the. Uganda. There are nine stations in Church of Christ, in all lands, give this line. The Universities Mission heed to the solemn and imperative has twelve stations, one ~ Zanzibar, call of the hour, and see to it. that four in the Usambara country north along the track which has thus been of Zanzibar, four on or near the River broken the light and freedom and Rovuma, and three on the east shore heavenly hope, which are the one of Lake Nyassa. The two Scottish priceless treasure of history and civil- Churches have the Free Church five ization, shall press in with resistless stations on Lake Nyassa, the Estab- power to scatter the darkness and lished Church one on Lake Shirwa, at redeem the nations !" the south of Lake Nyassa. The route -Missionary Interests in East to this region is by the Zambesi and Africa.-The massacre of German Shire rivers. The London Society missionaries at Dar-es-Salam, on the goes further west than any of the East African Coast below Zanzibar, other societies, and plants two sta- has been followed by the massacre of tions on Lake Tanganyika. The an English missionary named Brooks, United Methodist Free Churches have with sixteen of his followers, at Saad- two missions in the Mombasa region, ani, a point nearly opposite Zanzibar. and one in Gallaland. Three German These massacres, committed by the Protestant Societies have five stations Arabs and natives under their control, -three in gaIIiland, one in Zanzibar in the rising against the Germans, and one in Dar-es-Salam, where one were not unexpected. The course of of the massacres took place. It is the the Germans, who had no experience Berlin Society which maintains the with African Arabs or natives, was last two stations. These are all the Pro- such as to provoke hostility. They testant missions between Wito and the established their commercial enter- Rovuma River; but there are German prise last August, and in a few weeks and French Roman Catholic stations. In all, there are 13 missions-six congregation also was urged to estab- British, four Germans, and three lish a fellowship meeting for the study French. One society, the Church of Scripture on Sabbath morning. A Missionary, alone has spent $500,000 proposal to visit every household in in the last 30 years in East Africa.- South Formosa was well received.
Tlw Independent. • With. a view to its being carried into China.-One of the most success- effect, it was resolved that each ful of the Chinese Missions is that con- preacher on his return to his station 'ducted by the Canada Presbyterians should make out a list of the towns and the English Presbyterians in the and villages in the neighborhood; that Island of Formosa. Mr. Mackay, of the preachers should bring these lists the Canadian Mission, has been from to the next meeting of preachers in the first as one of the people, and has May, so that the field may be divided taken a wife from among them. He out among the various churches. The is a man of apostolic devotion and subject of self support was most ear- simplicity, and has wrought a great nestly discussed, and a determined work among the Formosans. The effort to increase the number of self- English Presbyterians occupy a dif- supporting churches was agreed to.
ferent part of the island, that to the To this end the church where the con- south. They, too, have made large ference met agreed to help out a use of native talent in the spreading neighboring church at Kio-a-thau by of the gospel. Recently they held a contributing what it lacked. After conference of preachers and office- the conference, when the preacher bearers, all the preachers except one for that station returned to his work, being present. They were examined he told his people that it had been carefully, and good reports are given arranged that for the four months.
of them. In the conference these they were short they were to look, native preachers spoke earnestly in not to the home church, but to the favor of self-supporting churches, and church in Taiwanfoo. This caused stated that they would rather receive them to reconsider the matter-it their salary from the native brethren seemed a shame to get money from a than from the Missionary Board. neighboring congregation; and they Though the money comes to them sent back WOl'd that they would not more promptly from the Board it need the money, that they would be often subjects them to the taunt, responsible for the whole twelve " You preach the foreigner'S doctrine months themselves. This released the because you eat his rice. " Each church at Taiwanfoo, and it gave the church represented in the conference help it had offered to Kio-a-thau to sent a dollar toward the expenses. another struggling congregation.
The missionaries gave a dollar each -Uneasiness at Pekin.-We learn for the preachers, and the balance, from Pekin that there is a feeling one dollar, was contributed by the there of great uneasiness as to the sta- church where the conference met. bility of things in China, The young The conference agreed to recommend Emperor and Empress are believed to each congregation to follow the ex- be unlucky, as there has been nothing ample of one station, where the but disaster since their accession.
worshippers are classified as readers There is no loyalty in China in our and non-readers, and one of the for- sense of the word, and there are great mer told.off to teach one of the latter. fears that troubles will arise from the In this connection the importance of general distress inevitable in this com- a large-type Romanized New Testa- ing winter; and if there were any man ment was mentioned, for which ar- of eminence who saw any advantage rangements are being made. Each to be gained from raising a rebellion it would go haru with the present dy- hope that this mission would be auded nasty. The misfortunes which have happened since the present Emperor's to the other missions carried on by the accession have revived the discontent that was felt at the irregularity of his Reformed Church. Owing to its large succession, which found its expres- sion at the time, as will be remem- and growing indebtedness, however, bered, in the suicide of one of the Cen- sors. We would earnestly echo the the Board of the Church felt com- remarks of our New Chwang COlTe- spondent, and impress upon the naval pelled to decline to assume this new authorities that no treaty port in the empire ought to be left without a man- responsibility, while at the same tllle of-war this winter. There is no special antipathy to foreigners; but expressing a great interest in it. their safety may easily be involved in some tumult that has arisen from Hence the present character of this causes entirely unconnected with their presence.-North China Herald. miSSIOn. The funds for its support Egypt.-The Rev. James Cantine, are contributed upon a syndicate plan.
the first missionary of the recently or- The mission has found a number of ganized Arabian Mission, sailed on the City of Rome last month. He will warm friends and supporters in vari- . spend the winter in Syria carrying on his Arabic studies. In early spring he ous denominations, and the work is will be joined by Mr. S. lf. Zwemer, of the Theological Seminary, New progressing in a very encouraging Brunswick, N. J. The two will then proceed to their field of work-South- manner. J. G. L. western Arabia-in connection with Keith-Falconer Mission of the Free Eng-Iand.-Letter from Bishop Church of Scotland. The chief object of this mission is to do pioneer work, Taylor.-" I have just arrived from and especially (i. e., not exclusively but equally) in behalf of lIoslems and the Congo. My principal business, on slaves. The brief history of the Keith- Falconer Mission shows alike the great a hasty trip, to return to West Africa need and great encouragement for undertaking this work at once and in a few weeks, is to complete ar- carrying it forward vigorously. This mission is for the present, at least, in- rangements with the builder of our dependent, in the sense that it looks for its support to any without refer- steamer to send a master builder from ence to denominational adherence. This was not the prefelTed way of his yard to put her together and see founding anu carrying on the mission, but it was the way to which the found- her afloat as quickly as possible. Hap- ers were shut up if the work designed and desired was to be accomplished. pily, delays are not always failures, It was hoped that this mission would be founded by and under the charge but often essel1tial conditions to ulti- of the Reformed Church. The action of the last General Synod led many to mate success. I believe it will be so in regard to our unexpected delays with the steamer.
" The teaching force of all the facts in the case brings us clearly to the conclusion that the planting of mis- sions extensively in the great and populous countries of the upper Kassai and Sankura, requires that we have a chain of missions, and a transport agency and facilities, extending from the sea to the centre of the Con-· tinent, giving us, by the way, a neglected, densel}: populated region, belonging to the Congo State, on the north side of Lower Congo,100 by 250 miles in extent. The older mis- sions are working on the south bide of the Congo, so that we shall in no way encroach upon them. So, as a part of these foundation alTange.ments on the Lower Congo, essential success on the Upper Congo waterways, "'e find that our steamer is needed, by twenty to one, more on the Lowpr Congo than upon the Upper. We shall build her at Vivi, to carry mission- tricts they come after, but often asso- ciate with the mayor, the doctor and aries and mission goods from ship'il the priest. The Sta,te considers them to be of such importance that it frees side at Banana 100 miles up the river them from military service, pays their salary, and at the age of sixty grants to Vivi. them pensions. The number has be- come so large that some have asked if "In connection with this we will the work of the Normal schools should not be suspended. At this time, when build a steel launch, to be propelled the enemies of the Republic try to underrate the services she has renby oars and sails, to carry up river dered to France, I feel it a duty to vindicate the good work she has done. ' cargoes through the middle passage Her efforts to raise popular education have not only been great, but very of Congo, 88 miles, from Isangila to successful. "
Manyanga. When this is developed, India.-A Hindu Lady Reformer. -During Bishop Thoburn's recent then we shall require a small steamer visit to Bombay he caned on the Pan- dita Ramabai at her own home. This for the Kassai and the Sankura. vVe lady's name is almost a household word in England and America; her needed such a boat in 1886, when we devotion to the women of her country is well known. He thus describes his had a force waiting at Stanley Pool, visit: "I found her busy, but not care- worn, in the midst of her various who would have met Dr. Summers, projects for elevating her race, and especially those of her own sex. One who entered by the Angola route, of her cardinal ideas is that the status of Indian women must be raised to at Luluaburg, but we could not on the level of true womanhood. Her little daughter was in the room, and any of the five little steamers on the I asked her name. ' I can her Mano- ram,' she replied. 'The birth of a Upper Congo, about the time of his daughter is considered a great ca- lamity in India, and so I named her arrival, get a passage for one mission- " Heart's-delight " as a protest against the bad notion.' The Pandita is giving ary. Now there are a dozen little special attention to temperance re- form, and I was only too glad to steamers on those waters. and we can promise her whatever assistance I might be able to render her in her get passage to take up a successor to good work. She is I;>eginning to real- ize that her work will encounter diffidear Dr. Summers and others also, culties in its progress, but thus far she shows no sign of discouragement. to keep our promise to the Bashalange Her chief enterprise, that of founding a home for Indian widows, has not people and other nations beyond, till yet passed beyond the experimental stage, but she seems satisfied with the we can complete arrangements below, success thus far achieved."-The Har- ~'est Field. as aforesaId, for planting of missions in those far interior countries on a broad scale. WM. TAYLOR."
France.-Rev. J. C. Bracq says: "The public 8chooois of France have never before approached their present state of thoroughness and efficiency.
It i8 to the credit of the Republic that she has made greater efforts in that direction than in any other. She has increased her war budget only two- thirds, while that of popular educa- tion has risen from 24 millions of francs to 130 millions. The teachers have better preparation in the Normal schools, larger salaries, better houses to live in, while their school buildings form a pleasant contrast with those of the past. They have also large as- sociations for mutual improvement and for the defence of their interests that could not have existed under former governments. Their social position is equal to that of teachers in the United States. While they are much respected in cities, in rural <1i5-
MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS
South America.-The Ameri- fact that during the past ten years 264,542 copies have been circulated, can Bible Society reports that Bible of which 90,484 belong to the first distribution was fifty per cent. larger half of the decade, and 174,038 to the last year hi South America than in last half. These figures are exclusive any former year. The number of of the work of the Valparaiso (Chili) Bibles, New Testaments or parts dis- Bible Society, which sold during the posed of by sale or gift (mainly the year 4,563 copies, and during its exformer) was 51,862. That this large istence of 28 years has distributed increase was not the result of mere 54,417 copies in the Republic of Chili. spasmodic effort is evident from the I1I.-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD-FIELD.
Brazil. candidates for the Gospel ministry. To the churches of this Presbytery were added during SAO PAULO, Oct. 17, 1889. the last year 133 infants by baptism and 187 DEAR DR. PrERSON: Knowing you to be an on profession. Permission was granted to ardent friend of foreign missions, I take the organize two new churches. The reports of liberty of sending you an item of news. all the pastors were very cheering; each one reporting fields much too large for one man During the late sessions of the Presbytery to occnpy. of Sao Paulo, its licentiate, Senior Benedicta Ferraz de Campos, was examined for ordina- This Presbytery, in harmony with the Standtion. His final examinations and sermon gave ing Committee on Home Missions of the evidence of 'Very fine talent. His knowledge Synod, is seeking for means to sustain and in Greek was especially noteworthy. A very teach a class of eleven young men, married large congregation assembled on a Monday and single, for a year, in purely Biblical innight to witness the ordination, when the struction, and then send them out to occupy pastorof the church, Rev. E. Carlos Pereira, the many places where the good seed of the preached the sermon, and Rev. Carvaihosa Word has been planted and is bearing fruit. gave the charge to the candidate. Both sermon and charge were especially appropriate Yours truly, to the occasion, but the crowning act was the . J. B. KALa.
final setting apart of the candidate by the Ohina. laying on of the hands of the Presbytery. By invitation of the Presbytery, the repre- [Do not fail to read this letter from sentatives of other Presbyteries and of the a remote corner of this vast empire. Methodist and Episcopalian Churches, were -EDS.J invited to take part; so that upon the head of SINING, &AusUH PROVINCE, N. W. CHINA., the young candidate were laid the hands of Sept. 24, 1889.
different representatives of the Christian DEAR EDITORS: Your April number of THE Church. 'Twas a beautiful sight and one MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLn contained which made a solemn impression upon all: an article on "The China Inland lIiission, " by that union of sympathy and brotherly love, ( Prof. Hulbert)in which are a few statements which could lay aside all differences and ..nite which require some modification.
