The Missionary Review of the World — August 1894
THE REAL AND THE ROMANTIC IN MISSIONS. [A.ugust
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVII. No. S.-Old Series.-AUGUS'r.-VoL. VII. No. S.-New &ries.
THE REAL AND THE ROMANTIC IN MISSIONS. * BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
,Ve all, who love the truth, want first of all to know the truth. Aristotle profoundly says that" Truth is what a thing is in itself, what it is in its relations, and what it is in the medium through which. it is viewed." To know the truth, therefore, we need, first of all, to get at the real facts, then to get those facts adjusted in their relations, and then to get a clear eye wherewith to see them, unclouded by prejudice or partiality"neither exaggerating nor "extenuating," nor" setting down aught in malice." Many a man who would not falsify, fails to verify. His imagination is more lively than his memory is retentive, or his reason logical, or his analysis exhaustive, or his discrimination accurate; and consequently, without meaning to do so, he gives a false coloring even to facts.
A book has recently appeared which cannot fail to make-has already made-a sensation in the religious world, and especially among advocates of missions. Its author has sought, as he affirms, to obtain" absolutely correct information concerning that portion of the Dark Oontinent which was the field of his investigation," and then to present "that knowledge with rigid adherence to the truth." t Any man setting out with such a purpose is to be honored; and, whatever be the results of a candid investigation, he is to be respected, if not admired, for a candid and intrepid testimony_ ,Ve accord to the author of "Reality versus Romance" all this h=or at the outset. We accept his own statement of his honest aim, and shall at no point call that in question. And, yet, his views are so revolutionary, his conclusions so upsetting, that some do not hesitate to say that" he lies"-a harsh judgment, as it would seem. ",Ve prefer, if we cannot accept his statements, to find some other solution for any difference of opinion or variance of conclusion.
* .. Reality V_t'sus Romance in South Central Africa;' by James Johnston, M.D. Published by F. H. Revell Company, New York.
t pp. 5, 236. After a careful and unnsually minute examination of this book, which is certainly gotten up without regard to cost, and profusely illustrated, our conclusion is that Dr. Johnston's medium of observation has not been entirely free from color; as an astronomer would say, his" lenses have not been achromatic," and the deficiency of a clear medium has communicated a false hue to the objects seen. This conviction is a growing one as we read these pages; and, in obedience to the same desire which he claims, to free the great subject from all false lights and get at realities and verities, we purpose now to review candidly and carefully some of his positions ; our only regret being that we have but a few pages to treat what a volume might well discuss.
One conclusion which, at an early stage in his work, Dr. Johnston o;tates, is that" self-supporting missions" are, in Africa, " a grand mis- ·,ake." * It will thus be seen that the author does not hesitate to use toler- ':Ibly emphatic terms. He pronounces such missions an " absolute failure." "Bishop Taylor's and all the rest of them are swept away in one grand flood Qf condemnation. Dr. Johnston thinks it is infinitely more difficult for a white man to earn his living in Africa than in any European country, unless he abandons mission work ; and that the training of native children for future missionary work only makes idle dudes of the boys, and of the girls desirable wives for aristocratic heathen.t This language is so sweeping that it betrays a mind that is not umpirical, not judicial but rather prejudicial ; th~t leaps to a hasty conclusion. That difficulties beset self-supporting missions is true; and, perhaps, they are as yet experimental, and their utility is now being tested. But to denounce as a failure what has not yet survived the experimental period, or been proven a success, would be fatal to all improvement. Invention and discovery reach their highest results through just such apparent failure and waste of resources and energy. The practical application of any theory requires quite as much wisdom in working as the theory does in devising. To say that, thus far, snch missions have not demonstrated their snccess is one thing ; to affirm that they are a proven failure, and brush them all away like chaff from a summer threshing fioor, is certainly a bold if not a rash proceeding, and hints over-confidence in the infallibilj~y of the author's judgment.
In a similar fashion, with unstinted condemnation, Dr. J ohnstim sweeps down on Mr. Booth, who went out to Africa to undertake a self-supporting mission, leaving behind Ilis lucrative trade to attempt Africa's evangelization and" keep" ]Iimself. Our author regards him as following a mad theory, risking the life of a motherless daughter, etc.! He considers him as courting a martyr's death, and expecting, like a Zulu warrior or Hindu devotee, compensation in the life to come for his sacrifice of life here. Thus it will be seen that he not only condemns Mr. Booth's course of con- *P.26. t Pp. 26, 27. :1= Pp. 297. 298. duct, but even ventures to interpret his motive. Having met Mr. Booth, and having been very much moved to admiration of his singleness of aim and absolute self.surrender to his mission, we cannot accept Dr. Johnston's judgment of him or his work. And, knowing the man in this instance, and being entirely out of accord with the hasty decision rendered in his case, We cannot avoid the conviction that if, in other cas~s, we knew the parties criticised, we might be compelled to a stilI more emphatic dissent from the positions to which our author seems to come with so little hesitation.
Our truth-seeking friend is such an iconoclast that perhaps he uses his axe a little too freely in breaking down the carved work of the sanctuary.
He reminds us of Talus with his iron flail. For example, he slashes away at the principle of presenting in the Christian family home life an object lesson to the natives, whom he thinks ineapable of anything beyond a " curiosity similar to that of the country bumpkin's first introduction to a menagerie." * The delineation of native character in this book is not calculated to arouse any frenzy of interest in African missions; as, for instance, where one young missionary had his enthusiasm suddenly cooled by a demand for "five days' pay" from certain interested native inquirers who had been coming every day to listen, but indignantly remonstrated against " listening for nothing. 17 That native character does not, at the outset, present many featnres calculated to provoke admiration is nothing strange to o~e who believes that man is by nature" dead in trespasses and sins," and, as dead, incapa- ble of motion. sensation, enjoyment, or reception of spiritual things, and utterly destitute of restorative power, until touched and quickened by the Spirit of God. But this, instead of a reason against missions, is the grand argument for them. " The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost." And if we find men absolutely lost, it is what we might expect. And yet among just such tribes the grandest haryests have been already reaped. Henry Richards at Banza Manteke found savages who did not hesitate to turn even his Scripture teaching to the gratification of their own greed, and yet out of this same material God constructed one of the most prosperous missions in the world field. Seven, fourteen, twenty.one years have sometimes passed before one convert has rewarded toil. But when the quickening Spirit has begun to work, life has developed even out of death. .
Dr. Johnston's mastery of epithets-especially depreciatory ones-may be seen in his description of certain tribes : a " people exhibiting the most despicable traits of character ever heard of. "t The whole v0cabulary of denunciation seems to be at our author's disposal. But mature judgment and growing charity uniformly prune away the liberal use of such terms as excessive-as, in fact, an excrescence even upon literary style. As * P. 388. tP.II2. D'Israeli said, in his address to Sir Charles Wood, his old adversary, in 1852, "Insolence is not invective, nor abuse argument." This now famous parliamentary sentence is really only an echo of what Hume said to Palmerston twenty-six years before: "Abuse is not argument." And any man whose style abounds in such language as we find in " Reality versus Romance" gives evidence of careless, if not reckless, use of the weapons of verbal antagonism.
Dr. Johnston frankly confesses Africa" a disappointing country," and says that everything else, like the fruit, is a " delusion." * Perhaps, like his oxen, when, on one occasion, they sought to quench their maddening thirst in a lake and found it a " salt pan," he has not got out of his mouth the taste of the brine of his disappointment, t or it is barely possible that the terribly unsanitary conditions t amid which he found himself, affected his liver so that it " overflowed with black bile and beclouded his judgment." Dr. Johnston everywhere displays a genius for criticism-not a desir- able form of genius, though not uncommon. It is always possible to magnify, if not to create defects, by a critical temper. Sodernini, the Florentine dude, condemned the nose of Michael Angelo's" David" as too long for symmetry. The great sculptor laid his ladder against the statue and pretended to reduce the dimensions of the nasal organ, letting drop a little marble dust to make more complete the illusion, and Sodernini then pronounced it "precisely right." The fact is, that not a chip had been chiselled from the marble! Imagination makes fools even of the senses.
Some further exam;:>les of the critic's severity, as shown in this book, may be seen from the following : At Utalama he found the graves of Morris and Gall, and concludes that the circumstances reflect " anything but credit on those who had charge of the party," and he accuses them of " sheer mismanagement." § He characterizes the Kwanjululu mission as having" a plethora of missiona- ries," and "still they come." II At Kundundu he records that as yet " nowhere" had he " seen a native man or woman giving evidence of having anything like a true conception of the Christian's God ;'" and again, that he has seen" no native women as house servants in missionary homes ;"
that they will not" submit to a domestic training." ** Even in the Barotse Valley, delighted as he was with M. Coillard's work, he found" few if any" who had" manifested even interest in, far less ability to grasp, the most elementary truths of the Gospel," after years of toil. tt He thinks that wherever these petty chiefs have sway their hostility makes all acceptance and confession of Christ quite impossible ; tt and that Lobengula's clinched fist is a menace to his people, which renders the results of long years of mission work" almost nil." §§ At Mandala he found a congregation of two hundred native boys and • P. 210. t P. 224. :j: P. 230. § Pp. 46, 47. IP.69. "1 P. S3. •• P. 94. tt P. 15:l :j::j: P. 20'2• §§ P. 238. girls under instruction, who were also boarded on the mission. The form of service, nominally that of the Established Church of Scotland, he found en- cumbered with an elaborate ritual-surpliced clergyman, white-robed proces- sional choir, intoned prayers, bowings to the East, creed recitation, altar tapers, etc. * This is almost as bad as his picture of the Universities'
Mission, with its native choir, surpliced in white and cassocked in purple, with their large brass cross carried at their head, and the priests bowing and crossing themselves; and the native women squatting on the floor, with the cross and fetich ornaments together hung around their necks. t Some statements of Dr. Johnston demand such an investigation as will bring either a refutation or a further exposure-as, for example, what he says about a leaflet, addressed to children in the Free Chnrch of Scotland, in form of a letter from a missionary at the north end of Lake Nyassa, about" –'s three hundred slave children," representing all the little W akonde scholars . . . as naked and helpless, rescued from the slaver! Whereas, Dr. Johnston says they never were slaves, and are provided by their own parents with both food and lodging! He fnrther affirms that twelve hundred pounds were wrung out of Scotchmen by this appeal, with which money" nothing has been done because the object for which it was given existed only on paper !" t Dr. Johnston finds in " How I Crossed Africa" a gross misrepresenta- tion from first to last, "which," he says broadly, is " only on a par with the rest of this two-volumed book;" and adds that there is no country under heaven the" subject of more romancing and misrepresentation than Africa." § In much of this there is an absence of judicial calmness and fairness, which makes it all look like an ex parte statement. As to such conclusions -drawn by a man who makes a journey of eighteen months across the continent, and for the first time-they remind us of Isaac's question, when Jacob brought so promptly his savory dish of mock venison: "How hast thou found it so quickly, my son~" It is barely possible that the dish, after all, is not venison, and was found without any real hunting, in an enclosure of foregone conclusions!
As he says that, from the time Bihe, on the west coast, was left behind, until he arrived at Blantyre, on the east, he found but "one missionary laboring among the natives," II we can be pardoned for questioning his full capacity to judge of African missions as a whole. But nothing strikes the reader as a harder blow than Dr. Johnston's criticism of Fred Stanley Arnot's work at Kwanjululu. Such words as " a huge farce," "hoodwinked supporters;" such statements as that the influence of this station ,. as a Christian mission is almost nil," that " few natives attend the meetings," that " next to no evangelistic work is being 'done," and that for three successive Sundays not a " solitary hearer came • P •. 295. tP.322. ~ pp. 313, 314• sP. 190. oP. 326. from outside the compollnd," '* will surprise Mr. Arnot"'s thousands of friends, who regard him as one of the most simple-hearted, genuine, and heroic pioneers of modern times. But for Dr. Johnston's exceptie>nallove of truth we should suspect him of at least unfairness. In fact, there seems to be almost a tinge of malice in his severe sarcasm as to Arnot's work.
Apropos of this apparent exposure of fraud, we clip the following from the London Christian as to Dr. Johnston and Mr. Arnot: " In the Record for February 9th, reference was made to Dr. J ohnston's allegations in depreciation of the Garanganze Mission, and it was hinted that Mr. F. S. Arnot should answer the accusations. In last week's Record Mr. Arnot writes: 'In reference to Dr. Johnston's quoting from the letters of our two brethren, S – – and F–, who were the only laborers in the Garanganze for the three years previous to Dr. Johnston's visit to Bihe, let me ask, With what degree of fairness can anyone frame an indictment against missionaries from their own humble estimate of their own labors ~ So far at least were they from being occupied with " personally conducting the transit of supplies from Kwanjululu," that during that long time they only received two or three communications of any sort whatever from the outside world. Mr. S – – alone, besides the b'Jilding and gardening Dr. Johnston speaks of, prepared during that time-in the Luba language, which he had not before learned-a vocabulary, grammar, notes, and part of John's Gospel, as well as several hymns and other portions, and carried on broadcast sowing of the Gospel seed. Mr. F–'s share in the work was the care, at first, of an African orphan home of some eight little children. A serious illness, however, laid him aside for the greater part of two years.
" , Seeing Dr. Johnston owed his very presence in Central Africa to the" huge farce" he has since sought to expose, as I carried him and his men to BiM, bag and baggage, by sending our own porters from BiM to meet him, it has seemed altogether too absurd that the Christian public should expect replies in detail to the gross and personal charges brought against me in his book.' "
We should expect Dr. Johnston to favor medical mIssions, and he does. But even here his hypercriticism shows itself. He advises that a fully qualified physician accompany every party of white missionaries. But he adds that here lies the chief necessity for the qualified medical man j and then proceeds to say that, thongh we are inclined to sneer at native doc- tors, some of them effect cures by means of herbs to us unknown j t and then he proceeds to instance cases of cure that had baffled fully educated physicians, and so serious that blood-poisoning and pyremia threatened death speedily. Here again Dr. Johnston's conclusions seem to us altogether unsafe from their reckless one-sidedness. It may readily be admitted that, as among the mo~t barbarous tribes, her~ and there a natural remedy may be known to these heathen medicine men, the simple application of which requires no skill for its successful use. But it would take more than the experience of eighteen months in rapidly crossing Africa to satisfy most readers • P. 56. t P. 336• that the African native doctors conld be trusted with the general treatment of disease. Monteiro found them proposing to administer the casca poison to a hydraulic press at Ambriz, to test whether it were a witch or not; and finding no stomach or intestines to try it upon, they administered the dose to a female slave instead!
After patient reading of "Reality versus Romance," our eonclusion is that in Dr. Johnston's eyes most missionaries are visionarie8.* He affirms that (, there is not an authenticated instance on record of a savage genuinely turning to God or renouncing his superstitions and fetich WOl'- ship" until he has been many months, and too often years, under instruction. This statement, taken literally, is not to be found fault with, and when examined closely might be construed into an encouragement. For any missionary might have written it with very slight change, thus: "There are many authenticated instances on record of savages genuinely turning to God, renouncing their superstitions and fetich worship, though only after they have been under instruction many months, and too often years." These two sentences do not essentially differ, as Dr. JO~lllston's form of statement is negative, but does not exclude the positive. Yet one who reads his sentence, by implication and inference comes to the unconscious impression that mission work does not pay in Africa; that the native mind and heart are too unimpressible ; that missionary toil yields so slow and slim a harvest that labor is virtually thrown away. Such impressions we know to have been gathered by intelligent readers of this book.
Amid so much that is critical and condemnatory, it is refreshing to find something which our friend Dr. Johnston considers praiseworthy. He finds the labors of McKenzie and Hepburn among the Mangwato have" not been in vain j for, besides the chief, there are a large Dumber of natives whose eonsistent and exemplary lives prove that their profession of Christianity is something more than the mere observance of outward formalities." t The" one .mission" which, in Dr. Johnston's mind, " deserves the full sympathy and hearty support of Christians at home more than another" is that of Franeis Coillard.! This is unstinted praise j and there are a few other instances,§ but they are very rare. He did find at least one example of what Christianity can do for Africa, in Khama, whom both friends and foes aeknowledge to be a « straightforward, honest, and upright man." II Let us be grateful for even one example. Perhaps further candid research in Africa's mission fields might have revealed others.
The editor of this REVIEW and writer of this article, though he has not spent even eighteen months in a transit of the Dark Continent, has spent twice eighteen years int-he careful study of missions, and has found the consenting testimony of missionaries, from John Williams to John Paton, wonderful in its unanimity as to the glorious harvests of mission toil even among the most degraded tribes. When one has such witnesses as Lindley • P. 154. t P. 237. ~ P. 182. § pp. 206.219,287. I P. 234. and Scott, among the Zulus j Moffat, among the Bechuanas j Bushnell, at the Gaboon ; Mackay, in Uganda; Hogg and Lansing, in the Nile Valley j Richards, on the banks of the Congo j Johnson, in Sierra Leone; George Thompson, at the Mendi Mission; so long as we have the story of Madagascar, Lovedale, Hogbrook, vVellington, Blantyre, Impolwene, we shall be reluctant to believe that any other field of labor has more abundantly borne fruit under Gospel tillage than this same Dark Continent.
With many positions of Dr. Johnston we are in the heartiest agreement, especially with his inveighings against the demand for interesting and encouraging " reports" to be read at quarterly and annual meetings at home, and which tempt not only to a false standard of estimating results, but to a false way of stating them. * The outcry and clamor for visible results is born of unbelief. "He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. " There is in all mission work a period of breaking up fallow ground and of seed sowing, and even the harvcst time is often succeeded by times of drought and barrenness. All honor to those who, like the" lonely and sorely tried workers" in the Matabele country and the Barotse Valley, are" foundation workers, toiling deep down in superstition and gross darkness," like the " toilers in mud and stone, " who laid the massive masonry that holds up the Forth Bridge. t In the day when God's structure stands complete they shall be recognized and rewarden.. He quotes certain statements from M. C. Fenwick, of Corea, which ,were addressed to Dr. Brookes and meant as a private communication, but published by him in The Truth, concerning which Mr. Fenwick sends the editor a communication which will be found in the Editorial Department. Mr. Fenwick adopted hasty conclusions, which he now cordially withdraws, as perhaps Dr. Johnston, in his love of truth, may by and by be compelled to do also. But when Dr. Johnston or anyone else states that a certain missionary has falsified facts deliberately, we stop and dcmand more evidence before we give credence.
We can sympathize with all Dr. Johnston's invectives against misleading reports and statistics, as where a station is marked as though occupied, where somebody simply" wants to go j" t yet even here there may be only a mistake. In preparing a map of a mission territory it is common to select points for occupation, and it might be inferred by some one examining such map that these projected stations are all actual. Let us not needlessly attribute intent to deceive when another interpretation will suffice.
He deals without delicacy with the British South African Company and its pretensions to "British protectorate ;" its securing of a commercial monopoly, and appropriation of valuable presents meant for the queen! He thinks that, instead of opening up an entrance to the heart of Africa for the Gospel, it will take more than one generation to eradicate the bitter hate and deep-seated dread felt by the natives to the white man. § The * P. 156. t P. 160. t P. 163. § Pp. 145, 146, 260, 261. . practical effect of so-called" British rule" is thus set forth in no very ~om plimentary or hopeful terms. * For Dr. Johnston's unc?mpromising opposition to the rum traffic, and his pictures of the ruin which strong drink is bringing to African natives, we are thankful. He depicts the awful orgies of intemperance at Kolom- bambi; t and yet he seems ready (,nough himself to have given drink to Kananene, if he had had any spirits with him t-an inconsistency which we cannot explain.
This book, finely gotten up as it is, has in it, likll most journals, plenty of comparatively useless matter. It abounds in minor matters and triviali- ties, which become wearisome. To the ordinary reader it matters little what a traveller eats for breakfast; on which side of a stream he pitches his tent; just how many new carriers he engages, and what is their age and com- plexion, and at just what hour of the day he takes his cup of tea; or exactly what is contained in every present a chief may send him. § ,Ve would not wish to follow our author in his disposition to hypercriticism; but a very minute examination of his book convinces us that it might have been re- duced in bulk fully one third, if not one half, by avoiding needless repeti- tion of details. One chapter-on the conditions of pioneer life, diet, car- rying of goods, modes of tenting, sleeping, crossing plains and deserts, fording rivers, etc. -might have sufficed for the whole book. A diary is a convenient method of daily record; but, after the details are thus gath- ered and recorded as each day's experience makes possible, it would seem wiser and better to classify and rearrange. Because the individual facts were thus collected day by day, it does not follow that their presentation to the reader must pursue the same process. We learn to spell words let- ter by letter, but we do not introduce our spelling exercise into essays.
Valuable contributions are made incidentally by Dr. Johnston to the literature of missions, by his vivid description of the country and its in- habitants and their customs, as well as by his researches into the fauna and flora. His illustrations, furnished by his own camera, are superb.
The advice given in this book, touching all matters of physical regimen, dietetics, and medicine, should be carefully weighed. II He gives sound counsel as to building sites, food, habits, etc. His general conclusions may be found in the close of this somewhat voluminous work.'- To imitate Dr. Johnston's candor and avoid his sweeping denunciation, we confess that, amid many attractive features, we have found his book " a disappointing country" to travel in. Weare glad it is a somewhat costly book, for it will not be so likely to fall into the hands of miscel- laneous people, who will hastily draw conclusions adverse to missions.
Read by the young and enthusiastic, the romance is perhaps too rapidly dispelled. The" facts" are too bald and bare and repulsively barren; we believe unnecessarily so. Such a book, jf read at all, should be read side by side with Moffat's life, or Henry Richard's " Story of the Pente- cost on the Congo," or Josiah Tyler's" Forty Years Among the Zulus."
We mean no unfriendliness to Dr. Johnston when we record our im- pression that, with all the good qualities of his superb book, it is as a whole a mistake ; and that the general impression left on the mind of the reader is not a true one. We feel confident that the conclusions here reached are not based upon sufficiently abnndant particulars or a broad enough in- duction; and that those who would get at the complete truth as to African missions, must listen to the testimony of other witnesses beside the a'.lthor of Reality VB. Romance.
* Pp. 291, 2115. tP.73. ~ P. so. § Pp. 82, 88. H P.320. ,. P. 826 et aeg.
TIME AS A FACTOH IN CHRISTIAN MISSIO!;S
'l'IME AS A FACTOR IN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.
BY REV. ARTHUR H. SMITH, SHAN'l'UNG, CHINA.
1.
The main assumptions on which Christian mlSSlOns proceed are to be found in a single text from the Gospel of Luke: "The Son of man carne to seek and to save that which was lost." This involves a theory of the condition of humanity. It involves the most important fact in the history of the race. It involves a benevolent purpose, which we are abundantly assured will be accomplished. Upon this point there must be no doubt or wavering, for to the believer in the inspiration of the Scripture the future is as certain as the past.
We live in an age in which there has been great expansion in all directions, and among others in the prosecution of Christian missions. Probably more persons are to-day interested in the conversion of the world to Christ than at any previous time. While the work of missions has not been undertaken upon any adequate scale, there is a steady progress both iu the amount and in the quality of effort put forth. It is therefore more and more important that those who are brought face to face with this mighty problem should have clear and correct ideas of its nature. Owing to the greatness of the subject and the complexity of the considerati<'':- involved in it, it is by no means so easy to corne to correct conclusions as many persons seem to suppose. No one has a right to assume that the convictions at which he has arrived are the final truth, but everyone who has had experience may be able to contribute something, however slight, for the edification of his brethren. The following observations upon the "time element in Christian missions" may be taken, as in some sense, the outcome of more than twenty years' practical acquaintance with one of the great mission fields of the world.
1. It is a principle of wide application that great changes take place slowly. The story of the physical universe has not yet been fully told, but enough is known to make it sure that the vast distances of most of the heavenly bodies are matched by the inconceivably great periods of time in which they have been slowly assuming their present condition. Physical geographers have to some extent been able to decipher the " story of the planet," which is always and everywhere one of gradual and progressive change. Catastrophes in great numbers have occurred, but their effects have been distributed and perpetuated only by the lapse of time. The lava thrown out from the bowels of the earth cools, disintegrates, and becomes at length a fertile soil. Mountains are washed down by torrents from the clouds, and little by little the vast alluvial plains come into being.
The law of gradual development is illustrated in all those races of mankind which have been destined to play the largest part in history. An amplification of this proposition would be of itself a treatise. It took more than a millenninm and a half from the call of Abraham till the time when, in the providence of God, the Jew was sent out on his mission unto all nations, and even then his education was far from satisfactory or com- plete.
The Roman race was slowly compacted by eight centuries of discipline ere it was fitted to take the rule of all the '3arth. A still longer period elapsed while that mightiest of empires was slowly crumbling away, the disintegrating elements forming the germs of modern Europe.
The Anglo-Saxon race, to which we are proud to belong, is itself the product of events which have been distributed over a period of thirteen centuries and a half. For ages there seemed to be a mere chaotic conflict of Saxon and Dane. It was eight centuries ago that the Normans moved into Britain and " edited the English language." It is less than three centuries since England began to figure as a world· wide power. and only within the present century has the manifest destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race become plain; not to themselves merely, but to other peoples as well.
In one of the letters of the late A. W. Mackay occurs a passage which suggests much more than might appear upon a careless roading: "It is from the naked savages of Albion and Gormania that have sprung such names as Newton and Shakespeare, Handel and Goethe. A moderu meeting of the committee of a missionary society, deliberating about the extension of the work abroad, is but the Christian development of those palavers which were held by skin-clad Britons on the grassy banks of the Thames, where, with battle-axe in hand, they debated plans for a raid on a neighboring tribe. The problem to be solved and the conditions of the case were pretty much the same in Europe once as they are now in Africa. "
The great historian of civilization, M. Guizot, in the introduction to his monumental work, speaking of the forces involved in human progress, analyzes them into social progress and moral progress, and then proceeds to observe, " One or the other of these facts may predominate, may shine forth with greater splendor for a season, and impress upon the movement its own particular character. At times it may not be till after the lapse of a long interval, after a thousand transformations, a thousand obstacles, that the second shows itself, and comes, as it were, to complete the civilization which the first had begun; but when we look closely, we easily recognize the link by which they are connected. The movements of Providence are not restricted to narrow bounds; it is not anxious to deduce to-day the consequence of the premises it laid down yesterday. It may defer this for ages, till the fulness of time shall come. Its logic will not be less conclusive for reasoning slowly. Providence moves through time, as the gods of Homer through space-it makes a step, and ages have rolled away I How long a time, how many circumstances intervened before the . regeneration of the moral powers of man by Christianity exercised its great, its legitimate influence upon his social condition q Yet who can doubt or mistake its power ~" It is in harmony with these generalizations that the Book, in which God has chosen to reveal Himself to mankind, was not communicated at once, nor under one set of conditions, but " at sundry times and in divers manners," .. durmg a period of certainly more than a thousand years, and by the pens of many writers." What a vast" progress of doctrine" from the simple anthropomorphism of the old patriarchs, with their sacrifices and oblations, yet. with no specific command to prayer, and no cIear teach- ing of a future life, to the instruction imparted by Christ concerning Rim who is a spirit, and is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth! Yet, as the writer just quoted (Dr. R. S. Storrs) goes on to remark, "There is really not a single portion, from the first sentence, 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,' to the last, 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,' which has not some radical connection with what anticipates or what follows." The law of gradual development is illustrated in what has been styled the" evolution of Christianity," from the very beginning under the teach- ings of the Master till the present time. "His language in innumerable places," says the late Mr. Brace, in his valuable work, "Gesta Christi," " showed that He believed that these principles which He taught would only be successful after long periods of time and gradual development. Most of His figures and analogies with regard to tIle' kingdom of God' rest upon the idea of slow and progressive growth or change." That Christianity could have been introduced in no other way is indeed evident from the spiritual history of those whom lIe called to be His disciples. The conception of a Messiah who should not" at this time redeem Israel," but whose rule should be in the hearts of men and of a spiritual nature, was wholly beyond them. They could not believe what the Master dis- tinctly and repeatedly told them as to His sufferings and death, and they evidently had no anticipation of His resurrection from the dead, and could with difficulty be persuaded that Christ's promise had bflen made good. The biography of all the apostles, until after Christ's resurrection, might be condensed into His own expressive word, "Fools and slow of heart." That a mighty change came over these men at the Day of Pentecost is a fact of incalculable importance and promise to the Church. Yet, notwithstanding this impetus, the character of the apostles was not suddenly perfected, nor was the Church established by a swift and irresistible miracle. Agencies were set in motion which tended gradually to accomplish the desired results, and those agencies are in operation to-day. Without pausing to amplify these thoughts, which would require a survey of the history of the Church universal, it may be remarked that the gradual evolution of ideas is not a peculiarity of the religious progress of mankind, but is common to all mental progress. The history of the concept of liberty, for which the world had long to wait, and of its slow development, is in some respects analogous to that of Christianity itself. The same may be said of the idea of toleration, which is still far from being acclimated even in Christian lands. Forces, such as are represented by these words, have in the world a mighty, but not an immediate effect. "Sudden effects in history," says John Stuart Mill, " arc generally superficial; causes which go down deep into the future events produce the most serious parts of their effects only slowly, and must have time to become a part of the familiar order of things. ,) Sir William Hamilton points out that one of the strongest intellectual instincts of man is to unify knowledge. This instinct tends both to credulity and scepticism. Every great discovery has to fight its way to recog- nition. The philosopher just named mentions the fact that not aphysician in Europe above forty years of age is believed to have admitted Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood. The wider the truth the more difficult its acceptance. It is not only Lamas, such as the one whom Mr. George Kennan interviewed, who are at this late day in doubt in regard to some of the elementary truths of astronomy. A recent number of the .Am.erican Missionary tells of a white preacher in Tennessee, who publicly stated that he was prepared to demonstrate the proposition that the sun revolves around the earth. Doubtless such scepticism seems to most of us imaginary, but it is, on the contrary, to some minds very real.