in so solemn an act. The candidate was very He says:" Wben I say the work is compre- deeply affected. We certainly have reason to hensive, I give no idea of the vast area covered believe that" the laying on of hands" in this by the Inland lIIission. Its laborers may be case brought with it the blessing of the pres- found from the borders of the Mongolian desert ence of the Holy Spirit. Wbat an inspiration and the boundary line of Siberia on the north, our newly ordained brother has received! to the banks of the Bramapootra river and "May the Holy Spirit ever bless his ministry." the valleys of the Himalayas on the south; The two young men, Messrs. Morris and Kin- from the Pacific ocean on the east to the solineg, sent ant from the seminary at Alexan- borders of Tnrkestan and the unknown pIa· dria, Va., are winning for themselves and the teau of Thibet on the west." Mr. Stevens, of church they represent golden opinions. They this Mission, is located at Bhamo, on the banks expect to accompany the newly ordained min- of the Irriwady, in Burma. 1111'. Geo. Parker ister, Mr. Benedicto, to his field of lahor, and has recently returned from a journey across there study the langnage, after which they the desert of Shamo to Hami, Urumtsi, and expect to choose for themseh-es a good wide Iti, making only a few weeks' stay there, and field of labor, of which there are many. then returning to Lanetes. He also visited The Presbytery of Sao Paulo recei,ed three KokomoI' with a Russian exploring party. With others he crossed the border and entered into Turkestan, as far as Kashgal' and Yark, Jllongolia for a few days, from Ninghia amI and a fourth to Kokonor and Tsaidami. It Rweihaachenj, in N. Kausuh and N. Slausi. matters not which side of the Atlantic you live, come and be spent for Jesus, and take pleas- Possibly the Mission may be contemplating ure in ,', necessities" for Him. Sell all you further extension. But at the present I be- have, if needs be, to pay your passage out lieve I am right in saying that, with the above here, and what you haven't got ask God for, exception, the work of the Inland Mission is and tell his people. Get one of these places entirely confined to the provinces of China right down into your heart, find out every properl I suppose it takes as long to get to scrap of informa(,!on you can about it, wrestle Sining as to any place in China-four or five in prayer for it night and day, aud the proba- months' journey from the coast. Coming here bility is that every obstacle now in your way we crossed no excessively dangerous moun- will be removed, and you'll be out, where your tains, and no burning deserts. I have not heart has been already, before many months heard of any brethren of this Mission who had have passed. That is something like the way I came to China, and now am being drawn to· any experiences very much out of the com- Thibet. mon, though we settle often in teeming cities. I have not heard of any member of the Mission For Thibet, lIIongolia and Turkestan, the attaching himself to Nomadic tribes of Chinese language would be almost an essen- Mongol Tartars, living in miserable tents, and tial, for they are a part of the Chinese em- roving from place to place, with no fixed home, pire. The Turkestan party might commence no familiar fireside, but wandering over the in the Mohammedan towns of this province Tartar plains at the will of wild chieftains, or (Kausuh), getting their Chinese education as the scantiness of pasturage for flocks de- while picking up useful hints for Mohamme- mands. dan work. 'Ve have Turks, called Salah, within four days of Siuing. A knowledge of There are members of the Mission on the Arabic would be useful. Persian is more use- Chinese border of Kokonor, and let us pray ful in Turkestan. Mongol could, I fancy, God that before long Christianity may be easily be picked up here. knocking at the doors of Slamaistic faith; but though in many cases the Slamas are friendly For Thibet, at present, the Indian door and and kind, I have never heard of any workers Sychnan are closed to us. To work Thibet any- of the Mission having had the opportunityoffer- way, will require much prayer; the Chinese ed to them, by Thibetan officials, of entering are very suspicious of us; but this Kausuh the country of the grand Slama quietly amI border appears the most open, Passports without danger of molestation. lIfr. Gilmour. would be required for all these, and we must of the London MiSSion, is pioneering in Eastern pray hard that that difficulty may be removed. Mongolia; haven't you got a score of young Don't let us mind about fixed salaries. Get fellows wishing to join him? Then the Mora- the money to bring you out, and then look to vian Mission at Leh, and a Bible agent at God for the rest. 3Iarried or single, come Iskutsk in S. Siberia. With these exceptions, along. £100 per man should bring you from am I not right in saying the whole of Thibet, England to this corner of the empire, and Mongolia, Turkestan and Siberia are without give you a bit in hand. Look all the difficula Protestant missionary. "There remaineth ties well in the face, and then make up your yet very much land to be possessed; let us go mind. If you can't trust God, don't come. up at once and possess it, for we are well able, because the Lord of Hosts goeth forth with Yours, in the Lord's service. our armies." We haven't got to wait for orders to go forward; they were given more than CECIL POLHILL TURNER. 1800 years ago. When acting in obedience to Him, t~e power of God, the Holy OPENING OF WORK IN KIRIN. Ghost, is upon us, and then there is no room Our work gradually grew and people begun for failure. You will probably receive this to see we had not come to do them harm, but letter as the new year opens. Suppose all who good, One little boy, whose parents were read it pray for at least 20 workers each for dead, had for some time been troubled with Thibet, Mongolia, and Turkestan-in all 60- sore eyes. He spent nearly all his spare before the close of 1890. Let us ask for men money (3s. or so), a great deal for him, upon full of the Holy Ghost; men willing to rough native doctors. to no avail. By God's blessing it for Jesus; men who don't mind being cold, on our treatment, he was soon made all right. hungry and wet, and robbed, and, if need be. He, of course, could not k""p the good news to <i¥ing, because death brings glory. himself, but published it abroad, and soon Dear brother, who reads these lines, come great numbers came thronging to us to have out and join our band. Then let us go two by their eyes cured. We were very closely two through Thibet, to Slaosa, and on to watched by government officials in every Rashmir; along the high-road through Kausuh thing we did. Soon their favorable report to Hami, Urumtsi, Iti; another lot branching brought us invitations from Mandarins and off to the north to Kobats, Uliasutai; It third gentlemen of all ranks. Thus did God open up our way befon' 1)S. 'Ve then sought and gained an interview with July 9. -At evening service the church and one of the chief magistrates, and through yard were so full the pulpit was placeq in the him got permission of the Governor·General open door that all might hear. The Lord to come and establish a Mission and hospital. helped while preaching from "What shall I do to be saved?" All who were seriously After spending a few days longer looking thinking about their souls were asked to raise out for a suitable house, which, however, we hands; nearly 100 responded. did not find, we again returned to Monkden. Thus, through the Divine blessing, the way July 10. – A meeting for men only, but about seems clear for our going up, perhaps early 200 women came begging to stay; talked next year, and establishing ourselves in this about "Saving faith:' Two young men, large city of Kirin, the capital of the northern doubters for two years, de<'ided to serve and province of Manchuvia. confess Christ.
A RESIDENT MISSIONARY. July ll.-A mother's meeting; 400 present; many remained for inquiry meeting; over 20 Turkey. took part; earnest prayers in Turkish, Arme· nian and English, offered with tears of re- THE GREAT REVIVAL AT AlNTAB. pentance, reminded us of "Pentecostal Days. " I too could not keep back tears of joy; 35 [So remarkable a work deserves the arose, giving themselves to Christ. "Not unto fullest information. Although we us, not unto us, 0 Lord, but to thy name give have given some account of it already, glory." P. M.-Another woman's meeting. To we are quite sure our readers will be my surprise the church and yard were full; greatly interested in this detailed 1,600 to 2,000 present, most of whom were record of it, taken from the diary of Gregorians; 8 Mohammedans-a large gather. Rev. H. G. Jenanyan, of "St. Paul's ing; pulpit moved to the door so all could Institute," Tarsus, who took an active hear. part in the revival. We are indebted to his wife for this graphic view of the July 12.-The Holy Spirit's work among inmemorable scenes.-EDs.] dividuals is wonderful. Thus I am taught W/Ult and how to preach. Henceforth our serv, Aintab, July 2.-Having an urgent invita· ices will be union in the First Church, which tion from the pastor of the Third Church, the holds 2,000 to 2,500. The women's side is smallest one, with a congregation of about smaller, but to-night they filled their own and 200, to hold special service, this evening I one-third of the men's. " Not by might, nor preached my first sermon; only 150 present. by power." 'Text, "To think of latter end." July H.-At morning, in the Third Church, July 3.-Preached to about 300, one half of two new Sunday-school classes organized. whom were Gregorian Armenians. All listen- Church members promised to visit two by two oed attentively to, "Son, give me thine heart,~' the neighboring houses. Evening service in ~nd the Lord gave the words to speak; hoping the First Church. From 300 to 400 could not for great results, I pray and believe. enter the full house, but crowded near win- dows and doors. "Almost persuaded" was July 5. -This evening preached from, "Thy my subject; asked those who would like to sins are forgiven." God gave a blessing to have a prayer meeting to remain; only a few -over 500 present. My heart is rejoicing. An hundred left, but their places were at once inquiry meeting, 22 decided for Christ; 15 filled by the waiting throng outside. In this backsliders returned to the Lord; an infidel meeting over 100 rose deciding for Christian youth is earnestly seeking the light. life. This was the largest congregation to which I ever preached. I better realize the July 7, Sabbath. -Morning preached from power of simple gospel preaching. "Christ our pattern;" over 1,000 present; church full; hundreds in the yard. Evening July 15.-Much time is occupied with callservice in First Church; 1,600 present, one-third ing, conversation, preparation and preaching. of whom were Gregorians. "Jesus" was the Morning scrvice for women in Second Church: theme, and the eagerness with which they lis- 60 remained for inquiry, most of whom gave tened was an inspiration to me. "O! Lord, good proof of conversion. Afternoon met bless, encourage, and fill me with thy Holy with Christian Endeavor Society, giving a Spirit." Bible reading, "Christ our example. " These are good workers among the women, and their July 8.-Went to church one hour before numbers are now doubled. The following day service-was surprised to find both men and I preached in the First Church to a full house; women's side filled with women coming early 30 arose for prayer. to find room, thus crowding ant the men. At once began preaching; dismissed the meeting July 1/.-Morning held a service in the Grethat the women might go and the men come gorian house in the city suburbs; over 300 in; but most of them kept their seats on the present; every corner full; a few Protestants, :IIoor; the men were obliged to stay in the yard several Mohammedans. Afterward called on while I preached a second sermon for all. two palsied women confined to their beds for The need, desire and interest is wonderful. years. Among those who called. one man July 26.-Rev. T. D. Christie, of Marash, said: "I have done all known wickedness, hearing of this revival, came to help us. We been in prison three times-one Sunday I are very glad, for there is great need, and he heard you preach, since then I am surprised has large experience, and is very valuable in at the change in me; can't tell what and such work. Ever since the Adana revival, where I am-never prayed before, now pray- where we were together, I have greatly ening always; would like to tell others of this joyed working with him. He will give much change but fear they will not believe, but will of his time to personal work among new contry and show them by my life." Evening verts and inquirers. A large gathering in the meeting with young people; two pastors and First Church, Mr. Christie taking part; 45 exone college professor took part-it was a pressed desire for salvation. To-day a youn", season of great blessing. man came to a missionary, returning several small articles stolen at a fire eight months July 19.-Many young people come for per- ago. He confessed his sin with tears, saying sonal conversation-three boys and two girls he could not rest till his conscience was clear, earnestly pleading to be taken in our Tarsus he having recently given his heart to Christ. school. Thus far 17 applications from this city, and if we only had accommodations it July 28, Sabbath.-Morning attended First would be a grand thing to give a Christian Church Sunday-school; found 26 children had education to these young converts, who could decided for Christ; their tearful confessions be the means of blessing to their people. and simple faith was such that I went to the " My Lord, thou knowest and seest the need, adults, related the fact, while Pastor Mardagive opportunity as thou givest desire, grant ros earnestly spoke on "Where art thou ?". enlargement and blessing to St. Paul's Insti- The meeting was very solemn and blessed;' tute, take away all obstacles for its progress." many hard hearts were melted. Afternoon Evening meeting, where the three pastors Mr. Christie and I preached; at the close' took part. Their faith has been greatly nearly 500 remained for a testimony meeting; strengthened by seeing what the Lord has 28 took part, giving interesting accounts of done in our midst. their conversion. All hearts are grateful for such an outpouring of the Holy I::lpirit. July 21, Sabbath.-After Sunday-school and a good prayer meeting, a woman came, say- July 29.-By invitation, went to an Armeing, "Here are three Mohammedan women who nian meeting; was permitted to speak some would like you to talk and pray with them." words of truth, to which all listened atten-' I gladly responded, going to where they sat, tively; 5 priests expressed interest. Afterlith faces veiled; knelt down and prayed. noon 22 children and 14 young men came to I Evening, large meeting in First Church, more inquire the way of salvation. Missionaries, Gregorians came than ever before. Previously and native pastors are working heartily and they besought their priests to invite me to in full sympathy. preach in their church, but a few wealthy members objecting, the people came to our July 30 to Aug. 3.-These days have been church to hear the tl"".1th. This has been a especially devoted to church examination. day lonj:( to be remembered for its fullness of Preached only once; in the three churches 267.' blessing. came forward. So many interesting facts and testimonies, I cannot begin to write them. July 22.-Women's meeting. Holy Spirit, at Enemies are reconciled, notOrious crinlinaIs the close of sermon. asked all who wanted to converted, drunkards reclaimed, parents re-' come to Christ to arise; 22 responded, one of joicing over wandering children, whole famiwhom, 80 years old, was a great opposer to lies coming together to unite with the visible the truth, but now her groans and tears melt church. Said Pastor Mardaros: "I have been many hearts. Afternoon, 11 callers, compan- here thirteen years, and can it be possible ions in wickedness, now Christ's followers. that this great blessing has come to this city, Said they: "A month ago if anyone would even on Aintab!" "Yea, this is the Lord's tell us of such a change we would not believe, doing and wonderful in our eyes." now we tell others but they believe not." Aug. 4, Sabbath.-This is the crowning day July 24.-Children's meeting; 500 present. of the revival. At morning, by invitation, Theme, "Christ and the children;" 150 re- went to Episcopal Church; small congregamained for inquiry meeting; many prayed, tion; large building; unfinished for lack of confessing their sins. We hope all these are money. I preached, •. Fear not, little lIock." accepted by·the dear Saviour. Union service at noon; large attendance. I preached to those who will to-day join tl,e July 25.-Missionaries and natives urge me church, .. Lovest thou me?" (We all felt the to remain that these services may close with Holy Spirit's personal presence.) The reply a communion season and accept new converts. on hundreds of faces was, "Thou knowest that We all hope for a grand harvest. Evening I love thee. " After the sermon those who will service for new converts; 400 present. The unite with the church arose, 248, a large band prayers and testimonials were very interest- ready to serve Christ. They all repeated ing: over 25 took part, even 4 women ventured together after me the three verses beginning, to pray. "Who can separate us from the love of for inquiry, most of whom found salvation.
Christ1" Any who were seeking Christ were Among the new converts are several who invited to remain after service; 140 respondAd lately mocked at religious things.
-22 by words and 83 by rising expressed Aug. 21.-Temperance day; I preached their new decision; among them were 20 from, "We will not drink wine." Reading a children, whose deep conviction was very few passages at the close, asked- those who, Dlanifest. Evening there was communion in like the Rechabites, would promise thus, to the three churches-new members accepted; express it publicly. Over 1,000 arose. What an former members more hmnble and grateful. encouraging sight. Next day, in the Women's It was a day of holy consecration for us all. meeting, Mr. Christie preached; 45 remained Aug. 5 to n.-The work is so interesting, for inquiry; many blessed prayers and con- the plea so urgent, we have decided to remain fessions. During these two weeks 365 came two weeks longer. This week I preached five for church admiSSion, far more than we, in times to full congregations; many new con- our weak faith, expected. The Lord is work- verts-one a noted gambler, another an infi- ing mightily.
del, whose public confession was touching to Aug. 25, Sabbath.-Union service at noon for many. I visited 20 houses with Pastor Gara- missionary cause. After preaching I asked bed. The pastors have decided to have the people, as a slight token of gratitude to another comnlunion soon. This gives me God, to organize a Missionary Society and hope that Vartina Bajis's (a good mother in support some preachers in needy cities. Mr.
Israel,90 years old,) expectation will be ful- Christie also spoke encouraging words. All filled. One day in church she said, "I am responded well; a committee was organized, a praying for 500 new converts." A good brother collection taken amounting to 2.400 piastres said, "You are expecting too many, mother.~' ($95); during this week the gift of 600 piastres "I have prayed for them, and they are sure to to Third Church poor pastor, 1,400 piastres come. " I quoted, "According to thy faith be debt to First Church pastor; and this contri- it unto thee." bution is, for these poor people, about the Aug. 12 to 17.-Examinations for church ad- same as $5,000 in Ami'rica. Can we ask a mission; a new children's society (Zion'8Mes- better proof of revival work?
sengers) organize(!; their work is to visit Evening communion in each church; 286 houses each morning and hold half-hour new members accepted, hearts glad, families prayer-meetings with the children; they also happy, and the day blessed, to be long, long collect money to purchase Bibles for needy remembered..
Sunday-school classes. This week I preached During this revivai 534 new members were four times and gave a Bible reading; 31; newly added to the three churches on confession of decided for Christ. Now I am preaching on faith, while many are secret followers, not the various dnties of church members. The quite ready to come out now. Such an addi- evening of the 13th the theme was, "Seek tion to the awakened churches will no doubt the peace of Jerusalem." At the close, asked prove a great power and advance Christ's all who would vow anew to fulfill their church kingdom in Aintab and vicinity. "So then duties, to rise. All members solemnly respon- neither is he thatplanteth anything, neither he ded, a sight that gladdened our hearts. We that watereth, but God that gi11eth increase."
hope, after this, the weekly meetings, which, The two following days I preached to many before the revival, were attended by from 10 hundreds.
to 20, will be crowded, and instead of a few, The sermOD, Aug. 27, "Go forward," was scores will take part in the blessed prayer- my last charge. I did not tell the people of meetings as they do now. A deacon said, "I our departure, that we might leave quietly.
have complaints to make against you preach- Next day we left Aintab for a season of rest ers; before this I could pray ten minute. and among the mountains near Marash. I am speak as long as I wanted in prayer-meeting, glad Mr. Christie could remain and carry on not taking anyone's time, but now so many are the good work. The pastors are working ear- ready and waiting to take part, I cannot find nestly, and we hope and pray that a greater even one minute to thank God for all he has bleSSing is still in store for Aintab. "0 Lord, done." carryon Thy work; visit the needy, hungry Aug. 18, Sabbath.-Two more new Sunday- churches, and glorify Thy almighty name."
school classes organized in the Third Church. TARSUS, Nov. 12, 1889.
Our teacher of St. Paul's Institute has been much blessed in his efforts to work among WORLD'S CO)l'VENTIO)I' ON MISSIONS IN young people. He preached weekly in a Gre- 1892.
gorian Society of 200 young men; his visits LETTER FROM REV. WM. 11. M'CAUGHEY, PHILA.
and conversation brought many into these DEAR DR. PIERSON: With regard toa World's new Sunday-school classes and the church. Convention on Missions in 1892, there is a Union service at noon. I preached to a full movement on foot looking in this direction.
house. The following day after the sermon, In the Central Presbytery of Philadelphia Rev.
H Now is the day of salvation," 250 remained R. D. Harper moved that a committee of five
I~TER~ATlO~AL DEPARTMENT
be appointed to confer witll a committee of return you to your native land. I am, yours the Baptist brethren on this subject. The committee was appointed, and I have the honor truly, W. H. MCCAUGHEY. to be one of the five. The first meeting was held early in October. The Baptist brethren Rev. L. S. Tugwell, of the Spanish and were Russell·H. Conwell, D. D., Geo. C. Bord- Portuguese Church Aid Society, writes us to man, D.D., and John Peddie, D.D. Dr. Harper say: "You will be glad to hear that we are was made chairman and Dr. Conwell secre- receiving enconraging reports of the work in tary; and these were empowered to call a meet· Spain and Portngal from the Rev. H. E. Noyes, ing of representative men of differentdenomi- the editor of Light and Truth, who is now just nations. Such a meeting has been called to concluding a visit to our brethren of the meet at the Baptist Rooms Nov. 11th. Per- Spanish and Portuguese Reformed Churches. haps this is all known to you, but if not, I He has been greatly cheered by all he has know it will be a real pleasure for you to hear seen, and his highest expectations have been it. The plan, as projected, is on a large scale. Calling, as it does, for special buildings, it exceeded. One of the most hopeful features will require a great deal of expense and hard in this movement is the self-denying zeal, earwork; yet, with you, I feel that it would be nest devotion, and patient perseverance of the one of the grandest movements of the century. pastors, evangelists and teachers in their ardu- With an earnest prayer that God may bless ous but blessed work for the Master." your work while abroad, and in his own time [Dr. Gracey, in sending us this item, says: "Tugwell deserves encouragement, for he has had a long, hard pull. All the work of this society originated with him. "-J. M. S.] IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Our Relations with Latin America. It affords more miles of navigation than all The meeting of the Representatives the rivers of Europe combined, and more than the Mississippi with its several tributaries. of the Republics of the Three The tide from the Atlantic reaches two hun- dred and sixty miles up the stream, and ocean Americas-North, Central and South -in our national capital, forces to ships of twenty-four feet draught can find the front questions about the duty water enough the year round at a distance of which new conditions promise to a thousand miles from its mouth. Vessels impose on the Protestantism of of from sixteen to twenty feet draught can go 'twenty-seven hundred miles into the interior the United States toward the fifty of the Continent, and a comparatively small ,millions of people in Spanish America amount of money-a mere fraction of the -a population numerically about sum that has been spent upon the Mississippi- equal to our own j just below our will furnish a path for a four thousand ton horizon, Latin America contains vessel from New York or Liverpool to the very heart of Brazil, by way of Buenos Ayres. "
some three thousand natives of the The vast resources of these Southern United States and about ten millions Republics are certain to tempt Euro- of European subjects, the nucleus of pean immigration as well as com- the forces which are to make a new merce. The Italian Government sends world out of the " New World " Co- a steamer every month from Genoa to lumbus revealed four centuries since; Montevideo and Buenos Ayres, and for the Americas are being re-dis- another to Valparaiso, Chili. There covered. are five French lines of steamships If the reader has doubt of that, let connecting Marseilles, France, with him try a geographical study of South ports of Brazil, Uruguay and the America, and test whether he has Argentine Republic; and a line from realized its physical conditions. We Havre to the North and East Coast of venture to assign one lesson as a sam- South America. There are German ple, taken from a government docu- steamers running from Hamburg to ment: the West Coast of South America as " The Rio de la Plata, or the River Plate, as far as Guatemala. Belgium has a it is commonly known, offers a more extensive semi-monthly steamship service to system of unobstructed navigation than any Brazil and Argentina. The Pacific river in the world, and, with the exception of Steam Navigation Company has rethe Amazon, pours more water into the ocean. cently latmched four magnificent artificial land transportation, present steamers for England's South Ameri- and prospective. A railway from can trade, t,vo of them being larger Boston to Buenos Ayres seems vision- and faster than any hitherto in that ary perhaps; but it is worth fixing commerce, being of 6,500 horse power our thought on. Within three years and 6,000 tons capacity. past railroads have been actually built, and routes surveyed, for at least Of course, the concomitant of all one-third of the distance between this is an influx of Europeans into Buenos Ayres and Bogota-one-third, South America and Central America. and that the hardest one-third to con- The Argentine Government pays the struct, has been actually completed pasmga of the immigrant, keeps him or is constructing. for days after arrival, and forward:; him atgovernment expense by steamer There are two lines built, and two or train to the farms of the interior, lines for which concessions have been gives him land and seed, and six dol- granted, which, with shorter ones allars a month for the first year. This ready in operation, leave but about Republic received more European im- 2,000 miles of road to be constructed migrants in the first six months of to make the chain complete. That is last year than in twelve months of the no such task as was our Pacific Railprevious year. The Mexican Govern- road. The Republics along the line ment pays the steamship companies are anxious for its construction, and sixty dollars per head for each immi- are ready to guarantee five to seven grant landed in the next five years, per cent. on the capital invested. Some and an average of forty-five dollars five distinct routes are proposed for each for the succeeding ten years. this inter-continental railway, one of which leaves 3,252 miles to be built, These facts, and vastly more of the another 2,616, and two others, roundsame genus, plainly indicate that the ly, 2,000 miles. The route which immediate future is to bring new con- leaves the least mileage to be conditions to us on the south. It seems structed runs from Buenos Ayres to just as plain that America is to be Jujuy, thence to Bogota, and about evangelized by Americans. Protestant 1,000 miles are now operated. The Europe evidences little interest in the lines would pass throughout its whole spiritualizing of these newly-rising length through countries teeming people, and we have been laggard and with the most valuable articles of half-nerved in what we have done. commerce. These are the EI Dorado It is not an easy thmg to kindle enthu- regions of the ancients. "Stripped siasm about Protestant work in South of all poetry," says the Report of the American fields, though we do warm United States Government, "immense up a little more readily of late to work mines and deposits of precious metals in the Republic of Mexico. If the do exist in Bolivia, though too remote contact of steamer and rail accounts from highway and habitation now to for this it may not be long till we have be explored." largely similar conditions with the more southern States. The Director of the United States 1tfint said that under favorable cir- "Ve cannot enter into the political cumstances Chili, Bolivia and Peru question of the duty of the govern- might add fifty million ounces of silment to improve our ocean highway ver to the world's stock annually. conditions to South America; but, " Every spade that turns the clod rethat aside, the overland communica- veals the silver" in the basin of the tions are, prophetically at least, in Cerro Pasco in Peru. The region sight. At the risk of dropping some through which this proposed road of our readers at this point, we ven- would pass, when the other twoture to present something about the thirds are completed, yields even now, When a body as representative as apart from gold and emeralds and that sends out a manifesto, it should, diamonds, six hundred million dol- at least, secure the attention of the lars' worth of commerce annually. Christian public. It deals with some of the more recent criticisms on Mis- With the celebration in 1892 of the sions, and we may assume it, therefour hundredth anniversary of the fore, to be of wider interest than the discovery of this continent, we will circle of patrons of those specific be face to face with problems of pro- missions. They first emphasize the foundest importance in reference to fact that India is not one, but many this Western Continent. Whether we countries, with many languages and are to have a World's Missionary Con- an extensive literature, but partially ference at that time does not yet ap- explored. Omitting Moslems, the bulk pear, but that the Protestants of North of the population about Madras as a America ought to face calmly at that center are non-Brahmanical. But time the question whether the Ameri- Brahmans have grafted the Hindu cas are to be evangelical, we do ear- caste system on to Dravidian ancient nestly believe. It is sad to think of tribal systems. After describing modthe multitude to the south of us, weary ern Hinduism (the indescribable) they and sick with Popery and Jesuitism say that with the people about them to the edge of revolt against all truth, all thought is contemporary, presentand certainly against all ecclesiasti- ing an epitome of all thought, ancient cisms. This four hundredth anni- and modern, that of the West with versary ought to see the broadest and that of India 2,000 years ago. The best minds of Protestantism ready old social order has been infracted, with great schemes for the religious and hence disturbance and disintegrauplifting of those Republics, whether tion, and a social freedom without by missionary or merchant, by teacher, internal standard. Altogether they mechanic or farmer. A great upris- are in the midst of intricate condiing might be inspired, and a move- tions, and feel called to every possible ment organized for aggressive work. sacrifice. They then name the forms Hundreds of Protestant mechanics, of missionary agency which they Use. we are assured, can find a field where they may make a good living and find They venture to defend such of opportunity to help evangelize those these measures as have been recently lands. A council of eminent leaders and widely criticised. They say of should prepare for at least an Ameri- Higher Education that "the withcan Missionary Conference in 1892. drawal from the mission field of this agency, which, after all, absorbs but a Missionaries Answer the Oritics on small fraction of our numerical Mission Economy. strength, would leave a blank, for the filling up of which no hostile critic The Missionaries of the several Pro- has yet made any practical suggestestant churches in Madras, India, tion." have sent out "An Open Letter to the Churches," which is signed by four Referring to the question of Missionmissionaries of the Church of Eng- ary Economies, they say the salaries of land Society, four of the London So- European Missionaries have not been ciety, six: of the Englis~ Wesleyan, six questioned in India, and they think of the Free Church of Scotland, three them fairly reasonable, no class of Enof the Church of Scotland, one Ameri- glishmen, not even artisans, receivcan Baptist, two American Methodist, ing so small allowances as Missiontwo Danish Lutheran, nine represent- aries. ing'the Madras Christian College, and one the Bible Society-38 in all. • The Salvation Army has been much lauded as illustrating greater pOSSIble economy in the conduct of Missionary opportunity to acquire language in so work. They say the results of the brief a period. The number has been Salvation Army labors are not tabu- terribly reduced, and the wear and lated, and hence a true verdict cannot tear of their way of living is largely be hoped for; but in their part of In- responsible for this. Their very plan dia the Army has not been successful. of operations increases health and life It has swelled its ranks from converts risk, and affords no corresponding in- of other churches, many of whom crease in efficiency, have returned to their old fold. It has They refer next to the Roman Cath- only labored where other Missions olic priest as a missionary model.
had planted themselves. They have The rate of increase for these missions found it easier to appeal to Christians has for twenty-five years been lower than to Hindus for support, and have than that of the Protestant missions.
diverted funds from other Christian The Protestant Church is not ready work-only the merest fraction of to insist that all its missionaries shall their support has ever come from non- be celibates. In<Ea has had enough Christians. The Army has carefully of asceticism according to prescribed avoided districts where no missionary Hindu rules, unless it should appear work is done by others. in the form of a great Hindu reformer.
Nor have the agents of the Army To Hindus generally, Western men g-ot into greater sympathy than others will not appear to be real ascetics, but with the natives. The text of the manufactured and spurious. More- letter on the matter of Europeans over, there is nothing Hindus corre- adopting native dress runs as follows: sponding to the Christian home, in .. For at least two cellturies. the Englishman which woman fills her place of honor, has been a familiar figure In India; to this gen· and where unity and affection dwell eration he ill! now almost as familiar as the Mus- together. Nothing is more necessary Bulman. To HinduB, his dress seems to be even and instructive to Hindus than the attractive. While no Hindu dreams of adopt· exhibition of that family life which is ing the Mussulman costume, thousands of Hin.
dus are now adopting the English dress. It is the rich fruit of Christian faith. Of impossible, therefore, that what is familiar and course, the other phase of an economiattractive can at the same time be specially reo cal agency implies that cheaper men, pellant. All who know anything of human na· men of less intellectual furnishing, ture will agree, that not by a particular dress, but by intelligence and true sympathy do we even of less moral endowment, may find access to the hearts of men. Soul must be used, that the standard of the mistouch soul, and eating curry and rice with one's sionary force might be lowered. Refingers and weaJ.ing long hair are poor substi. ferring to this, the open letter says: tutes for a. knowledge of the language and "Outer conditions will adjust themthoughts of Hindns."
But, after all, can there not be a selves and will never hinder mission- cheaper agency employed with ad- ary work if the agents supplied by the vantage in the mission field? That is churches are what they should be, l't current question. Multitudes of and here we earnestly plead that the thoughtful friends of missions are standard of attainment and efficiency asking that question. Does not the be maintained among all Europeans Salvation Army prove that? This who come to India as agents. If it be " open letter" replies that the cost of lowered, nothing can be gained, but its European agents in India has never . much may be lost. Imperfectly been made known. The number of equipped Europeans can only take a deaths among them is exceptionally place as the rivals of imperfectly large. The number disabled by sick- equipped native agents, than whom ness is very great, as compared with they will be more costly, and-less other missions. The average stay in effective."