Before the acceptance of a new truth there must intervene a period of painful doubt, or of such a degree of " hospitality to truth" as to accept either of two contradictory propositions, according to circumstances. The race of teachers who are prepared to "teach round or fiat, according as parents prefer," is not extinct.
That sentiment is one of the strongest forces in human affairs is as well known as any,truth in physics. Consider the hIstory of the theory and practice of vaccination. Why is it that in certain parts of Canada there is almost as fierce an opposition to this valuable preventive of a deadly disease, as if the method was by baptism with oil of vitriol ~ The objection does not rest upon reasoning, and cannot be overcome by reasoning. It is sentimental. It is in part sentiment which makes the introdnction of the practice of cremation so slow and difficult. Earth burial can be shown, as it has often been shown, to be full of peril to the living, but for all that, how many of us want to be incinerated ~ Why does the metric system have such uphill work in getting itself into use in a country where the currency has always been based upon decimals ~ Why can we not introduce spelling reforms into literature or good ventilation into public buildings ~ If it is true that the greater a truth, the slower it makes its way, this proposition must also hold true of the widest generalization of all-the existence of only one God. An idea of God so comprehens~ve, so farreaching, and so revolutionary as that taught by Christ, is not likely to obt.ain an easy or an undisputed entrance into the human understanding, much less to become an integral part of the thought and life of the community or of an individual man.
II. If it is important for us to remember that great changes take place slowly, it is not less so to recollect that great changes are often followed by great reactions.
In the evolution of the globe this truth is illustrated in that remarkable phenomenon called the Glacial Epoch. In the history of the Jewish Church it is illustrated by the repeated relapses into idolatry, both in the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah. Ve read the story of their perpetual retrogradations with incredulity and indignation, forgetting that it is the history of mankind in miniature. In the development of the Christian Church this truth is exhibited in the Dark Ages, when the heavenly lamp seemed to have almost gone out. It is exemplified in the history of whole areas over which Christianity once had dominion. Where are the " seven churches of Asia" ~ What became of the churches in Northern Africa ~ Some of the early missions of the Christian Church perished altogether from the face of the earth, and no traces of them have been found, although for a time they seemed to be highly successful. Theirs was the way of the cagle in the air, the way of the serpent upon a rock, the way of the ship in the midst of the sea. The first Christian church in Roman Britain had been quite forgotten, as Green reminds us, before the reintroduction of that faith in the seventeenth century under Theodore. In the fierce struggle which then ensued, there were great reactions from the first enthusiasm for the new faith, and while nominally accepting it, its adherents" retained their old superstitions side by side with the new worship. Plague or mishap drove them back to a reliance on their heathen charms or amulets, and if trouble befell the Christian teachers who came settling among them, they took it .as a proof of the wrath of the older gods. When some log-rafts, which were floating down the Tyne for the construction of an abbey at its mouth, drifted with the monks who w"re at work on them out to sea, the rustic bystanders shouted: 'Let nobody pray for them; let nobody pity these men who have taken away from us our old worship; and how their new-fangled customs are to be kept, nobody knows.' "
Dr. Geikie quotes an old writer, who calls attention to the analogy between the character of Balaam, who joined the worship of Jehovah with heathen superstitions, and that of some of our English kings. " He was an ambidexter in religion, like Redwald, king of the East Saxons, the first who was baptized; who, as Camden relates, had in the same church one chapel for the Christian religion and another for sacrificing to devils. A loaf of the same leaven was our resolute Rufus, who painted God on one side of his shield and the devil on the other, with the desperate inscription, , I am ready for either.' "
This behavior of our semi-Christian, semi-pagan ancestors is very significant Itnd instructive, and it is worth whilc to pause a moment to consider its bearing on our theme.
In his" Forms of ,Yater," 1'rofes80r Tyndall gives an interesting account of certain experiments made with ice. In 1850 Faraday discovered that when two pieces of ice are placed together they freeze together at the point of contact. Two plates of ice laid one upon the other over night are sometimes so firmly united that they will break anywhere else than along the junctiou. Two pieces of icc will freeze under water, and even in warm water, touching, freezing, melting, and coming together to repeat the process. To this phenomenon Professor Tyndall gives the name of " regelation," and it appears to be an almost perfect analogue to a phenomenon in the religious development of man. There are two different facts to be connoted. The first is the tendency of the mind to escape from a state of oscillation to a state of equilibrium. Heathenism is equilibrium. The introduction of Christianity, with its numerous and imperative demands, brings about a painful and inconvenient oscillation. ,Yhen this becomes insupportable, there ensues a voluntary return to equilibrium, not improbably with the co-operation of "seven other spirits, worse than the first. "
The other fact of which careful note must be taken is the tendency to degeneration. It is exhibited in those seeds which, taken from a land in which they have developed and planted in another soil, either fail to germinate at all, or else produce plants which run to stalks and therefore cannot propagate after their kind.
'On the other hand, there arc many plants which within a certain climate are not only useful, but highly ornamental, but which, when transferred to other zones or climate, develop in such a way as to become a serious and sometimes an insurmountable nuisance. It is not enough to have introduced Christianity into a new place, since, under certain conditions, regelation is certain to ensue. It is not enough merely to plant seeds, as many of them will make a fair show outwardly, but will yield no others to continue the stock, and sometimes there will be such a degeneration as to destroy every appearance of identity with the original. This latter case was amply illustrated by the T'ai-p'ing rebels in China, whose blasphemous adaptations of Scripture phrases shocked all Christendom, and probably did not a little to prejudice the introduction of a pure faith into that empire.
In a recent paper by Admiral Seymour upon the present condition of the Panama Canal, it appears that the work already done (about a fifth of the whole) is rapidly falling to pieces. An inch of rain sometimes falls in an hour, and the average rainfall is five times as great as that of London. Vegetation springS' up so quickly that the whole of the works will soon be buried out of sight. W~ich is easier, to evangelize a race or to dig a ditch 1 ,Yhich would be the harder task, to alter the" religious bias" of the most numerous race upon the earth, or to introduce European roads and bridges ~ It is ten years since the imperial commission was secured for a line of railway in China, not a foot of which has yet been begun, because the opposition was so strong that the scheme was strangled in its cradle j but no one doubts that railways will eventually be built all over the empire, although it would not be strange if a century should elapse before this comes to pass.
·Which is the easier, to teach a heathen to sing a tune correctly, or to lead him to walk in the way which leads to heaven ~ The psalmody of the Chinese, at least, must depend mainly for its melody upon the rising generation and not upon adults. To bring in a new system Jf music, and to teach those who use it to bc governed by its laws, is in China a hope- less task, unless the pupils, like Dr. Johnson's Scotchman, are "caught young." .
How long does any reader, who has a sufficient acquaintance with China to form an intelligent opinion, think it would require in that empire to bring about such a change of practice that every man, woman, and child should take a bath at least once a week and put on a clean undergarment ~ As yet most of them take no baths at all, and underclothing is unknown. Yet which is easier, to cause such an alteration of customs as this would imply, or to upset all the religious assumptions slowly accumulated by the wisdom of ages ~ Of the phenomenon of regelation we have already spoken. It is an important one, not easy to be understood.
Antecedent to experience, our theory of the propagation of Christianity would undoubtedly be that while it might be a slow process, it would be a sure one. The sacred fire once kindled will not go out. While indi- vidual apostasies might be looked for, we should not expect to see whole communities abandon the faith which they have come in some measure to know. Yet experience shows that the most· depressing feature of mis- sionarywork is the fact that there are many little Christian communities carefully and patiently instructed, which seem for a time to be the germs out of which large churches are to come. Yet later on internal dissen- sions, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of poverty, or other causes not foreseen or preventible, have proved a worm at the root of these bright hopes. "-e could name a city in one of the suburbs of which there was an interesting opening for the introduction of Christianity, and in which one or two preachers were stationed with almost no interruption for about two years. The inquirers numbered fifteen, among whom were scholars, merchants, artisans, and day laborers. The Sunday services were largely attended, and there was a sort of Bible class every evening, at which in- struction enough seemed to have been imparted to give every inquirer a clear and connected idea of what Christianity is and what its duties are.
Several persons wholly ignorant learnt to read, and large numbers of all grades of Christian books were sold to ready purchasers. Nothing occurred to give the growing work a check, as the. opposition of the literati was gradually overcome, and there never was any external hindrance from any other quarter. Yet after two years of this work carefully followed up by all known means, it was ascertained that not a single one of .the fifteen held out in his quest for truth. Some were too busy, some were too poor, and all were bound by the invisible fetters of ancient customs diametrically opposed to the spirit and to the practice of Christianity. Not one of these persons would not cheerfully admit that Christianity is a good thing-much better, indeed, than anything which China has or can have to occupy its place j but it is too costly, too exacting-" W!l cannot afford it," and that is the end of the matter.
We could name a mission station within a few miles of which are fifteen different villages, in each of which there was at one time a regular reiigious service, and in each of which this service had eventually to be given up, from causes which are as various as the situation of the hamlets, but all alike having their root in the fact that the introduction of Christianity is a more difficult task than some of its missionaries supposed. Every missionary is able from his own experience to duplicate these instances, and he will often tell you that in specific cases the failure was directly traceable to some fatal mistake of his own, the possible consequences of which he had not duly considered.
What are we to say to such occurrences as these ~ Has the Gospel lost its power? Is there some new and unforeseen combination of circumstances which renders impossible in one place that which is quite feasible in another?
On the contrary, there is nothing whatever about it either new or surpnsmg. " Some fell by the wayside." "Some fell among thorns." "Some fell on stony ground, and because it had no depth of earth, it withered away." The only question is that of the relative number of the seeds which may be expected to fall by the wayside, among thorns, or upon the.~rocks, and in regard to that point Ch"ist gives us no information. lYe only know that some brings forth thirty, sixty, or an hundred-fold.
The plain truth is that as yet the Christian Church at home has no adequate conception of wlwt is m€ant by the evangelization of a heathen nation or tribe, and this despite the experience of an hundred years of modern mISSIOns. The nature of the work to be done is indeed understood, for it is clearly pointed out in the New Testament, but the true character of the obstructions can only be known by those who meet them face to face. Whatever the field, it is to be premised that the whole intellectual and moral energies of those addressed by Christianity will rise np against it. In the strong language of Professor Phelps-albeit none too strong for the facts-" The most severe and intricate labor ever undertaken by the mind of man is that of projecting a Divine revelation into the mental and moral history of a race of beings who are filled with moral antipathies to itll spirit, and doing this mainly by the art of oral speech."
(To be concluded.)
CHAMBERI EVANGELICAL MISSION, MADRID, SPAIN
CHAMBERI EVANGELICAL MISSION, MADRID, SPAIN.
BY MRS. A. R. FENN, MADRID, SPAIN.
During the past year the work has been carried on in Madrid with uncontracted operations. The six schools, with 500 to 550 children. have been supported during the past ten months, as the other branches, by dona- tions and a few subscriptions from Christians, mostly of Great Britain, but two or three also of the United States.
The notice to leave the premises does not expire for another year, but the prospects of a new building outwardly are not bright, there not being yet sufficient in hand for the land, though more than one suitable plot can be obtained at from £1200 to £1500. A number of well-known gentlemen in London have offered to become trustees, also honorary secretary and treasurer for the building fund, whose addresses will be given, and the whole thing is daily brought before the Lord of the vineyard that He may dispose those of His servants and stewards whom He will to help as they are able in this work.
Mr. Fenn and I returned from England to Spain in May last, and found the schools and the various kinds of Gospel work going on well, the schools being increasingly well attended-in fact, with as many children as the teaching power would admit in some, and as the premises would hold in others; and that, notwithstanding the school fees have been slightly raised, the obligation to pay the increased fee being only laid on new scholars. The general conduct of the children is good, their advance in ordinary studies satisfactory, in some cases highly so, and their knowledge of Scripture, including history and doctrine, intelligent and clear. The amount of Scripture they have committed to memory is astonishing, and would serve them well should their Bibles ever be taken from them (which God grant may never be the case I), and which memorized Scripture we constantly pray the Spirit may bring to their remembrance and make effective in their hearts and lives.
From time to time there have always been manifest conversions, and two or three of the elder girls and boys, it is believed, have decided for Christ during the past year; and with much joy the mission church has lately received into her fellowship two of the former scholars.
We must work while it is day. ·While there are always parents who wish to entrust their children to our care, while there are earnest Christian Spanish teachers to teach them, notwithstanding the continued and ever-varying opposition of priests and ladies of the Church of Rome, shall we withdraw ~ While the people come to hear the Word of God preached in spite of Rome's anathemas, some believing and some believing not, and while the law protects us in our buildings, which it calls templos (temples), shall we close the work because our landlord will no longer have us as tenants and there is no other suitable building in the neighborhood 1 ,Ve think not, but go on continually laying the circumstances before the Lord. As opportunity has occurred we have also laid them before His people in more favored lands, that they may have the opportunity of helping forward the Gospel in this large and thickly populated northern district of Madrid, containing more than 60,000 inhabitants, as well as in its extension, and also that we may have the fellowship of their prayer for much more abundant spiritual blessing, especially in the conversion of the young. We often pray that the seed sown may multiply by the word passing from mouth to mouth. I will conclude this paper by giving one instance of answer to this prayer.
Some eight years ago a small mission was opened in a large village about twenty-seven miles from Madrid, and visited from time to time by ourselves, fellow-workers, or Spanish Christian men, and several conversions took place. An old man from another province annually spent some weeks in the place in pressing olives. He never was able to attend a meeting on account of having to work all the week, Sundays included; but he read the tracts given him, purchased a Bible, and took opportunities for conversation with Christians. lie laid hold of the truth and returned to his village, more than one hundred miles off, year by year with a little new light, which was seen by his life, and consequently his words were listened to by his neighbors. This year he entreated that his village might be visited with the Gospel, and Mr. Nisbet, a missionary who joined the work last year, promised to go as soon as he could. He went in May, and spent ten days in continually speaking to individuals, to the few who assembled in daylight and to the many who congregated in the evenings in the old man's house. Many became deeply interested in the things they heard, and he thought two or three at least believed with the heart. The interest awakened among the people quickly aroused the opposition of the priests, fourteen of whom, from as many places around, assembled to consider what could be done. They at last got the mayor to order Mr. Nisbet to leave the place, though he could not legally compel him; but Mr. Nisbet had already stayed longer than he had intended, and the seed was sown. May it be watered from above, and the ground prepared for a future visit!
A poor sick woman, who had heard the old man speak and had read much of his Bible, longed for the visit of the Protestant pastor, saying, " Oh, when will he come ~ Will it be before I die~" She died six weeks before the visit, a true believer in the Lord Jesus, the old man said.
[Donations may be sent to the editor, Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D., or to either of the following gentlemen in England: Arthur Boake, Esq., Hon. Treasurer for Land and Building Fund, Southwood Lawn, Highgate, London, N.; Arthur Pomroy, Esq., Hon. Secretary for Land and Building Fund, 2 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall Street, London, E. C.; W. Charles W. Vincent, Esq., 163 Upper Asbaldeston Road, N. (London Corre-
THE PLACE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN MISSIONARY WORK
spondent); James Kingsmill, Esq., 31 Buckingham Place, Brighton (Provincial Correspondent), stating object: (1) schools and general work, (2) building, (3) personal expenses of director and fellow-missionaries.] THE PLACE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN MISSIONARY WORK. * BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
There is perhaps no one question connected with the great missionary enterprise more complex than this, or involving so many and often conflicting considerations which it is necessary to weigh. The circumstances and conditions of work differ, not only in different lands, but also in dif. ferent periods. Some of the expectations which were entertained a century ago have been disappointed; others have met with only modified fulfilment. It was understood that inveterate systems would need to be overcome, and much rubbish be removed before the superstructure of Christianity and Christian civilization could be reared; but the Church was not quite prepared for all the changes which have, in fact, occurred. Very generally it was supposed to be the wise course to begin with the young, and rise from primary to higher grades of education, encouraged by the fact that so much had been accomplished by general education in our own land.
But perhaps it was not duly considered that this general education had in our case been a slow growth, and that its sudden introduction among peoples enthralled by old heathen customs and steeped in false philosophies might develop results somewhat different from those which had been expected. The task undertaken in India and in the Turkish Empire, for example, involved the impact of a full-grown civilization upon othe: civ. ilizations which were also fully developed, though on different lines. This implied not merely persuasion, but gradual revolution. Where so great changes are liable to occur, it is impossible to foresee all the results of education, and especially higher education, upon a non-Christian race. And we ought not to b£ surprised if, as a result of our progress and in proportion to our progress, even greater antagonisms should yet rise up against our missionary work.
One result of higher education in the countries named, taken together with the opening of increased commercial relations with other lands, has been the awakening of an ambition to seek especially an English or a French education as a means of business thrift. The spirit developed has been disappointing to the missionaries, who had hop~d for consecrated lives enlisted in winning men to the Cross, but who have found instead of this • Read before the Conference of officers of Mission Bpards and 80cieties in New York, January 17, 1894, an all-absorbing desire to secure advantageous positions in governmental or commercial employments. Moreover, it has been found very generally that the education of young men, iu the great seaport cities where they were subjected to a coutrolling cosmopolitan influence, has been attended with more or less denationalization. :Many young men from Mt. Lebanon, trained in Beirut, or Armenians from Central Turkey, educated at Constantinople, have been quick to catch the foreign spirit, to assume foreign airs, and to develop from their education a positive unfitness for the humble walks of missionary life among their countrymen in the rural districts. A later outcome of the same general influence has been the creation of a desire to visit Europe or America to obtain a still higher education, generally with a professed purpose to return to a greater usefulness at home, but sooner or later disclosing an ambition to be placed upon the footing and the salary of a foreign missiouary. This has been and now is one of the gravest difficulties connected with higher education in certain prominent mission fields.
And its influence has not been confined to those who had been selected as candidates for the ministry or for teaching, but has extended to hundreds of others in various ranks of life. Colonies of Armenians, Syrians, Bulgarians, Persians are now fonnd in our American cities, and the whole movement in its far-reaching influence seems to promise a serious depletion of the ranks of intelligent youth, who ought to be trained at home as Christian laborers.
Another unexpected reRnlt of foreign education, particularly English education, has been the rehabilitation of the old false systems which it was our purpose to supersede. In India the educated young men of the present generation have, through Western influence, been made familiar as never before with their own faiths and philosophies. This has not all been accomplished by missiouary institutions, but more largely by those under the auspices of Government j yet to some extent our English education has led on to the same results. While we have greatly extended the English language as a medium of enlightenment, there has been a revival of Sanscrit learning, with extensive expurgated translations of Sanscrit literature into English, so that hundreds have been made acquainted with their own systems through our language learned in the mission schools.
Our agnostic speculations also have found their way to India and Japan. As a result of the investigations of a society formed in Calcutta for the diffusion of a wholesome literature, it was found that Western infidelity in various forms was making quite as large a use of the English language, in the diffusion of infidel and immoral books and pamphlets, as that of all missionary boards and societies taken together. And such literature has this advantage, that wealthy Rajahs and others more or less hostile to Christian propagandism are ready to contribute largely for the circulation of the writings of Bradlaugh and Ingersoll, while n~ such help is found in the dissemination of Chris~ian books. Then, as to the litera. ture of vice, French novels of the worst type, translated into cheap English forms, were found to be extensively imported as business ventures by cor. rupt and nnscrupulous men. The extent of this evil has been found to be appalling.
A similar condition of things has appeared in Siam, where my late colleague, Dr. Mitchell, when on a visit three or four years ago, was informed that the high officials of the government were recediug from their favorable attitude toward female educatiou, for the reasou that the Siamese women and girls who had learned to read were being corrupted by the vile literature which was thrown upon the market at Bangkok.
Such discouragements as these should not be allowed too great weight, but it is well to recognize the fact that tares are sown abundautly with the wheat, and that if the true husbandmen are not alert, the tares may exceed the harvest.
Another consideration which has raised some question as to the policy of missionary education, is the alleged fact that in proportion to the great expenditure made by certain societies especially engaged in the higher training, the number of conversions has seemed small as compared with the results gained by other societies devoted mainly to e,'angelistic work. A spirit of discontent with these results has sometimes manifested itself in some of the churches, and has been made a matter of criticism by the secular press, with invidious comparisons as to the relative" cost of a convert. "
Now a thoroughly enlightened estimate would, of course, make little account of these criticisms, and would place greater value upon the broader scope of future results. Still these complaiuts have not been easy to meet; and, more or less iu response to a popular feeliug, certain societies have beeu organized with the paramount aim of direct evangelization, and their undenominational work based upon that policy has won a large degree of sympathy and support. "Institutionalism," as it is sometimes rather slightingly called, has been held at a discount, and men have plead for the direct work of preaching the Gospel as a message to the adults of this generation. In answer to the argument of the "seed· sowers," it has been said that the fifty or sixty years of seed-sowing that have been spent in some fields ought by this time to bring forth plentiful harvests; that the great work demanded by the present generation of dying men cannot be longer saerificed to the work of teaching a limited number from whom results are to be expected in the distant years to come.
D nder the influence of these various disappointments and difficulties, it is not strange that the whole question of missionary education should have come up for re-examination, and that a feeling in favor of placing greater emphasis upon the direct work of preaching the Gospel to men and women, as it was proclaimed in the days of the apostles, should have come to demand a greater emphasis. I think I am safe in saying that in most of the missionary organizations represented in this conference, and in others which have been held, not by Americans only, but by representatives of European societies, there has been an inereasing conviction that the place of emphasis in mission work should possibly be somewhat changed, and that the prayers of all friends of missions should be emboldened to ask for abundant harvests now or soon in the fields in which for so long a time institntional work of all kinds has been carried on, and where as yet the results are proportionately small.
But, on the other hand, let us fairly weigh some considerations which urge the maintenance and the advance of higher education. Those who have read the reports of the late Parliament of Religions at Chicago must have reached the conclusion that the Church, in her conquest of the non- Christian races, mnst expect to cope with men of a high order of intellect j men well trained in the principles of their own faiths and philosophies j men who have been stimulated and emboldened by the fellowship and encouragement of every form of infidelity from our own land j men who have been made familiar with all the weaknesses and blemishes found in the history of the Christian Church j men who are stung with indignation at the outrages which almost universally, in the East and in the Islands of the Sea, are visited upon weaker races by representatives of Christian nations.
First, it is evident that some at least of our missionaries must be able defenders of the truth against manifold error. At a summer school attended by about four hundred young native ministers and teachers in Japan four or five years ago, a summary of conclusions was reached, one of which was in substance this: " We do not deem it necessary that many more missionaries shall be sent us from America to preach the Gospel to the masses of our people. The ordinary work of preaching can be done yuite as well by educated men of our own race j but if our friends across the ocean can send us men capable of becoming leaders, able to teach us how we may grapple with rival systems of religion or philosophy, and all the burning questions which confront us, then the more they send, the better. "
Now such a demand means not only a high grade of training for our missionaries, or some of them, but also for leading minds in the native church, for they especially will encounter the well-trained opposers. I know how cheap and easy it is to answer all this by the taking plea that " what our missionaries need is a knowledge of Christ, and Him crucified." But Paul also knew something about Christ, and Him crucified j and yet in planting young Titus as a missionary among the cavilling and besotted inhabitants of Crete, he enjoined upon him that careful preparation which should enable him "to convince the gainsayers," the vain talkers and deceivers, " whose months must be stopped." And these were not mere babes in knowledge, bnt were trained and skilful cavillers belonging to " the circumcision," and their mouths were to be stopped, not with sanctimonious platitudes nor sweeping denunciation, but with sound argument. FOIl" the last five years the Japan Mail has published a monthly resume of the utterances of all religious and anti-religious systems. It has main- tained in reality a continuous Parliament of Religions along the same lines as that at Chic.ago in 1893. Some of the educated Japanese, hostile to the Christian faith, have shown surprising familiarity with our faith and our Church history, especially its alleged blemishes; and Mr. Hirai, on the floor of the Chicago Parliament, hurled back the dark and blighting record of the unjust diplomacy of Christian nations in a way which only a thoroughly informed missionary could answer.
I cite these facts in order to show that not only missionaries, but at least some of our native preachers and teachers, must be fitted to defend the Christian faith against powerful opponents, and to show the difference between the attitude of the Christian Church of the West and the nations of the West.
One of the greatest necessities of our age is that we shall have here at home educational facilities which shall enable chosen men by lifelong study to speak with authority on all the great issues by which the Christian faith is confronted; and the same need will be felt-nay, is being felt, on some of our foreign fields.. In educated circles in Japan there is, I think, greater attention given to religious thought than among us. However we may account for the fact, the Japanese are philosophers by a sort of instinct. The people of India are, perhaps, thc most religious and the most metaphysical of any nation on the globe. Their literatures show that in remote ages profound philosophies were elaborated, evincing the deepest penetration into the mysteries of life and the nature and tcndencies of the human soul. Here we have been busy with material things; there religious speculation has long held the larger place. The Vedic Magazine, published in Hindi and in English at Lahore, presents some very caustic criticisms upon the habits and the characteristics of the average Anglo- Saxon. It characterizes him as a beef-eating and beer-drinking type of man, whose luxurious life renders him incapable of spiritual contemplation. His civilization is one of material forces only, and his only real worship is that of outward display or hoarded pelf. The same magazine quoted a year or two ago some of President Andrew D. White's startling revelations of the corrnptions of American m~nicipal government, and held them up to thoughtful Orientals as a specimen of the results of Western civilization.
This generation needs a new apologetic. It is no longer the old battle with Gnostics and Manichreans, nor the later controversies with English Deists or French Encyclopedists ; there are special issues that concern us now. And as the battle-ground will be not here alone, but on some of our great mission fields, shall we not prepare some of our native preachers and teachers to act well their part! If so, we must pay some attention to the highest missionary education.
I have already alluded to the fact that young men in India and Japan are well furnished with all the stock arguments against the Christian faith, and they know how to use them. A young Hindu, seventeen years of age, said to his Bible-class teacher, " Do you say that God made the world for His own glory 1" "Yes. " "Did it increase His glory 1" " Yes." " If, then, He had something which He'did not possess before, how could He have been infinite in the beginning 1" Another said, " Do you tell us that God is everywhere present and pervades all things 1" " Yes." " Is He in every visible object, and even within us 1" " Yes." "Then He is in that idol yonder, and that is what we have always held. " It is evidently a mistake to suppose that we have simply and only to tell the story of the Cross. That there is a very important place for that simple and direct work I hope to show farther on j and although there are paid pundits employed for the purpose of interrupting the bazaar preacher with perplexing questions, it is a wise rule to avoid discussions, if possible.
But the idea that either the missionary or the native preacher needs only to be taught the principles of our Christian religion, and that they can always meet the oppositions of heathen systems by ignoring them, is preposterous. If it should turn out in any of the great battle-fields of religious thought that Christianity, with all its claims to intellectual superi. ority, had shown itself unable to defend its doctrines or its history against the assailments of skilful Orientals supposed to be ignorant " heathen," it would be a day of disaster to the cause of truth. Christianity would come to be looked upon with contempt .by those whom we have professed to enlighten, and this discomfiture on the mission fields would soon cast its reflex influence upon the whole position of the Church at home. It is to be borne in mind that the world is one at last, and that with respect to religious thought the boundaries of nationality are forever lost. The Parliament of Religions has come to stay. It began long before the Chicago Committee had thought of it. Truth must everywhere be equipped for her final victory over error.
Again, not merely in religious thought and in speculative philosophy, inclu(1ing a study of all sacred books, but in science and in history, Christiallity mnst l1ave a hand on all the greater mission fields. A warped and diRtorted science taking possession of leading minds, and more or less affecting every claRs, would constitute one of the worst barriers to the inculcation of Christiau truth. For example, the wide prevalence of materialistic evolution, claiming to cut up by the ruots all the religious cosmogonies of the world-that of Genesis as well as that of the Brahmana!! 01' Manu-will, if left unchallenged in India or Japan, throw contempt upon our Christian Bible and largely upon the whole teaching of the Christian Church. I And there is a like demand in the sphere of ethics. That an entirely secular education left in the hands of governments, ana dealing chiefly with schools of philosophy and of science, would in time overthrow the religious teaching of Hinduism, or the Buddhist and Shinto faiths of Japan, goes without saying. If, then, advanced Christian instruction should be withheld, what basis of ethics would be left q And this difficulty is already being recognized and seriously felt in some Eastern lands. The disciples of Huxley and Herbert Spencer in Japan have been trying to devise' an ethical basis which would meet the wants of the people without recourse to the ethics of the New Testament. And if a race like the Hindus are by their education divested of their own religious faith, and left wIth no substitnte, by what ethical restraints or promptings will that race be influenced q I am told that certain administrators of the Indian Government, after a long experiment of mere secular training, which has left the minds of thousands of educated youth stranded on the dreary wastes of agnosticism and without the fear of God or man, are convinced that this policy is fatal, and the most thoughtful minds are turning to Christian missions with increasing favor as the only thing that can supply the deficiency and save the nation from becoming morally bankrnpt. The question has been raised, and I refer to it in this close connection, whether it might not be better for missionary societifls to dispense with governmental stipends, which are given toward the support of their educational institutions in India. Vv~ere the restrictions as stringent as those imposed by the Emperor of Austria upon all Protestant missionary operations, there might be reason for rejecting such aid j but such is not the case in India j and surely if the government is looking to missions for their moral influence in the great issues which have arisen, we should not be slow to enter into that alliance so far as the demands of other forms of work shall permit.
But in all that I have said I would not be understood as maintaining that any large proportion of our missionary expenditure should be given to what is called university education in a country like India or Japan. I notice that in the reports of missionary conferences held in India, and in published articles written on the field, one solution has generally been proposed for all the difficulties which have been named-namely this, " Increase your force, man your institutions more thoroughly, and thus make this higher education a power." But from the standpoint of the home treasuries the difficulties are less easily settled. What if every year a missionary board is compelled to choose between one desirable form of work and another q Can we, in good conscience, spend $25,000 or $50,000 in the plant or the professorships of a college for general education, when that means a retention of eight or ten missionary evangelists who otherwise might be sent, or when it must necessitate the dismissal, or at least the failure to employ, forty or fifty native preachers who might go among the people publishing the simple Gospel q While considering the needs of the higher and more intellectual classes, we must not forget the millions of the utterly benighted who will pass away in the few years of this generation. A few weeks since Mr. P. C. Mozoomdar, after speaking of the different schools of Indian philosophy, said in my IlCal'ing, that of the nearly three hundred millions of India, at least two hundred and twenty-five millions were of the simplest and most ignorant classes, who know nothing of abstruse systems or of sacred books, but are deluded by the most degrading superstitions. Surely here is a waiting vineyard for a class of laborers who can make little claim to scholarship.
I have spoken of the necessity of sending out some thoroughly quali~ fied missionaries who shall b~ able to grapple with every form of error, and I would have every man so thoroughly qualified as to understand the customs and beliefs of the people among whom he is to labor; but I wish it to be distinctly understood that I would gladly see the great majority of our missionaries giving themselves to the direct proclamation of the truth, or to the training of native preachers by short, practical courses in which the spiritual element should preponderate. They should then lead them forth as helpers to an organized work in the country villages, where they would be less liable to disturbance from the paid agents of the Aryas, who are employed to thwart their efforts by their shrewd questionings. I most earnestly advocate a great preponderance on the side of evangelistic work. If it is true that in Japan there is a native ministry who can now best do the work of preaching to the masses, that condition certainly does not obtain in the country districts of India or among the millions of China, or in Siam and Laos, least of all among the interior tribes of Africa. If we were concerned with plans for this generation only, and were not laying foundations for an extended future, I am not sure but it would be the part of wisdom to concentrate all our force and all our possible expenditure upon the direct work of preaching the Gospel to the neglected millions of to-day ; but we cannot thus neglect the foundations for the future. While, on the one hand, we ought to labor for the men of to-day as if Christ were soon to come and this generation were to be the last; on the other hand, we ought to lay plans as broadly and deeply as if assured that many generations are yet to follow.
In deciding thoughtfully and wisely where we shall place the emphasis, I think we should not wander too far from the New Testament plan. There is, of course, an important differential. This is far more an age of books and of schools than was the apostolic age. The late Christopher Robert, while speaking of the College in Constantinople and similar enterprises, once said to me that" perhaps if Paul had established a Christian college at Antioch, the Seven Churches of Asia would have had a better history." That was one view of the question before us ; but if Paul, on the other hand, had spent his life as a professor of science and philosophy at Antioch, would the Christian Church have made equal advances into Macedonia and the Roman Empire 1 Would subsequent ages have received an equivalent for that theological and spiritual teaching which we now find in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles q It might have been claimed by the Church at Antioch that scholarly work was an important seed-sowing j but what was Paul's great and world-wide mission work but a seed-sowing that has blessed many nations and made Christianity a power for all time ~ An impression seems to have prevailed with many since the great Parliament of Religions that learned Hindus, Buddhists, and Confucianists have become too wise in our day to afford any warrant for further missionary effort on our part j and in Japan something like intolerance is beginning to be shown toward the propagandists of our faith. But this is nothing new in the world. There never has been a time when there were not other needy fields farther on. Our Saviour's command in such cases was to simply move on till there was found a better welcome j and when Israel turned a deaf ear, the Gospel was borne to the Gentiles. Now, also, there is no lack of needy millions who wiII receive the truth. The late Dr. Duff once remarked that possibly the system of caste in India would yet be regarded as one of the most important and helpful factors in the great work of missions, his idea being that those despised classes who have least to hope for from their own system, who have less self-complacency and less Aryan pride, may be the first to receive with readiness and delight the Gospel which respects their manhood and proclaims the love of that God" who hath made of one blood all nations" and all castes of mankind. The village work of the American Methodist Mission in Northern India, and that of the Baptist missions in Southern India, would seem to indicate that whole villages and even hundreds and thousands of villages of low-caste people may yet be won to the Cross of Christ. God grant that such may be the future realization of the mission work in India! God grant that III our own generation we may witness an upheaval of this subsoil of degraded Hinduism that shall overthrow all the superstructures that the pride of caste has reared above it.
Already there are found among these low-caste people bright and responsive minds which, under the influence of the truth, develop a Christian manhood quite unlooked for. With a widespread evangelization and with the fair play of the British rule, who shall say that a new India may not arise from the lower ranks ~ There are many things which occur to me in connection with this broad subject, but there is time but for one further thought. We have considered the need of higher education. We have also recognized the supreme importance of reaching in the most direct way the masses that are perishing in our own generation, and here we have placed the emphasis. Now bQtween these two lines of work there is a wide sphere of effort whose importance cannot be overestimated. Obviously this wide propagandism which I have indicated must require a large force of preachers and teachers, and those of all grades. I would say, then, that the most important of all departments of education on the mission field is that of schools in which men shall be fitted for the middle grades of work, and the staple of instruction should be given in the vernacular. Call them colleges or training
UNOCCUPIED MISSION FIELDS OF THE WORLD
schools, or by whatever name, they constitute o~r chief hope for both the present and the future. Short normal courses for men already employed are sometimes valuable. A friend who had visited India said to me that of all the higher institutions that he had seen, and he had visited many, that one belonging to the Methodist Mission at Bareilly seemed to him best adapted to meet the widespread wants of a mission of any that he had seen. The curriculum was not so extended as in some other institutions, but it was more distinctively a school for the training of preachers and teachers. General education was subordinate to this, so far as he could discover. Those who were selected or admitted to the institution were by preference young men who gave good promise of becoming Christian workers. And my impression is that the Doshisha of the American Board in Japan, established and for some years directed by the lamented Neesima, has attained its high success and proved its eminent usefulness just in proportion to the emphasis which it put upon the training of preachers and teachers for the direct service of the mission. Years ago the sainted Calhoun established a missionary institution at Abeih in Syria. The curriculum was fairly extended and comprehensive, but the great idea which prevailed in his selection of men and in the whole course of study was that of fitting laborers who should preach the Gospel, in the pulpit or in the school-room. Probably there has never been an institution for higher education in which so large a per cent of graduates was fouud available for direct and valuable Christian service as in that school at Abeih. In my opinion, the higher education which any missionary society or board is abie to carryon should be devoted chiefly to this specific work of training laborers, holding secular education in subordination to this end, at the same time, if possible, maintaining either alone err conjointly with other boards and societies one or more institutions in which the very highest training can be given. Above all, let the emphasis of our missionary work in these closing years of the nineteenth century be put upon direct and widespread evangelization.
UNOCCUPIED MISSION FIELDS OF THE WORLD.-III.
BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, LONDON, ENGLAND.
II. Leaving the great Continent of Asia and the numerous unoccupied fields which it contains, we enter what has been called the Dark Continent of Africa, but which, despite its darkness, constitutes no mean portion of the classic ground of modern Christian missions. What illustrious names are strewn over Darkest Africa, great search-lights in their day, and which death, so far from quenching, has but made to shine with the more vivid brilliancy ! We think of Moffat, Livingstone, Sakir, Gordon, Comber, the Coilliards, Mackay, Hannington, Wilmot Brooke, and othersl men who knew their God and did exploits, and whose memory lives as an inspiration and legacy to the Church for all time to come. Bitterly as we regret the human blood spilt that the highway of commerce and of military conquest might be prepared, we praise God for the men and women of faith who have poured out their lives as a libation in the endeavor to heal Africa's grievous sore. How open that wound still is, and how pleadingly it calls for Gilead's balm, we can but faintly appreciate! The rule of the strong hand, according to the law of brute ferocity, is general in Africa, save where fear counsels moderation j the native religions are as demons let loose to torture or slay, as caprice may dictate j and so all-pervasive is the spirit of cruelty, that the very sports of the people are spiced by its excesses. Thus Dr. William Junker, in his travels in Africa, 1882-86, tells of a savage custom .of the Soudanese men, which he himself witnessed on the occasion of the celebration of a marriage-namely, the challenge to a duel ,vith the rhiuoceros-hide whip. "Each has to take the same number of blows from his opponent as he gives. Sometimes one man will challenge three or four, to whom he deals in turn savage blows, which are returned afterward by them all in succession." "The pain," says Dr. Junker, "must have been excessive, but I did not see the men move a muscle. " To do justice to the horrors of the situation, we have to remember the growing increment of the Arab's sway, and the spread of Islamism over the central regions. The religion of the false prophet has neithG pity in its heart nor balm in its hand, and serves but to exacerbate the sore that already exists. How true it is, if we would only believe it and show our faith by our works, that" none but Jesus can do helpless sinners good" !
On the whole, however, it is somewhat doubtful whether Africa is now the darkest continent in the world. In many parts the reign of cruelty is checked and superstition's dark night invaded. "Forty societies are at work with over seven thousand ordained missionaries," the addition of converts last year being over twenty thousand. Certainly Africa, if still the darkest, is not the most neglected continent in the world; nor is it to be reckoned, save where Mohammedanism prevails, as the stoniest of fields. Bravely has the missionary striven to keep in the vanguard of exploration, and to vie with the merchant and politician in opening the sealed land. The result is that Gospel light has been carried far into the interior; the Congo studded by a chain of missions reaching to the equator; Uganda occupied, and Central Africa made accessible to even where not pierced by Gospel agency. Thus far the evangelization effe.cted, bright with promise though it be, only samples the need which on a vast scale remains unbroken. The present partitionment of Africa is too artificial and foreign to furnish any consistent view of what fields are or are not occupied. It would require an analysis according to tribes to supply this, and that is beyond our present knowledge; but one thing is clear, that the work of evangelizing Africa is extending, both by the bold stride of the pioneer and the patient la-bor of those who follow after. The work takes hold like roots which extend deeper and farther into the soil; "he varied societies are lengthening their cords and strengthening their stakes; new languages are being acquired as new commumties are being reached, while to the eye of faith the results achieved are only a faint glimmering of the light and blessing that are surely and soon to break forth.
Soudan.-The chief territory in Africa clearly defined as unoccupied is the multiform region of the Soudan, with the thinl'y peopled Sahara on the north and Abyssinia on the east. This immense tract of country lies north of the Congo Basin, and has a reach from the west eastward considerably exceeding the span from San Francisco to New York. The average breadth is from 500 to 250 miles. The Soudan is a land of varied races and of a multitude of tongues, but is broadly dvisible into three regions -a western, an eastern, and a central. The eastern region is in a state of social solution, and for years violence has filled the whole land. Since the fall of Khartoum and the evacuation of the equatorial province, there has been no let to Arab aggression and domination, with the result that native blood has flowed like water, and the remnants of native population are terrorized and enslaved. It is as if a fair and prosperous kosmo8 had been by mighty convulsions turned to chaos. Yet had Gordon been supported, what different things we should have seen to-day! But England in her short-sighted rulers did not discern God's gift in that man, nor the magnificent opportunity which, in the providence of God, came with him. And now there is "no man to make up the hedge and fill the gap before the Lord;" neither is there space for repentance. Meanwhile, pandemonium is let loose, slavery is rampant, and if there are not now native races enough to lash, the Arab hunter, grown emboldened by success, has only to go farther afield.
As, however, in the sky there is always light somewhere, either reflected by the distant stars or cast up from the buried sun, so even in regard to Eastern Soudan it is given us to see some gleam in the midst of densest obscuration. Bishop Tucker, while thinking that the door into Eastern Soudan is not to be opened from the north, is sanguine that it shall yet be set open from the south. Uganda, in his judgment, is to be the Gibraltar rock upon which the Arab's power is to be broken, the base of operations whereby slavery is to receive its death-wound, and the most miserable regions on the face of the earth, social recovery and Gospel light. Be that as it may, of this we are assured, that in some way or other for Eastern Soudan, as for other unoccupied fields, t.he Lord will provide.
Turning our attention to the western section of the Soudan, which is related to the" lordly Niger," there is some cause for uneasiness at the spread of the Fulani colonies, which own as their head the Sultan of Segu on the Upper Niger, and under the pretence of waging "Jihads," or holy wars, " attack and subjugate the pagans wherever they can." The Fulahs are" fanatical Muslims" of "bronzed complexion," born fighters and skilled in strategy, who never fail, when they meet with European travellers, "to claim brotherhood and kinship with the white strangers." Both their appearance and language are somewhat of an enigma. Distinct from the negro in type, their tongue is also distinct, and seems to have no " definite position among the linguistic families of Africa." Indeed, if what is said of its two grammatical genders be true, that it has " NOT the masculine and the feminine, as in most idioms, but the human and the non-human," the Fulah tongue has a right to be placed in a category by itself among the tongues of the earth as the most unique curiosity to which the confusion at Babel has given birth. The Fulahs have all the marks of a superior race, and while keen in their scent for conquest, have thus far kept free from complicity in the slave trade_ The Central Soudan 'is a most populous region, embracing the dominions of the great Sultan of the negro kingdom of Sokoto, Bornu, a popu- IouI' Mohammedan State, and the Sultanate of Wadai, which is the most powerful of the Central Soudan States_ It is believed that in these kingdoms alone there are 60,000,000 without a missionary. The great Ransa nation, in the kingdom of Sokoto, is reckoned at 15,000,000, and is described by the late Mr. Wilmot Brooke as "a fine, brown-skinned race that has recently adopted Mohammedanism, and with it the art of reading and writing their own language in the Arabic character." According to Mr. Brooke, of lamented memory, entering the Muslim kingdoms of the Soudan is like entering a new world. " The petty jealousies and squabbles of the heatheu towns are left behind now; the busy hum of commercial life is heard throughout the dominions of the great Sultan of Sokoto. From vast walled cities of 50,000, 80,000, even 100,000 inhabitants, caravans are forever streaming out, to the south to raid for slaves, to the North Mrican States, across the Sahara, to sell them. Veavers, dyers, and shoemakers work hard in the streets of these great cities, manufacturing the ample clothing that the people wear, and exhibit this remarkable spectacle of African civilization."
Such, in orief, is Africa's great unoccupied field, the emporium of the continent, the throbbing heart and busy brain of what may now be called earth's vastest island. As regards the entire central region-in dealing, that is to say, with some 60,000,000 of the 80,000,000 included in the whole Soudan-the missionary would find no such social gulf as would meet him elsewhere. These Soudanese are not barbarians, living in squalid villages, affecting a barbaric etiquette, and grovelling in the sty of superstition. They dwell iu walled cities, in well-built houses of sun-dried brick, are monotheists, and eat such food as any European could live on. The climate, too, is mostly dry and invigorating, and not to be confounded with that of the deadly gold coast or the malarial climate of the Congo. The main hindrance to the missionary is Moslem fanaticism ; and that hindrance is as a wall raised up high as the firmament. No one may enter this land to evangelize who counts his life dear unto himself, for by the Moslem law, which prevails everywhere, "both the convert and the missionary who has preached to him are liable to death."
This is not the day, however, when the missionary vanguard is at all disposed to pause in view 0: contingencies. Like Thibet, the Asian stronghold, the African fortress of the Soudan has already been prospected with a view to occupation, cost what it may. For the moment the operations of the Church Missionary Society are checked by the recent decease of Bishop and Mrs. Hill, who had in view the extension of their work from Oyo to Ilorin, a Mohammedan town in the interior; and then from Lokoja, taking another route, the bishop purposed to pass into the Bassa country. He also intended to establish a training institution for natives and a hospital at Onitsha. In addition, Bishop Hill contemplated placing a mission steamer on the Niger. God honored him to prepare, but has reserved for others to come the carrying out of these plans. Meanwhile, the Central Soudan Mission is advancing to the assault. As we write, Mr. Hermann G. Harris, B.A., the director of the mission, a man versed in Arabic and Haussa (the commercial language of the people), is on his way, by the overland route, accompanied by Mr. Dick, across the Desert of Sahara, to Kano in the kingdom of Sokoto ; while it is expected that Mr. Holt and others will soon leave England for Central Soudan by way of the Niger, the journey on reaching Africa being from Lagos through lbadan, Oyo, Ilorin, and Rabba. The Central Soudan Mission, like its Thibetan compeer, with which it has many features in common, " makes no appeal to the public or to individuals for money, but looks directly to God for the supply of all its need;" moreover, the missionaries are quite prepared to support themselves, if possible, among the people to whom they go by laboring with their own hands.
The immense region of the Sahara, which is contiguous with the Soudan and has a scant population of some 3,000,000 Berbers, is likewise totally unevangelized. The like is true of Abyssinia, which at present has no Protestant missions, and is estimated to contain frow 4,000,000 to 5,000,000. The kingdoms of Shoa and of the Mijertain and Abbia Somalis are similarly situated. Encompassing the Sondan, therefore, and including it, stretching from Senegambia on the west to Cape Guardafui on the east, a distance of nearly 5000 miles, and from Tripoli and Egypt on the north to the Congo and Uganda on the south, is a vast compact mass of unlifted darkness where no Gospel witness has, so far as is known, Abyssinia excepted, ever been borne. There is also a large unoccupied field lying south of the Congo and comprehending the greater part of the Free Congo State.
III. South America.-A few words must suffice to tell the tale of South America, which has, with justice, been termed the most neglected continent in the world; for though, as a whole, South America" is almost untouched by aggressive Protestant missionary effort, ., there are but few countries within its borders which have not now some direct Gospel agency. Venezuela, with a population of over 2,000,000, has but one Protestant missionary. Ecuador, a land of chronic revolution, about the size of England and Scotland combined, has no Protestant missionary at all, and may be regarded as wholly unevallgelized. Colombia, with an area of 504,773 square miles and a population of 4,000,000, has three missionary stations of the American Presbyterian Church. Peru, with an area equal to the whole of the United Kingdom, France, and the Spanish Peninsula, is all but unoccupied. Gospel testimony, however, is borne by Dr. Thomas B. Wood, Protestant pastor, and there are little Protest.ant churches at Lima and Callao set as lights amid the surrounding darkness; in addition, " itinerant native agents of the American Bible Society are helping to spread the Scriptures." Brazil, which numbers 14,000,000, is unevangelized to the extent of nine tenths of its population. It is the sphere, however, of earnest evangelistic labor; and, despite the throes of revolution, the Gospel prospects of this great country never were so bright as now. BoZ'ivia, considerably larger in area than Thibet, ranks with Ecuador as a field totally unoccupied. No Protestant missionary has ever made it the field of Gospel endeavor, but one 9r two passing visits have been paid by the colporteurs of the American Bible Society. Ohili has two American missions, representing some twenty or thirty workers, but such an open door and, physically considered, protracted need might well woo many an additional score. Similar obserratiom; apply to the Argentine and Patagonia, now reckoned one republic, also to Paraguay and Uruguay. In them all there are laborers thrust forth, but few in comparison with the population to be reached and the vast area to be occupied. Throughout the South American republics Popery is everywhere a waning quantity; its palmy days are over, its spell is broken. Liberalism is rising, and the peoples prefer the spiced cup of democratic aspiration to Rome's chalice; but the true Christian knows well that neither flows from the 1'eal Vine, and that whatever may be the temporary value of liberalism as a means, it is absolutely valueless as an end j hence the need of wise discernment of the times. The South American republics are fields whitening to harvest, for the Nile of opportnnity is daily risiug, and the Gospel sower has abundant promise of bread. But the Lne is short. As with giving, so with action, Bis dat qui cito dat (" What needs doing should be done now"). The hope of a millennium, by the confederated action of unrenewed men and nations, is a worse delnsion than Popery at its worst estate. Liberalism, un ballasted by grace, will erelong eventuate in lawlessness; and out of the seething mass of unsanctified impulse will emerge the lawless one. Now is the pregnant pause, now Satan is about to stake his trump card, now there is but a brief hour for service ere the Master appear. Oh, for the true union in the essentiah; of the faith and the oneuess of the Spirit, and for 1he cry from the one Church as from the heart of one man, in view of the vast Gospel destitution that still remains, " Here am I, Lord, send me "
PRACTICAL CONl<'UCIANIBM AND PHACTICAL CHlUBTIANITYIN KOREA
PRACTICAL CONFUCIANISM AND PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY IN KORgA.
BY REV. SAMUEL A. MOFFETT, PYENG YANG.
On a recent trip to this, the second city of Korea, I rested on the Lord's day in a small village, where I witnessed what gave me an insight into the utter heartlessness of heathenism. Soon after breakfast my boy came in saying that there was a poor fellow dying out on the roadside. Going out, I found a man somewhat past sixty years of age lying on a rough litter. He was covered with frost, having lain there all night, and was very weak, though able to talk. Upon inquiry I learned that he had been taken sick on the road five days before, and that, according to the custom which now prevails, he had been placed upon this litter by the men of the nearest village, and by them carried to the next village, where he was dropped at the side of the road. The people of this village, in turn fearing lest he should die on their hands and his spirit remain to haunt them and work them mischief, hurried him on. Thus the poor man had been carried from village to village, left to lie all night in the rain or frost without covering, without food, or medicine, or any attention beyond that of being roughly carried on and dropped again. For five days he had been so treated, and his strength was almost gone. I suggested that some one give him food ; but no, not one was so minded; so buying a table of food I fed hi.m with some rice-water. After eating a little the old man looked up gratefully, saying, "Now I shall live," and then he pleaded to be taken care of for two or three days, until he should haye strength to go on. I urged the people to give me a room where he might be made comfortable, promising to pay for his food and fuel. They flatly refused, and were preparing to carry him on. Turning from them I spoke to him of Christ, of forgiveness of sin, and relief from pain. He seemed to understand, and brightened up a little. After praying with him I turned again to the people and said some pretty plain things about their murdering the man. This seemed to arouse their consciences a little, and the spokesman of the village began to talk of finding a room. Asking me about his food, he named an exorbitant sum as necessary in order to keep him a few days. I agreed to furnish the amount, and told them to prepare the room while I went to get the money.
Entering my room at the inn several followed, saying that it was very kind in me to thus care for the man, but that the people did not want to take him in. Again I urged and offered more money, but while talking others came in to say that they had already carried the man off. They had gone but a few miles when the poor fellow died, and there they buried him.
Talking to those people, I felt like a prophet of old as I told them of a judgment to come, and called upon them to repent ere they were called before God to answer for the deed of that day. However, pity rather than indignation fills my mind as I think of this poor, degraded people, even their sense of humanity blunted under the system of misgovernment and oppression and the teachings of those who are professed Confucianists.
Not long after this I passed along the main street of this city of Pyeng Yang and witnessed another incident revealing the degradation of this people. Before me were a lot of boys tugging away at ropes attached to a straw mat, in which was the body of a man who had just died on the street. The boys were shouting aud laughing and making gay sport as they dragged this corpse along. This took place on the main street of the capital of the province, the boys being the errand boys of the merchants, who sat among their wares laughing at the frolic the boys were having.
Upon returning to my rooms I spoke of what I had seen, and was told by my boy that the night before he had seen an old man lying in front of one of the main public buildings on this street. The old man had just been thrust out of an inn and left to die on the streets on that bitterly cold night. It may have been this body that I saw thus dragged through the streets, but I am told that such cases are not so infrequent but that there may have been two in one day.
Is this practical Confucianism which professes to pay the greatest respect to the aged -and to the dead? This is not an exceptional case, such as might occur in the slums of a large city, but it took place in the sight of all on the main street in the city, where dwells the governor, who in his zeal for Confucianism has recently established anew a Confucian schoo!.
Christianity has not as yet very many adherents in Korea, but already these few show a greatly different spirit from the above. Last January, in this probably the most wicked city in Korea, it was my privilege to baptize eight men, giving us a church of ten members. They had been instructed in the Gospel for several months, had endured abuse and insult with courage and with a truly Christ-like spirit, and they soon showed that they had been imbued with the practical spirit of Christianity.. Before they had been in the church a month they came to me with the proposition that the first use of the little money they had contributed should be for the care of a little orphan child dying of starvation. I gladly accepted the proposition, eager to encourage them in their Christ-like spirit. Thus practical Christianity is manifesting itself in Korea. Theoretical Confucianism contrasted with Christianity in a Parliament of Religions at Ohicago is one thing j practical Confucianism illustrated in Korea is quite another.
MISSIONARY WORK IN NORTHERN BULGARIA
MISSlONARY WORK IN NORTHERN BULGARIA.
BY REV. L. "'. GUILD.
The Bulgar is intensely patriotic. His five hundred years of Turkish rule have only strengthened his love of liberty. When King Milan of Servia led his army into Bulgaria aud Prince Alexauder hastily recruited an army and marched against him, the peasants in multitudes loaded grain and provisions on their wagons and started after the army. Peasants met by a gentleman were asked, "Who buys your grain ?" "No one." " Where are you taking it ?" "To the army." "What do you get for it?" "I get freedom. "
This intense patriotism is an obstacle to us. He knows that the priests are revellers, licentious, idle; but he knows that through the long night of Turkish oppression "the church" was the means of preserving the Bulgarian people separate, and the Bulgar does not propose to lightly forsake his ancestral religion, and looks with suspicion on a form of religion which is introduced by foreigners and supported by foreign gold, though he is not insensible to the superior morality of Protestantism over the "orthodox" faith.
The Turk's status is peculiar. He is no longer the proud lord, but the hated and tolerated hewer of wood and drawer of water. The government seeks to conciliate the Turks and retain them, fearing that their withdrawal would cripple the productive factors of the nation to the injury of all. The old narrow Turkish streets in the cities are being widened unaer supervision of the government. In one city the authorities drew their plans with a view to destroying as many mosques as possible. The government, noticing that many would be destroyed, instructed the mayor that new plans must be made, sparing as many as possible. Toward the Protestant the Turk is quite friendly. He says: "It is against your religion to worship images and to drink wine ; in that much we are alike." Not infrequently they are found in our assemblages, interested listeners.
While the policy of Bulgaria seems tyrannical in many things to an American, it is remarkably enlightened when viewed considering the five hundred years of bondage. Compulsory education prevails, and the expenditure for public schools is enormous. From these schools the Bible has been banished by request of the "synod," which does not seem to realize that the educated Bulgarian, despising the superstition of the "orthodox" church, is fast becoming an infidel. Modern scepticism is quite popular among the elite, while socialism with a free.love tinge is making its appearance. It is doubtful if the latter will make much headway, not at least till the former has prepared its way, for the Bulgarian people are remarkably virtuous.
The Roman Catholics are also here with a strongly organized and energeti-c mission, hated by the" orthodox," but possibly secretly patronized by Prince Ferdinand, who is a devout Catholic. Oh, that American Christians might realize the need of impregnating this rising nltion, now in its formative state, with the leaven of Protestantism! This only can furnish a safe antidote to infidelity, Romanism, free-Iovism, and orthodox superstition, and furnish a proper fibre for national life.
South of the Balkans is the Congregational Mission, of which we cannot now write intelligently. In our field we llave a number of stations manned by native Bulgarians_ We have three church edifices, but in most places our worship must be in private houses. '1Ve experience difficulty in building, and our progress must be slow till we get more church edifices. When means are provided for this we look to great hal'vests, for wherever we have public houses of worship they are filled with people even at mid-week service. In connection with these workers we have Biblewomen and colporteurs, and our press turns out various publications and a monthly paper.
We have two schools, one for boys at Sistof, and one for girls at Loftcha. Both are well patronized, and the latter is most especially useful. In it at present is the daughter of a village priest, who sends her here in preference to the public schools, which are under control of his own faith. There is also here the daughter of a " procuror", or prosecuting judge of quite a city where there is located a public school of as high grade as ours. These things are hopeful, indicating that the walls of prejudice are melting. In Plevna the" procuror" publicly asked the head priest, " Who best keeps the teachings of the Scriptures 1" and his eminence answered, " The Protestants."
But there is opposition, and among the native Christians the true spirit of sacrifice. A young married man was converted and joined our church. His wife's brothers came and took her and her little babe to their home. He sought her return, and was referred to the village priest, who said : " Forsake the Protestants and you can have them," This he would not do. Three months later (a few weeks ago) he was notified: "If you do not at once forsake the Protestants, we shall divorce your wife and marry her to another," for the divorce laws are in the hand of the church j and this they did. Truly he forsook all for Christ. I might multiply instances touching in the extreme. Are not such a people worth sacrificing for! Recently a Bulgar not a member of any Protestant church donated $3000 to our work. The field may be sterile and hard, but the Gospel will shortly win glorious triumphs in Bulgaria.
The changes now working in the Catholic Church are among the encouraging signs of the times in France. Where that great organization had once impressed upon the mind its immutability, all are now struck by its power of transformation. The college of the Sorbonne, which once burned Protestants, now has a Protestant at its head, The people are thinking about religious questions, thousands are looking toward Protestantism with expectation, and the outlook for a religious revival is very bright indeed.