India is very brief. They have little They say they need a class of native agents more highly trained than any lem by living as the Chillese live, eating their they yet have had. They appeal for food as they cook it, sleeping on their k'ang men to reach the thousands of Hindus beds. and very closely imitating their mode of who have been educated in schools life; but a part of these, at least, having decided and colleges, more or less acquainted that nothing is gained by such a life, and that with Christianity, and who have im- health and fitness for service are endangered bibed some of its moral thought, but thereby, have returned to a more Western man- 'who have not found the path to true Der of living. Simplicity is not imitation. We light. They wish, too, for some few are not Chinese, and no amount of imitation men of learned leisure to produce will make the people think we are." a Christian literature in the vernacular. "Year by year," they say, "the The other writer discusses the quesreading public increases, as does the tion of lower-salaried, and thus a less demand for Christian literature; but expensive, even if a less furnished miswe cannot give them the best, as we sionary agency. He does not think ought." that the nllssionary who uses the smallest amount of money is there- They say it has been matter of re- fore the cheapest agency. gret to them" that the criticism rece~ly bestowed on Indian missions so .. Commercially, the investment that brings in much has referred only to details of the largest proportionate returns-the largest secondary importance, and so little to percent.-is the cheapest_ So financially, and the essentials of the missionary prob- every other way, the missionary that accomlem." plishes the largest amount of efficient results is, as a rule, the cheapest. By' efficient results' They close their "open letter" say- is meant living, active, self-propagating ing: "The progress of Christianity is churches, a wise and earnest native ministry,etc. that of 'the truth as it is in Jesus,' The missionary that accomplishes nothing is breaking the spell of an antiquity not only expensive, but a •dead capital,' though which overawes, and scattering a he were to use only 100 Mexicans a year J while manifold error which has long bewil- one using 5,000 in successful work may be the dered men. And because we know cheapest." that here in India the battle is the Lord's, we rejoice in the certainty He affirms that sbtistics prove that that the victory is His also. And all the man or the Society that works flesh shall see the salvation of God." with least proportionate expenditure, reaches the least proportionate results, And now we have two other per- and that nine-tenths of the efficient resons discussing these features of mis- sults in China have been from Missionsionary economies in China whose aries who live comfortably, from their views are set forth in The Chinese own national standard of comfort. Recorder, the first we give being a There is little economy in a merely strong advocate for the simplest possi- numerical increase of missionaries. A ble style of living for missionaries, so few well-trained, suitably cared for, as to destroy the impression that mis- able to create and direct a native force, sionaries are lovers of good living, and are cheaper than many of the cheaper so as to avoid a style of living so far sort trying to do the work themselves. beyond the reach of the people as to It is on the line of this power to create arouse their cupidity rather than fur- the middle man, the efficient native nish them an example. But even tIllS force, that, he says, "comparatively a advocate of simplicity says: very small number of the number of foreign workers now in China have .. Living <u rimply as the average teacher or accomplished very nearly all the efmerchant, does not mean that we live as they ficient results so far. It is a notorious do. The former is practicable; the latter is im- fact that several of the smaller practicable, and, therefore, unwise. Some very societies have done some of the best earnest men have endeavored to solve this prob- and largest work."
He fortifies this position by quoting from Rev. John Ross, of Manchuria, speaking at the London Conference: "Let all the missionary societies manned, but is now in the same position as pick out, not as many men as they can find, but pick out a few, choice in Loando, awaiting good workers to man it. all respects, spiritually, mentally, in- tellectually, physically-let there be a Nhangupp<po.-From Dondo we .. take it few choice men, let these train the natives, and the natives will do the afoot" fifty·one miles over l1i1ls, monntains and work. It seems to me that this is the only way you can get the work vales, by the old caravan trail of the ages, to properly done." Nhanguepepo Mission station. Our property Bishop Taylor's Industrial Missions. there is worth about $6,000. It was deSigned Bishop William Taylor sent an ex- tended report of his work in Liberia, to be 8. receiving station, in which our new- and also in Angola, and in the Congo country. We condense the latter por- comers might be acclimatized, taught native tion of it, as this mission has attracted a good deal of attention and been the languages, and prepared for advauce work. subject of considerable criticism: Under the superintendency of Brother Withey Mamby.-Two days above Congo mouth we land at lIIayumbo, and proceed in boats seven- a great preparatory work has been done at this teen miles up an inland lake to Mamby, where Mi.s Martha Kah is stationed. When we settled station. It has, however, become specially a there it was in the bounds of the" Free State of Congo," but later the published decrees of the training school for native agency under the Berlin Conference putit under the wing of the French government. The French authorities leadership of one young mau of our first have recognized and registered our native title to 100 acres of good land, and are not unfriendly party from America, Karl Rudolph. We to US by any means; but .. by law" forbid us to teach any languag6 but French. Good has already have an organized Methodist Episcopal been done at Mamby, and is being done. Ow· ing to this disability, we have proposed to aban· Church at this station, composed of thirteen con- don it, but Martha Kah is entirely unwilling to leave, and as it is our only footing in French verted native men and boys. The work of each territory, and as they hold a vast region, peo- pled by numerous nations of African heathens, day is distributed; two of our boys called" pas· we have thought it best to hold on to Mamby. tors" have the care of about 100 head of cattle Loanda.-Passing the mouth of the Oongo River, we proceed by steamer over 300 mUes to belonging to the mission. Several boys are the beautiful land·locked harbor of St. Paul de Loanda. The Portuguese town bearing that taught to yoke and work oxen in sled or plow; name has many massive buildings. includillg churches in ruins, dating back over 300 years. several boys bave learned to be stone-masous,. It has an estimated population of 5,000, a few hundred of whom are Portuguese (one English and when I was there last were engaged in house of business), the rest being Negroes. From the beginning we have had adequate self· building a stone wall around the cattle" cor· supporting resources in Lo..nd.. from the Portu- guese patronage of our schools, and have now, ral." One boy is trained to business in the lit· but at present we lack the teaching corps requis· .; ite. tIe store. .
Dondo.-From Leanda we proceed by steamer Pungo Andongo.-Pnngo Andongo Station has oisixty miles" south by sea, and cross the bar into the mouth of the Ooanzo River, as large a8 the cro.sed the lines of sustentation and of abso- Hudson, and ascend 180 miles to Dondo, at the head of steamboat navigation. Dondo is a noted lute self-support, and is making money to open trading center, and has a population of about 5,000, mostly Negroes. We had a good property new statious in the regions beyond. in Dondo worth about $5,000. Its school work and machine shop were self-supporting when Malange.-An onward march of sixty·two miles brings us to Malange, a town of probably 2,000 population, and noted for its merchandise. Our people there are Samuel J. Mead, P. E ,"his wife, Ardella, retined, well educated, and a tine musician, at the head of our school work.
Willie Mead, head of the mechanical depart-.
ment; his wife is especially engaged in teach iug missionaries. Robert Shield, a young mis~ sionary from Ireland, who was brougl1t up at home for a. merchant, runs a small mission store at Malange, preaches in the Kimbunda, and has a growing circuit extending among the villages of the surrounding country. Uur na- tive Church, organized at Malange at the time of my visit, had" the number of twentY'one, all probationers, of course, but baptized and saved. Our property at Malange is worth prob- ably i6,~00. Samuel J. Mead has charge of a big farm, and making it pay. Brother fillie trained four native men to run two pit-saws, and in the last year or two has turned out $1,500 worth of lumber, which sells for cash at the saw·pits. These meu are also preachers, and preach several times each week in the Por~ tuguese language. In labor, money. and build· ing material, they have recently completed a new two-story mission house and other mission improveonents, amounting to an aggregate cost of $1,200, without any help from home.
LulU<.lburg.-From Malauge a tramp of 1,000 miles northeast will bring Us to Luluaburg, in the Bashalange ·country. discovered by Dr. Pogge and Lieut. Weismann in 1883. Th-: ..tot yet built a mission bouse in Pluky. Miss Governor-General of the independent State of McNeal teaches school in a native bonse in the Congo, at my request, gave to Dr. Summers. midst of the town, and preacbes on Sabbath one of our men from Malange. permission to days under tbe sbade of a bread-fruit tree.
found " station for our mission at Lnluabul'g. Her scbool house is crowded, and sbe has six of which he did, and built a couple of houses bel' boys and three girls converted to God, wbo on, it, and was making good progress when be testify for Jesus in bel' meetings, and belp her became worn out by disease and died. I bope in bersonl-saving work. Probable value $800, 80011 to send a suceeSBor to dear Dr. Summers. in land. Miss Barbara Miller assists her tem- Kimpoko.-From Luluaburg a week of foot porarily, but her specialties are kindergarten traveling northwest will bring us to Lueba, at and mllsic, awaiting tbe opening of the tbe junction of the Lulua and Kassai rivers. academy.
Tbence, in a little steamer descending tbe G'araway.-Twenty miles nortbwest of Cape Kassai river about 800 miles, we sweep through Palmas. Miss Agnes McAllister is in cbarge of U Qua mouth·· into the Congo, descending tbe station, and Miss Clara Binkley bas special wbicb 70 miles we will tie up at Kimpoko, near cbarge of tbe educational department, botb the northeast angle of Stanley Pool. We. working togetber as missionaries. Aunt Rachel, opened this station in 1886, designed as a way a Liberian widow woman, runs the farm and station for our transportation to tbe countries produces indigenous food enougb to feed two or of the Upper Kassai. At Kimpoko we made an tbree stations. This is a station of great irrigating ditch a mile long, drawing from a promise. Probable value, $1,200.
bold mountain creek an abundant supply of Matumba.-One hundred miles by steamer water to insure good crops at all seasons. We down tbe Congo to Banana brings us within an have there about ten acres ,under cultivation, hour and a half by cars of our mission station and grow in profusion all tbe indigenous food at Matumba. Miss Mary Kildare, a superior that we can ll.I!e. Brotber Burr, who is our pre- teacher, linguist and missionary, is our sole oc- siding elder at Kimpoko, writes that Kimpoko cupant of the station at Matumba. I bougbt of has been nearly self-sustaining from the be- the government nearly ten acres of good ground ginning, but entirely 80 since the beginning of there for nearly $120, baving previously bought this year. They are building a new mission- the native title. We bave a comfortable little bouse this dry season, about 15×80. In tbis bouse of galvanized iron, 22×24 feet, set on pil- work they may require a little help-a rew bales lars six feet above ground. Tbe bouse is divi- of clotb from borne. At a low e,timate our ded into two rooms, 12 x 12 feet, and a ver- property in Kimpoko is worth at least $1,000. anda 12×124 feet, enclosed by balu.trading and Manyanga.-From Kimpoko we go by oars or a gate, and is used for schoolroom. She bas steamer twenty miles to the lower end of Stan- now a scbool of twenty scholars. Sbe does her ley Pool at LefYjJoldville. Thence by foot 100 preacbing mostly in the villages; tbe bouse is miles to South Manyanga (which is called the in an enclosure of nearly an acre~ surrounded Nortb Bank route; by the Soutb route we walk by a bigh fence with strong gate wbich is locked from Leopoldville 231 miles to Matadi or Lower up at 9 P. 111. daily. Itook her recently a box of Congo), Liberian coffee seed, which she has in a nursery Isangila.-From Manyanga we go by a launcb growingbeautifully, and sbe bas a fruit orchard of three or four tons capacity, propelled by oars coming on.
and sails and currents, 88 miles to Isangila. We Our property at Matumba is wortb $1,000.
bave bad a station at IsangiJa for over two years, We, two years ago, started three stations be- on which we bave built good native houses, but tween Vivi and Isangila-Vumtomby Vivi, Sadi bad not bougbt the site of the Government till Kabanza, and Matamba. We built pretty good my last visit to the land office at Barna. The houses at a total cost of $30, not counting our site, containing 7Yz acres. cost us nea.rly $80. A labor.
good garden spot. Ollr bretbren dug a yam Since tbat, Brother Reed and wife and from their garden in Isangila when I was tbere Brotber Bullikist, very good people, sent out by a few weeks ago, which weighed twenty-two Dr. Simpson, of New York, have opened a pounds-more wholesome and delicious if pos- station nearly midway between Vnmtomby sible than Irisb potatoes. Our paying industry Vivi and Sadi Kabanz.., so when we get ready tbere will be in the transport line of business. to go out to found new stations, we sball prefer, instead of resummg work at those vacated, to • As our Vivi Station is at tbe higbest point of small steamer naVigation, so Isangila. is the go into the more populous regions of the inte· lowest point of the middle passage of the Congo rior. The Congo State bas a strip of country from Isangila. eighty-eight miles to Manyanga. densely populated, 100 miles from the north Our site at Isa.ngila_with improvemeuts 19 worth bank of tbe Congo, and extending from Banana $300. 250 miles to Manyanga, all unoccupied and open Pluky.-Across Hoffman river, from Cape to U~. except a few new stations near the Congo.