1894.' 'rl'lE MoALL MISSION
THE McALL ~nSSION.
BY LOUISE SEYMOFR HOUG!lTO~r.
• It is not necessary to review the story or the founding of the McAli Mission. All who study the progress of missionary events know that it was in a very true sense the direct outgrowth of the French Commune. Mr. McAll carried the Gospel to France because he saw that the centre of the tribulations of France was the popular ignorance of the religion of the Gospel. He of all men saw that the Christian Church held in its grasp precisely what the French nation needed in its hour of dire confusion and calamity. So in January, ] 872, a few months after the downfall of the Commune, Mr. and Mrs. McAll quietly began their work among the laboring men of Paris. A small, low-studded, brick-paved shop in a narrow, crooked street, in an obscure suburb of the great capital was the scene of their first efforts. }'orty people were seated on the rush-bottomed chairs; at the harmonium Mrs. McAll with her well-trained fingers and her silvery voice; on the low platform Mr. MeAl! with his broken French, and one or two earnest French Protestant pastors. The hall, the street, the quarter, all were obscure, and yet at that time the quarter Belleville was notorious as the quarter of Communists, and in a yard barely a stone's throw from the little hall the wall was yet red with the blood of martyred priests-shot down by infuriated Communists, without mercy and with no reason except that they were priests. The people came to hear, first curiously, then eagerly. It is many years since that single hall with its forty chairs has increased to a hundred and twenty halls, with seventeen thousand sittings and more than a million auditors and worshippers in every year. There are thirty-nine of these halls in Paris and its suburbs, the others are in the provinces from Brittany to the Mediterranean, in Corsica, and in Algiers. There would be many more stations than these but for one feature in the policy by which this mission is managed, which makes it more widely and more fundamentally useful than it could possibly be made by any growth within itself. This feature grows out of the general policy, which is co-operation carried to its widest extent. The non· sectarian character of the mission makes this co-operation possible to a degree unknown in any other religious work. Volunteers come from all countries and from all denominations to work in the halls. Speakers come to address the meetings from every church in France. The four great evangelizing societies of the Reformed, Free, and Baptist chuches of France, and the Society of Evangelization of Geneva co-operate in the work of fully one sixth of the stations. Country pastors of all denominations desiring to work in outlying hamlets, and city pastors wishing to carryon suburban missions, find that they can best do so under the auspices of the McAll Mission; and thus not infrequently a mission begun as a McAIl station has grown so strong and has come into such close affiliation with the church of the missionary pastor, that it has in the end been adopted by that church as its own, and is no longer numbered among McAll stations. By the marvellous economy of God's providence, the little mission hall has awakened missionary zeal in the members of the pastor's church, who up to that time had thought they had all they could do to live and hold their own. Thus as the light of the McAll torch has kindled these French churches, one by one, a station here and there has left the mission and become an integral part of this or that church. The number of stations now or at any time do not, therefore, represent the number of living and active children of the mother mission; and thus, though the mission founds no churches, churches are here and there founded, while existing churches everywhere within its reach are built up by converts from the McAll Mission.
Though the mission was originally intended for the working people, and always will be their own especial mission, it is in the nature of things that the remedy which Dr. McAll saw to be adapted to the needs of France should be accepted by others than the working men. From time to time men and women of education, refinement, and social position have been reached by the Gospel proclaimed in the mission halls. Some of the best workers to-day-ministers, ministers' wives, and others-are converts of the mission. A constantly increasing number of people of the better class are coming under its influence.
Within the past few years it has shown itself especially adapted to meet the great spiritual unrest which has laid hold of the young men of France, the youth of the universities, and the young men of the army. The soldiers' reading-rooms have proved to be a wonderful power for good, and the one small hall especially opened to reach the university men has proved so beneficent' in its results, that a special appeal is now made for funds to enlarge this work. The Sunday and Thursday schools also have a marvellous hold upon the younger boys and girls. Many of the efficient teachers were converts of the Sunday-schools. The effort is now being made to put the Sunday-school work on a permanent basis. A plan has been elaborated by which each Sunday-school in the mIssion may be brought into direct touch with our Sunday-schools in America. An annual appropriation of $25 from an American Sunday-school will provide the colored pictures, lesson papers, and other necessary material, and the school making the appropriation will be brought into correspondence with a MeAll school, and wilJ be able to follow its history year by year.
Deeply to be lamented as is the death of Dr. MeAll, sorely as the workers miss the inspiration of his wisdom, love, cheerfulness, and energy, the work has suffered no check. Long years before his death he had put the government of the mission into the hands of a board composed of representative Frenchmen, Englishmen, and Americans, and before his death he even withdrew from the presidency of the board, that no shock or hindrance might be felt when he should be called away. The present president of the board is M. Louis Saulter, an eminent French banker; the executive head is the Rev. Charles E. Greig, who for years labored at Dr. MeAll's right hand. Mr. Greig has lately visited the American McAIl Auxiliaries, and everywhere has awakened thorough confidence in his ability and consecration to the work.
There is no limit to the progress of this remarkable mission but the limit of funds supplied by Christians outside of France. The French people are doing nobly. Poor as are the Protestants of France, they are contributing generously, not only in money, but in labor. Five hundred out of the six hundred workers are French, and their work is most valuable; but in money they can do little. Americans have a deep interest in France. Christians, remember that there is seemingly no limit to the progress of the Gospel in France through the McAll Mission except the limit of the contributions of Christians.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
International Missionary Union. Palestine; 1886, Miss G. S. Bigelow, Japan; – – Rev. F. G. Bingley. The eleventh annual meeting of the South America; 1879, Rev. W. B. International Missionary Union was Boggs, D.D., India; 1868, Rev. L. held at Clifton Springs, N. Y., June Bond and Mrs. L. Bond, Turkey; 1886- 13-20. One hundred and forty. one 87, Rev. G. A. Bond, Strait's Sett.le- missionaries were in attendance from ment; 1885, Miss Charlotte H. Brown, many countries: From Liberia. the Syria; 1853-83, Mrs. A. Bushnell, Af· Gaboon and Cape Colony, in Africa, 5 ; rica; 1886, Rev. H. Olin Cady-1894, Australia, 1; Assam, 3; Bulgaria, 5 ; Mrs. H. Olin Cady, China; 1890–92, Burma, 3; North, South, Central and Rev. W. A. Carrington, Brazil; 1881- extreme West China, 23; Guatemala, 86, Miss L. S. Cathcart, Micronesia; 1 ; Hawaii, 1 ; various parts of India. 1884, Miss M. Christiancy, M.D., India; 33; Italy, 1; Japan, 20; Korea, 2; 1877, Rev. T. D. Christie, D.D., Tur· Mexico, 2 ; Micronesia, 6 ; North Ameri- key; 1886, Miss T. Crosby, Micronecan Indians, 2; Jerusalem, 3; Persia, sia ; 1881-85, S. Cross, Siam; 1871-80, 2; Siam and Laos, 6 ; Brazil, Chile, 2 ; Rev. E. Cunningham and Mrs. E. Cun- Spain, 2; Malaysia, 1 ; Syria, 3; Euro- ningham, India; 1878-79. Rev. C. W. pean and Asiatic Turkey, 13. Cushing, D.D., Italy; 1894, 'Miss K. Darmstadt, India; 1869-70, Rev.•J. A. By society and denominational classi- Davis and Mrs. J. A. Davis. China; fication they were as f(1jllows: Ameri- 1868-93, Miss A. J. Dean, Persia; 1874, can Board, 38; Methodist Episcopal and Rev. J. H. DeForest, D.D., and Mrs. Canada Methodist, 37; Presbyterian, J. H. DeForest, Japan; 1886, Rev. North and South, and United Pres- W. C. Dodd-1887, JIrs. W. C. Dodd, bytery, 33; Moravian, 1; Protestant Laos; 1880, Rev. G. F. Draper and Episcopal, 1; Reformed Episcopal, 1 ; Mrs. G. F. Draper-1889, Mrs. G. Italian Bible, 1; Honorary and Inde- Draper••Tapan; 1872, Miss H. N. Eastpendent, 11; Reformed Church of man, Burma; 1887-89, Rev. W. P. F. America, 4. As this REVIEW has Ferguson, Mexico; 1873-94, Miss A. P. hitherto published the names of those Ferguson, Africa; 1887-92, Miss M. E. present, to preserve the history the list Files, Burma; 1884, Rev. F. W. Foote is herewith given alphabetically, with and Mrs. F. W. Foote, India; 1890, their years of service: Mrs. R. C. Forbes, Micronesia; 1880, Rev. G. A. Ford, Syria; 1853-58, Mrs. 1886-88. Rev. Ray Allen, India; O. M. Ford, Africa; 1888, Rev. J. M. 1876-92, Rev. J. L. Amerman, D.D., Foster and Mrs. J. M. Foster, China; and Mrs. J. L. Amerman, Japan; 1880, Miss E. M. Garretson, China; 1881, Miss E. D. Anderson, India; 1861-68, Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., and 1888-92, Miss E. Babbitt, India; 1889, Mrs. J. T. Gracey, India; 1874, Rev. Mrs. E. M. Bacon, India; 1859-80, A. T. Graybill, Mexico; 1877, Mrs. Rev. S. L. Baldwin, D.D., China; 1885, A. C. Good, Africa; 1882-90, Rev. Rev. J. L. Barton and Mrs. J. L. Bar- C. W. Green, Japan; 1872-83, Rev. ton, Turkey; 1869-72, Miss M. C. T. L. Gulick and Mrs. T. L. Gulick, Beach, Bulgaria; 1888-93, A. W. Beall, Spain; 1888, Miss L, G. Hale, China; Japan; 1879-81, Rev. W. H. Belden 1837-77, Rev. C. Hamlin, D.D., TUrand lIrs. W_ H. Belden, Bulgaria; key; 1864-73, Rev. A. Hartmann, Aus- – – Rev. E. A. Bell and Mrs. E. A. tralia-1874, Canadian Indians; 1884, Bell, India; 1848, Rev. A.. Ben-Oliel- ,1870, Mrs. A. and Miss F. E. Ben·Oliel, Miss E. L. Harvey, India; 1882, Rev. J. E. Wayte, India; 1845-64, Rev. E. W. M. Hares and Mrs. W. M. Hayes, Webb and Mrs. E. Webb, India; 1880- China; 1885, N. tl. Hopkins, M.D., 91, Mrs. W. White, China; 1887, Miss and Mrs. N. S. Hopkins, China; 1872, N. J. Wilson, Japan; 1838-86, Rev. Rev. J. H. House, D.D., Bulgaria; 1877, G. W. Wood, D.D.-l871-86, lIrs. Mrs. C. 11. Hyde, Hawaii; 1891, J. G. W. Wood, 'J'nrkey; 1886, Rev. J.JIly and Mrs. J. Jolly, India; 1855- W. S. Wordon, M.D., Japan; 1868-77, 58, Rev. J. S. Joralmon, China; 1872- Rev. R R. Young, D.D., and Mrs. 76, Miss M. Kipp, Syria; 1885, Miss E. R. Young, Indians of Hudson's Bay. T. J. Kyle, India; 1885, H. M. Lane, M.D., Brazil; 1888, Rev. J. M Leonard The Recognition Meoting on Wednes· and Mrs. J. M. Leonard, Japan; 1894, day evening, in which each missionary Rev. W. J. Leverett, China; 1888, Miss introduces himself or herself, stating A. C. Little, Micronesia; 1880-90, Mrs. name, field, years and society, was spe- C. S. Long, Japan; 1874, Rev. M. C. cially interesting. The whole session Mason-1885, Mrs. M. C. Mason, As· of Thuro'day forenoon was devoted to sam: 1858, Rev. D. McGilvary, D.D., the study of the work and promise and Laos; 1885, Rev. C. Merritt, M.D., and power of the Holy Ghost, and was led Mrs. C. Merritt, China; 1861. Mrs. S. E. by Rev. A T. Pierson, D.D., editor- Newton, India; 1872–89, Rev. A. B. in·chief of this REVIEW, and was a sea- Norton -1872-90, Mrs. A. B. Norton, son of great spiritual power; on Thurs- India; 1870. Rev. F. Ohlinger-1876, day afternoon Rev. J. Henry House, Mrs. F. Ohlinger, China, Korea; 1877- D.D., spoke on What Can be Done 81, Rev. W. B. Osborne, India; 1875- within the Greek Church for its Refor- 81, Mrs. W. B. Osborne, India; 1883-89, rnation? Rev. F. G. Bingley, of Chile, Miss A. E. Ottaway, Guatemala; 1877, on Bishop Taylor's Work in South Rev. E. M. Pease, M.D., and Mrs. E.l'I. America; Rev. A. Hartmann, on Re- Pease, Micronesia; 1877-83, Rt. Rev. ligious and Educatiolllll Work among C. C. Penick, Africa; 1855, Rev. 1. 1<'. North American Indians; Rev. C. W. Pettibone, D.D., Turkey; 1882, F. D. Cushing, D.D., on Italy; Rev. A. T. Phinney, Burma; 1870-!)1, Rev. I. Pier· Graybill, D.D., on Mexico; Rev. E. R. son, China; 1888, Miss E. A. Preston, Young, on the Indians of the Far North- Japan; 1878-80, Miss Mary A. Priest, land. In the evening Dr. McGilvary, Japan; 1869, Rev. G. C. Raynolds, the apostle to the Laos, spoke of Work M.D., Eastern Turkey; 1882, Rev. G. in Northern Siam; Bishop Thoburn, on Reid, Ohina ; 1847-69. Miss M. S. Rice, the Great Religious Movement in South· Persia; 1888, Miss C. E. Righter, eastern Asia, follow~ng which short ad· China; 1894, Miss A. J. Rood, Assam; dresses were made by Rev. H. C. Velte 1884, Miss L. A. Schenck, Bulgaria; and Dr. Boggs, of India, and M. C. 1887, Miss J. Schuff. India; 1886, 11iss Mason, of Assam. L. Smith, Japan; 1889-93, Rev. F. J. Stanley and Mrs. F. J. Stanley, Japan; On Friday morning the devotional 1881-90, Rev. M. L. Stimson and Mrs. hour was led by Bishop Thoburn. Spe. M. L. Stimson, China; 1854-64, Rev. cial prayers were asked for missionaries R. Telford, Siam, China; 1857, Rev. and native Christians in Korea and for R. Thackwell-1869, Mrs. R. Thack· others exposed to the plague, the" blaok well, India; 1868-73, C. C. Thayer, death" in Canton. Rev. E. Webb read :U.D., and Mrs. C. C. Thayer, Turkey; a paper on Hindustani Music; Rev. 1859, Bishop J. 11. Thoburn. India; W. M. Hayes spoke on the Need of 1886, J. B. Thompson, M.D., Siam; Higher Education in Mission Fields, 1868, Miss C. O. Van Duzee, Turkey, and over twenty missionaries took part Pelsia; 1882, Rev. H. C. Velte-1887, in the discussion of the subject. The Mrs. H. C. Velte, India; 1884, Miss afternoon meeting was devoted specifi- cally to woman's work, and was conduct- ed entirely by ladies. some twerty mis· sionary women taking part. The even· bers deceased during' the year: Rev: ing meeting was addressed by Drs. Bar- J. Y. Leonard, D.D., of Asia Minor; ton and Raynolds, of Turkey; Dr. Mrs. Lingle, China; ~:lrs. R. Telford, Gulick, of Hawaii j Rev. E. ~I. Pease, Siam; Rev. J. Le Nevius, D.D., China j M.D., of Micronesia; Miss Little. of Rev. A. Dowsley, Chin3 j Mrs. F. D.
Kusaic ; Rev. G. A. Ford, of Syria. Phinney, Burma; Mrs. Samuel Cross, On Saturday forenoon the discussion Siam; MiS!! Lund, Japan; Rev. George was on thc Native Christians. Dr. Douglas, D.D., West Indies; Mrs.
Graybill led on the duty of the native Samuel R. House, Siam; Rev. J. E.
church to carry thc Gospel over their Chandler, India.
own lands without foreign aid, and Following this a discussion was had seven others spoke on different phases on "Is medical work by women mis- of the native Church. How Shall Poor sionaries in India considered as neces- Christian Women in India become Selt- sary as formerly?" and five speakers Supporting? six speakers gave infor- spoke at length in the affirmative. The mation on this topic. How Shall we general subject of Medical Missions was Treat Native Christians, as Superiors, taken up, and fourteen representatives Equals or Inferiors? was discussed by of different countries spoke, H. M.
speakers from several countries. The Lane, M.D., of Brazil, and several afternoon was given up to a children's other medical missionaries being of the meeting and to a reception on the lawn,' number.
in which missionaries were presented to The afternoon session was gi ven to friends. especially to Dr. and Mrs. Fos- Japan, and W. S. Worden, M.D., gave ter. In the evening a composite stere- personal experiences in the earthquake opticon lecture was delivered by several in Japan j Rev. J. H. DeForest spoke missionaries from several lands. on the Political Situation j Dr. Amer- On Sunday morning a" consecration man, on Denominational Unity in that service" was held, and a unique, pow· land, and Miss Bigelow on Woman's erful sermon was delivered by Drs. Work in Japan. A season of question.
Ford. Leonard, Boggs, Barton and Am· ing of the speakers followed, the an· erman in a logically lelated order of swers throwing much additional light thought-closn, compact and impressive on the subjects under consideration.
-on the Great Missionary Command of Dr. Cyrus Hamlin read a paper on Christ, the Scripture Exposition, the Russia's Endeavor to Blot out Protest· Need and Adaptation, the Motive, antism from Turkey. Mr. Phinney ex- Unity in Obedience, the Consumma- plained and illustrated the process of tion, being spoken of in the order of photo-engraving of the Karen Bible, the names mentioned. At three o'clock now being conducted by the Baptist So- Rev. Ben·Oliel, of Jerusalem, spoke on ciety under his supervision, Miss East- Prophecies Concerning the Jews now man reading the proof.
being Fulfilled. In the evening Dr. The evening was devoted to China Raynolds spoke ou Work in Eastern and Korea, Rev. C. Merritt, M.D., pre· Turkey; Dr. G. W. Wood, on Educa- siding, and the speakers being Rev. F.
tional Work in Constantinople; Dr. Ohlinger, of Korea. Mrs. C. Merritt, J. L. Barton, on Work in Central Tur- Rev. I. Pierson, N. S. Hopkins, M.D., key; Dr. Christie. on Educational Work Rev. H. O. Cady, Miss Garretson, Rev.
in Tareus ; Miss A. Ferguson, on Edu- Gilbert Reid, Mrs. W. J. White, Rev.
cational Work in Cape Colony; and W. M. Hayes. Mrs. Ohlinger sang the Rt. Rev. C. C. Penick, D.D., Bishop of national air of Korea.
Liberia (Protestant Episcopal), spoke Tuesday the devotional hour was in on Work in Liberia. charge of Rev. J. A. Davis. the special On Monday, during the de~otional topic of prayer being the sanitarium at hour, brief memoirs were read of m3m- Clifton Springs, its founder and its pa· tients, and the International Missionary Bishop Thoburn's Address. Union. A resolution was adopted that " Whether at home or abroad, at work The field which I represent is one or at rest, on the land or on the sea, we of immense area and population. India remember at the twilight hour the sani- has 1,500,000 square miles and 284,000,- tarium and its work, our International 000 inhabitants. Malaysia includes the Missionary Union, and the missions of Jialay Peninsula and the islands on the world" in prayer. which Malay people live-an immense area, with enough population to bring Mrs. Newton conducted a question- the total in my field up to 325,000,000 box; Mrs. Ford read a paper on Im- -nearly three times that of the Roman proved Conditions of Living in Africa. empire in the days of Paul. Our mis- Rev. J. H. House spoke on Bulgaria, sionaries are preaching in 16 different the storm-centre of Europe; and Dr. languages. There is much of interest Hamlin read a paper on the Strife be- in every part of the field; but I shall tween Sir Stratford Canning, the Eng- only have time to speak of one feature of lish ambassador at Constantinople for our work, the rapid advance among the many years, and the Czar Nicholas. lower castes. This movement extends Dr. Barton spoke on the Restrictions of through all our land, the Northwest Mission Work in Turkey. provinces and into parts of the Punjab, Rajputana and the Central provinces, The afternoon session was given to thus covering a territory inhabited by the consideration of the opportunities of 60,000,000 or 70,000,000. The movethe missionary at home, and how to ment is confined to the very lowest bring the individual church-member classes socially, but not to the poorest. into helpful touch with the work, and The majority of the converts are sweep· how to get pastors at home more deeply ers or scavengers by caste affiliations, interested. The evening was given to but very many of these are cultivators the missionaries who anticipated return- and live in comparative comfort. The ing to their fields this year: 8 going to same is true of the Chumars, or leather India, 12 to China and Korea, 4 to Siam, dressers, who rank very low, but large 4 to Japan, 3 to Palestine, 2 to Syria, 3 numbers of whom never touch leather, to Turkey, 1 to Persia, 1 to Assam, 3 to but work as day laborers or cultivators. Bulgaria, 1 to Mexico, 1 to Africa, and Other low castes are represented among others to Micronesia and other fields- the converts, the standing of each vary- 46 in all. Rev. Dr. George W. Wood ing in different parts of the country. addressed the compauy on behalf of the Union. About five years ago a movement toward Christianity began to be noticed The meeting closed with a " nugget" among these people, and it has been session on Wednesday morning. steadily maintained ever since. For some time the converts have averaged, The following officers were elected of all years, about 50 a day. Upto date for the ensuing year: President, J. T. there seems no signs of abatement to the Gracey, D.D., Rochester, N. Y. ; Vice- work. If we are able to provide for it Presidents, Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., S. L. there is every prospect of its progress Baldwin, D.D., W. B. Boggs, D.D., and wide extension. The latest letter J. L. Amerman, D. D., Rev. A. T. from a native brother reported 200 bap- Graybill. Rt. Rev. C. C. Penick; Sec- tisms in a week and 2000 candidates for retary. Rev. W. H. Belden; Associate baptism. Another has reported over and Recording Secretary, Mrs. C. C. 3000. If I could get $2000 a year for Thayer; Treasurer and Librarian, Rev. five years I would undertake to open a C. C. Thayer, M.D. ; Executive Com- new mission field, and have 5000 conmittee, Rev. J. A. Davis, Mr. F. D. verts in it within five years. Phinney, C. W. Cushing, D.D., Rev. J. L. Barton, James Mudge, D.D., Mrs. W. H. Belden, Mrs. W. J. White. This movement has the following shall accomplish that which I please; points in its favor: First, the people do . . . it shall prosper whereto I sent not ask for money, employment, or any it. " Let us all look and pray for temporal reward. They are anxious to greater victories.
have their children educated, but ask The special work for English-speak- for nothing besides. Second, they ing young men-chiefly students in mis- make satisfactory progress after be- sionary and government colleges -has coming Christians. The children of been very cheering of late. Our broth- those who became Christians thirty er, Robert P. Wilder, of the Student's years ago have grown up before our Volunteer Movement, has been render- eyes. Some are ordained ministers, ing important aid in this line in several some teachers in high schools, and now of our great cities, particularly in Cal- some are successfully learning stenog- cutta. Quite a number of young men raphy and typewriting. Third. the have recently come out boldly for Christ, low-caste men of to-day will be the and are bravely facing petty persecu- leaders of society before the close of the tion for His sake. I am looking for a next century. The social stain is rapid- broader and more general movement 1y removed after they become Chris- toward Christianity among students.
tians. Fourth, from a missionary point The position of principal or professor of view, the value of the work is en- in these colleges is one of grave respon- hanced by the fact that workers are sibility in these days. We need men of raised upon the field. During the past Alexander Duff's spirit to meet these five years I have ordained 200 men, young scholars, and to illustrate by life while not less than 100 workers of lower and lips the purity and power of our grade are thrust out every year. We holy faith. I believe we have men in have now a total of nearly 1000 native our missionary colleges whose lives and preachers, and, including teachers, Bible labors are telling for the truth, and I readers and other helpers, we have a look for large results.
total working force of 2400 men and The Young Men's Christian Associa- women. tion is coming to be an agency of recog- nized power in this country. The ear- The Outlook in India. nest work of Mr. David McConaughy at Madras for four years past has yield- BY REV. J. L. PHILLIPS. M.D., SECRE- ed cheering results. He was general 'l'ARY SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, INDIA. secretary at Philadelphia. and brought The Bible was never in such demand his American methods with him, and in India as now. I hear South India his singular fidelity and strong faith called "the benighted presidency" have been richly rewarded. Mr. Rob- sometimes; but there is more Bible ert McCann, of Ireland, has just com- there to the square inch than in any pleted three years of faithful effort at other part of India. The Secretary of Bombay and retired home, I regret to the Madras Auxiliary Bible Society, and say, for that city needs a strong man to others in like employment, testify to the stay and give his whole time to the increasing call for our sacred Scriptures work. At Calcutta we have recently in English and in the leading vernacu- welcomed Mr. J. C. White from Ameri- lars of the land. I believe that there ca, who is beginning his difficult duty are thousands reading this Book daily with good courage. I believe there is a 'of whom we know nothing as yet, but bright future before the Y. M. C. A: in who will be heard from by and by. India, particularly in our large towns Those three clauses of seven words each and among young men of all classes, in the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah are native and foreign.
coming to mind often in these days: ., It The abundant blessing of our cove- shall not return unto me void; . . . it nant God contir.ues to rest upon our efforts for the little ones of this broad and improvement and extension of Sundaybeautiful field. Distinctly do I recall schools will prove a great blessing to the time when we were seeking them, our native Church, while it carries blessand not with much success, but now ing to the' heathen around. As never they are seeking us, and we are finding before we missionaries must devote it not so easy to provide teachers for strength to training native workers for this growing multitude. Two admir· this great field. It is vastly better to able Sunday-school conventions have set twenty men to work than to do been held recently-one for the whole twenty men's work. The great and Punjab at Lahore, and the other for the growing harvest in India calls for train Central Provinces at Jabalpur. These ed hands, loving hearts and consecrated meetings are strengthening inter-de- lives. While Africa and China call for nominational fellowship and bringing so many toilers, we hope that India's Christian workers of all churches into claim may not be overlooked. The very hearty co-operation. Our Sunday- watchmen begin to see" eye to eye," schools are increasing rapidly all over and "the morning cometh." India, and, what is of more importance, they are growing better. Our teachers The Politioal Oomplioations in Korea. are better trained, and their work is being done more satisfactorily. Best of BY REV. F. OHLINGER. all, our pupils, in Hindu schools as well as Christian, are coming to Christ and r am not sure that the political combeginning to bring their friends to Him. plications have anything to do with Temperance reform is getting a firm- our missionary troubles. We had trouer foothold in India. All American ble before at Pyeng-yang-in fact, we missionaries, and many of the European have had trouble tp.ere ever since we societiel!, are total abstainers. Strong bought property, nearly two years ago. drink is rarely seen on Christian tables, Dr. Hall has since that time rarely made the quill.driving glObe-trotters to the a visit to the place without meeting contrary notwithstanding. Bands of with some kind of abuse Hope for children are heing organized in connection with churches and Sun- At the attempted opening of a posday – schools. In many places large tal system in Korea in 1884, and durnumbers of native gentlemen have been ing the banquet given in the celeenrolled in temperance organizations. bration of that event, a conflict took There is need of all this, for intemper- place between certain rival parties led ance is undoubtedly spreading in the by Min Yong Ik and Kim Ok Kyun re- Hindu and Mohammedan communities. spectively. These were both reformers But the Church of Christ is liIting up and liberals, or "openers to the modhel' voice and hand against this grow- ern" as opposed to the" preservers of ing vice. the ancient" or conservatives, yet in that emeute they stood on opposite Such are some of the cheering tokens sides. Min (or, as our Japanese friends in the general outlook here now. Per- say, Bin) was seriously-it was feared haps the very brightest of all, however, fatally-wounded, and his recovery is the rising zeal of the native Church under treatment of Dr. Allen opened of India for bringing her countrymen the way for us missionaries more fully. to Christ. I am noticing this particu- Kim was allowed to escape to Japan. larly in connection with my own line of where hefound friends. He made the effort. It is very gratifying to see acquaintance of some missionaries, but these disciples engaging in voluntary I am not aware that he ever identified service for their own people and for the himself with the Church. He spoke a little ones who now come so eagerly to little English, but was evidently glad our Sunday-schools, I believe that the to meet some one to speak to him in Korean at the time I visited him two servative party, and yet the strong peryears ago. sonal friend of the recently assassinated Kim Ok Kyun. Min, after his recovery, was ostensibly sent on a mission to European 2. The king, son of the above, appowers, but never went farther than parentlya well-meaning, humane ruler, Hong Kong. His stay there is gener- between and in the midst of numberless ally viewed as an exile on grounds of cross fires. expediency. Some four or five months ago the Government asked him to re- 3. The queen, head of the Min famturn to Korea, and soon after Kim was ily, and of the progressive party, the lured from his hiding in Japan over to enemy of the old regent and of Kim, the Shanghai by a man who had been in assassinated reformer. She 8eemB to Europe and who had evidently become rule the country, is devoted to Budwell acquainted in higher social circles dhism, and anti-Chinese. There is serithere. He had letters from Pere Hya- ous strife between leading factions of cinthe and other dignitaries in his pos- her family. session. He treacherously and brutally assassinated Kim, claiming that he did 4. Min Yong Ik, cousin of the queen, it from patriotic motives. On his per· a radical leader and personal rival of son were found documents that showed Kim, since the emeute practically exiled that he acted for a faction calling itself to Hong Kong. the Government. Both he and the body of his victim were at once taken to 5. Kim Ok Kyun, head of a power- Korea on a Chinese gun-boat. A proc- ful family, another leader of the reform lamation was issued rewarding him for party, a personal friend of the old rehis deed, and condemning the corpse of gent (conservative), a rival of Min Yong Kim to the customary treatment of Ik, who, as we have said, was assassitraitors. On the very heel of this proc- nated a few months ago in Shanghai. lamation came the demand for an ex· planation from Japan, and the urgent 6. The Tong Hak (Eastern sect) arose appeal from all the consuls in Shanghai a little over a year ago in the province that the body be not mutilated and that of Chyella, in Southern Korea_ Not the assassin be punished. The king had openly, and yet evidently allied with one received the congratulations of the Min of the above parties or leaders. Motto: family (the family of the queen), and a " Stand fOl' Korea; away with Japanese banquet had been given. The old regent and across-the-ocean men" (" Western- -the Tai Won Kun-knownas the per- ers"); suppressed two years ago. They secutor of Roman Catholic Christians are probably "the rebels" referred to twenty-eight years ago, the leader of the in the telegrams. conservative party, and the deadly encmy of the queen's family, "wept like Yet we do not know; the" rebels" a child, and worshipped all night before of to- day may be the" government" tothe tablets of Kim's ancestors." It is morrow. 'rhe" ins" are the governall a perfect jumble of politic8, family ment, and the "outs," whene'Der they feuda, and personal grievances fof ambi- become re8ti'D8, are the" rebels." They tions. may change places and names over- night. No one can tell here What a To recapitUlate ar.d to show JOu that telegram that the" rebels have been dethis analysis does not analyze, and that feated" means. These items are not the usual wording of telegrams tells us worth the paper on which they are nothing as to the party rea11yin power, printed until we know the names, leadwe have: ers, and prineiple8 of the contending par- ties. We may assume, however, that 1. The Tai Won Kun, the king's fa- the Koreans still .. eat Li rice"-i.e., ther, pro-Ohinese, and leader of the con- that the dynasty which has stood five hundred and three years still stands, and that the humane, intelligent, and fairly progressive king still reigns. Still the complications are serious and fore- and definite testimony as to what had boding. been wrought in their souls. There were several cases of bitter penitence, Revival Influences, Foochow, China, which, I think, is rare among the Chi- nese. With some the struggle lasted A gracious outpouring of God's Spirit only a little time, when peace and joy is reported in North China, and it is would fill the heart; with others it lastwith gratitude we learn of special Di- ed several days, with sleepless nights, vine blessing at Foochow. Rev. J. H. but at last the clouds would burst and Worley, of the Methodist Episcopal Mis· the sunlight of God's redeeming love sion, tells of it in a letter at hand, which would flood the wsiting soul. we quote without editing. He says: .. That the work was thorough is more "We have had a most gracious reo and more evident as the days pass by. vival which lasted eighteen nights, and In my daily intercourse with the theostill goes on in the hearts of the people logical students, and the exceeding joythough the meetings have closed. The fulness with which they tell the good first three nights it rained hard, and the news to others, it is easy to see a great attendance was small, only the theo- change has taken place in many of their logical students, a few from the college, hearts. But no greater work was acand two or three missionaries being pres· complished than among the students of ent. The meetings were enthusiastic the Anglo-Chinese College, some of from the first, considerable preparatory whom were among our brightest Chris· work having been done among thetheo- tians before. Since the meetings closed logical students. The Holy Spirit was the older students have special services present, and all felt His power and were for the instruction of new students in willing to take any part or perform any Christian doctrine. Sunday afternoons task laid upon them. The first night they havc Sunday·schools for heathen everyone in the church except two children in the various churches and came to the altar to consecrate himself day·school buildings. They also do to God's service; and thus it continued considerable preaching in the villages; from night to night till the weather and, in order to be better prepared for cleared, and the attendance was large, these services, they have invited Mr. when there was not room for all who Miner, one of the professors in the coldesired to kneel at the altar. Several lege, to gi ve them special instruction in nights as many as fifty WeIe seeking the preparation and delivery of sermons. either pardon or purity; so when the altar and surrounding space were filled, "It will doubtless be a surprise to others kneeled at their seats. Prayers many to know that most of these perof confession and earnest pleading for sons were members of the Church and mercy were heard in all parts of the recognized as among our best Chrisroom, several praying at once. tians ; and, ~ore surprising still, that not a few were theological students. "When opportunity was given for Some professed to be reclaimed, having testimony no time was lost. Sometimes grown cold and lost the evidence of parfive or six would rise together, and I don; but the majority testified they had had to indicate who should speak first. never been forgiven and were ignorant The last night was a jubilee service, at of the joys of salvation. I must confess which ninety-two persons spoke in it was a surprise to me, and yet I was thirty-five minutes; besides, there was somewhat prepared, since in similar considerable singing interspersed. meetings last conference several preach- ers found great joy such as they had "One hundred and seven persons never experienced before. were revived or pardoned, and the evidences of genuineness were as great as "I fear a great many church·memcould be desired-a joyous, happy face, bers in Chin!!. have only renounced idolatry to accept Christianity as a system. nme new preaching-places. In order It has been a change of head and not of to meet the demands of these providenheart; having failed to realize it as a tial openings I have had to send out new life and power in the soul. We from the theological school eight stuoften hear it said the Chinese do not dents as pastor-teachers, and during the have such sorrow for sin and joy in sal; summer vacation several more will be vation as appear In Christian lands, and appointed. The day is past when we the explanation usually given is that in have to fight our way into the villages. the absence of truth they ignorantly If we can furnish the men and means worship idols, and when they accept to enter all the open doors, we shall be the Gospel they do it as little children, thankful. and hence are not conscious of being great sinners in the sight of God. In so " Ting Kan, a large literary and COlllfar as we have neglected to show them mercial centre, we tried in vain to enter they are rebels against God, needing re- for over thirty years. Last year unexpentance and pardon through Jesus pectedly the barriers gave way, and we Christ, our work has been a failure. have taken possession in the name of What many of our members need is just the King. Already we have a large such preaching and exhortation as:nomi- property for church, schools, and resinal Christians and sinr:ers need in the dence for native pastor; also two girls' home landa. There is a great work to and one boys';school, and a night school, be done in the Church as well as out. and several of the most influential fami- lies have become Christians. I visit the "There are signs of awakening on place often and tind the people anxious every hand. Hardly a week passes but to learn the doctrine. On a recent visit I receive an invitation from some new five hundred people listened long and village or neighborhood to go and attelltively to the native pastor and mypreach or open a Ohristian school. Sev- self preach. When we proposed to diseral months alSO a nati ve physician saun- cuss informally, they asked that we sing tered into our chapel at Hok Chiang, and pray again as we did at the openand at once his attention was arrested ing, so they could learn more about our by the strange but joyous message. He mode of worship. went away without speaking to the prcacher or making known the fact that " Guoh Tah is another important point his heart was moved. The more he opened recently. Here for a time we pondered, the more he was convinced of met considerable opposition from the its truth. When he reached home he village elders and literati; but when began telling the strange story to hls the pastor moved into the town these friends and neighbors, many or whom men, to our great surprise, called on received the Word gladly. He repeat- him and made presents according to etied the story in several viEages with the quette, and the next night the pastor same results. Desiring to know more invited them to a feast, and the pipe of of the doctrine, representatives from fif- peace was smoked, and all has moved teen families-among them a woman smoothly since. We have a boys' school over seventy years old-walked several numbering tiny and several probationmiles to the chapel and related how ers. At the last quarterly meeting the they first heard the truth. Each Sab- chapel was crowded, and mallY stood bath since the number of those travel- at the doors and windows eagerly catchling this long distance to attend church ing every word that was spoken. Once has increased. A building will soon be a week Miss :Masters, J'rl.D., holds ready for chapel and a helper sent to in- elinics, and the pastor and I preach to struct them further in the doctrine. the patients and others who come. A silversmith (not Demetrius) and his "Within the past five months on the whole family have been gloriously Foochcw district alone we have opened saved. A few days ago he Came t(} my house carrying two great baskets 1890 it amounted to $20,OOO,000! Of on a pole across his shoulder, as the this $17,000,000 was with California custom is in China. The baskets were filled with ido18, ancestral tablets, pray- alone. er·books, and other objects used in WOf- We have no snakes nor any deadly ship. Mrs. Worley asked him if he did not feel sad at parting with them, and animals in the islands. We ha ve no he said emphatically, 'No.' Many peo· pIe are turning from idolatry to the true cholera, nor yellow fever, nor other and living God. 1l1agues of the tropics there. We have ·,he highest mountains of any islands, II Thus the work moves on with increasing success in so many places I and are ten degrees cooler than any cannot tell you aIL Let the~e few ex· other country of our latitude. Five amples suffice to give you an idea of what God is doing and the prospects sevenths of the private property of the which gladden our hearts daily." islands has been created and is owned Address of Rev. Thomas L. Gulick, D.D., by Americans and their descendants. at the International Missionary Union. The 4th of July, Decoration Day, and When the first missionaries went to Thanksgiving Day are celebrated with Hawaii in 1820 the Hawaiians were naked savages, given to infanticide, as much regularity and enthusiasm as drunkenness, gambling, and theft. They were constantly engaged in bloody wars here. We have no beggars and no among themselves; they offered hun- Tammany Hall. We have the largest dreds of human sacrifices upon their and most accessible active volcano in altars. They had a terrible system of tabus; they had no written language, the world, which is a safety-valve, savand the common people were the slaves of the kings and chiefs. ing us from frequent and dangerous earthquakes such as they have in Cali- Now all are free men, and for many fornia and Japan. A good carriage years have had the right to vote. All know how to read and write. The road takes you from beautiful Hilo land is dotted with churches and school- thirty miles through tropic forests to a houses built by themselves. Life and property are safer than in the United fine hotcl on the very brink of the States. There is a smaller percentage of illiterates among those born in these crater, where you can luxuriously lie Hawaiian Islands than among those in hed and look down on the glowing, born in any State of the United States. boiling fires of Pele ; or you can take While Europe, America, Africa, and a Turkish bath in the steam from Pele's other islands of the sea have been del- laboratory conveyed by pipes into the uged in bloody wars, the Hawaiian Islands have had no war for seventy- bath·room..from the Rteaming crevasses five years. They claim to be the most around the hotel. Tourists call our industrious and commercial nation of the earth. land the Paradise of the Pacific and the inferno of the world. We are on the The market value of our annual cross-roads from ·Washington, Oregon, product is $116 per capita. With our population of less than 100,000, our and California, and New Zealand and foreign commerce for the year 1860 amounted to $2,000,000. For the year Australia; between Nicaragua and Japsn and China. We have the only coaling stations, the only harbors, the only watering.places, the only source of supplies, the only naval stations, the only place of refuge, repair, or defence for thousands of miles in every direc- tion. The English papers call Hawaii the Malta and Gibraltar of the North Pacific. The London Times says, " It is easy to understand the advnntages which will accrue to the United States Navy from the possession of a naval station so advantageously placed." Honolulu is practically nearer to Washington than Buffalo was in the days of Adams and Jefferson. Passen- gers go through from Honolulu to Washington In from twelve to fourteen days; messages in six or seven days. When the Pacific cable is laid news and messa~es from Washiugton will be published III Honolulu three hours ear- lier than they were Fent. Westward the star of empire takes its way. In the drama of the world's great future the scene of its most important and cul- minating acts will be on the shores and islands of the Pacific Ocean.
FIELD OF ~IONTHLY SURVEY
IlI.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Missions in Spain and Austria.
BY REV. II. A. SCHAUFl<'LER, D.D., CJ,EVELAND, O.
Spain.-Though Spain, in her zeal 2. The Evangelical Continental So- ciety. of England, which, under Mr. for Christianity as she understood it, Gulick's superintendence, maintains the expelled both Moors and Jews, she important work in Bilbao with 4 preachstands in as great need of missiona- ing stations, and carries on a mission in ries who shall proclaim the pure Gos- Camunas, province of Toledo. 3. English " Christians," also known pel to her children IS any country in Europe. The intellectual, moral and as" Plymouth Brethren," have churches and schools in La Coruna, Marin, San material ruin wrought by Rome wher- Tome, Vigo, Figueras, Barcelona, Mad- ever she has ruled, must be seen to be rid, besides a number of other preach- ing stations and schools. appreciated. Those who maintain that Protestant missionary work for Roman 4. The American Baptist Missionary Union maintains work in Barcelona and Catholics is superfluous, because they 5sevperreaalcphreersa,chaincghustracthioens,s, and reports have the Gospel and many of them ale 100 church- good Christians, and those who refuse members scattered over 17 towns and villages. It publishes a paper-The to aid such work as being hopeless, are Bco. In some places the meetings have equally wide of the truth, which is, been attended by from 300 to 600 peo- that Roman Catholics have been de- ple, and on special occasions from 700 to 1500. The field is vast and needy. prived of the Word of God, led astray 5. The Committee of Lausanne, by Rome's errors, demoralized by the Switzerland, has a church and schools teaching and example of her priesthood, in Barcelona and preaching stations in and enslaved by her ghostly authority, the province. enforced by the terrors of purgatory, 6. The Committee of Geneva has a and that they can be reached by the church and schools in Reus in the prov- ince of Tarragona, and a church and a saving truth of the Gospel and trans- school in Pontevedra, and a preaching formed into joyful, faithful, zealous station in Tarragona. and witnessing disciples of Christ. 7. The English Wesleyan Methodists have a church and schools in Barcelona, That is what is being done in Spain by several preaching stations in the district, more than a dozen Protestant missionary and 3 churches and several schools and preaching stations in the Balearic societies. The following list of missionary so- Islands. 8. The Scotch United Presbyterian cieties at work in Spain and summary Church has churches and schools in of their work is abridged from a state- Madrid, Jerez de la Frontera, Andalu- sia, and in Fernando, near Cadiz. ment kindly furnished by Rev. Will- 9. The Spanish and Portuguese Aid iam H. Gulick, missionary of the Ameri- Society (English and Irish Episcopalican Board at San Sebastian, and laRt an) have formed two churches with year's reports of his and the American schools in Madrid, and a church with one or more schools in ValladoJid, Sala- Baptist Union's missions. The writer manca, Villaesctisa, Monistrol, San Vihas not been fortunate enough to secure cente and Malaga, and two churches in any further reports of societies. Seville.
10. The German Lutherans, Pastor 1. The American Board has a church Fritz FJiedner, missionary, have a and day schools at Santander. San Se- church and schools in MadrId. bastian, Logrofio, Pradejon, Fauste and 11. The Irish Presbyterian Church Zaragoza, and a dozen other preaching has a church and schools in Cordova stations, of which the chief are Pam- and Puerto Santa Maria, and a theologi- plona and Roa. At San Sebastian it has cal school at the latter place.
an International Institute for Girls, with 12. The Spanish Evangelization So- 40 boarding pupils. ciety (Edinburgh) has a church and schools in Seville, Cadiz, Huelva and former associates, is seen coming and Granada, besides minor stations in Vil- goiug with the Protestants. gives up lafranca, Puerto Real, El Carpio, Mon- his worldly and vicious ways, 'joins the tori, Tharsis and Niebla. Church' in public confession of his faith, bringing with him his wife and 13. The Dutch (Presbyterians) have family, and bflcomes an active member founded a church and schools in Mala- in all its good work, such a case tells as ga, Almeria and Cartagena. it could not in the city. And especially does it tell when for weeks and months 14. A Swedish mission in Valencia, the man becomes the mark for the with 1 missionary and 2 groups of con- priest, who, failing to recover him to verts in a province with 270 villages his flock by entreaties and blandishand 730,000 inhabitants. ments, resorts to persecution such as only a village priest can devisE}, to Mr. Gulick thus summarizEs the harass and injure an old-time parish- ioner. These men and women are the Protestant missionary work being done salt of the Church, and a credit to Prot- estantism throughout the districts where in Spain: they are known.
Houses or rooms used for chapels and " The presence in the land of these schools, 122 ; foreign missionaries, male, Protestants, of the city and of the coun- 20; female, 29; Spanish pastors, 41; try, few and simple and poor as they evangelists. 37; attendants on public may be ; the persistent life and growth worship, 9000; communicants, 3600; of their churches and schools; their schoolteachers, men, 79; women, 83; dignified and reasonable demand for pupils, 5000 ; Sunday·schools, 85 ; Sun- recognition and protection under the day·school teachers, 195; Sunllay-school government that they loyally help to scholars, 3600; Spanish Christian peri- support, and the example of a truly odicals, 5. Christian conduct that cannot be gain- said by their Roman Catholic neighbors, In a communication from Mr. Gulick, have wrought a radical change in pub- lic sentiment toward Protestantism. published in the Independent for March The Protestant community is now a recognized element in the body politic, 26th, 1891, he makes the following the rights of which cannot be evaded by the rulers, and which generally restatements, which in a recent letter he ceives from the authorities such protec- tion as is needed. refers to as still holding good : "If enemies declare that nearly all "The number of congregations in the knowledge of evangelical Christian- ity to-day in Spain is the direct fruit of Spain is now larger than ever before; foreign funds and of foreign teaching, we answer, How could it be otherwise? and though 'there are no congregations The secds of Evangelical truth were de- stroyed by the Inquisition in fire and as large as several that were found fif- blood. No element of Protestantism survived in Spain, as in France and in teen years ago in Madrid, and in Seville Italy, from which historical root there might, in the nineteenth century, spring and in some other places, the sum total the vigorous branch of Evangelical re- ligion producing the sweet flowers and of persons in regular attendance and the fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
total of the active membership are as A very interesting and hopeful fea- large if not larger than ever before. To- day the chief strength of Protestantism is not perhaps :lound in the organized churches with their pastors and schools in the large cities, but in the many groups of Christians, some with pastors and some without pastors, that are scat- tered far and wide throughout the country. It is in these places that the indi- vidual life of the Protestant Christian becomcs the object of special notice, and where the teachings of the Gospel and its results are brQught into open and unavoidable contact with the teachings and fruits of Roman Catholicism.
"When a man in a country village, who has been wasteful, and quarrelsome, and profane, and a gambler, be- gins to frequent the chapel, leaves his ture of the work of the American Board missions have encountered more serious in Spain, and one which is of value to and determined opposition than in any a~l other Protestant missionary opera- other country of Europe excepting Rus· tions, is the training school for girls at sia. Even in Turkey there is more re- San Sebastian, incorporated in Massa- ligious liberty than in Austria, where to chusetts under the name .. The Inter- this day no Protestant denominations national Institute for Girls in Spain." are recognized as having any legal At its head is Mrs. Gulick, a,sisted by status or rights except the Lutheran, three American lady teachers. The the Helvetic Reformed and the Herrn- course of study is thorough and com- hut (Moravian) churches. No other prehensive, including, besides lan- Protestant church has any right to hold guages, history, geometry, trigonome· public Divine serl'ice ; Austrian children try, zoology, geology, chemistry, phys- of school age, even Protestants, are not ics, and philosophy. In order to ob· allowed to attend the Sunday-schools or tain a Government degree and diploma. other services of non-recognized church- pupils of this school matriculate in the es, to whose private religious gatherings Government institute or high school, only invited guests may be admitted.
and go up yearly to be examined by the The giving away and even lending of Government Board of Examiners. The tracts is a punishable offence (the writer result of the first public examination of of tbis once paid a fine of over $20 for these pupils was highly gratifying to lending tracts to children in his own their teachers and friends, and equally dwelling), and colporteurs are forbid- depressing to bigoted Catholics, one of den selling the Scriptures; they may whom exclaimed, "It does seem that only secure subscribers, to whom the the Evil One himself helps them!" books have to be sent by mail, thus One of the immediate results of the largely increasing the expense and the notable success under the Government difficulty of circulating the Word of examiners was the official invitation to God. Though almost all educated take part in an "Exhibition of Arts Catholic laymen in Austria have lost and Sciences," where the American their faith in the Catholic Church, yet, school was assigned one of the best the Catholic religion being that of the places, with the word" Evangelico" or royal family and aristocracy, and really Protestant prominently displayed over of the State, at least in Cis-Leithania it, and attracted much favorable atten- (all Austria west of a line drawn north- tion from priests as well as laymen and east and southwest, and nearly touching public prints. The school richly de- Pressburg), it is for the interest of Gov- serves a permanent and fitting building. eIllment officials to enforce the out- Spain needs nothing more than she does rageously oppressive laws dictated by intelligent Christian women. The suc- the papal hierarchy. Were it not that cess of the school in the face of great the emperor, though a strict Catholic, difficulties is a most cheering omen for is also a lover of all his subjects and of the future of the country to which so justice, even the recognized Protestant much attention has been directed in con- churches would be in danger of losing nection with the celebration of Colum- the restrieted rights now conceded to bus's discovery of the New World. The them, and tho unrecognized Protestants network of Protestant mission stations would be persecuted out of the realm.
and the results achieved give promise of But notwithstanding the determined 'great spiritual blessings for Spain when and powerful opposition of the papal its medireval twilight shall be dispelled forces, backed by Austrian law and Aus- by the full shining of the sun of right- trian officials, mi~sionary work for eousness. Catholics has been rewarded with re- Austria.-Passing from Spain to Aus markable success, and that, though the tria, we find a land in which Protestant army of different Protestant missionary bodies laboring in Austria is very small the whole story of missionary work for compared with the number found work· Catholic population in Bohemia and ing in Spain. Moravia, a story full of touching inci- When in 1872 the writer, with Rev. dents of souls awakened to seek and Drs. E. A. Adams (now at the head of find a peace in believing in Christ which the large mission among Bohemians of their church, with its religion of forms the Chicago Congregational City Mis- and fear of purgatory, could never give sionary Society) and A. W. Clark (at -a story full of stirring tales of bitter the head of the American Board's Mis· wrongs patiently endured; of unequal sion in Bohemia), reached Prague, they conflicts heroically carried on; of won- found two other bodies at work for derful successes achieved by single- Catholic population in Bohemia-the hearted faith, steady allegiance to the IIerrnhuters (called the Moravian truth, and self.sacrificing labors for its Church in this country), who had reo spread. But our limits prevent, and we cently commenced work in Eastern and must confine ourselves to giving the re- Northern Bohemia, where they have sults of the work of one mission, the two flourishing churches with preach- largest in Austria-that of the Ameri- ing stations and an orphanage, and the can Board-which has, extended from Evangelical Continental Society of Lon· Prague as a centre to the eastern and don, supported largely by Congrega· western and southern boundaries of Bo- tionalists, and doing its work through hemia.
several pious pastors of the Reformed The last year's report of this mission Church of Bohemia, who established is full of encouragement. In spite of a number of preacbing stations in the never·ceasing opposition of a gov- Raudnitz and Leitmeritz and other ernment whose right to rule is based on places in the northern half of Bohemia, a constitution that "guarantees full and superintended the work of native liberty of faith and conscience to every evangelists and colporteurs. The mis· one," in spite of the harassing efforts of sions of the Scotch Free Church in police, priests, editors, landlords and Prague and in Bnda·Pesth (Hungary), bigots of all kinds to exterminate and of the Irish Presbyterians in Vienna, " heresy," the triumphs of Gospel were for the Jews. A small Baptist truth are more marked than ever. The church in Vienna was cared for by the police search dwellings and confiscate agent of the British and Foreign Bible hymn·books and Bibles; priests order Society: Now the American Baptist employtrs to dismiss Bible – reading Missionary Union reports a missionary workmen; even children suffer per- stationed there whose efforts have been secution in the public schools, and so blessed that baptisms have repeatedly some parents disown their children who taken place, and the place of worship join the mission churches. And yet has become too small. Some years ago the influence of the mission is not only a small split from the American Board's spreading into the hitherto most bigot- mission church in Prague joined the ed parts of Bohemia, which rejected Baptists,and is doing zealous work, seek- the Gospel even in the glorious Refor· ing to enter the doors which in increas· mation times that followed the martyr· ing numbers are opening in different dom of John Huss, but is winning its parts of Bohemia. A German Method- way among the educated classes.
ist mission in Vienna was also started, The Y. 111. C. A. has proved even a and suffered much opposition from the more useful adjunct of the Church's authorities. The writer once addressed work than in lands where there is more their meeting, when no singing or pray- liberty. Incorporated under the laws ing was allowed. Think of :lHethodists governing associations, which a church put under such restraints I cannot be, it claims the protection of It would be very interesting to tell law, owns buildings, holds public meetings, and reaches those whom the mis- reason that I affirm that in the sterling sion church, unreeognized by law and Christian piety and zeal which charac- hampered by legal restrictions, cannot terizes them as a whole lies the hope of attract. The Prague Y. M. C. A. 's ex· revi ving in Bohemia the ancient faitil hibit, at a recent national Bohemian ex- of their forefathers and of eyangelizing hibition, received honorable mention the country. It is the mission of these and a beautiful diploma presented by converts to leaven the masses of indif- the city of Prague and signed by its ferent, unbelieving, superstitious and highest officials. That is vastly more hypocritical adherents of Rome with significant in Austria than in a Prot- the pure Gospel of Christ. This is what estant country. by God's gmce they are doing. The The most remarkable proof of prog- noble and courageous witnessing for ress is found in Pilsen, the chief city of Christ and the general influence of this Western Bohemia, which refused en- little band of Christian con,er ts, the de- trance to the reformers in Bohemia's spised and legally non·recognized ' In- golden age. In II recent number of the dependents,' has a very great effect Missionary Herald Dr. A. W. Clark upon the legally recognized Protestant reports a delightful visit to that churches, leavening them with the stronghold of Romanism. On Satur- Gospel spirit and stimulating them to a day evening he addressed a large audi- more consistent and spiritual life." A ence. On Sunday he preached to 120 very significant fact in connection with hearers, 60 of them members of the the work of the mission in the almost mission church, the rest Roman Catho- wholly Roman Catholic southern part lics, and then followed a communion of Bohemia is the purchase and fitting season of such tender interest and spir- up as a place of worship a building in itual power as is seldom witnessed where the garden of the very house in which the Church is not suffering for the truth. the great Bohemian reformer, John A Y. M. C. A. has been formed here, Huss, was born. It is related that, and has gained legal standing. From when in prison in Constance before his Pilsen Gospel truth is spreading into the being burned at the stake as a heretic region round about, containing 1,000,- in 1514, John Huss dreamed that the 000 souls. Pope effaced the image of Jesus Christ This mission reported in 1893 1 cen- from his prison walls; but the next day tral station (Prague) and 40 out-stations, a great number of painters restored with 2 ordained American missionaries that image in greater beauty, which and their wives; 14 Bohemian work- greatly encouraged him to believe that, ers, of whom 4 were ordained: aver- after Rome had done her utmost, Christ's age weekly congregation of 1479; 10 image would be restored in the hearts churches, with 676 members, of whom of his countrymen; whereat he (Huss), 165 had been received in the year just awaking from the dead and rising ended. A house of refuge for fallen from the dead, would " thrill with great girls-nowhere more n;;eded than in a joy." The last part of that dream is Catholic couutry, where the open im- having blessed fulfilment in our day.
morality of the priests makes ha voc with the morals of their people-has Statistical Notes. won the respect and friendliness of the lIuthorities. In the weighty case of Protestantism Of the Christian character of the con- Ve1'SU8 Catholicism, what is the situa- verts, almost all Roman Catholics, Rev. tion and prospect after nearly four hun- L. F. Miskovsky, himself born in Bo- dred years of stubborn conflict of truth hemia but educated in this country, and against pernicious error? The figures who spent a number of months last year which follow will furnish the substance in Bohemia, writes: "It is not without for a reply to that question by no means wholly unsatisfactory or without en- the Reformation rested upon little Engcouragement. The Protestants number land and little Holland; or the times of about 150,000,000 and Roman Catholics Louis XIV. and his dragonades/ Let about 225,000,000. Of these 375,000,000 the Spanish Armada, the massacre of Europe holds the large majority, or St. Bartholomew, the revocation ("f the some 88.000,000 of the former and 162,- Edict of Nantes, the desolations of the 000,000 of the latter. This table will Thirty Years' War, the bloody Inquisi- show at a glance what European COUD- tion, the power and activity of the tries are strongholds for the ideas and Jesuits stand for what PJ'otestants were convictions which were quickened by compelled to endure for three full cen- the Reformation, and also where the turies. And how rapidly and seriously papacy is still supreme. Rome is losing her grip upon the na- Protestants. R. Catholics. tions is seen in the faet that within this Great Britain. . .. .,. 32,726,000 5,412,000 century, and for the most part within Germany…………. 31,027,000 17,075,000 the limits of this generatioD, religious England and Wale".. 27,903,000 1,500,000 freedom under the law has taken the Russia. . .. .. ……. 6,000,000 8,rOO,000 place of rigid intolerance in almost 1000 every Catholic State I As illustrations, Swaden ._ ….. _…. 4,807,000 Austria. .. . . . . . . . . .. .. 3,864,000 32,254,000 take the tremendous change that came to Mexico when .Maximilian and the Scotland…. …. ….. 3,698,COO 305,000 Catholic reaction were utterly over· 1,600,000 thrown in 1867, and to Italy in 1870, Netherlanus……… 2,630,000 3,700 when His Holiness found an irresistible Denmark….. …… 2,181,000 1,000 civil master I 1.225,000 Norway…… ……. 2,000,000 3,547,000 The ontlook for the future of the two 37,593,000 rival forms of Christianity may be gained Switzerland.. …… 1,775,000 80,400,000 by taking France as a representative of 17,000,000 Ireland…. . . 1,125,000 6,18:5,000 the one and Great Britain of the other. 4,800,000 The date is not so very distant when the France. . .. . . .. . . . .. .. '750,000 former was manifestly superior nearly Italy… …………. 62,O~0 everywhere; lmt almost in an hour all Spain……………. 10,000 Belgium.. .. ……… 10,000 Portueal. . .. . . . . . . . . . 1,000 Iu the Old World, Rome is spiritual her vast possessions fell into the hnnds of ruler over some 170,000,000, and over her rival across the Straits of Dover, about 55,000,000 in me New; while of whose supremacy has ever since been the adherents of the Reformed Church, maintained, both on land and sea. 90,000,000 inhabit the Eastern Hemi- France is larger Ilnd is better situafed sphere and 60,000,000 the Western, geographically. Her soil is more fertile. Tbe Spanish-American ftates are pra.c- In 1789 her income w!.s nearly twice as tically unanimous in looking to the large as that of England, and her popu· Tiber for law and gospel, since, with a lation was 26,000,000 against only 9,000,- popUlation of over 45,000,000, less than 000; but to·day, While Frenchmennum- 1,000,000 are Protestants, The Domin- bel' less than 40,000,000, of Englishion of Canada has about 2,000,000 Cath· men there are more than 100,000,000. olics in a total population of 5,000,000. Anglo-Saxon intelligence and energy But in the United States, with 63,000,- and enterprise are clearly destined to 000 inhabitants. not more than 7,000,· carryall the world over Anglo-Saxon 000 adherents of the papacy can be mus· speech, and ideas, and institutions, and teredo religious faith as well.