Palmae, is the beginning of our h.ru Coast line So God is opening a vast field for us 011 the of stations. Miss Lizzie McNeal is the mission- Lower Congo as well as on the Upper Congo ary. Though two years in the station, we have and Kassai. Death of lIfissionaries.-The list of writer that those societies who print eminent dead has been lengthened of full and succinct accounts of their late by the addition of missionary work in a variety of forms, and keep- names. ing the same 'steadily available to outsiders as well as their own sup- Mrs. SarahB. Lansing, wife of Rev. porters, become most fully established Julian Lansing, who for the past in the public confidence, and ulti- thirty years has faithfully labored as mately command the fullest support. a missionary in connection with the It is quite curious to watch the filter- United Presbyterian Mission of Egypt, ing process which goes on from these has deceased. She was born in 1820. prints, larger or smaller, through the She was a sister of the Rev. Dr. Dales, press and public assembly. of Philadelphia, Corresponding Secretary of the United Presbyterian Board -Now that the Christian world is of Foreign Missions. In her mission depressed, if not discouraged, by the work she has suffered many hard- entire collapse of England's policy in ships, and at one time, while at the Soudan for the suppression of the Damascus with her husband, had to slave trade, by extension of the Kheflee for life under persecution. dive's jurisdiction from Khartoum to the Central lakes, it is with peculiar Rev. C. W. De Heer, of long service interest and some fresh hope that we in the Gaboon Mission of the Presby- learn that the Sultan of Zanzibar has terian Church, died at Clifton Springs, published a decree that after Novem- N.Y. ber 1, 1889, all slaves entering his dominions shall be declared free; and The Methodists of India have been that after January 1,1890, all children sorely stricken of late in the succes- born of slaves in his dominion shall sive loss by death of Dr. McCoy, of Cal- also be free. A single generation will cutta; Rev. Mr. Gray, of Singapore, thus see the end of slavery in this and also Mrs. Rudisill, Mrs. Winter greatest of slave centres. The Arabs and Mrs. Hopkins. in Zanzibar do not seem to have waked up to the effect of these two edicts on The Church of England mourns the slave trade. the death while she rejoices in the life of Bishop Sargent. He was sev- -At the meeting of the Anti-Slavery enty-four years of age, and furnished Conference in Brussels the Belgian another illustration of missionary King said he felt hopeful in regard to longevity, he having served fifty-four the steps now being taken for the supyears in India. He went to Madras pression of the slave trade, though when barely twenty years of age, and he had little hope that domestic slavery entered the society's service. He has would be done away with for many served in the Episcopacy for twelve years to come. Perhaps not, but the years. On the celebration of his foreign market for slaves can be cut jubilee in the mission he addressed off, and if the foreign market for ivory 1,400 of a Christian community, of were cut off a large motive power of whom sixty were native clergy. the slaver would be destroyed. But, after all, there is a long, tedious task -The General Assembly of the ahead of the humanitarianism and United Presbyterian Church haf' for- Christian evangelism of Europe and mally requested Rev. Andrew Watson, America in uplifting this Dark Con- D. D., to prepare a history c f < their tinent. But it can be done, It must Egyptian Mission to be publishea by be done, and it will be done. It is their Board of Publication. This is being done. to be commended, and the example should be imitated by all societies -The Free Church of Scotland sends whose work is at all historic, even if out a leaflet appealing to the children it be small. A close observation of the subject for years has shown the
ThE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
to aid the Sheikh-Othman slave refuge. Woman's Board. There are five This is the present headquarters of the native helpers in this mission. Keith-Falconer Mission to Arab Muslims. It is a large native village about -A missionary in Korea, writing to ten miles north of Aden, with a fluc- us recently, says: "I hope I have tuating population. The children in convinced you that we have great enthis refuge now number sixty, thirty- couragements in regard to the work, eight boys and twenty-two girls. They notwithstanding all you may have were dragged over three hundred heard to the contrary. The work has miles to the African harbor called not stopped; it cannot stop. Even Tajora, whence they were being taken were we all to leave Korea to-day I in dhows to Arabia to be sold as believe it would still go forward, and slaves, but were captured by a British eternity show grand results from the gun-boat and taken to Aden, and the seed-sowing already done. Just now Government asked the missionaries to the obstacles do seem somewhat fortake charge of them. What is known midable. I want you to pray the obas "The Arabian Mission" of this stacles down, or pray us above them. country, of which Prof. J. G. Lansing, We read in the Book that there is a of New Brunswick, N. J., is an active 'faith which subdued kingdoms.' projector, has decided to co-operate That is the kind we want brought to with this mission at Sheikh-Othman. bear on Korea."
-The Friends Mission at Ramsallah, -We gave a full account in former Palestine, ten miles north of Jerusa- numbers of the Patna case, as it is lem, founded by members of the called; that of Luchnion, the Hindu Friends' Society in England, has re- girl who fled to Miss Abraham to escently been transferred to the New cape the bondage of a so-called mar- England Yearly Meeting, and is now riage, but which in fact was a sale of known as the" Eli and Sybil Jones her person to a life of shame. The Mission. " The General Board and Calcutta Missionary Conference petithe Woman's Society of that yearly tioned the Government of India to remeeting co-operate in this work. verse the decision of the magistrate There is a Friends' Church at Ram- remanding her to this ignominious sallah, and twenty-five to thirty ap- bondage. The Government replies plicants for membership are now that it is unable to disturb the finding awaiting admission. There are five of the Courts in the case, as it was schools, two in the village for boys supported by the testimony. The and two for girls, also a training home High Court acknowledges the wrong just opened, with about eighteen done, but cannot see any "possible jimpils. There are three lady mission- measures that are practicable to undo aries, all of whom sailed from New that wrong." This is a most humili- York since June. Two of these ladies, ating confession for a strongChristian the assistant physician and the teacher Government to make in the premof English, are in the employ of the ises, and the matter ought not to rest here.
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. F. F. ELLI1'WOOD, D.D.
The Religions of Ohina. the hills; every store and shop has its In one sense there is no country so little altar with burning incense to the full of religions as China. The gods god of good luck; every house is built and shrines are, if possible, more with reference to geomantic influence; ubiquitous than in India. Gods of the " fung shuay" is consulted in all mat- river, gods of the trees, gods of the tel'S of life; the whole land teems with hearth, gods of the kitchen, gods of the emblems of polytheism. First is TA01TIS!.1. Nevertheless, the Taouist priests have To this system the above named remained as a power in China. The in- liuperstitions chiefly belong. Its tellectual classes would disclaim any founder, Laotze, lived about 500 years confidence in them, and there are few B. C., and was already a public of the laity of any rank who would call teacher when Confucius was born. themselves distinctively Taouists, yet But Laotze's system, which was all classes, high and low, resort to these rationalistic and highly mystical, was professional necromancers on special above the comprehension of the people. occasions, and particularly when in Its ethical standards were pure and trouble. lIen claiming to be Confu- lofty, but cold and censorious. It had cianists are Taouists by turns, and no element of sympathy. Its philos- many costly Taouist temples have ophy was impracticable, as compared been built by the gifts of the wealthy with the precepts of Confucius, and in extremis. Much is given also by its discouraged and disgusted author way of financial ventures, as the god of died at length a voluntary exile in a wealth falls into the Taouist category.
remote western province. Laotze was The whole Joss business belongs to a true philosopher, propounding orig- this system, and it constitutes a large inal theories, while Confucius had lit- element in the practical religion of the tle originalty, but was a skillful com- Chinese wherever they are found.
piler of the ancient observances and CONFUCIANISM.
traditions. No uninspired teacher has " Quong fu tze" was a cotemporary ever taught a more exalted system of of Laotze, though several years private, social and political ethics younger. Attracted by the fame of than Laotze, but his transcendental- the great philosopher, he went to hear ism had little power with the people, him. Bnt there was little sympathy and the virtues which he commended between them. Confucius seemed to were disproportionally of a negative the older and morbidly critical Laotze kind. He feared the effect of general as only an ambitious and conceited education as fostering conceit, and young pedant. On the other hand, civilization as leading to corruption. one visit to the old philosopher seems His only god was reason (Taou), and to have sufficed for his young rival.
the mystical and pantheistic character Confucius gaye his attention to the with which he invested it-its imma- ancient records and traditions, and, nence and indwelling as an efficient winnowing out the abundant chaff, force in all things animate and inani- presented what he considered the mate-opened the way for the count- wholesome wheat. The Ancient less superstitions which now bear the 81100 King he rednced from 3,000mon- Taouist name and fill the land. His ographs to about 350. Unfortunately, successors fell far short of his sublime in his strong leaning toward Agnos- philosophy and his moral purity, and ticism, he is believed to have ruled out only preserved his mysticism as a most of the passages which related to basis for every species of jugglery and the worship of the Supreme Being.
imposture. The all-prevailing " Taou" 'Vhat he sought to establish was a took the form of spirits dwelling in purely ethical system bounded by the Ih'agons, in men and lower animals, confines of the present life. He ig- and even in trees. Certain uncanny nored all that related to the unseen animals are especially regarded as world or to the hereafter. Beginning embodiments of spirits. It peopled with the domestic and social relations, t118 land with elves and hobgoblins. he endeavored to build up society as As a disembodied essence it also ap- a pyramid, with the King or Emperor peared in the vague influence known as the head. The State was his uni- as " fung shnay." verse. In reply to some questions about the unseen world he said: eties of Buddhism. The most popular " We do not know life, how can we form of Buddhist worship is that paid know death." He magnified the re- to Quanyin, the " Goddess of Mercy." spect due to parents and to all ances- She is supposed by Beal to be identical tors, and .that came to be the only with the Avolokitesvara of Northern real worship of strict Confucianists. India and Thibet. Avolokitesvara is His ethics were out of true proportion. a later mythical personage of whom The rights of the father and the hus- Gautama knew nothing. He is a livband were exaggerated even to tyran- ing god, and therefore able to hear ny, if not to the power of life and prayer, while the Buddha is extinct. death. Woman, as woman, was not He is a Bodisat (one who will become duly honored. Only as a mother, or an incarnate Buddha at a future time). the mother of a husband, did she re- When Fahieu, the Chinese pilgrim ceive respect. As such she might even who visited India at an early day, was bea tyrant. overtaken bya stormat seaheprayed to Avolokitesvara for real help: prayers That Confucianism is a mastBrly offered to Buddha are only expected to piece of statesmanship, that it solidifies produce reflex influence on one's own the whole fabric of authority and uni- heart and promote self help. fies all the forces of the home and the social bond, none will deny, but it In China this Bodisat is worshipped is not a religion. Its ethical stand- under the conception of a virgin ards are for the most part high, and princess who won Nirvana, but postall history represents its author as a poned it, and still lives in one of the virtuous exemplar as well as teacher. heavens to bless suffering humanity. This worship is wholly alien to primi- Confucius found his country dis- tive Buddhism, but it is more sympatracted by social and political dis- thetic and seems better adapted to orders, and he confidently offercd his human necessities. i services to various provincial princes as a governmental adviser. His suc- There is also in China a popular cess was not great in this attempt, Buddhist worship of Amitabba, anand he was obliged to be content with other Bodisat, ·.,yho presides over a gathering about him a multitude of real heaven beyond the setting sun. disciples, to whom he taught that The chief hope of the masses is not ethical system which, since his death Nirvana, but a re-birth into one of the and through all subsequent ages, has heavens, or at least into a higher and exerted so vast an influence. more favorable earthly state. The number of those who may be regarded Confucianism is the controlling sys- as distinctiv'ely Buddhists in China is tem of China. small, beyond the limits of the mon- astic orders. Those who are at times BUDDHISM. Buddhists, and who cherish some Bud- dhist hope for the life to come, are This system was introduced from mostly concerned in this life with the India early in the Christian era. countless popular superstitions of Through successive centuries Chinese Taouism. They may frequently be scholars and religionists went to India found consulting' the Taouist jugglers to study its teachings on its own soil. or in the joss houses offering paper The type of Buddhism introduced into money to the god of wealth. China was chiefly that of the Mahayana, known as the Northern Bud- All the religions of China are overdhism, and which was already depart- lapped and blended together, and we ing from the atheism of Gautama and must remind those apologists who are promulgating various theistic doc- anxious to swell the comparative forces trines. of the non-Christian religions, that it China is now said to be the theatre of more than a dozen different variis not good arithmetic to set down the is so much easier to reiterate than to whole population of China to each of investigate and learn the truth. the three systems. Other doubts are raised of a pre- THE PRIMEVAL FAITH OF CHINA. cisely opposite nature.. "Are not the noble Confucian ethics all sufficient A presentation of the religions of for China?" "The Chinese are astute, China would not be complete without reflective, proud of their country and at least a brief reference to that im- their creed, why not let them alone ?" pressive imperial worship which is Thus, from the extreme position that paid by the Emperor in the Temple of all effort in their behalf is bootless, Heaven in Peking. The subject is owing to their depravity, we are carworthy of an extended paper, but there ried to the opposite and contradictory is only space to say that it is believed, assertion that it is gratuitous, as they with apparently good reason, to be a have a philosophy of their own which l'elic of that primeval worship which we could scarcely hope to improve. was rendered to the true God. The Then there is the still further question prevalence of polytheism has not whether it be possible to change the wholly eradicated the conception of religion of a nation so populous and so One self-existent and ever-living God, vast, and whether with all our effort the Creator and upholder of all things. and sacrifice, the total result is not The offering of a whole burnt offering ridiculously inadequate. Yet notonce a year by the chief ruler, as the withstanding all this variety of dark King of Salem was once the " priest of prophesying, China is, perhaps, the the Most High God," seems indeed a most important mission field of the relic of something of which we would world to-day, and lays a larger degladly know more. Drs. Martin and mand than any other upon the faith Legge, two of China's foremost for- and effort of the Christian Church, eign scholars, do not hesitate to regard andespeciallyof the American Church. it as an obscure perpetuation of the primitive worship of Jehovah. Alas! First. In common with the other that it is an imperial monopoly, fm' Mongolian nations, China presents a even the common people often seek very significant claim by its geosomething iligherthantheir basesuper- graphical position. As the Missionstitions. The sailors of the Fukhien ary Churches of Europe look eastward Province, when overtaken by a storm, toward these Mongolian races, they make offerings to the gods of the sea, find a twofold barrier in their way. but when that does not avail, they Russia on the north and the Mohamthrow them all away and pray to the medan powers on the south rise up Supreme God of the Heavens. like mountain ranges to shut them off. An oyerland propaganda seems im- CHINA AS A MISSION FIELD. possible. Russia is quite as impenetra- ble to western Christianity as the EYer since the publication of Mr. Turkish Empire, while farther south, Pumpelly's " Across Asia and Ameri- even to the southern point of Arabia, ca," his example has repeatedly been Mohammedan fanaticism raises its followed in the cheap assertion that formidable barriers. India might find no Chinaman is ever really converted access from the south, but the Himto Christianity. He is too material- alayas rise between. Burmah may i"tic to appreciate spiritual truth, it is one day open a passage, but Burmah said, or he is too crafty to be credited itself is dark. The highway of salvain any profession he may make, or he tion to China is by the sea, and it is is too stolid to be aroused from his straight across the Pacific that our Confucianphilosophy. It is hard to re- path lies open. Yokohama and San fute false utterances of this kind when Francisco -are now separated by less once they have gained currency. It than thirteen days. As in all the lands men and women of a higher past, so now the indications of Provi- type than I met in China, of a finer dence all point westward, and our spiritual experience, of a higher spir- American people, with their wealth itual tone, or of a nobler spiritual life, and intelligence and Christian in- and I may say with conviction that fluence are in the van, or should be, there are in the native churches in of this great movement for the con- China not only the elements of stabil- quest of the Mongolian races. ity, but that steadfast and irresistible Second. The character of the revolution which will carryover the Chinese presents a special argument whole empire to the new faith."
for a forward movement. Like the Rev. Jolm L. Nevius, D.D., who Anglo-Saxons, they are aggressive and has spent over thirty-five years in cosmopolitan. Their industry and China, declares that he has nowhere enterprise reach out over the world. found a higher type of manhood than They are found, whenever permitted is presented by the native Christians to enter, in all North and South Amer- of Shantung, and he has given many ica, in the island groups of the Pacific, proofs of their Christian fortitude.
in Australia, in New Zealand, in Sin- Nowhere in our generation are there gapore and the Straits of 1I1alacca. more striking instances of the genu- They are everywhere remarkable for ineness and self-help of Christian con- their thrift, and in spite of all the hin- verts than in China, considering their drances that can be interposed, this great poverty. In large portions of wonderful race is sure of great future the Shantung Province churches are influence in the world. No other na- almost entirelyself-supporting, though tion is so industrious, so frugal, and, poor to a degree which Americans considering its age, so well preserved cannot realize. As a rule, they have and so likely to continue in power provided their own places of worship.