Protestantism is, then, numerically When we are inclined to fear for the strongest in the United States, 56,000,- future of our own land, it is well to re- 000; Great Britain, 33,000,000; Ger- call the fact that though the papacy is many, 31,000,000 ; and the threc Scan· strong, haughty, determined, skilful, dinavian countries, 9,000,000. And and unscrupUlous, nnd can count a fol· Rome sways most minds and con- lowing of about 7,000,000, her losses sciences in France, with 37,000,000; through lapse into indifference and Austria, with 32,000,000; Italy, with open apostaRY are great, and go far to 30,000,000; and Spain, with 17,000,000. neutralize all her gains, which are main· About two thirds of alllhe Protestants ly from immigration. Free institutions, of the world belong to the great Anglo· publie schools, and the Whole atmos- Saxon race-that is. 100,000,000 of the phere of the New World are overwhelm- total of 150,O(l0.000-and are found ingly against her superstitions and bel'
massed, more than half in the United despotism. With a non·Catholic popu· States and the re&t in Great Britain and lation of 56,000,000, surely no fatal barm l1er colonies. can be done to our Christianity by 7,000,- How changed is the situation since 000 who in outward profession, and ac· the dreadful days of Chal'lps V. and cording to the census tables, are non- Pbilip II., when under God all hope for Protestant.
lS!14.] • EDITOHIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The Iutarnational Missionary Union. partment will be largely given upto the details of this great gathering, and This was every way a unique gather. hence we need not either anticipate or ing. After desiring for years to be prcs- duplicate this account. But another ent at the annual feast of these represen· unique feature of this Uaion is that tatives of the world's missions, this year only missionaries are heard from its found the yearning granted, and the at- platform. It is not a place for ad captractions of the gathering exceeded the tandum speeches on missions, for theoexpectation, which is saying a good deal. l'etical argument and appeal, but for Dr. Gracey was in his element presid· witness borne by the actual workers_ ing over this assembly; with his quick And it was observable that not one needperception of the eternal fitness of less speech was made in the course of things, his wide acquaintance with the the eight days ; nor was there any atmission work and field, his ready wit tempt at literary effects; no labored and imperturbable good humor, his introductions or eloquent perorations, happy way of managing everybody no flights of rhetoric or poetry. no and turning everything to account- plunges into the depths of abstruse phieven an apparent blunder-nothing losophy. A hundred short speeches, could be asked beyond his singular giving simple testimony to facts and adaptation to the post he not only occu· needs and the workings of God; a score pied, but filled. of carefully prepared papers on vital as- . Perhaps the unique features of this pects of mission work; a lively and gathering are to be found, first in the warm discussion in five-minute speeches union of the transient and permanent of such snbjects as educational missions, elements in its compo~ition. The union and a beautiful spirit of prayer and fel· is composed of missionaries of all de· lowship pervading all. If the meetings nominations and nations, who sign its of the American Board and other great simple constitution; but actually it is missionary societies could take the meetcomposed, at any particular meeting, of ings of the Union for a model, they those missionaries who are returned from would double and treble their power their fields permanently or temporarily, over the people. and who are thus enabled to meet for eight days at the rallying centre, Clif· The Union opened its proper sessions ton Springs. with a prayer service of two hours, at which the one subject absorbing all atten- This was the eleventh annual meet· tion was the Holy Spirit as the Personing. At first it was a movable feast, al Presence and Power presiding in all held at Wesley Park, Niagara Falls, assemblies of believers. And if He ever and at the Thousand Islands, Bingham. administered any such assembly, it ton, etc. ; but that universal benefactor" was surely this. From the opening hymn Dr. Henry Foster, invited the Union to every exercise was spontaneous. There' meet at Clifton Springs, at whose sani- was no hymn announced, no person tarium so many of God's chosen ones designated to pray or speak. Brief pas· have found a sort of heavenly rest for a !Sages were read from the Gospel accordseason; and now for years past here has ing to John, in order to show Christ's been the "tabernacle" for the Union. testimony concerning the paraclete ; and This year about one hundred and fifty then from the Acts of the Apostles, were eiltcrtained without charge for a to exhibit His praetical and actual week, while the affairs of the kingdom working in the early Church. Then were under discussion. there was, for example, a continuous prayer, lasting perhaps for twenty min- The columns of the International Deutes, 'in which various persons, men and the North American Indians exceeded women, representing perhaps forty for dramatic power and fascination alfields, poured out in brief sentences most anything we have heard; Dr. their hearts' yearnings. Every moment was occupied, amI we all felt that the Henry Foster's venerable and apostolic Spirit was leading. The influence first felt in this devutional service pervaded form and presence, and the new version the remaining sessions to the close. The meeting of Tuesday night was givcn up of the story of Ling Ching Ting, the entirely to some thirty.seven persons who expect to go to their respective converted Chinese opium-smoker. fields in course of. the year; and the closing meeting of Wednesday morning A proposal was made, at this meeting was a gathering up in minute speeches of nuggets found in these mines during that Clifton Springs be a sort of home the week-and rich gleanings they were. for the Missionary Union, and that here The whole tone of these meetings was hopeful. There was not a discourag- there be established !I school for the ing word. Even in the midst of tribulations these brethren and sisters were childlen of missionaries and a training exceeding joyful, and gloried in God. They testified with unanimity to the school for intending missionaries, where promise as fulfilled, .' Lo, I am with you alway;" and not one was there the services of tbose who are resting for who would not esteem it a self·denial to be kept out of the field. If anybody awhile might be utilized in securing commiserates missionaries he should have been here to find out that they re- higher fitness for their work:. We came gard those who are compelled to abide at home as the people to be pitied. away persuaded that God has higher The twilight hour each day is hence- and targer purposes for this Internaforth the chosen hour whcn, wherever the members of the Union may be, they tional Missionary Union, and that it has !l'e to unite in prayer for the objects dear to all true missionaries. And so but entered upon its true career. Not there will be continuous prayer following the sun in his circuit; before the one discordant note was struck to mar sunset hour has ceased in the far· off lands of the Orient, the new round of the heavenly harmony. It was a place sunsets will have begun to travel westward, to tarry, and the universal reluctance In such. a gathering it would be in- to, separate proved how intensely the vidious to mention individual names. But who will ever forget Dr. McGil- presence of the Lord was felt by all. vary, the apostle to the Laos people; Dr. Cyrus Hamlin :md Dr. Wood, so In the editorial article which begins long identified with the Sublime Porte; Secretary Belden and Mrs. Wellington this August issue, reference is made to a White, both so marvellously saved from death; Mrs. Bacon, who at her own quotation from a letter of M. C. Fencharges went to India after she was wick, which was published in The fifty years old; Rev. Edgerton R. Truth. Concerning this letter, Mr. Young, whose thrilliug addresses on Fenwick writes to the editor of this REVIEW as follows: " A letter which I addressed to Rev. Dr. J. H. Brookes, and not intended for publication, appeared in The Truth, and is, I find, partially republished in Dr. Johnston's book on • Reality 'V8. Romance.' "
For sbme time the words" who art thou that judgest another man's ser- vant?" have been so laid upon my heart that I am deeply sorry I ever penned the above letter, more especially since truth forbids its withdrawal. The let- ter was penned under conviction that the Church of Christ in America was given to exacting glowing reports from missionaries to bolster up their dishon- orin?; methods of raising money, and in this way hold those contributors who have no part nor lot in the Lord's work. It was also penned under the convic- tion that the Church is ever seeking for something of this nature to sustain the delusion inherited from Constantine that th'! world is growing hetter, and the greater delusion begotten by this- Oh, how blessed to know that the last that the carnal hearts so faithfully por· commission of our blessed Lord tarries trayed in the first chapter of Romans not for the statistician's glowing report, are stretching forth their hands for the but is borne on the wings of "the Gospel in advance of the G08pel. Their Heavenly Dove," transforming unwill- hearts hate the blood, but are weary, ing hearts, making His desire their glad sad, longing human hearts neverlhe· choice!
less; and only Jesus can rest them, and The American Presbyterian Board' only the Holy Ghost can change their (North) has now a splendid staff in hate into love. Corea, and I think I know the majority The Corean who. related to me the of them sufficiently well to say no one manner of his baptism was brought so need fear a repetition of the sad methblessedly under conviction of sin by the ods employed by their older member.
Holy Spirit that he cried out in agony Yours, of soul, " I believe in God ; every Co- M. C. FENWICX, rean believes in God; but who ill this Of Oorean Itinerant Mi8sion. Jesus? I don't want to believe in Him, neither can I pray honestly that I may have such a desire." He not only hat· We have received a remarkable letter, ed but despised the meek and lowly One; but before the Holy Spirit got which should be published, as follows: through with him he was very glad to TENGCHOWFU, CmN.A-, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, April 15, 1894. and was saved. This conviction came long after he was baptized, and he reo Rev. A. T. Pie1'80n, D.D.
lated the manner of his baptism after DEAR Sm: In a recent igsue of THE he confessed Jesus his Lord and realized the" more excellent way. " If my good MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD I friend Dr. Brookes refers to my letter, noticed a request for donations to your he will find it was written for hjs pri· fund for giving that paper to poor stu- vate information, with permission to use dents who are unable to pay for it. if he saw fit, throwing the responsi. Remembering how much the REVIEW bility, if published, on his judgment, has helped me during my years of colnot mine. Of course it settles all question as to lege life, I wish to give my mite to send the truthfulness of my letter when the it to others. Enclosed you will find a man who did the baptizing confesses United States greenback for $5-the himself a pre·millenarian, though an only one I have left of those I started out and out "poet," and denies the whole story, and is backed by his wife, with from the home land last Septem- his father·in·law in Chicago, a commit· ber. tee in. Toronto that has since given Tell the Christian medical students up tne work entirely, and" an angry, ilillr man" who" should be recalled." and doctors at home that they cannot D:. Vinton, writing to the MISSION· afford to stay there while there is so ARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, gives cor- much work to be done here. rect statistics; but statistics are one thing, the manner of creating them may I feel like thanking God daily that be quite another. Mr. Gale, of the He has brought me to this needy land, same mission, writing to the same maga· even though nearly half of the first six zine in the same issue. speaking of months of my life here has been spent " Euiju," where the greater portion of on a bed of sickness with typhoid fever. the reported 127 converts were baptized by the missionary whose methods are May the Lord richly bless you in deplorably sad, quotes another mission- your labors. ary of the same mission who has lived Yours truly, in Eluiju longer than all other mission- W. F. SEYMOUR, M.D. aries in Corea combined, as reporting some half.dozen converts. I heard this Let our readers reflect what good has missionary deny to Mr. Gale that he ever been done to this young man by read_ reported anything of the kind, and he added, .. -IVhat I did say was that there ing this REVIEW, and how that good is were some five or six evidently interest· exhibited in this letter. How his self· ed, and I had great hopes that they would yet be converted." Statistics, denial in sending $5 rebukes the apathy and selfishness of those at home, who you see, even when as modest as Mr. Gale's. are not always to be relied upon. are unwilling to deny themselves to contribute to this same needy fund for the lar.ing his hand on the Bip!e, which supply of the REVIEW to needy stu- still bore marks of the rough usage it dents for the ministry and the mission had received before it escaped the sea. field! Let some who read these lines , All my classics went to the bottom; ask themsel ves if they cannot by a gift . to this fund help to raise up and send but, when the Bible was thus rescued forth to the field missionaries of like consecration. This fund to-day needs aud brought back to my hands, I seem- at least $500 to make up arrears. We are constantly appealed to to furnish ed almost to hear a VOIce from heaven the REVIEW at less than cost to needy saying to me, "Greek and Latin au- young men and women, who are look- ing forward to service in the foreign thors are not needed to convert the na· field. One application recently granted, tivE's of India; the Bible alone, with has contained forty-two add1'esses. Will God's Spirit, is sufficient, for it is the sword of the Spirit, and mighty through God to the pulling down of Satan's strongholds.'" Yes, the Bible, with Divine help, is sufficient to convert India, to convert the world to Christ. Be it ours to send it forth on its Divine mission."
not some who sympathize with our de- The Board of Foreign Missions of the sire to furnish such parties with the RE- Presbyterian Church in the United VIEW at nominal rates belp us by send- States of America issues a statement .ing to the editor, at East Northfield, worthy of preservation. Eight hun- Mass., sums to be so applied? dred and fifty-six millions of heathen An able article on the recent Y. M. sit in darkness, while we have light. C. A. Jubilee, held in London, will ap- The Master is watching His stewards. pear in our next issue. Your gifts help support the following work: Ordained missionaries (165 na- Dr. Duff, the well-known Indian mis- tive), 375; lay missionaries (339 fesionary, when acting as Professor of male), 384 ; churcheR, 391; communi- Evangelistic Theology in the New Col- cants, 30,479; added 1891-92, 3430; lege, Edinburgh, was wont to invite his contributions on field, $38,731.28; students to his house. The pleasant schools, 771; scholars, 29,011; scholevenings were closed with family wor- ars in Sunday-schools, 26,388 ; students ship. The Qua1'terly RetXYrd of the Na- for ministry, 167; printing establishtional Bible Society of Scotland recaEs ments, 12; pages issued in 21 lana touching feature in connection with guages, 110,000,000; hospitals and dist.hose gatherings: pensaries, 43; patients treated, 100,000.
"When the doctor opened his big The McAll Mission, in Paris and Bible on these occasions, he used to France, is vigorously working. Thirtypause, and, turning to the lads, relate five halls in and around Paris are open a well·known incident in the history and largely attended. The preaching of the Book before him. A lover of is steadily conducted on the evangelical the classics, when he first went out lines on which it was started, and is as to India as a missionary he had fitted effective as it was in former days. Dr. up in his cabin a little library of the McAll has departed, but Mr. Greig and choicest Greek and Latin authors, in other men have taken up the work whose company he passed many a hap- which he began and so long conducted, py hour. But the vessel was wrecked, and are carrying it forward with earand nearly everything on board was nestness and success. General religious lost, the passengers and crew being glad interest is manifest Itt the stations of the to reach the shore without loss of life mission throughout France, and there or limb. They had gathered round a have been some remarkable conversions hastily kindled fire When a sailor, who during the past winter, as at Lyons and had been down on the beach watching Marseilles. the wreck, was seen approaching with something in his hand. 'See what I have picked up on the shore I ' he cried. • And the sailor handed me,' Dr. Duff would say, 'II book, this very book,' Volumes of incidents worthy of rec- the provisions.~f the reform inauguratord might be written in connection with the work. This touching story is told ed against the Catholic Church, by in connection with one of the Paris which all kinds of religious proces- sions and demonstrations in the open air are prohibited."
branches: "An aged woman who had learned by heart many of the hymnB We gladly give space to an appeal in sung there, and seemed to find all her behalf of the Industrial Department of delight in them, came to the meeting the Collegiate and 'rheological Institute leaning on a crutch, and evidently very in Samokov, Bulgaria, and of a hospital feeble. The subject of discourse that for the relief of the poor in the same night was' Dress '-the robe of right- city. Mr. Kingsbury is well known to eousness, the wedding garment. At many readerH, and his appeal has the the close she said to the preacher: 'I hearty support of snch men as Presibelieve this is my last visit to the hall ; dent R. S. Storrs, D.D., and Secretary if I can never come again, you will N. G. Clark,D.D., of theA. B. C. F.M., know where I have gone. My infirmi- and R. Wardlaw Thompson, Secretary ties increase rapidly.' 'I will come to of the L. M. S. Any gifts may be sent see you,' said the preacher; • but if God to Mr. Kingsbury at 23 Long Lane, called you meanwhile, have you any London, E. C., Eng. fear of appearing before Him?' 'Oh, "There is. in connection with the no,' she replied, ' I am too well dressed for that-too well dressed to dread the Collegiate and Theological Institute in Samokov, Bulgaria, an Industrial Dejudgment. He hath clothed me with partment, whose object is to help in- the garments of salvation; He hath digent but worthy young men to work, by means of which they can earn a part covered me with the robe of righteous- or the whole of their expenses, while ness.' " securing a Christian education. Dur- ing the seven years of the history of The following report comes from the this enterprise more than $1000 have been paid to students who must other- City of Mexico: wise have been obliged to have left the " Tile Salvation Army of the United institute. Within a short distance of States and England has large coloniza- the building now occupied is a fine wa- tion schemes brewing for Mexico. A ter power-not less than 20 horse pow- syndicate of capitalists in terested in the er; which may be secured shortly by work of the Salvation Army has con- purchase. There is already a mill in cluded the purchase from the Mexican operation on the place. Contiguous to GDvernment of 200,000 acres of land in this mill, and belonging to the same the State of Chiapas. A member of the proprietor, stands a house and lot, '1d- syndicate, C. H. Durst, this week sailed mirably adapted fur a hospital. The for England, where he is to meet Gen- whole can be bought at present for eral Booth. It is expected plans will $1500 standing. The InduRtrial De- now be 'speedily perfected by which partment in b;)th its divisions of print- 5000 families will be put on the great ing and carpentery is in sore need of tract LH' col')iliz<ltion purposes. oper- assistance in securing the necessary ating under the direction of the officers tools for carrying on the work, and for of the army. Chiapas is on the ex- the permanent support of the persons treme southern border of Mexico, on in charge, and for purchasing supplies the Pacific Coast, and is a State of of type, paper, machines, and other es- much promise iu the way of agricul- sentials. We would earnestly appeal tnral products. This is but another to the benevolently inclined to assist step forward in the realization of the us. Our immediate and pressing needs plans for practical help which General are for $1500 for the purchase of a cyl- Booth and his associates have long had inder printing machine, $1500 for the in mind for the world's poor, and espe- purchase of the water power and mill cially the submerged classes of the great adjoining, and furnish from time to cities of England and America. It is time various things for the mainte- supposed that the bulk of the colonists nance of the work.
will come from England. 'J'he Salva- " We believe that unless Bulgaria in tion Army is forbidden by the Constitu- her rapid ad vance be impressed with tion of Mexico to carryon its street the truths of the Gosptl, and moulded work in the way of meetings, under in a measure by the influence of men of sterlin~ Integrity and honesty, that she secured sufficient to maintain but six will faIl to make herself what she seems beds, then permission can be secured destined to be. 'l'his institution is almost from the authorities to dispense medithe o~ly one in the land where the Bible cine to the poor. Let this cry of a is the recognized rule of faith and prac· struggling people come up before God's tice. Under the impulse of the Indus- people, and we believe that the neces· trial Department the number of stu- sary funds will not be denied. dents rose from less than thirty to more .. FREDERICK L. KINGSBURY."
than seventy; but that number is con- stantly diminishing. With a wellequipped printing office ten thousand The Open or Institutional Ohuroh streams of elevating influence would League.
flow to every part of the land. A crisis At their recent conference, held in the Madison Avenue Presbyterian is now upon the people of Bulgaria. Infinite social, political, educational, and literary advantages are held out to Church in this city, the friends of insti- an eager and expectant nation. The tutional church work formed a League and adopted the following platform as forces of evil are rife; vice and intem- the statement of their conviction: perance are rapidly on the gain. In the one city of Samokov, with a diminished population, the arrests are sevenfold The open or institutional church de- more than they were ten years since. pends upon the development of a cer- Before the people of God we plead our tain spirit rather than upon the aggre- cause. You appreeiate the value of gation of special appliances and meth· good government-help us to secure ods. It is an organism evolved from a that public spirit in Bulgaria that will germinal principle rather than an or- be satisfied with nothing short of right· ganization.
eous and well-executed laws. You a_po It believes that only as this spirit is preciate the value of a good literature developed in the Church universal will -help us to attain to something better the purpose of the kingdom of God than the vile translations that are now among men be realized, and it confi- being sold throughout the country. dently looks forward to the time when The worst sort of socialism and infidel- the Church will be understood to stand ity are organizing themselves, and their for the larger view here presented.
literary productions are hawked about As the body of the Christ the open or in the streets of our cities and sold at constitutional church aims to provide marvellously cheap prices. You be- the material environment through lieve in men of stanch integrity and which His Spirit may be practically ex- firmness of character that give tone to pressed. As His representative in the public morals and support the best in· world it seeks to represent Him pbysi.
stitutions. Help us to give work to cally, intellectually, socially, and spiro these needy and worthy young men, by itually to the age in which it exists.
means of which they may elevate their Inasmuch as the Christ came not to people, and through whose efforts the be ministered unto but to minister, the highest good may be maintained. With open or institutional church, filled and slight expense the institute could give moved by His Spirit of ministrating accommodation to one hundred and fifty love, seeks to become the centre and young men. Scores are ready and anx· source of all beneficent and philan- ious to work their way through an edu- thropic effort, and to take the leading cation by means of which to fit them- part in every movement which has for selves for the highest usefulness. Can its end the alleviation of human suffer- anything be nobler than helping such ing, the elevation of man, and the bet- youths to help themselves? terment of the world.
"The need of a hospital is great; Thus the open or institutional church nearly a thousand families are debarred aims to save all men and all of the man from any medical aid or assistance. It by all means, abolishing so far as possihas been my painful experience a~ a ble the distinction between the religious doctor to see scores of persons die with· and the secular, and sanctifying all out any medicine being procurable or days and means to the great end of sav· without the possibility of such aid. ing the world fo<r Christ.
Hundreds of persons are constantly ill While the open or institutional church in that city who might be aided, but is known by its spirit of ministration who cannot be for lack of means to pur- rather tban by any specific methods of chase medicine. The law of Bulgaria expressing that spirit, it stands for open forbids any person dispensing the small· church doors every day and all day, est quantity of medicine unless he has free seats, It plurality of Christian work- a hospital. If the building above re- ers, the personal activity of all church- ferred to can be purchased, and money members, a ministry to all the com· munity through educational, reforma- of Hu-Nan. Kiang-Si, Fuh-Kien. Kutory, and philanthropic chauuels. to the ang-Si. Kuang-Tong-with Formosa end that men may be won to Christ and and Hainan. His service, that the Church may be brought back to the simplicity and 16th Day. Inland China-Provinces comprehensiveness of its primitive life, of Kan-SUh. Shen-Si, Sz-Chuen, Kweiuntil it can be said of every community Chau Yun-Nan-wHh Thibet. the kingdom of heaven is within you and Christ is all and in all. 17th Day. Japan and Corea. 18th Day. The East Indies-Philip- The League agreed to hold annually pine Islands, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, a convention, the first to occur on the New Guinea, et.c. Fourth Tuesday of October next. 19th Day. Australia. Tasmanh, and New Zealand-noting the Maories and The officers elected are: other aborigines. 20th D~y. The South Sea Islands. REV. C. A. DICKINSON, D.D., Pre8. 218tDay. North Africa-The Barbary States, Egypt, Abyssinia, Soudan. REV. C. L. THOMPSON, D. D., Vice-Pres. 22d Day. West Africa…..:Sene!!ambia. Sierra Leone, Upper and Lower Guinea, REV. F. M. NORTH, Sec. and Treas. the Congo Free State. 23d Day. East Africa-the lake dis- The Student Volunteer Missionary tricts and the coast. 24th Day. South Africa (south of the Union has issued a "prayer cycle for Zambesi) native territories-BechuaDR- land, Matabeleland, etc.-Dutch 'and every month," with this motto: English colonies. 25th Da,y. Madagascar and Mauritius. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the 26th Day. Dominion of Canada and Polar lands-noting Indians and Eskiharvest that He send forth laborers into mos. 27th DaN. Tbe United States, with His harvest" (Matt. !) : 38). Alaska-noting Indians, colored races, etc. It is urged that in praying for each 28th Day. Mexico, Central America, field mention be made of missionaries and the West Indies. with whom we are acquainted; and 29th Day. South America-Roman native pastors and teachers, converts, Catholics and heathen. and the heathen should not be forgotten. 30th Day. The Jews in all lands. 318t Day. Unoccupied lands-Thibet, 1st Day. The British Isles. the Sahara, Soudan, Central South 2d Day. Protestant countries-as Ger- America, Nepaul, Bhutan. many, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden " Evening, morning, and at noon will and Norway, Denmark and Iceland. I pray" (Ps. 55 : 17). 3d Day. Roman Catholic countriesas France, Belgium, Spain and Portu· WEEKLY. gal, Italy, Austria and Hungary. 4th Day. Greek Church countries- Sunday. For the Church of Christas Greece, the Balkan States, Russia for a great revival of spiritual power. and Siberia. 5th Day. Turkey (in Europe and in J.fonday. For missionary societies, Asia)-noting the Armenian Christians. with officials and committees. 6th Day. Syria-noting Palestineand Arabia. Tuesday. For all missionaries in the 7th Day. Persia, Turkestan, Afghan- field, and all who are preparing for foristan, Beloochistan. eign work. 8th Day. Northwest India-Kashmir, Punjab, Sindh, Rajpootana. Wednesday. Fur universities, colleges, 9th Day. North India – Bengal, and medical schools. Northwest Provinces. Assam. etc. 10th Day. Central India-Bombay, Thursday. For Young Men's Chri.~ Indore Agency, Central Provinces, and tian .Associations, Young Women's Haidarabad. 11th Day. South India-Madras, My- Christian Associations, and young peosore, Travancore. Cochin, Ceylon. ple generally. 12th Day, Further India-Burma, Siam and Malay Peninsula, Tongking, Friday. For the Student Volunteer Cochin China. Missionary Union-executive, general 13th Day. North China-Province of secretary, local committees, and secre- Chih-Ii, Shan-Tung, Shan·si-withMan- taries. churia and Mongolia. 14th Day. Mid-China-Provinces of &tttrday. For the travelling secre- Ho·Nan, Kiang-su, Hu-Peh, Gan-Hwui, Cheh-Kiang. tary. 15th Day. South China–Provinces "Brethren, pray for us. that the word of the Lord may run and be glori- fied" (2 Thess, 3 ; 1).
GENERAL ~USSIONARY I~TELLIGENCE. [A.ugu&t
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONABD.