and influence. Instances such as these are given: Just now China is awakening to a Of a Taouist priest in a country vil- new sense of its latent possibilities and lage, who, on becoming a Christian pressing to the forefront of the great convert, at once began to preach to empires. Moreover, in spite of all that his neighbors without salary, and is said of the deceitfulness of the China- he gave not only his time and man, it may safely be said that the men 'labor, but the principal part of his of no other race are more fully trusted house for a chapel; of a poor man in whatever industry they undertake. who, out of his narrow means, recent- No others are so law-abiding and ly gave a cottage for a school and peaceful as citizens, and that even chapel; of a woman who, though the without the privilege of citizenship. only believer in her village, persevered In places of trust they rival the Jap- till she had secured a Christian school, anese even in Japan. The thrifty in- which grew into a church; of a little dustries of Singapore, and Malaysia, congregation which, upon its organi- and the Sandwich Islands, are largely zation as a church, subscribed upon in their han,p.s. the spot the whole salary of their pas- I Third. The Chinese will compare tor for a year; of an intelligent widow favorably with any other race in their who left her home and went to Peking capacity for strong and controlling to learn more of the gospel, that she Christian faith. This point has been might teach her neighbors. ,Could all abundantly attested. The late Fleming similar annals of the Church in China Stevenson, who had visited the mis- be gathered together they would form sion fields of China in person, gave a large and interesting volume.
the following testimony: Fourth. The numericalresultswhich " I have found nowhere in Christian have been gained in the Protestant missions of China within the last Thibet and its Religion. few years are certainly remarkable, Perhaps in no country has Buddhism and only excelled, perhaps, by those of become so intrenched, no where else Japan. Two years since it was stated has it so monopolized all thought and at the annual meeting of the Ameri- aspiration, or so molded and concan Board that in a single decade trolled the people, as in Thibet. At the number of converts in the dif- the time of its introduction from India ferent missions of China had increased by way of Kashmere-it had scarcely from 13,000 to 32,000, and this ill spite gained a footing before the seventh of bitter persecution on the part of century-the system of Gautama had relatives and friends, and notwith- undergone important changes. It had standing the prejudice created by the drifted from the atheistic position of wrongs and outrages committed by the early Buddhists of India and Cey- lon and had adopted a vague and fan- Christian nations. II tastic theism, at the same time that it had received various admixtures of Fifth. There is great hope for China devil worship and sorcery. It had and great encouragement for mission- developed a trinity of supernatural perary labor in the new order of things sonages, who were destined to become which is fast placing her abreast with future Buddhas, though not until Vestern nations. The railroad and after various incarnations for particuthe telegraph line have come to stay, lar service~ on earth. This proved a national defences are in progress, min- convenient doctrine for the priestly eral wealth will be developed, and magnates of Thibet. It encouraged education is to be encouraged in all the claim now set up, that two of these practical Sciences. The late Viceroy beings are incarnate in the Grand of Canton, in a memorial to the Gov- Lama at Lhassa and the Puntsheu ernment, asking royal sanction for a Lama at Kroshis Lunpo. railroad from Peking to Hankow, The Thibetan King Srong Tsan said: "For China to return to the iso- Gampo, who introduced Buddhism lation of her past is a hopeless task. 622, A. D., was the first to be wor- It only remains for her to assimilate so shipped as a divine incarnation. In much of modern progress as will enable 822, A. D., the second son of the last her to outwit her astute Western com- King of Thibet instituted a bitter perpetitors." He adds: "I was myseff. secution against the Buddhists, and opposed to the introduction of rail- they were mostly driven from the ways at first, but when I came to country. Civil disorders followed till Shanghai and saw the progress possi- the Buddhist missionaries, Atisha and ble, I could not deny the sight of the Brom Ston, regained the best ground eye." The imperial permission has and restored prosperity to the Buddhist been given for building this road, and order. But what proved still more if the conservatists have burned the important to the stability of the sys- Temple at Peking in the hope of scar- tem was the fact that for ages there ing the Government with the supposed has been an alliance between Thibet displeasure of heaven at these innova- and the Empire of China. In the tions, they are too late. The shadow thirteenth century, A. D., Kublai on the dial of the nineteenth century Kahn, grandson of Jenghiz Kahn, is too far advanced. China is open to made the Lama at Lhassa " Tributary the gospel now; it may not be so when Sovereign of the Country and Head she becomes strong enough to dictate of the Buddhist Church," and as a rethe terms of her treaties. She may turn he was officially crowned by the copy the exclusion laws of Christian Lama as sovereign oyer the vast Mon- America. She may rule out British gol E,mpire. Kublai Khan thus be- Christianity with British opium. It is the full hour of opportunity. came a convert to Buddhism, and the practice of polyandry. The Lamas are Lama of Thibet became high priest held in great reverence, and some of or spiritual head over all Buddhists of them are high-minded and good men.
the vast empire including China and As each Lama at death is supposed Mongolia. The Lama was simply an to enter into a new-born infant, whose ecclesiastic invested with these spe- identity great pains are taken to estab- cial powers. The seat of government lish, a long regency must in each case was, and still is a Buddhist monastery intervene, and this is filled by some -the Emperor of China being the real honored monk. The infant when ruler. found is addressed as if, he had just About 1390 Tsoongkapa, the Luther died and risen again. The following of Thibet, came forward as a reformer. is an illustration: He purged out the base alloy of Sakt- In 1774 WalTenHastings, Governor- ism (the worship of Siva and his wives) General of India, sent an ambassador and the low superstitions which had to Thibet. On his arrival, the Lama grown as parasites on a corrupt Bud- to whom he bore messages had died, dhism, founded many monasteries, but he addressed the newly-born suc- and reformed the observances of the cessor as the identical Lama, express- monks and nuns. His influence so ing the Governor-General's sorrow at weakened the supremacy of the Dalai his recent death, and his joy that he (Grand) Lama that, by Imperial edict, had again returned to fill the world his jurisdiction was divided with the with hope.
Pautsheu Lama. Both of these, as Time, that has wrought changes above stated, are incarnations of the and revolutions in the other nations of Divine Bodisatvas. the world, has brought little chang'e Lamaism might, therefore, be called to Thibet, and now in our day systems a sort of theocracy, subject to the of error like Esoteric Buddhism and Imperial Government of China. Ec- Theosophy, desiring to secure the very clesiasticismcontrols and characterizes highest authority for their wild as- everything. The great monasteries sumptions, are deriving that authority are the leading institutions, and their from the Mahatmas or monks of Thi- monks and nuns number thousands. bet. It is contended that there, by The inhospitable character of the long continued meditation and great country and the lack of encourage- bodily mortification, they have ac- ment for industrial pursuits seem to quired the power to discern the favor monastic life. thoughts of others, and that they are An astonishingly large proportion conversant with all that transpires in of the people of both sexes are buried distant planets. It is favorable to in these religious houses. An observ- these extravagant theories that Thibet ing traveler long ago remarked that is so far off, so high up, so snow-coy- this withdrawal of so many able- ered, so unknown. It would seem to bodied men from active pursuits is be one of the most difficult strongholds compensated by the fact that no army from which to dislodge a hoary system is necessary for defence, and there is of error. Buddhism in Japan is worn too great a torpor in both the people lightly by government and people.
and the spirit of their institutions to Buddhism in China is only a guest of think of conquest. There is little soil the nation, though having strong fol- to cultivate and no market for manu- lowing among the lower classes. The factures, and why not spend much of more intelligent resort to it only in the national strength in meditating on time of trouble. Buddhism in Siam the law of Buddha? is regnant and strongly entrenched, Population is kept down not only but not so deeply seated as to exclude by monasticism, but also by the s~range a liberal spirit. Siam is an open and,
EDITORIAL NOTES OX CURRENT TOPICS
so far, a welcoming mission-field. But Some encouragement has been met Thibet has little contact with the na- with by the faithful and self-denying tions, and is not touched by the spirit missionaries, and though the fruits of the age. Yet even Thibet has not are meagre tJ:1ey have no thought of been despaired of as a mission-field. retreat. They have translated por- tions of the Scriptures into Thibetan, The Moravians, whose province it and at two stations they have printing has been to enter inhospitable fields presses at work in mUltiplying copies which no others were likely to choose, for the use of the people. Rev. A. C. established a mission in the lofty Thompson, D.D., in his admirable mountain town of Keyelang in 1856. book on "Moravian Missions," says, They experienced great difficulty in very justly: "Seldom have Moravian reaching their chosen field, and when laborers had a severer trial of their settled at last they found themselves faith and patience than amid these at the great height of 10,000 feet strongholds of Buddhism. But in that above the sea. Dark skies, almost dreary , Dwelling of Snow,' near the perpetual snow, except in narrow headwaters of the Indus, the Sutlej valleys, scanty vegetation and general and the Ganges, they have enkindled gloominess and sterility are thenatural a beacon light; they are occupying characteristics of the country. The advanced posts and preparing a base pessimism of the Buddhist faith seems for movements into Thibet proper, and well suited to the general environ- into China from the west." ment.
VI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Need of Oaution. last, wholly an individual work of faith, looking for support to no other In view of censure, already noted in orgauization, nor to any system of these columns, as rather freely applied solicitation of funds, public or private. in a certain quarter to a work of evan- It seems, therefore, to be in no proper gelization among the Jews which has, sense the "mission" of any other enjoyed the confidence of the Christian body, to which a' detailed account of ministry and people of all denomina- proceedings would be due; nor yet in tions in this city for a number of such a sense a child of the Christian years past, we have availed ourselves public at large as to invite an account of information from a disinterested of that sort, which might be thought source in which we have confidence, to savor rather of uncalled-for ostento the following effect: tation than of duty, precisely as it would in the case of a~y other of our The Hebrew Christian Church in city churches. Nevertheless, all con- St. Mark's Place, of which the Rev. tributions have been publicly acknowl- Jacob Freshman is pastor and founder, edged in detail, and the general dishas been organized about eight years, position of them explained in the during which it has steadily grown Annual of the church and in the quarup from the feeblest of beginnings to terly issues of The Hebrew Christian. an effective centre of evangelization, Contributions have thus been classed not only in this but in other cities of in three kinds: (1) All collections and this country, in Paris, and even in donations, not expressly otherwise Jerusalem itself. Although enjoying d3signated, have been devoted to the advice and sympathy of other church and missionary expenses, exchurches, through an invited Commit- clusive of the support of the pastor; tee of leading pastors and laymen of (2) such donations only as have been the several denominations, who have never ceased their fraternal interest ,expressly designated for personal use in its affairs, it has been, from first to have been appropriated to the necessi- tions towards reducing the mortgage ties of the pastor, leaving him wholly to a small encumbrance. J. M. S. dependent on the providential response to faith, without salary or visible We rejoice to see that Senator Mormeans of support, and subject at times to severe trials; (3) contributions des- gan, of Alabama, has introduced a ignated for the building fund, which are at once turned over to the bus- bill instructing the Committee on Fortees of the church property, for the extinguishment of the debt thereon. eign Relations to ascertain and repOlt To these may be added a fourth fund, now closed, 'which was confidentially the best methods for increasing trade contributed for Mr. Freshman's recent missionary journey to Jerusalem, re- and commerce between the Congo sulting in the establishment of a branch mission in that city under the Free State and the United States, and charge of a Hebrew Christian convert, supported by the little church in St. the obstacles, if there are any, in the Mark's Place and its friends. Further, concerning the accounts: to the trus- way of such trade and commerce and tees, who are men of well-known and high Christian standing, and also to other intercourse. The resolution is the distinguished clergymen and laymen who constitute the advisory com- timely, in view of the statement that mittee, full' and systematic book accounts are understood to be ahvays the United States did not formallyacopen, including the detailed expenditures to which invidious reference cept the conclusions of the Berlin has been made; and auditing committees have made actual examinations Conference, and therefore holds no and published reports thereon. It i~ possible that self-appointed investiga- political or civil rights for its people tors (perhaps unconsciously prompted through the malice of a certain crafty in tile Congo Free State. One of the Jewish Sanballat, or Gashmu) may have failed to obtain a search warrant avowed objects of Senator Morgan is which it would be impertinent to ask. It is well known that the Jewish per- to secure those rights; another is to secutor referred to has exerted himself persistently to undermine Mr. encourage the wealthy and enterpris- Freshman's work, not only by scurrilous articles in the savory columns ing negroes of this country to emigrate of the Truth Seeker, but also by cunning communications to the leading to the Congo Free State, and engage friends of the work, and to editors of religious newspapers, one of whom in trade or in such other beneficial enhas perhaps been induced to listen, in ignorance of the character and mo- terprises as may be open before them. tives of the man. In the interest of commerce and mis- The cost of the church property has been about $25,000, of which $15,000 sions, and especially of the future of have been paid, and substantial prog- the colored race, we hope CongreH>'I , ress has been made by recent subscrip- will rise to the dignity of such a sub- ject, and by prompt and enlightened action afford evidence that it under- stands and appreciates the significance of Africa's present condition, the result of a series of marvelous proyidential interpositions. We cannot but regard the opening up of the Dark Con- tinent by a brilliant succession of heroic explorations and the extension of European gm'ernments over im- mense areas of territory, and the in- troduction of railroads, enterpriHf', commerce and Christian civilization, as shedding light on the" Negro Prob- lem" among us. We earnestly hope that our Government will take a wise and active part in the matter of the Congo Free State, and in all otlwr feasible ways for the benefit of Africa. J. 11. S.
Facts from Mission Fields.
The year 1889 is the fiftieth anni- versary of the martyrdom of John "Villiams. who fell on Erromanga. relating to their own missions, which It is a very remarkable and significant we give from month to month. Its fact that his murderer's youngest son plan of sending out monthly a letter is to-day, as a professing disciple, ad- giving in condensed form the latest dressing crowds in Sydney, New South news from their various fields, is an Wales; and his oldest son, now past admirable one, and we wish other so- 60 years, has asked to be instructed in cieties would follow the example. It the way of salvation, and is now being is, in fact, an advance sheet of fresh taught by the missionaries on Erro- and important news, and the facts are manga the way of life! What hath eagerly caught up by busy editors and God wrought! Truly the "field is given to the public. J. M. S.
the world, and the good seed are the " The American Board Almanac of children of the kingdom /" John Missions" for 1890 is a thing of beauty Williams died and was buried as God's as well as utility. It is crowded with seed, and here is a part of the visible matters of interest and information harvest. respecting missions. It is sent by mail Hayti presents in its past history for 10 cents a copy, $1.00 a dozen, $6 and present condition one of the worst a hundred. Send orders to C. E.
types of paganism. Cannibalism of Sweet, 1 Somerset St., Boston. See our the worst kind prevails. Not simply advertising sheet in January number are human beings eaten, not only are for fuller account. J. M. S.
those who are devoured captives or prisoners taken in war or by violence Our associate, Dr. Pierson, is meet- ing with great success in London and forcannibal purposes, butfamily feasts Scotland. Enthusiastic crowds, fill- ing the largest churches and halls in are held where those who partake ac- Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and wherever he goes, flock to hear his tually eat the flesh of a member of the addresses. He has averaged two or more addresses a day, we believe, family / Children are devoured as a since he landed at Liverpool. In his last letter he says: " Every day is filled delicacy by their own mothers, who with engagements to the 1st of May, and even June if I will consent to reassert and justify their right thus to ap- main." The interest is intense. All ranks and classes and denominations propriate the fruit of their own womb. are engaged in the work, and impor- tant results must flow from it. This is under no pressure of hunger or J. M. S. want. .It is simply a proof of the fact that the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cmelty. An attempt was made by a governor of Hayti to suppress the atrocity by exe- cuting those engaged in such a canni- bal feast, but he was driven from the throne and compelled to take refuge in the neighboring island of Jamaica, the condition of which, under the in- [We have received a letter from an fluence of a pure gospel, is a sufficient aged minister of Christ, in the course of which occur the following signifi- . refutation of the charge that missions cant words.-EDs.] are a failure. These two islands, side " My attention has for forty years been fixed upon those professors of religion who may be by side, are a standing monument of called •average Christians.' They compose a very large part of the Church, and questions the respective influences of the gospel like these have often arisen: Are they Chris- tians? Are they a help or a hindrance to th" and paganism, even when a nominal cause of Christ? Ought not special efforts to be made to reach them for their own sake and Christianity like Romanism touches for the sake of the cause of Christ?
its awful death shade. A. T. P. "I was not a little surprised some time ago to find in Dr. Geikie's • Hours with the Bible" We desire here to express our indebtedness to the Baptist Missionary Union for various missionary items the following very strong endorsement of this sionary MassConvootion of the Northclass (p. 317): ' No career could have been west," under the auspices of the Methmore uneventful than Isaac's, but it showed at odist Episcopal Church, to meet at least that a path of modest retirement may Clear Lake Park in July of this year: honor God as much as one of more prominent "Rev. A. T. Pierson, D. D.: action. Our Lord's authority is vouchsafed for his having passed from earth to heaven at ,, Your suggestion some time ago his death.' It seems to me that there is great that the Church should gather toerror just at this point through all branches of gether an Exposition of 'the Results of the Church. I have no recollection of seeing Missions from all parts of the world, anything published bearing upon it except in and the suggestion of the Spirit of a volume of discourses by Dr. Skinner, en· Missions that at the next World's titled 'Religion of the Bible,' issued about Fair would be a good place for the the time I left the Union Seminary in 1841. In display of such an exposition, ought the first discourse, on 'Spiritual Religion,' he to be acted on, and that without dequotes Dr. John Mason Good as saying, on his lay. Three years would be short death-bed, 'I have taken what unfortunately enough time to gather and arrange the generality of Christians too much take-I the materials. We are 'about to gather have taken the middle walk of Christianity.' the material for a Missionary Museum The discourse which follows is a description of on an extensive scale at Clear Lake, spiritual religion, not of the 'middle walk.' Iowa, for use in our Annual Conven- It seems to me an appeal to average Christians tions. I think that our Missionary urging them to consider the nature and re: Secretaries could be interested in the sults of their religion; might be made that matter and all materials gathered would have a great awakening effect. Just could be used at the World's Fair, and here is one of the chief reasons why the cause then be dispersed to our different Misof missions is not more flourishing: average sionary Centers for continued and Christians regard missions as something which perpetual use. You ought to be able may be passed by without endangering their from your central position to interest standing in the Church or their final salvation. all the Missionary Boards. I would It seems to me, judging from the fullness and like to be informed of the prospect, pungency of your writings on missions, that and would be glad to assist. We could this whole subject must have passed through interest all our missionaries. Let me your mind. An article of yours in the' New hear of the prospect." York Observer' of July 25, entitled' First the Kingdom, 'bears in that direction and encour- A subscriber congratulates the ages me in asking you to put before the Church, editors upon their success during the in the form which seems best to you, an appeal past year, and says: to average Christians. You have the eye and ear of the Church, and can make yourself " You have given us a magnificent heard as few others can. Will you not try i11" magazine. I hope you will be pros- perous and successful in the coming We feel such sympathy with the year. If you would place before us above, that we purpose in due time to for Monthly Concert in tabulated form, the complete missionary forces prepare for these pages an appeal to in the respectiye fields presented, you the average Christian. It is the great would give what is greatly needed. body of the Church that need arous- What the more progressive friends of ing, and that, so far, are doing next to missions desire is not simply their respective denominational forces, sucnothing for missions. Out of a con- cesses, cost, etc., but with their own gregation that numbers from 4,000 to that of all other societies-' the u'orld 5,000, it has been found, by actual in- rather than the society view of the vestigation, that only 386 are known to work." contribute anything regularly to the support of the Gospel! How large then We think our brother scarcely ap- must be the proportion in all Christendom who have no active interest, by gifts or even by prayers, in the great mission work of the world!
We have received the following suggestion from Rev. S. P. Marsh, of Iowa, Corresponding Secretary of the "Mispreciates the imnl>nse labor he would earth," they ,"vould exclaim: "What lay upon our overtaxed shoulders hath God wrought!" That first con- when he asks each month a complete tribution of £13, 2s. and 6d. has showing of each field treated. More- grown to between two arid three mil- over, one entire department of this lions of pounds a year. That cottage REVIEW is given up to the exhibit of is, we understand, still to be seen.
just such facts, so far and so fast as The English Baptists ought to buy it we are able to gather reliable figures. and make it a missionary museum Vould it be wise to encumber our where the relics of idolatry and super- pages with such repetitions? By a stition might be preserved as a witness little careful search in these pages any of what God has wrought. A. T. P.
pastor may collate on anyone field all the figures at our disposal. A. T. P. Asceticism in Missions."
The crisis of missions is evidently [Our editorial correspondent and translator of our foreign magazines upon us, and this seems to be the grow- sends us the following, which also ex- presses our own jUdgment.-J. M. S.] ing conviction in every part of the " I am glad to see Dr. Ellinwood's field. A missionary who has labored sound and healthful paper on Asceti- cism in Missions in the January RE- 26 years in India says: "India is now VIEW. There seems to be setting in a craze for this. But, at home or abroad, ready for our work, and if this crisis asceticism for asceticism's sake is neither Protestant nor Evangelical. is not met by the Church at least two For a definite end, individual or social, it may, like everything else, or three generations will pass before be sometimes eminently serviceable, but to set it up in a vague way as an equal opportunity can be offered." a model to strike people with admira- tion, is really nothing but a particular From Brazil the word comes: "This fashion of " striking an attitude." It is the beginning of all the wretched land is ready; thousands would accept uneasiness and trickery of self-salva- the gospel if they only had preachers."
One writes concerning China: "A thousand missionaries are worth more now than ten thousand ten years from now. As for Japan, it is melted and waiting for moulding. What shall the mould be: Christianity or infidel- ity?" A.T.P.
1892 ought to be kept as a great an- tion.
niversary, and Kettering ought to be " It is a wonder that those who are the place of pilgrimage. disposed to think that it is a source of When we think of foreign missions strength in Roman Catholic Inissions we must not forget that, strictly speak- do not consider that their mission- ing, they are the outcome of the aries are unmarried, not because they present century. It was in 1792 that are missionaries, but only because twelve Baptist ministers met in the they are priests. And as to asceti- little cottage of Widow Wallis, at cism generally, the Jesuits-the mis- Kettering, and formed the first En- sionary order by pre-eminence in that glish society proper for" propagating Church-are, for Roman Catholics, al- the gospel among the heathen." most the least disposed to asceticism Since then what marvelous Iniracles for its own sake. They are ready to have been wrought! What gigantic undergo any amount of privation in strides taken by this magnificent the way of their work, but are very movement! If these twelve men little given to affecting it where it is could come back to-day and see how not providentially imposed. Sim- the little "mustard seed" has de- plicity of living is a Christian and a ,eloped till it has become a mighty missionary obligation. But an affec- tree ., whose branches co,er the tation of luxury and an affecta-
1:;6 QROAXIZED MISSIONARY WORK AND STATISTICS
tion of squalor are the two opposite producing, he yet adtls: "To the great evils which the Christian and the mis- laboring, toiling mass of the Indian sionary ought to avoid, although people there could be no more benefi- doubtless he ought to incline rather to cent influence than the daily coming bareness than to sumptuousness. Dr. in and going out among th~m of a Ellinwood's article is just the right Christian missionary and his wife thing. CHARLES C. STARBUCK. and children. To millions of their " Andover, Mass." Indian fellow-subjects the missionary We add a word on the subject from family was the great daily object Sir William Hunter, who is constantly lesson of the Christian life. But referred to as the highest authority on besides these millions there were hun- civil and political matters in India. dreds of thousands of men of a cul- In a recent address before the British ture which demanded another method Baptist Missionary Society he defines of attack." "This certainly," says " Asceticism" as "merely a life of the Missionary Herald, from which quiet self-denial." He speaks of it as we get this testimony, "is a weighty one of the methods to be employed, testimony, and it commends itself to and by no means the sole method. all who hold the doctrine set forth by 'While he bears solemn witness to the Paul, • I am become all things to all ,aluable results which the celibate men that I might by all means save luission brotherhoods in India were some.' " T. M. S.
VII.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK AND STATISTICS. * Woman's Missionary Societies of Oanada. general society. They have a successful work in India-schools and Bible women-but no I. Woman's Foreign Missionary So- ciety Presbyterian Church in Can- statistics are at hand. Income for the year, ada. $5,000. WESTERN DIVISION. Ill. Woman's Baptist Missionary So- Secretary, Mrs. Shortreed, 218 Ontario St., Toronto, Canada. ciety of Ontario and Quebec.
Periodical: Monthly Letter Leaflet, Toronto. Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. H. H. Fields-The New Hebrides; Trinidad, Brit· ish Guiana, West Coast; China, Honan; For· Humphrey, Toronto. mosa; Central India, and Indians of Canada. Ho-me Force-Presbyterial societies, 25; aux- We are obliged to use last year's annual re- iliaries, 4m'; mission bands, 156. Income for port, as that for 1889 is not issued at the time the year, $80,000. we write, and as the society is organized into EASTERN DIVISION. provincial divisions it is not quite easy to pre- Mrs. Burns. President, Halifax, N. S. sent a summary of their work in our brief This division has 9() auxiliaries, 35 mission space. bands, and 4,000 members, and income for the year $6,000. During the year two Presbyterial Field.-The stations in India occupied by societies have been formed and six auxiliaries organized. Fields the same as Western Di- this society are Cocanada, Samulcotta and vision. Tuni. . II. Woman's Baptist Missionary Union of Maritime Provinces. IV. Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, Canada. Corresponding Secretary, lIIrs. John March, St. Johns, N. B. Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. E. S. Strachan, 113 Hughson St., Hamilton, Onto This society occupies the same fields as the This society is divided into five branches. [* The Home Work of the M. E. C. in our There are 800 auxiliaries, with 7,173 annual and 39Q life members, and 123 mission bands, January number, page 76, second column, 20th with 3,511 members. Income for the past line from top to 32d line, inclusive, got mis- year, $22,806; an increase of $8,285. placed in the make-up, and connected with that of M. E. C. South, whose Home force was This society has work among the Indians, already stated. Please connect it with the the French, the Chinese in America, and previous Society, No. XII.-EDs.J Japan. Four ladies were sent to Japan this past year. They have a very successful board- ing school at Tokio, with 150 boarders. A new school has been opened at Kofu.
Publication department in the missionary Outlook. V. Woman's Auxiliary to the Board N. ,V. Periodical: OurSistersinOtherLands of Diocesan, Domestic and Foreign Missions, Church of England. 14 Paternoster Row, London. '
The headquarters of this auxiliary is To- Fields and Force- China, Swatow, For. ronto. They collect about $15,000, and have a departmeut in the Canadian Church Magazine mo~a, Amoy, the Haka Country, Singapore, and Mission News. No report of distinct work. IndIa, Rampore, Bauleah. No summary of European Woman's Missionary Sooieties, statistics is available. They conduct board- I. Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society. ing, day and Sunday· schools, and hospital 2 Adelphi Ten'ace, London, W. C. Periodi- work. Income, $3,755. cal: The Indian Female Evangelist; quarterly. V. Central Committee and Church Woman's Association of the Scot- Fields and Force.-Bombay Presidency, 13 stations: Madras, 2; Northwest Provinces, tish Episcopal Church. 9; Orissa, 1; Punjaub, 1. Missionaries and assistants, 63; native teachers and Bible women, ~onvener, Miss H. Mackenzie, 28 Nelson St., 175; Zenanas visited, 1,353. Eight years ago Edmburgh. Office of ASSOCiation, 122 George the mission staff numbered 106, now 238; St., Edinburgh. Periodical: The Jllission then there "rere 26 schools, now 66. Then, Chronicle. total under instruction 1,296; now 4,150. Medical treatment in 1888 given to 9,338 Fields-South Africa and India. That in patients. In 1881 the income was $34,710. In Africa was begun in 1873. and lies in Indepen- 1888 it was $67,885. dent Kaffraria, a district about as large as Scotland; that of India is at Chamba, a dis· II. Ladies' Society for Female Edu- tant part of the diocese of Calcutta. The pres· cation in India and South Africa. ent number of members co·operating with the (Free Church of Scotland.) committee is 3,080, and the annual subscrip- tion amounts to $1,925. Offices of Free Church, Edinburgh. Periodical: Woman's Work in Heathen Lands; qnar· VI. Ladies' Association for the Christerly. J. and R. Pro'lane, Paisley, Edinbnrgh. tian Education of Jewish Females (Church of Scotland). Fields and Force.-India and Africa. In India five principal stations, includiug Cal- Secretary, Miss Tawse, 11 Royal Terrace, cutta, are in Bengal; Western Indian ineIudes Edinburgh. the stations Bombay, Poona, Berar, and Jalno. ~ladras and Nagpore are centres with Fields-They support schools in Smyrna, a variety of work. Africa includes Kafraria Salonica, Alexandria, Constantinople and Beywith Lovedale and other stations, Transkel rout,with missionary ladies at each place, and and NataL a total of 16 assistant teachers.
The grand total of missionaries is 34, of VII. The London Bible and Domeswhich 13 are in Africa; native Christian agents tic Female Mission. number 181; total, 215. The pupils count 6,738, of ,vhich 1,758 are in Africa. Income, Office, 2 Adelphi Terrace, Strand, London, $44,065. W. C. Periodical: Bible Women and Nurses. Cassel & Co., London and New York. III. Church of England Zenana Mis- sionary Society. Besides a large and most noble missionary work in the poorest parts of London, carried Office, 9 SaJisburySquare, London, Periodi· on through Bible women and Bible women cal: India's Women (bi-monthly); Daybreak nurses, this Society operates on some foreign (for young people, quarterly). JaB. Nisbet & fields, but we have no data of that part of its Co., 21 Berners St., London, ·W. work.