Extracts and Tra.nslations from Foreign seem to have been a Protestant, but rather a devout theist. His name was Periodicals. Cajetan Rippoll. 'rhe Inquisition, on the verge of extinction, seems to have BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, declined greatly from the fierce sincer- ity of Torquemada's days. It proposed MASS. to RippoIl to abjure his errors in pub- lic and rctain them in private, but he MISCELLANEOUS. indignantly refused, saying, "I do not lie in the presence of God." He -The Waldcnses say thllt many was sentenced to be hanged and theu Catholic parents send their children to burned. The fanatical crowd was greatthem becanse, being both sincere Chris- ly disappointed that his face did not tians and good Italians, they find that show the usual convulsions as he swung in the public schools religion is under on the gallows, and seems to have had· the ban, and in the priests' schools pa- a misgiving that he had gone to Paratriotism. In the Waldensian schools dise after all. they find religion and patriotism reconciled. The Waldenses don't seem to -The Mission to Deep Sea Fisherthink that attachment to church schools men, which has wrought such blessed is a sin, provided they are truly national results for soul, mind, and body of the in tone. North Sea English fishermen, has de- termined, to the great joy of the Mora- King Humbert's late visit to the Wal- vian brethren, to establish a summer densian valleys, and his declaration that station among the hundreds of Newhe had always held the Waldenses foundland vessels in the Labrador dear, but that now, it possible, he held waters. The direct and indirect rethem dearer, reminds us of his remark, sults of this on the Eskimo Christians when crown prince, to Dr. Nevin, of also, and the white or half-blood set- Rome, that Italy needed a very simple tlers, arc likely to be inestimable. Inreligion. Rhe had been overdosed with deed. a close intimacy of intercourse needless aIUl unedifying elaborations. and labor is already growing up ; and As a corre~pondent of the Catholic Re- Mr. Grenfell, the head of the Fishers' view remarks, in Southern Europe ., the Mission, has to sct home to the Newinstrumentalities of religion" Beem to foundland authorities the blameworthihave largely choked their own end. ness of their previous indifference to the Rites that at some remote time may state of Labrador, that they are taking have really had an edifyiug value have measures for protecting and caring for been continued until they have become the natives iu a degree more answering mere dead husks. The vigorous effort to their responsibility as the governors which the papacy in the sixteenth cen- of the country_ tury made, in the reformed breviary, to simplify ritual observance, came to noth- -The Allgemeine Missions-Zeitscltrijt, ing because it lacked its two essential which has beeu publishing a very exsupports-popular schools and a ver- haustive account of the Free Church of nacular Bible. It is curious, but the Scotland, remarks that itS to the amount indignant protest of the reformed bre- of la,bor laid out by it. India is plainly viary against the darkening multitude its favored missionary field. Of 56 orof ceremonies now stands in the preface dained missionaries. 32 labor in India; of the English Prayer-book. of 52 European helpers, 11 ; of 34 fe- -It appears that the last person who suffered for heresy in Spain was put to death at Valencia in 1812. He does not
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
male helpers (not including wives of " And yet to-day we know that this missionaries), 24. In education also In- Gospel, opposed as is nothing else in dia is the favored field. Of the 6 col- the world, contemned by those without leges, 4 are in India; of the 153 inter- and those within, by Greeks and barmediate schools, 59 ; of the 20,000 schol- barians, has nevertheless always pressed ars, about 14,000. forward over every hindrance, and is winning victories year by year. There- On the other hand, South Africa fore it is no wonder if we to·day see a stands decidedly first in the number of greater company before our eyes than congregations and converts, having could have been presaged fifty years more than 5000 communicants out of ago, when our division of the universa1 7000, and of the baptized some 9000 out Church assumed its place in the miliof 15,000. This is the more noteworthy, tant army of Christ. "-BISHOP HEUCK, as the Caffres are peculiarly a hard peo- of Norway, at the Jubilee of tlte Norse ple to work among. Missionary Society (Dansie Mi8siona- Btad). As yet the Free Church has not had the happiness to see anywhere, under NETHERLANDS INDIA. the labors of its missionaries, a general movement of a population toward the -Some of the Europeans in the Dutch Gospel. Its special work has thus far East Indies favor missions as advanbeen chiefly the permeation of heathen tageous to European influence-few of society with the elements of Christian them for any higher reason. Some still culture rather than the immediate gath- oppose them, especially because, as they ering in of heathen souls. say, "Give these natives more knowl- edge, and they will begin to have a -" Under the banner of the cross, higher conception of their rights." The victory appears impossible; under the Dutch sway in the East is, and always cross, victory is certain. No kingdom has been, abominably cold blooded, selseems so easy to crush as Christ's king- fish, and oppressive. dom, and, nevertheless. this kingdom is invincible. The promise is to this -In lS92 there were in Netherlands elIect, and history confirms the prom- India 23 hulppredikers ani 95 missionaise. Think on the day when Christ ries. The former are mlssiqnaries aphung upon the cross. If anyone, on pointed and controlled by thll Governthat day, when the Roman eagle was ment. Of the 95 missionaries, 51 were seen everywhere, had said that one day from Holland, 44 from Germany and the cross should be victorious over the elsewhere. As the 7/Ulpprediker8' pareagle, that one day only scholars would ishes average about 10,000 native Chrisremember the names of the emperors, tians, they are much too large, as Dr. while the name of the malefactor hang- Warneck remarks. ing there before their eyes should be on the lips of all and should be adored by -In Java, which, out of a population millions-had anyone then said this, of 20,000,000, has at most only some he would have been accounted mad. 20,000 native Christians and 30 missiona- But has it not come to pass? The ut- ries, Dr. Warneck remarks that the latmost rage of denial cannot deny this. ter act very much as if they themselves could do nothing. They very common- H Or think on the day when Christ ly gather congregations of Europeans said: 'Go into all the world and make and Eurasians, and take the charge of all nations My disciples; , who, at that these, as if vaguely hoping that these in time, could have imagined a command turn would do something for the naapparently more chimerical? To whom tives. It is true, as one of the Dutch was it given? To eleven men who had missionaries has said, that the Dutch less intellectual cultivation than is now are so oppressive and covetous that the gained in any missionary training school.
62~, GENERAl. MISSIONAR,Y INTELLIG;:EN.CE. [Au~~~
Javl;tn{lse.hate the very name of ~ white livering a very kind and reasonable ad- dress on this . topic. Mr. Baron's ad~ man:. which drives. tho missionaries to indire~t rathe~ than direct ways of· dress this morning. seemed, so far as t w~~k.i~ upon them. could judge, to raise :no spirit of resent~ . , '77" How foolish it is to imagine the ment. rhe. way he put it was very he8.t~en as living in a happy state of effective. 'All Christiall nations,' he natnr!,/,as many a one is s~ill inclined to said, 'have, now abolished slavery exdo, ~, proveil, once for all, by this Batta cept '-and, after a pause-he added, in p~ople of. !,lp:p.atra. Here we have a a kind of stage whisper, and with both s~ilful, keen-witted people, having their hands to his mouth-' except y~u in Mai' own written ·character, and also a he- agascar.' He then went on t6' say he r~dit~~yuI:,wri~ten law, very expert had no wish to make an attack upon at;working ,in both wood and iron, them, as he well knew the many pracready and happy in .speech, intelligent tical difficulties of this question. 'But inth9ught. and,yet leading a crippled, bEl assured,' he said. 'that even if you pitiable life. No one is sure of his do not see that slavery must be abolgoods or his life; warfaTe, quarrelling, iShed, those who come after you wilL It must disappear before the progre~s plundering, &fe their delight and daily of Christ's kingdom.' The mainbusiempl~ymellt; sad is the • position of ness before the U uion this time was to woman; to a wretched lot are the thou- consider how to carry out the deCision sands' of 'slaves; with their families, arrived at at the last meeting~ to send out ten additional missionaries. Much given" over; without legal right or interest was shown, and many addi- tional contributions were promised."- defence 'as they are, arid moreover, as here 'in 'Samosir, for iristance, standing upon'iifea'rfuIly 1()'Yplan~ of human- ity., Witho,ut ideals, without hopes 'of T he Chronicle.
the' life to come, ne'ver liftirig them- -" Just prior t~ the late Franco-Mala- selves 'Jb9~ethe life of to-day, each one gasy War all evidence showed that, as seeks his own at the cost of the, other. Admiral Gore-Jones wrote, the Hova The moral state is, especially here in were' in that condition that they were Toba, fearfully corrupt,. marriage not ready to burst into perfect civilization.'
far removed· from the free love of the A frost, almost .a chilling frost of for- social democratic state .of the future. eign aggression has come, and, as Brit- Truthfulness and honesty are unknown ish philanthropists foreshadowed in vir*ues/'-JOHN 'WAR-NECK, Rhenish 1882, all progress has been' nipped in missionary"in AltlJemeine His8iofUJ- the bud. And for the destruction of Zeit8chrift· the hopes of commercial enterprise, for MADAGASCAR. the stagnation of this vast and resource- ' ful island continent, of this inteiligElnt, -" Well-attended and enthusialOtic kindly, and hospitable people, possessed meetings of our Congregational Union of a natural predilection'to progression, ha{.e jti~t. been held. The chairman France and Great Britain are to blame, (the! Rev: It Baron) followed up his and not the formerly rapidly progressive former iJ.ddress, on the Person and Work Malagasy Government. "-Madagascar of Christ, by another on'the Works of New8.
Christ;dwel1ing on the many moral and WIIAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? social changes that are to be ascribed to the prescqt action of J,esus Christ In the -Pharisees! with what have you to consde~ces lind lives of men. Particu- reproach Jesus ? .
lai-li' irit~resting was .the manner in "He eateth with publicans and sin- which his reference to sla.very was re- ners."
ce'(~ea~ In: the year 1876 Mr. J. S. Is this all ?
Sewell. l,'ats~d a~ al~ry' storm by de- It Yes."
189~·1 ENGLISH N{)TEB
And yo1,l, Caiaphas, what say you IIllIny respects, the most enoolil.raging of Him? yet issued. Ninety-three ,candidates'
, " He is guilty; He is a blasphemer, have been accepted in the past year, because He said, 'Hereafter shall ye being an increase of 12 on ,the pre- see the Son, of Man sitting on the right ceding year. The increase is in the hand (If power and coming in the number of men sent out. The total ex-.
clouds (l£ heaven. " penditure to! the year amounted to Pilate, what is your opinion? £265,836: while the receipts were £253,- " I find no fault in this man." 226, leaving a deficit of £12;610; but And you, Judas, who have sold your when this became known, a friend; on Master for silver; have you some fear- April 19th, offered £1000 if the whole ful charge to hurl against Him? sum were raised by May' 1st, an offer "I have sinned in that I have be- which resulted in more than the entire tmyed the innocent blood." amonnt being received by the date And you, centurion and soldiers who named. Twenty.four picked men have led Him to the cross, what have you to been ordained during the past year- say against Him ? African, Syrian, Bengali, Tamil, Maori, " Truly this was the Son of God." Red Indian. The boarding-schools con~ And you, demons ? stitute another branch of the work upo~ " He is the Son of God." which much attention is bestowed, ap,d John Baptist, what think you of which is full of promise. "At CaJcut- Christ f . ta, Taljhari, Batala, Cottayam, Kandy, " Behold the Lamb of God." Fuh-chow, Osaka, and elsewhere, briglit And you, John? young lives. are being happily fnJi!- " He is the bright and morning star." enced, and being dedicated to the ser- Peter, what say you of your ~Iaster ? vice of the Lord;" and to the girls'
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of the schools at Sierra Leone, Lagos, Jerusa- living, God. " lem, Calcutta, Palamcotta, Amritsar, And you, Thomas? Osaka, similar remarks apply. " My Lord and my God." The results we can only sample.Th~ Paul, you have persecuted Him; what change wrought among the Red Indi@ testify you of Him? population of Manitoba is pronounceg.
"I count all things but loss for the Of one district Archdeacon Phair says., .
excellency of the knowledge of Christ "There is 'not a conjurer, not 3 polyg- Jesus my Lord." amist, not a medicine man in the whole Angels of heaven, what think ye of place. Twelve miles of a beautitul Jesus? river, with houses on either side, gar- " Until you is born a Saviour, which dens cultivated, churches and schools is Christ the Lord." along its banks, and the Sabbath ob- And Thou, Father in heaven, who served in a way that might .well be an knowest all things ? example to white people in older lands.
" T~is is My beloved· Son, in whom I The men who, with painted faces am well plllased." and plaited hair, spent their days and Beloved reader, What think you of nights in yelling and beating the druUl, Christ ?~La LuI?, (Madrill), quoted in El are now found clothed and in their right Abogado Cristiano llustrado (Mea;ico). mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus."
The results in Uganda are even more conspicuous. Then there has been '3 English Notes. great and blessed ingathering from among the Ainu aborigines. Assome BY JAMES DOUGLAS. scientists were mote than half disposed to look on this people 'as the missing'· a Annual Report of the hurch MisaWn- arySociety, 1893-94.-This report is, in link, nothing could lliOre sigtlally be·
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
speak than this fact does the all·reach- people mostly the sum of £11,677 18. ing potency of the Gospel of Christ. has been contributed, leaving £5368 In the first seven months of 1893, 171 16s. still to be raised. It is still Ainus were baptized; and Mr. Batche- hoped that the young fri.ends may pro. lor writes that in the old Ainu capital, vide the remainder of the cost. The Piratori, every woman has accepted steamer meets a great want, as no sail- Christ as her Saviour. Of adult bap- ing ship could cope with the need in its tisms during the year there has been present developed form. 596 in Tinnevelly, 621 in Travancore, about 500 in the rest of India, 438 in Since July, 1891, when the Forward Uganda, 79 in other parts of East Afri- l!lovement was started, 67 missionaries ca, 158 in qeylon, 545 in China, and 459 have been added to the roll, and the in Japan. working strength of the society greatly increased. As the result of the For- China's Millions.. Tiding8 f1'om the ward Mov-ement at home there has been Provinces.-I11r. Howell, of Ning·Kwoh corresponding movement abroad. The Fu, tells of good impressions made centre being quickened, the. circumferthrough a wall tract, and enlarges OIl. ence has been stirred-a result which the opportunities afforded in China for has tended to increase the expenditure individual dealing. Mr. Edward Pearse, considerably. To meet the enlarged writing from the same district, men- demand, an increase of £:30,000 is reo tions an out-station at Hu.tswen, among quired on last year's income. It is then the hills, recently acquired through the hoped that the 67 new missi~naries conversion of a gentleman named Wu, planted by the Forward Movement will a strict vegetarian, who carries on Sun- be supplemented by 33, thus bringing day services in a building the site of up the total to 100, as originally dewhich was his own gift. Dr. Danth· signed. waite, of Chefoo, has just received from a Chinaman $100 for his hospital Statistics up to date are as follows: work, which is the first large sum thus Church-members, China, 4832; North obtained. Mr. A. H. Huntley tells of en- India, 739 ; South India, 5554; Travancouraging fruit in two new out-stations core, 6466; Madagascar, 63,359; Afri- -Si-hiang and San·yuen-p'u-where ca, 2815; West Indies, 482; Polynesia, Miss Harrison and Miss Coleman have 11,871 ; making a total of 96,118. Of been for some time laboring. In Shan-Si, native preachers there are 6446, and of according to Miss L. M. Forth, nine native ordained ministers, 1734. homes out of ten are estimated as having opium slaves. "The light in which The Wesleyan Missiona1'y Society.- the Christians look upon opium is rather Like other leading societies this year, strange-namely, as God's punishment the Wesleyan has to face a serious defor the idolatry and sin of the nation." ficit, the balance on current account Miss Mary Williamson, writing from against the society being £28,828. This Fung-hwa, in Cheh-Kiang, reports grat- deficiency is less than one fourth of the ifying progress. In Fung-hwa 4 have year's ordinary income; and it is confibeen baptized: Si-tin, 3 " at Tin-tai, 31 ; dently hoped that the leeway may be and at Ning-hai, 10. more than made up. With the excep- tion of two or three districts, there is an London Missionary Bociety.-The de- increase of membership all along the ficit on the year's accounts is very serio line. The Transvaal and Swaziland ous, amounting to £33,2151s. 2d., which, district heads the list with an increase however, in response to a special ap· of 467, in addition to 1699 on trial. The peal, has been reduced to £28,902 17s. Gold Coast comes next, the increase The new steamship John Williams has being 342, with 707 on probation. In cost in all £17,055 188. By the young India the iucI'ease is 297; in Ceylon, 89; in the Wuchang district, 28; and in the Bahamas, 42. The German mis- nent features of the work was the ex- sion has a gain of 54 and the Rome dis- tent to which a self-supporting, self- trict a gain of 48. The total member- governing church was being established.
ship in connection with the Indian mis- Twelve pastors were now supported by sions is now 4492; while the entire their own flocks; and there were now community under pastoral care in these three local presbyteries in which the missions is estimated at 15,600. business was conducted in Chinese.
The Rev. J. A. Vanes, of India, spoke 'rhe Rev. Donald MacIver, M.A., of strongly at the anniversary meeting in the Hak-Ka Mission, having told how.
Exeter Hall, in favor of the higher edu- in answer to prayer, the building was cation, gronnding his argument on its obtained which is now the centre of value as an evangelizing agency. ., I am their work in Hak-Kaland, said that not disturbed," he says, .. when I read "from this central station a district that I am not a preacher of the Gospel, had been worked about the size of Scot- and that I have not been a preacher of land. Twenty little congregations were the Gospel. But I wonder what I was in full working order, ministered to by doing as a Methodist preacher day by Chinese evangelists who had been train- day for five days in the week, when I ed as well as possible." The central was spending from seven to eight station, Wu-king-phu, has three mis- o'clock every morning in unfolding sionary residences, a missionary hos- the Scriptures to young Hindus." Mr. pital, schools for boys and girls and Vanes's point is this: that he is as also for women, and a training school much an evangelist in his morning work for native evangelists.
in the school as when, in the evening, he stands up to preach in the bazaars. THE KINGDOM.
Another speaker of much interest was -The last annual report of the Engthe Rev. Isaac Shimmin, of Mashona- lish Church Missionary Society takes land. After over fifty years of oppres- Heb. 10 : 12, 13 as a text: "This man sion, the Mashonas were now for the . . . sat down on the right hand of first time free. "At Balisbury they had God, from henceforth expecting." . . • built a native church and had seen con- And the last phrase gave the keynote versions. At Epworth they had opened to the great meeting in Exeter Hall. another church, and had had it crowd- where the report was read. Christ exed. Within two years of the arrival of pecting I Expecting what? Expectthe native teachers thousands of men, ing His disciples to do what He gave women, and chi:dren had been brought them to do, and waiting nntil it is done. into contact with Christian influence And the searching question was asked, and love, and soon there would, he be- When the expecting Lord looks at me, lieved, be a great ingathering of souls is He disappointed? for the Saviour."
-The editor of one of our leading re- The Presbyterian Ohurch of England ligious papers suggests the propriety -Exeter Ball Meeting, May 11th, 1894. of questioning candidates for church- -We summarize a few of the more membership as to their views and feel- notable points. During the last seven- ings concerning missions; what atti- teen years the native congregations had tude they propo~e to take; what meas- advanced from 17 to 45; native evan- ure of sympathy and co-operation can gelists from 49 to 110 ; European agents, be expected from them. To apply such from 15 to 56 ; and the hospitals, from a searching test might be exceedingly 2 to 10. God has devolved upon the awkward for some of the officers of the Presbyterian Church of England the churches and for a large part of the larger part of South China as their spe- membership, but an application like this cial work; and one of the most promi- of the Lord's last command would sure-
MISSIONARY
ly make for spiritual health to all con· lor: "We need persons who win con· cerned. secrate their lives to foreign mission -Dr. Dale, recently addressing a mis· service at home. It is for some to con· sionary meeting in Birmingham, made secrate their lives, their thougbts, their the pertinent suggestion that though the Gospel has wrought such marvels prayers to just this service. r believe of transformation within the realm of Anglo·Saxon character and life, it would that some of the best missionary work: not be safe to assume that yet greater that is done to·day is done by invalids wonders will not appear wheu its work who never leave their bedrooms, or by has been fully achieved upon the China· old people, or by those who are very Illf>n, the Hindu, the African, the mod· poor and have not much to give; but ern Hebrew, etc. Since some of these they give the Lord what is most precious -a true, yearnIng heart, a constant' re. membrance, a constant prayer."
races possess elements of religiousness -Yes, there are still alive genuine diffcer~nt from and far surpassing those saints and heroes. And they are of of the Anglo-Saxon, he thinks we would every complexion. For example, when, be justified in expecting that Christian. the other day, Rev. Mr. Sheppard was ity will take firmer root in such soil, about to return to his work on the Up· and perhaps produce a better crop than per Congo, a colored woman, Maria has Yet been seen. Fairing; of Alabama, put in an urgent ,~Dr. Dnff once told an Edinburgh request to be also sent to the Dark Con· • audience that if the ladies. or that city , tinent, saying that all her )ife it had would give him the cost only of that heen her ambition to carry the Gospel portion of their silk dresses which swept to her people. And when informl)d the streets as they walked, he would that the Presbyterian Board lacked the support all his mission schools in India. money required to pay her passage ~Piety also begins at home. We are ($400), she sold her little home in Tal· to beware of a zeal which belongs to the ladega and went at her own cost. Borrioboola·Gha type. "Many people . pr3y so foolish. Why, I prayed for -Bishop Thoburn tells of a Method· twelve years, 0 Father, make me a for· ist church in Montclair, N. J., "whose eign misbener ; I want to go to foreign membership is not large, and contains lands .und preach. One day I prayed no wealthy men, which yet during the that, und 'Father says, Sophie, stop! year ending April 1st contributed $4200 Where were you borned? In Germany, for the home and foreign work; while, F~$er. Where are you now? In including the amount collected by the ,4-Pleticll, Father. Well, ain't you a Woman's Missionary Society, the total foreign mishener already? When I see sum exceeded $5000. This church has that, Father says to me, Who lives on adopted the policy of supporting a man the floor above you? A family of and wife in Burma; the Sunday·school Swedes. Und who on the floor above supports three pastor·teachers in India; them? Why, some Switzers. Und in one of the members supports a native the rear house? Italians, und' a block presiding elder in India, while another away some Chinese. Now, you never brother has just pledged the support of a second presiding elder."
said a word to these people about My -The Epworth League names a man Son. Do you think I will send you in old Massachusetts who has just about thousands of miles away to the foreigner attained unto perfection in the art of und heathen when you got them all Christiaugiving. For when he gave around, und you never care enough $10,000 to build a deaconness's home, 'about them to speak with them about and a cordial resolution of thanks was their soul ?"-]JIrom Sophie'88ermon. passed, this Was his response: " Thank -AcMrding td Rev'. i. Hudson Tay· me! . Why, I ought to thank 'l/ou. I
189'4.] Gt>:NElRAt. MISSIONARY INTELLtGll::N'cE
am glad we have an organization to oc· on at the rate ot 200 Ii ady,l500' :tiVeEik, cupy such a home. I do thank you for the chance to give to help w grand a 6000 a month, 75,000 a' yilar, 1;000,000 cause." in thirteen years, or nearly 3,OOO;OO(nn a generation. "
-A wealthy New England manufac· -Kim Jang Sik is a Kor~n who has turer lives in summer in the town where his factory is, but has been accus- been for five years in tlul eJ,llIlloy, of tomed to spend the winter with his fam- ily in a fashionable Boston hotel. One Rev. F. Ohlinger. I:j:e was ®.h.onest falI, before leaving for the city, he was man before he became a Christian. He converted. Then he did not want to says, "I used to get very angJ,'y wpen leave the church, which he and all the people treated me like other meu. and family had joined. He titted up his intimated that I could not be ,tr,nllted. house for a winter residence, and the whole church has wonderfully increased When I began to read the J'l:ew Testa- in activlty by his example; of 26 addi- tions, 22 were by profession, Jargely ment I soon felt that I was not very due. to his influence. He had beel). a good, and as I read f3.rtherI got a pain smoker since he was twelve years old, in my chest-a 8e'1J81'C pain I" b~t he gave up the habit, .. so I can help the boys, ',' be says. ….,.D1,'. Grenfell, of the DElep Sea Fish- eries Mission; has been on a .tripto Lab- -Appleton's Annua.l Encyclopredia rador to minister to. the 25,000, Bfi.tish for 1893 has a department recording fishermen who are· without a physidan. gifts and bequests for public purposes Returning, he declared his faith: in, the of $5000 and upward during the preced- value of medical missions. Ue believed ing twelvemonth. That some concep- that " God blessed that means of prll~h tion of the duty of the wealthy to the ing the Gospel and heaIillg the sick ; public has taken root may reasonably and for his own part, he knew, he had be inferred from the fact that the total beep. able to reach a man~sheart oy of last year's beneficence is $29,000,000. pulling his teeth. Yes, and Pr.Mac. kay, who had had 13,000 con:v:erts -Seventy years ago the Rev. An· among Chinese and others in. FqrmQsa, drew Murray, having given himself to told him he had, in the course of. his work among the Boers in the then al· 'Work. drawn 32,000 teeth. If that was most unknown Cape COlony, left his not the way down to a man's heart, he Aberdeenshire home on his way to Plym- did not know what was." oUth. "While he and his brother waited for the coach to pass, they knelt by the -Nachravali is a form of Bind,llben- roadside, prayed, and sang, ere they ediction only bestowed 'by 'Women and parted, the hymn " 0 God of Bethel." priests. It is performed by, clasping The work then entered on is now being both hands over the person's hEl/l.d.and cardell on by Andrew Murray's five waving over him a piece .of SilYel1 or . sons, four sons·in-Iaw, and more than a other valuable which is' beetowed; in dozep. grandsons in the ministry of the charity. The Tamil pepp,e simil.rly Dutch Reformed Church. Three grand- wave a fowl or sheep's head arpund a , sons have just been ordained for mis- sick man. This is a very ancient/;/lre- sion work. They have all studied at mony. His also a Mohammedan rite. the theological seminary at Stellenbosch. WOMA.N'S WORK;..' -" My word shall not return unto Me void" is the promise, and here is -The best example of self.dlmying the fulfilment ilL part. The additions liberality in the Bible is recorded of . 'ti)"iriission churches are goingsteadHy woman. The best example of 'loving ~ervice in the Bible is l'ecorded of'wom· an. The best example()foonqlleting prayer in the Bible is reco.rded bf wbm- an. Thegrftwas a widoW's 'fulte '; the service was the anointing of Jesus with when I called them into the parlor and a box of ointment; the prayer was a closed the door. What they feared I mother's prayer for a daughter pos- cannot tell, but they were soon flying sessed with a devil. Jesus never let home again." fall such words of royal commendation as concerning these three women. Of -The Congregational women of San the poor widow he said, .. She has cast Francisco have recently opened a mis- in more than they all." Of Mary He sionary library and reading·room, with said, " She hath done what she could. " about 30 volumes for a beginning, and And to the Canaanitish mother he said, several magazines, with plans too, for H 0 woman, great is thy faith; be it the addition of maps and qther helps. unto thee even as thou wilt."-Dr. Her- And why should not the women of all rick JoltnlJon. denominations in every city and large village join to maintain such an institu- -The Zenana Missionary Herald, the tion? organ of the English Baptist women, . for June, quotes Dr. Somerville, who, -Life and Ligld for June is a tem· in speaking of prayer for missions, uses perance number, and contains original these words: "I hope I may not offend articles from such prominent temper- any if I venture to recommend the use ance workers as Lady Henry Somerset of a prayer-book which I have found of and Miss Frances E. Willard, with por- service, and which can be had from the traits of these two women. The one shelves of Messrs. Keith & Johnston; I writes of the great" polyglot petition," mean a pocket atlas, which should be which, with its 3,000,000 signatures, spread, like Hezekiah's letter, before is presently to be borne around the globe the Lord, and be gone over carefully in a vessel chartered lor the purpose, from day to day." Then follows a and the other of the hililtory of the sketch of mission centres in India held World's Women's Christian Temper- by that society, like Calcutta, Benares, ance Union. Delhi, Cuttack, Madras, etc. -Miss Fannie Meyer, the first seIf- -A missionary in Lodiana writes supporting Methodist missionary to be thus of her Zenana girls: "I have been sent out under the auspices of the Wom- teaching in some of the wealthier houses an's Foreign Missionary Society, ex- where a bride would have 30 or 40 pects to sail for China this fall. Miss changes of raiment and almost her Meyer received her training and her im- weight in ear-rings. nose-rings, bangles, petus toward special missionary work and so on. As to their personal char- in the Chicago training school. She acteristics, I have found my class of will be accompanied by Miss Helen Gal- Hindu girls as loving and as lovable, as loway, whose entire expenses wioll be blight and as troublesome as any class borne by a young lady at home, who I ever had at home. The school In sends her as a substitute. which lam teaching was a new one last fall, and the girls were very wild and -The Woman's Executive Commit- exceedingly suspicious, and they are tee of Home Missions of the Presbyte- shy still. I invited them to come to see rian Church reports 123 mission schools me, and one afternoon I beheld a flock on the various fields under the care of of girls in red and yellow clothes flying the Board; nearly 400 teachers commis- past our house like so many frightened sioned, and more than 9000 children in geese. I had told my man to watch for training for useful citizens. More than them and call them in, and, hearing 100,000 Presbyterian women are organ- his voice, they fled like wild animals. ized for this specific educational work, I brought them back, but they looked and during the year just ended have suspiciously at everything, especially raised $335,660 for its prosecution. The blessing is diffused among Mormons, Mexicans, Indians, freedmen, and moun- -" Nazareth, once the home of the tain whites. Carpenter, consisting of some 7000 or 8000 inhabitants, mostly nominal Chri~ -The women of the United Brethren tians, now possesses a Y. M. C. A. As Church raised $14,753 last year for work there are some 30 or more drinking in Africa, China, and among the Chi- shops in the town, which olier many nese in this country, with a constitu- inducements to evIr, it wnt be seen that ency of 43 branch societies, 461 locals, the formation of an association was very and 7228 members. The force in the much needed." field numbers 15, of whom 8 are ordained and 3 are medical missionaries. -Though a much younger and sman· In the 6 churches are 1864 members and er body, let not the Young Women's seekers, and in the 8 schools are 368 Christian Association by any means be pupils. forgotten. It dates only from 1886, but has already attained to a membership of OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. upward of 20,000, with 52 city and 255 college organizations and 16 state bodies. -What hath God wrought t June 6th, 1844, George Williams, a young -It means for the future of the Gosclerk, organized a prayer-meeting and a pel, both in Christian and pagan lands, Christian club in his bedroom. Now far more than the boldest faith can im- 5000 associations send 2000 delegates to agine, that almost within a decade London, half of them from this coun- more than 3,000,000 children and youth try. They own buildin!!;s worth $30,- have been banded together under a sol- 000,000. London appropriated £1000 emn pledge to loving and devoted serto entertain them. What an illustrious vice. Among them are the 2,000,000 harvest has already been gathered from Endeavorers and the 800,000 Leaguers. that little seed I We must include If all these are wisely drilled for woramong the fruit the Christian Commis- ship and work, if they are carefully sion, the Student Volunteer Movement, trained to earn, and save, and give for Mr. Moody's work, so diversified and the kingdom of heaven, what shining of such unspeakable value, and much victories wllI soon be won I more. Fifty years ago what was more unlikely to occur than the bestowal of -The Grand Avenue, St. Louis, the honor of knighthood upon that clerk, Presbyterian Endeavor Society has done and the opening of Westminster Abbey a good work for others this year. to celebrate his deed t . Since last April it has given $10 for the Congo River boat; $25 for a native -The tabulated returns for the Y. M. girl's schooling in Japan; $25 as a spe- C. A. in"India show 75 organizations in cial gift to foreign missions, and $20.36 Assam, Bengal, Bombay, Madras, the more raised on the pledge plan; $23.96 Northwest Provinces, and the Punjab. for home missions; and $3.65 to a strug- Three paid secretaries are ilJ. the field- gling sister society. This makes a total viz., Mr. McCann at Bombay, Mr. of $107.97. McConaughy at Madras, and Mr. White at Calcutta. Bombay, with its branches, -Some months ago the Presbyterian takes the lead in number of members, Board, South, issued a call to the chilhaving 502; Madras comes next with dren for $10,000 that a boat might be 393; Pasumalai College has 188, and put upon the Upper Congo for mission- Calcutta stands fourth, with 150 names. ary uses. And now the pleasant intel- The Trivandrum Association is the old- ligence is communicated that the amount est, having been organized in 1870; is secured and the steamer will be or- Lahore, organized in 1875, takes the dered built. How easily a great work next place. is accomplished when the many heartily lend a hand t UNITED STATES. at the Adams Street, Chicago, Evan- gelical Church on May 22d, when a -The Oh.ristian Way is a neat, well- farewell reception was given to Rev. packed, eight-paged monthly published C. F. Rife, M.D., and his young, Wife, .in Northfield, Minn., for the furtherance who, though members of the German of both foreign and home missions. Evangelical Association, have been cor- dially entrusted to the American Board, ~The MissionafY Herald for June is and are now. under appointment to "very glad to be able to report that Micronesia. there has been within the last two years a decrease in the amount of distilled -Though the receipts' of the Baptist liquors sent from the port of Boston to Missionary Union were $510,118 last Africa. In the year ending June 30th, year, the expenditures were $713,714, 1891, the amount was 1,025,226 gallons, and s@ April 1st found an indebtedness but the next yein the amount was de- of $203,596. But on the side of work creased to 711,338 gallons, while in the accomplished in the field was fulness of year ending June 30th, 1893, the amount ('heer. These figures indicate some was still further reduced to 561,365 gal- what the growth: New missionaries, lons. The cost of this last exportation 20; native preachers, 68; churches, in dollars is put down in the custom 81; members added, 15,499; scholars house reports as $679,357, but who can in Sunday-schools, 5312; in m~Bion estimate the cost in souls and in char- schools, 1526. In papal and nominally acter?" Christian lands the Union has 1,115 preachers, 851 churches, and .89,119 -Last March Rev. A. Lambert, a members. In heathen lands it has 993 Belgian priest of the Redemptorist or- preachers, 761 churches, and 96,109 der; who took his vows in 1878, and for church-members. five years has been active in mission work in this country, found himself –These goodly sums have the Meth- unable any longer to continue honestly odist Episcopal Church appropriated in his office, and so took his departure for the redemption of the countries not only from the priesthood, but also named during the last ten years: India, from the 'Catholic Church. The sub- $1,147,597; China, $1,078,602; Japan, stance of his reasons for taking the de- $564,135; Mexico, $517,923; South ci~ivestep is contained in these words: America, $476,091; Utah, $202,538; .. I cannot any longer force my mind besides other smaller amounts for divers into submission to the Vatican, nor can other lands and peoples, 'llmounting in I any longer admit the claim of the Ro- all to $10,552,039. Nor does this in· man Catholic Church and clergy to elude what the Methodis.t women have ,rule, not only in religious questions, (lone. but also in purely scientific, social, and even political matters. The intolerance -The late Robert A. Barnes left by and duplicity which,. almost from the will to the Methodist Church, South, day of my ordination to the priesthood, $l,100,00!) for the establishment of a I found and met in the Roman Catholic hospital in that city_ Church, have become utterly unbear- able to me. And having come to the -The Presbyterian Churchcontribut- 'conclusion that there is only one High ed'for foreign missions $843,412, aDd the Priest, the God Man, Jesus Christ, and expenditures were $995,922, leaving a one Sacrifice, not to be repeated, and, deficit of $102,.597. Of the income in consequence, doubting my position $324,003 came from the women's as a priest, I could not act otherwise boards, $295,016 from church collec- than I do now… tions, . $72,802 from legacies, $35,092 from Sunday-schools, and $17,791 from -It was an excellent and fitting illllS- societies of Christian Endeavor.. The tration of comity which was witnessed contributions of the native churches -The Reformed (DutCh) Church has amounted to $86,764. This Board has missions in China, India, and Ja~n, under its care 108 principal stations, 592 and now adds an Arabian mission, which out-stations, 208 ordained American a few years since was· started by the missionaries, 36 male physicians, 18 Rev. Messrs. Zwemer and Caritine ·uPQn female physicians, 15 men variously the Tigris. Notwithstanding the seemployed, and 358 women, including vere financial pressure, the Board re- Wives, making the total of American ceived $106,571, an average of $1.05 laborers 635. Of native laborers, 165 per member. It has 16 stations, 209 ordained ministers, 239 licentiates 1335 out-stations, 26 missionaries, men, 25 teachers and helpers, making a total of married women missionaries and 17 un- 1741 native laborers; 436 churches, married, 38 native ordained ministel!s, 30,453 communicants, 3141 of whom ,376 other native helpers, 6226 communiwere added last year; .76 students for cants, of whom 508 were received in the ministry, and about 29,000 boys and 1893, 19,970 patients treated in .ita hosgirls in the schools. pitals, etc.