Fields and F01'ces-India, China, Japan. VIII. British Syrian Mission Schools Missionaries 105; assistants 57; Bible women and Bible Work. 139; native teachers 368. Over 7,000 children in scbools. Medical work also is carried on. Corresponding Secretary, Bliss Poulton, 18 This year the Society has commenced work in Homefield Road, Wimbledon, London. Peri· Ceylon for the first time. Income 1881, $68,200; odical: Daughters of Syria. Seeley & Co., 1888, $138,265. Essex St., Strand, London IV. Women's Missionary Associa- Tbe mission originated to relieve the con- tion of the Presbyterian Church of dition of the 20,000 widows and daughters of England. the Maronites and Greeks, whose husbands and fathers were massacred by the Drnzes in President of General Committee, I<lrs. H. 111. 1860. The work has been extended and ar· Matheson, Heathlands, Hampstead, London, rests general attention, Fields and Force-It operates at Beyrout, Damascus, Hasbeiya, Mount Lebanon, Code- Syria and Tyre. The Jllount Lebanon depart· ment has 7 stations, making the total of sta· tions 12; foreign workers 21; native workers 120; adherents 920; schools 29; scholars 2,779. The income is $1,120 IX. Ladies' Auxiliary of the Wes- ants, 30; native Bihle women, 55: native school leyan Methodist Missionary So- teachers, 59; boarding and day schools for ciety. girls, 50. They have a normal school for training Bible women at Calcutta, also one at President and Treasurer, Mrs. Lidgett, 69 Delhi. Income, $31, .55. Shooters Hill Road, Blackheath, London, S. E. Issnes quarterly papers. XIII. Church of Scotland Ladies' Association for Foreign Missions, Fields and Force-Europe, Spain, and Italy, India, Ceylqn, China, Africa, South and West. including Zenana Work. It supports 86 missionary workers. The annual report has no su=aries, hence it is Periodical: News of Female Missions. R. difficult to properly present this work. They and R. Clark, agents, Edinburgh. report checkerd success in India. At Negapatam, India, the members of the Hindu Tract Fields and Force-India, Calcutta, Madras, Society have been lecturing and distributing Poona (Zenana mission, orphanage, female tracts, warning their fellows against Christian medical mission), Darjeeling, Sialkott, Chamschools, with only too painful success. ba; Africa, Blantyre. Missionaries appointed in Scotland, 15; in India, 11; native agents, Their income has slightly fallen off this year, 6; male, 76; female, 82; non-Christian, 24; being $38,140, and they close the year with a scholars, 2,522; Zenanas visited, 59; houses small debt. regularly visited, 200; patients at Poona dis- pensary, 2,526. Income, $33,450; the largest in X. Ladies' Committee of the London its history. Missionary Society. XIV. Zenana Mission of the Irish Office, 14 Biornfield St., London Wall, Lon- Misswnary Society_ don. Periodical: Quarterly News of Woman's Work. John Snow & Co., London. We have only the local report of the mission in Gujerat and Kattiawar with the Zenana Field. and Force-China, India, and Mada- Mission before us. It appears from this that gascar. Lady missionaries, 36; wives of there are two missionary ladies engaged in missionaries, 45; schools, 148; pupils, 7,507; educational and Zenana work at Surat, and native teachers,l38; Zenana agents, 114; Ze- one in medical work; als02 assistants and 6 nana pupils, 2,982. Income, $28,760. native Christian agents, and 15 non-Christian teachers. At Borsad there are two mission' XI. Ladies' Association for the Pro- aries. At Ahmedabad there are others; also motion of Female Education (So- a medical mission, and 8 native Christian ciety for the Propagation of the agents, with 9 non-Christian teachers. Anand Gospel). and Broach also appear as stations.
Office, 19 Delahay St., Westminster, Lon· XV. Miss Walker – Arnot's Tabitha don, S. W. Periodical: The Grain of Mustard Mission at Jaffa. Seed Gardner, Darton & Co., 2 Paternoster Building. Hon. Secretary, Miss E. Walker-Arnott, 24 St. Bernard's Crescent, London. Fields-India, following the lines of the Dioceses of the Church of England, including that This simple organization has been in existof Rangoon, Japan, Tokio and Kobe; Mada- ence 25 years. The field is designated in the gascar, four principal stations; South Africa, corporate title, which we give above. The following the lines of the five Episcopal dio- boarding school numbers 60 residents, of whom ceses; Capetown, Zululand, etc., India. Mis- 12 were Javesses, and the day schools 100 sionaries, 45; native teachers, 85; Japan mis- pupils. The receipts last year were $4,825. sionaries, 3; native teachers, 2; Madagascar missionaries, 6; native teachers, 14; South XVI. Helping Hands Zenana Asso- Africa missionaries, 7; native teachers. 4. ciation (Young Ladies)_ Total missionaries, 61; native teachers, 105. It speaks well for the ladies of England, that Office, 42 B. Fulham Road, London, S. W. of these, 12 are honorary missionaries. Publication: It utilizes India's Jewels for pub- lication of its correspondents. XII Ladies' Association for the Support of Zenana Work and Bible The society co-operates with the Indian Fe· Women in India,-Baptist_ male Normal School and Instruction Society at Jaunpore, Benares and Lucknow; "ith the Mrs. Angus, Honorable Secretary. The Col- Church Missionary Society at Brindabun: with lege, Regents Park, London. Periodical: Our the 'Church of England Zenana Mission at Am- Indian Sisters; quarterly. Elliot Stock, 62 ritzar, and with the Ladies' Association of Paternoster Row, London. the S. P. G., and the London ~1issionary Society at Belgaum. The distinct branch, Fields and Force-Stations in India, at prin- known as the Nurse's Missionary Association, cipal cities, 18; lady Zenana visitors, 42; assist- trains as nurses those who wish to assist mis- sions abroad.
1890.J PROGRESS OF MISSIO.TS-lIIO.TTHLY BLLLETIN
VIII.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
Afrlca.-The Niger Mission. Rev. W. -A general conference of Chinese mission- Allan, of West Africa, thus summarizes the aries will meet at Shanghai May 7, 1890, and vast changes that have taken place since the continue for ten days. Rev. J. R. Goddard, of Gospel was first preached at Bonny, in Africa: Ningpo, is the secretary.
.. The worship of the iguana is overthrown, -The totals of missions in China are: 39 the priest is a regular attendant at the house societies, 526 male missionaries and 597 of God, and the iguana itself converted into an women; total, 1,123 miSsionaries; 162 native article of food. The Juju temple, which a few ordained helpers, 1,278 unordained, 34,555 comyears ago was decorated with twenty thou- municants in the churches, and 14,817 pupils sand skulls of murdered victims, I found rot- in schools; $44,173 were contributed by the tingawayin ruin and decay. Ipassedthrough churches the past year, and the net increase the grove which was formerly the receptacle in membership was 2,295.
of so many murdered infants, and I found it France.-The Statistics of France for had become the regular highway from the 1888 contain some sad facts respecting family town to the church, and that the priest was life. Compared with 1887 the decrease in mar- now a baptized Christian. I went ashore and riages was 212, while there were 6,360 less than addressed 885 worshippers, including the in 1886. There were 1,702 more divorces than .. king, the three former heathen priests, chiefs, in 1887, and 1,758 more than in 1886; the total and a multitude of slaves, and was thankful number waS 4,708. The decrease in the num- to ascertain that the work of conversion was ber of births since 1887 was 16,794. Since still going on; for. in addition to 648 persons 1884 there has been an annual decrease in already baptized, of whom 265 are communi- births. In 1884 there were 937,758 births ; in cants, there are over 700 at Bonny alone who. 1888, the number was 882,637. In illegitimate are now under instruction. " – Missionary births there is, however, an increase. In 1881 Herald. they were 7.5 per cent.; in 1888, 8.5. In the -In Northern Africa has lately been dis- Seine department 25 per cent. of the births covered a river that has worn a bed through were illegitimate. The official report states the rock 300 feet deep, and then makes a per- that if it were not for the illegitimate births pendicular leap 650 feet, while all around are there would actually be a decrease in the deep, yawning chasms and gigantic peaks. population of France.
-The pupils o{the Huguenot Seminary at -Miss Grant Brown, who with two other ladies lately made a mission tour in Corsica, Wellington, South Africa, have formed the Huguenot Missionary Society, which sends out reports that wherever they traveled they held from its ranks missionaries to labor among the daily meetings which were thronged by people heathen in Africa. The lady principal, Miss eager to learn the truth. The work met with Ferguson, and the other teachers, are all much opposition from the priests; but the earnest' Christians, and seek to lead all the civil authorities were generally friendly, and pupils to Christ. in several villages the mayors offered the use – The Moravians have projected a mission of rooms. In one village three men volun· teered to stand every Sunday in the market on the Victoria Nyanza, but have been unable place, and read the Gospel to their countryto establish it by the lack of funds. Just be- men. There is no Protestant church on the fore the opening of lheir General Synod this island. year news was brought that a legacy of be· tween $25,000 and 30,000 had fallen to the Germany.-According to the Statisti- Church, and it is probable that the work will cal Year Book of Germany for 1889, the latest speedily be carried forward, as the men are data on the religious status of the country are ready. these: 29,369,847 Evangelicals, 16,785,734 Catholics, 125,673 other Christians, 563,172 Deymah. -A Mission School is to be established by Rev. E. W. Kelly, of lVlandalay, Jews, 11,278 confessors of other religions or on the very spot where Dr. Adoniram Judson, professing no religion at all. The Evangelicals the first missionary from America, suffered include Lutherans, Reformed and the United the cruel imprisonment at Oungpenla. Church, .:. e., the union formed in 1817 in Prus- Chlna.-Rev. J. W. Stevenson writes sia and sorne other States between the two from Shanghai: "I am happy to report 27 Protestant confessions; the Catholics include 'baptisms this week, viz., 12 at Gan-ren, 7 at Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics and old Nan-k'ang, by Mr. McCarthy; 3 at Chau-kia· Catholics; the other Christians represented k'eo, by Mr. Coulthart; and 5 at Ning-hai- are United Brethren, Baptists, Mennonites, chau, by Mr. Judd. Mr. McCarthy baptized in Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists.
all during his tour in Kiang-si 66 persons, and Quakers, Irvingites, German Catholics, Free he reports quite a number of inquirers. At Religionists and Dissenters. In 1871 the pro· Chau-kia-k'eo a great fire has devastated the portions were these: 25,581,685 Evangelicals, place, and 3,000 families are said to be burnt 14,869,292 Catholics, 82,158 other Christians, out of house and home." 512,153 Jews, 17,156 of other or no religion. The most noteworthy features of these figures pany did everything possible to keep mission- is that while the Evangelicals and the Catho- aries out of India; now the British East African lics have grown in equal proportions, the Company has invited the Church Missionary number of " other" Christians has increased Society to place missionaries at all the stations in much larger proportion. This is evidence of the company as fast as they are opened. sufficient that the propaganda made by the various denominations of England and Ameri- Italy.-Ten thousand Italian priests cain Germany has not been unsuccessful. This have secretly signed a petition to the govern- is one of the factors that is slowly but evi- ment praying for protection against the tyr- dently surely at work toward the disestablish- annyof the Vatican. They have been prom- ment of the Protestant Church of the land of ised assistance by several deputies, who will Luther. plead their cause in Parliament.
-The Sixty-sixth Annual Report of the Japan.-It is said that there are more Berlin Society for the Promotion of Christian- than 1,000 pnpils in a single, rapidly-growing ity amongst the Jews shows than two mission- Sunday-school in Okayanla, Japan. aries and one colportenr are employed by the Society, and that its income during the year -Results oCa Japanese Earthquake, Ac- 1888 amounted to 25,593 marks 42 pfennigs cording to the official return of the damage (about £1,279), which, with a balance of caused by the recent earthqnake at Kumamo- 46,34i marks 54 pfennigs from 1887, made the to, in Southem Japan, the loss in that pre- total receipts of the year 71,925 marks 1 pfen- fecture alo!le-an area ronghly equal to that nig. The expenditure was 41,219 marks 46 of a medium-sized English county – was as pfennigs, leaving a balance of 30,705 marks 55 follows: 234 houses completely ruined; 239 • pfennings in hand. Pastor Hausig, a former partially destroyed; 19 persons killed, and 58 missionary of the London Soci8ty, is secretary injured; at 893 places there were fissures in of the Berlin Society. the ground; roads were destroyed iu 137 places; forests injured at 17; building lots and – The Gustavus Adolphus Society, to carry cultivated land at 3,336 places, and embank- the gospel into Catholic countries, last year ments at 45 places; 24 bridges were entirely received $230,000, 01' $5,600,000 since 1832. The destroyed and 41 damaged, and the water in society has had 1,444 applications for aid from 138 wells became muddy and unfit for con- Roman Catholic countries. sumption.
Indla.-Perhaps one ofthe most notable Korea_A traveler in Korea writes: testimonies to the success of miSSionary labor "Buddha 'worship, as conducted among Koin India and other countries was made during reans, is a species of idol-worship. Diviners the recent Baptist Union Conference at Bir- walk the streets in the persons of blind men mingham, when Sir W. Hunter, before a gath- lTUh long staffs, W]lO anllounce their pl'esenee ering of 4,000 people, gave his experience of with a peculiar professional cry. Demonmissionary work. He simply dealt with the worship prevails in various superstitious pracnlatter as, to use his own term., "' a secular tices, to ward off disease and other ills of life." man and a layman," and in doing so pointed out that during the ten years from 1871 to 1881 Russia. – Twelve hundred converts the Christian popnlation of India had increased 64 per cent. as compared with the 11 have been baptized in the Baptist Mission in per cent. increase of the general popnlation, Russia in the past two years. The lliission is and that the Indian native Protestant Chris- principally among the German colonists in tians had now grown up into a native Protest- South Russia. There is also a snccessful misant Church, with their own pastors, number- sion in Ronmania and Bulgaria. ing 576, and their own native lay preachers, 2,756 in number. "Missionary work," he 8weden.-The minutes of tile Swedish added, "is one of the greatest and best works Augustana Synod gives 291 ministers, 582 conat present going on in India; it has been rich gregations, 425 church edifices and 191 parsonin results in the past, and is fraught with in- ages, valued at $2,503,304; 74,2,'J4 commnnicalcnlable blessings for the future." cants, 5,935 baptisms, 3,263 confirmations, 288 parochial teachers, and 11,506 pupils. Synodi· -The Mission College at Ahmednugar has cal treasury, $1,526.44; education, $16,414.4f; won for itself such a high place among the home missions, $15,901.63; foreign mission" govemment officials that they have increased $6,60•.39; orphan homes, church extensioll, their grant-in-aid nearly fourfold for a term etc., $27,749_54; congregational expense", of five years. The school for girls nnder the $511,986.40; total, $580,823.58. charge of the Misses Bissell, in their fine new. building, is a busy hive or Christian instruc- -Baptist progress in Sweden is one of the tion, full of hope and cheer. Five new village most remarkable religious movements of the churches have been organized during the year present time. Revivals are constant. In in the vicinity of Ahmednugar, Mr. Robert twenty years the nnmber of church members Hume.being specially active in mission work has advanced from 7,900 to 32,308. The bapin these rural districts." tisms in 1888 were 2,390.
-Seventy years ago the East India Com- -Swltzerland has 1,162 Sunday·schouls, with 5,459 teachers, and 84,000 scholars. Sweden has 3,340 Sunday-schools, -with 15,000 teachers and 220,000 scholars. Austria' has 140 Sunday-schools, with 312 teachers and 4,51!) scholars.