-The Presbyterian Church expended EUROPE. $192,322 for work among the freedmen last year, employing 172 ministers, of Great Britain.-According to the whom only 9 are white, and 261 teach- Bureau Vetitas of French Lloyds, ers. The schools .number 91, with Great Britain owns more than one third 11,424 pupils; and in the churches are of· the actual shipping of the world- 16,015 communicants, of whom 1919 14,971 out of 42,257 vessels. Six ont oC joined last year. 12 of the largest steam and sailing com- panies in the world are British, and of -The Cumberland Presbyterian the 14 vessels of over SOOO tons em- Church sustains missions in Japan, ployed in the world's commerce, British Mexico, and among the aborigines of ship-owners claim 9. The estimated Indian Territory. The force in the field value of the merchants' fleet of Great consist~ of 8 missionaries, 6 wives, 8 un- Britain is $1,100,000,000. The United married women, 1 native pastor, 6 evan- States comes second in the list with 3794 gelists,and 5 Bible women. The num- vessels owned by us. Norway comes ber of communicants is 617. The in- next with 3768 ships, and is followed coine was $20,038 last year. by Germany and Italy with 2165 and 212~ respectively.-New Yor~ Post. '–The Reformed Presbyterian Church (Covenanters) is engaged in Syria and -A few weeks since the corner-stone Southern Asia Minor, and has a work- was laid at Dartford, England, for a Ing force of 4 ministers, 2 medical mis- Livingstone memorial hospital, and sionaries, 7 women, and 37 native H. M. Stanley gave all eloquent ahd preachers and teachers. most appropriate address upon the char- acter and achievements of the great -The United Presbyterian Church physioian.missionaryexplorer. has work in Egypt and India .which is carried on by 26 ministers, 25 married —:The report presented at the recent women, and 19 .unmarried; 3 physi- ninety-fifth anniversary of the Religious cians, .24. ordained nati ves, 22 licentiates Tract Society showed that the society and 9 theological students; with other has already published in 209 languages, native helpers enough to make a total dialects, and characters. During the or537. The communicants are 11,055, year 583 new publications (151 of.them a Ilet iQ.crease of 415 during last year. tracts) were issued, the total <)lrim1ation there are 13,514 in the schools. For all from the hom,e depot (inCluding books, ; :r.rl.rl?oses the uative Christians raised tracts, periodicals, and cards) being "'$41,849 47,590,600. From foreign depots'about 20,000,000 publications were issued. -" The total of the missionary reve- The grants made during the year in aid nue raised by the Free Church of Scotof mission work amounted in the aggre- land was never so high" as for last gate to £28,654. The society's exhibit 'year, reaching $623,715. The staff in at the World's Fair, which gained a the foreign field numbers 115 men and bronze medal, was handed over to Mr. 45 women, not including wives. Of Moody for the library of the Chicago these, 26 are medical missionaries. To Bible Institute. the churches 1115 were received last year; 1008 children were baptized, and -The Christian Literature Society more than 3000 candidates for baptism for India produced 1,133,115 copies of are under instruction. In the schools pUblications last year. These included sustained in India and Africa 26,717 educational works, books for women, are enrolled. students at colleges, and general litera· ture. The school work in the villages The Continent.-It is the fashion in of Bengal has been carried on with in· France for the Government to parcel creasing interest and success. The out the public funds for the support of number of scholars is upward of 8000. public worship. From $8,000,000 to In the training institution at Ahmedna· $10,000,000 are annually given the gar 73 students were admitted during Catholics; the Protestants receive about the year. All were professing Chris- $350,000, the Jews about $40,000, and tiilns when they entered except 11, who the Mohammedans about $50,000. were Hindus; of these, 4 became Chris' tians before they left. All the outgoing -Protestantism in Spain in the face students were at once employed by the of tremendous difficulties is forging its missionaries. way slowly but steadily onward. In 1890 there were 120 chapels or other -Though the Society of Friends is places of worship, nearly 100 pastors, numerically quite an inconsiderable one third of whom were native Spanbody, in recent years it has manifested iards, about as many native evangelists, a most praiseworthy activity in mission· and 40 colporteurs employed by the ary work. Thus $63,832 were expend- Bible and tract societies. The number ed last year in China and Madagascar, of communicants was 3500, and of Saband 70 members represent the body in bath-school children, 3250. The numheathen lands. ber of day schools under Protestant supervision was 112, with 6000 pupils. -At the recent meeting of the Scotch There were 3 orphanages, 2 hospitals, United Presbyterian Synod the report and 6 church papcrs. These figures on foreign missions contained much mat. represent the work of 6 or 7 denominater for congratulation, the leading fea- tions. tures of the past year's work having been the large number of converts (1046) and -Query: 'Are we still dwelling in the numerous offers for missionary ser· the gloom of the Dark Ages? Seldom vice. There were altogether 838 educat- has anything more touching been seen ed agents, of whom 71 were ordained in these hurrying, money·making times European missionaries. The field was in than the departure of a hundred Rus- Jamaica, Trinidad, Old Calabar, Kaffra- sian Baptists, Stundists, from one of the ria, Rajputana, Manchuria, and Japan. Baltic ports for America. A Daily The income of the ordinary fund was Ohronicle telegram says: "As the ship $166,000, a decrease of $11,000, but there steamed away from the quay they raised was an increase of $5000 in the congre- a well·known psalm tune, a great favorgational contributions. In Manchuria. ite among the Russian Baptists, and it where the work is largely in the hands is stated that th'e tones of the sacred of natives, the results have been mar· melody were heard for a long time after vellous", the vessel had left the harbor, and greatly affected the crowds remaining perhaps grease and lard, perhaps soups on the quay. and broths of doubtful composition. In ASIA. India the touch of egg and lard and fish would be almost as contaminating as India.-Mr. Meenatchi Iyer, Secre- beef itself. Vegetarianism simply means tary to the JlIaharaja of Mysore, now on butter. milk, sugar, flour, ilce, pulse, a visit to Australia, deli vered himself as and herbs. Everyone has not the follows to a press representative there means to buy all this, so the food that regarding British rule in India: ,. The is generally eaten is some unleavened development under it has been some- white bread and stewed pulse, or some thing tremendous. Even our worst rice with curried vegetables. In Benradicals, though they complain in the gal (I do not know under what precstreets, admit, when fairly faced with edents) the people generally eat fish; the question, that they would not wish but in the upper provinces, or in Bomto see the British out of India. We will bay and Madras, where Hinduism is abuse them, they say. but we want more strict, fish is quite as forbidden as them to stop here. In fact, India has meat. During the day the Hindu gen· got so used to peaceful, just. impartial erally takes an hour's siesta. He gets rule, that it terrifies the people to think up at four o'clock in the morning, and of any other control. The military tax goes to bed from nine to ten o'clock. is severe, but it must fall either upon He works all the time that he is awake, us or the British taxpayer, and it is, works on week days and on Sundays, after all, money well spent. There wcek in and week out. He has no Sabcan only be one change in India-the bath. And as a rest from his incessant triumph of a greater power than Eng- labor he enjoys an hour's rest during the land; and if that came in my day, I hottest part of the day.-Mozoomdar.
should, with many others, go to Eng- -Bishop Thoburn reports that the land and settle there." salaries of Methodist native pr6achers -According to the decennial report vary, according to gifts and station, on the material and moral progress of from $30 to $100, and he sends out a India in every department of the Gov- stirring appeal for $10,000, so that 100 ernment, there is a tendency to incor- more may be at once set to work.
porate the native element more largely -The Bishop of Lahore calls his and upon more liberal terms. At the the Mohammedan diocese of India, and close of 1891 there were in India proper in his opinion, though the Moham- 765 civil charges held by the "Ser· medan problem is formidable, it is far vices," including 73 Indians. Apart from hopeless. Of the 18 native clergyfrom this controlling service, the gen- men in the diocese, no fewer than eral administration comprised 2588 offi- 8 are converts from Mohammedanism. cers, all of whom were natives except As many converts are gathered from 139, and of these only 35 were Euro- among Mohammedans as from the Hinpeans not domiciled in India. Out of dus and Sikhs. In addition, as he judges, 114,150 civil appointments carrying an it is in India that the conflict with Moannual salary of 1000 rupees and over, hammedanism must take place. The 97 per cent are held by natives. Church seeks there" no favor," but it has-what cannot be had in Persia and -The Hindu meal is a simple affair. other lands-" a fair field." Every high·caste Hindu is a vegetarian.
Your vegetarians here include so many -For a long time the Christians of animal substances that our people stand India have been waiting and hoping for aghast when they are mentioned. Your entrance into Afghanistan, which has vegetarians eat eggs, oftentimes fish, been fully as sharply closed as Thibet has been. The Church Missionary So- story : " , I want to ,send home, among ciety has held its station at Peshawur other curios, some idols that have bellD.
for many years, and has recently estab· actually used in worship,' said a travel.
lished a medical mission at Bunnu, and ler we lately met in China. 'Can you put it under the care of Dr. T. L. Pen· help me in the matter?' 'Hardly, I nell. The 'pecuIlar advantage of this fear,' was the reply. 'I never heard ot mission is that the place is rcgularly priests or people selling such articles:'
visited by merchants and bill men of But next day, wcnding our way through the border tribes. among whom the the streets of the native city of 8hang; greater part of the work is carried on. hal to our mission church, w~ bcthought The number of patients is vf"ry large, us to'make iIlquiry; on our friend's be~, and there has, also been gathered a half, at a shop where we had offen'
promising school attended by 250 boys. stopped to survey the hideous deities By .the new.treaty just concluded with, of wood and plaster arrayed In the open the Ameer, the tribe most easily reached window front, and to watch the manu· trom Bunnu will be under British pro- facture of such images going on within. '
tection. The Scriptures and othe{ Chris· To our surprise, a good supply of sec', tian books have been translated, and ,it ond·hand images was produced for ou'r seems as, if the time is approaching inspectitJIl.· How do you get these ? • when Il,n entrance into that country will we asked.' The people, whell they are be effected. ' in want of food, bring them here to pawn;' "
-A Baptist association in Burma is -The very general notion that ~he named after the place where Dr. Jud· Chillese Ilre a stolid, unemotional race, son suffered his cruel imprisonment, and hence we should not expect to find from which he nearly died. The place a joyous, fervid type of piety ,among is Oungpenla, or, as it is now spelled, them, is a mistake, writes Rev. N. W. Ai.J.ngbinle. The site of the death Brewster, in Gospel in All LanlIB. priSOn is now, occupied by a Baptist When the Chinaman becomes filled mission school. with the Spirit he has as mllch joy and -The Basseln Christian Karens of manifests it in much the same way as Burma are rnnning a sawmill and mak· other people; ing a profit out of it. Last year they -In an article in the Advance Rev. added $4000 to the endowment of their normal and industrill,l institute. Henry Kingman, of Tientsin, among the " closed doors," I1ames the fact that China.-A writer in the North China almost all of the officials of the empire Herald describes the process of manu· and the bulk of the better classes, if facture of the mock money which is they have heard of it at,all, fear alld hate oflere-d to the spirits instead of the sham the Gospel, and because of their misap- paper money formerly used. They now preheIUlious cOllcerning its character; manufacture mock donars, which are feel toward it, say, as respectable peo· put up in boxcs of 100 cach, the box being pIe in this count,rydo toward Mormon, sold for about three and a half cents. ism, with its abominatiol1S.
The dollars are made of cardboard cov· -At least ill some parts of China the .. ered with tin ,beaten very thin, and stamped with a punching machine. truth has beell fairly well planted. For Immense quantities of this mock money are sold, and the spirits are supposed to a missiouary affirms: "1. could wlllk be cheated into believing that it is good money. from Oanton to ShaIlghai. over 800 miles, not walking more than ~O milCll ' a day, and could sleep ev~yuight in ~" village or town' that has a little Chris- -A missiollary tells the following tiall community." ' ". .": ,l.'· -The Methodists in Peking appear T~o .or three rainy days in,. !luj)?es~ip~ to be appropriating heathen. temples by the wholesale. Three have already leaves them wholly wlthOu.t.if;lOd•. passed into their hands, and their eager These are not beggars, but belong to eyes are now fixed upon a fourth, which the working ciasses. As for clothing, will be laid hold of the hour the cashis their condition is equally terrible. Out forthcoming from America. of 520 families only 30 ha ve a futon . (wadded. quilt used for a bed), thin,and -From the North Chiua Mission of made of rags. patched, together to cover the American Board come glad tidings the whole family of four Of. fi'Vemeruof an extensive and thorough revival bers. Presumably ·the rest have nothwhich by the score and hundred is won· ing. What these people long for is a drously transforming the heaIts and war, a fire, a pestilence, or a famine. lives especially of the pupils in the A fire will give them work, Of they ruay schools. glean something from the ruins. A famine, cholera. and the like means -The statistics of the Irish Presbyte- large schemes of out-door relief,. in rian Mission in Manchuria show that in which they may.be included." addition to the 5 principal stations there are 11 out-stations occupied by native -It is gratifying to note that the agents, and street chapels at two others. Japanese Christians are sending preach. The number of baptized members at the ers to labor among their .own peoplllin' beginnfIlg of the year was 522, and at the Sandwich Islands.. The Japanese tM elidaf the year is 855, ·of whom 325 pastor of the Church in Honolulu lias are communicants.. There are also 130 secured the services of 5, native minisapplicants for baptism. Thirty-three tem, who· will be supported by their natite Christian ngents are employed own countrymen. Rev. O. H. Gulick in addition to the native assistants who and wife are in .thll islands to aid in the work under the medical missionaries. good work of carrying the Gospel to the toilers .on tle sugar plantati.ons. Fourteen 'of these aie evangelists, 2 are AFRICA. teachers, and 9 are colporteurs.
-In 1842 the Amoy mission of the -The greatwork of partitioning out Reformed (Dutch) Church was faund· this vast land space still goes ~errily ed ; in 1848 a house of womhip was on among the statesmen of Europe.. built-the first one in China; in 1856 a The latest phase of the matt.er is fouQ.d church was·· organized; by 1862 the in the Anglo-Belgian treaty, wp.erel)y worl: had. developed into a presbytery; the party of the first part enlarges tern-. and in 1894irito aaynod consisting of porarily the. limits of the Congo Free 19 churches, with 2141 members. And State on the east until they touch the certairili this is an excellent record for Upper Nile; and in return for the favor, fifty years: the party of the second part cedes to Britain a long strip of territory upon Japan;-Po'V'erty is largely a mattE''" the west shore of Lake Tanganyika, all of definition, and this is What it means with the elegant result that now and· in the Land .of the RisingSun, according· from henceforth British lines of railroad to the statement of a philanthropic na- and telegraph can run on B~itish soil tive who has been investigating: "He all the long way from the Cape to the found ~any families. within a small Mediterranean! area who are about as near destitution as it is possible to g~t. Suc~ persons ~Some time since Cape Town was count themselves fortunate if they can joined by the telegraph wlrewith F~:t scrape· together .each a pittance· of 1.3 Salisbury, far up toward theZambesl, Ben (about 7 mills) to· buy two .meals and now 400 miles more are to be put under construction, extending commu- 'ai 'aila i to umalina sinabwana.' 'Do nication past Blantyre and Lake Nyas- not speak the truth. To speak the sa. The poles are to be of iron. truth is very bad.' For months we -A. pathetic touch is given to the used the expression, ' Goseda i to 'umaclose of the career of Lobengula, the lina' in the Lord's prayer for' Him the vanquished King of Matabeleland, by evil one,' when it really means 'our a recent English writer, who states that friend the evil one.' I had often heard when Lobengula saw that war would this wOl'd goseda, and from interpreters certainly come, he sent a message to all and others learned that it was used like the white people living in his country, our pronouns he and him. I tried it including women and children, inform- often, and it was always' goseda.' But ing them that in the event of war he one day I caught the word 'gosiagu' could not protect them, advising them and found out that it meant' my friend,' to leave the country, and promising an whereupon Iasked for' our fl'iend' and escort beyond his boundaries. A.s the ether forms, and I then ascertained that result, not one was harmed, and nothing I had been calling the evil one • QUI' belonging to them was lost or damaged. friend,' because this term is in constant use in the place of the name of any -The Moravians have now 5 mis· one."
sionaries at their stations to the north -Rev. H. A.. Robertson, one of the of Lake Nyassa, only 1 of them with a missionaries of the Presbyterian Church wife. A. day's journey off is the Berlin in Canada, writing from Eromanga, mission, and not very far away is Liv- New Hebrides, says, "We dispensed i'ngstonia, the Scottish Free Church field. the Lord's Supper in July last at Dil- lon's Bay to 200 people, and on that ISLA.NDS OF THE SEA.. day Narie Tangkow, the eldest son of -What wonders to civilization and the murderer of John Williams, was Christianity have been wrought under baptized in the presence of 700 people, the Southern Cross within a generation and took his place at the communion or two' For even A.ustralia, and New table. A. great sight it was, and would Zealand, and" Van Diemen's" Land are have rejoiced anyone with a heart in now missionary centres, and are sending him to have seen it. We have 50 teach· out consecrated men and women by the els and 250 communicants."
score to evangelize their still benighted -A. clear sign that some of the islands neighbors. A. few weeks since 5 mis- of the Gilbert group are coming out of sionaries sailed from Sydney to rein- their heathenism is that the King of force the Wesleyan mission in New Butaritari recently refused to have any Guinea. of his people go to San Francisco for -Let the heralds of the cross, before the purpose of giving an exhibition of they have thoroughly mastered tbe lan- heathen manners and customs. '1'his guage of the people to whom they arc king, so recently enlightened, shows a sent, beware, lest in their ignorance keener sense of propriety and less greed they preach deadly heresy. Rev. W. E. of gain than do a host of people in Bromilow has this to confess concerning ci vilized lands.
himself in the early days of his work -In Malaysia is a population of 60,- in New Guinea: "I remember that 000,000, mostly Mohammedan Mulays.
through the peculiar affirmatives and The British and Foreign Bible Society negatives I misunderstood a n~tive has several European colporteurs at who was helping me in the preparation work and twenty-five who .are natives.
of an address, and I said with all ear- At Singapore alone Bibles are fur- nestness, ' Geabo ua ona 'ai 'aila. Ona nished in forty-five different languages.
The Missionary Review of the World — September 1888
THE CENTENARY CONFERENCE OF MISSIONS
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XI. No. n.-Old Series._ _SEPTEMBER, _ _VOL. I. No. 9.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
THE OENTENARY OONFERENOE OF MISSIONS. SECOND EDITORIAL LETTER FROM REV. A. T. PIERSON, D.D.
LONDON, June 26, 1888. My DEAR DR. SHERWOOD :-This great World Oouncil impresses me as, so far in history, the climax of a series of astounding developments, which, like a pyramidal structure, have been rising from the broad base laid a century ago in the recognition of duty and debt to this lost world. 'These developments may especially be noted in seven directions or successive stages. First, there came the opening of doors till the whole world is now practically open. Then the organization of Missionary Societies and Boards now numbering over two hundred. Then the revival of the doctrine of divine stewardship and the consequent consecration of money; then the multiplication of laborers until the church knows not how to send those that offer. Then the development of the woman's agency in direct mission work. Then the bestowment of a new spirit of united prayer, and now the exhibition of the essential unity of all true disciples in what seems to me the most important and thoroughly ecumenical council that has ever yet assembled. The greatness of this gathering grows upon us all. Babel's miracle was reversed at Pentecost-the confusion of tongues that divided and dispersed mankind was offset by the tongues of fire uttering in every language the wonderful works of God. But here we have an advance even on Pentecost. Then and there, disciples could do nothing more than utter the gospel message, each in his own tongue. Here, from the east, west, north, south, the scarred veter~ns from a thousand fields have come up to the metropolis of the world, to translate into our one English tongue the stupendous triumphs of this gospel as wrought under their own eyes, in the isles of the sea, in India and Ohina, Japan and Burmah, Turkey and Syria, Africa and Papal lands. But though we have reached a climax of development, the topstone and capstone have yet to be laid before the pyramid of wonders is complete. The 1JJhole world must now be taken possession of and occupied for Ohrist. Without this grandest result, all else is comparatively not only unfinished, but is failure. To this end all elsc points and tends. For this God led His people to see and feel their debt to a dying world. For this He opened wide the doors, led to the organization of societies whose network of effort should encompass the globe; for this He led disciples to give money and offer themselves; for this ·He brought woman to the front, gave a spirit of prayer and manifested the essential unity of all true disciples. And if now, with all these encouragements and helps, we do not go up and possess the land and drive out the sons of Anak, it will be the most faithless and cowardlyapostacy of the ages! Never came the words of the inspired apostle with more force to the church: "See then that ye walk circllmspectly, not as fools, but as wise, buying up opportunity, because the days are evil! Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk with wine, wherein; is excess, but be filled with the Spirit." Eph. v. 15-18.
Another impression most profoundly made by this Oonference is the necessity for a positive, aggressive type of Ohristian faith and life. The gospel needs no defense-if it does, the best apologetics are found in ener·getics. ;, To use the spade and throw up defenses may be well enough for those whose principal thought is to put up a barrier and a rampart between themselves and the foe. But whenever an enemy can put the opposing army on the defensive an immense advantage is gained. The only hope of successful warfare is to carry the war into the enemy's country-give him all he can do to take care of himself, press him to the wall, divide his forces, giving him no chance to combine and concentrate; compel him to garrison every imperiled point, not knowing where next you are about to strike. God never meant that His troops should busy themselves throwing up intrenchments and hiding behind defenses. To attempt to defend the Bible is a confession or concession of its weakness, or rather our own. Ohristian missions have shown that the gospel needs no defense. It is the power of God unto salvation, and the wisdom of God, too. All we have to do is to let philosophy, speculation, doubtful hypotheses alone, and simply, persistently, faithfully, lovingly, positively preach Ohrist, and the gospel will assert its own authority and vindicate its own divinity. There is such a thing as obscuring its glory even by the smoke of the incense of our own praises. There was one paper read on the work in the Fiji Islands; it occupied but twenty minutes, yet that twenty minutes, packed full of simple facts, carried conviction not to be produced by a half a day's subtle reasoning. The logic of events is the demonstration of the Spirit. The world may dispute the conclusions of argument: the keen edge of the metaphysician's sword often only whets the edge of his antagonists. But there are wonders of God's power that compel even Oharles Darwin to say, with Pharaoh's magicians, "This 1:S the finger of God." Those facts, modern missions must multiply and spread before the people. We nc:cd not yoke our arguments to God's chariot: only gather out the stones and give it free course and it will be glorified.
Another profound impression left by this World Oouncil is that of the. marvelous celerity of movement in this march of the ages. Truly God is marching on, and he who would keep pace with God must not lag behind or lack for energy and enthusiasm.': This is an age of steam and telegraph. There has been an amazing development of human invention and discovery. The march of humanity has been so rapid as to leave every other age far behind in rate of advance. Within a quarter of a century changes have taken place which have revolutionized human society. The spectroscope has been added to the telescope and microscope. The telegraph has yoked the lightning to its chariot, and now outstrips even the wings of the wind. We have devised photometers so delicate that stars which the greatest telescope cannot reveal are detected by the delicate instruments that betray the presence of the faintest light.. 'The deaf are almost made to hear and the blind to see. The most terrible surgical operations are performed while the patient is wholly unconscious through the beneficent action of anmsthetics. But if the march of man is rapid, how much more so is the march of God. He never falls behind. ~'The faster man moves the faster God moves. The celerity of His march is always in proportion to the preparation and capacity of His people to follow. And hence we may expect Him as leader to move onward and forward with more and more astounding rapidity as He gives us facility and opportunity for a corresponding rapidity of advance.
The unthinking man and even disciple may sometimes become discouraged and complain that it is impossible to meet the growing demands of the constantly advancing and enlarging work of missions. But such forget two things. First, this is the comincing proof that it is God's work and He is in it. No human power could have opened doors as He has done it, or swept away obstacles such as He has removed, or insured such miraculous swiftness of movement. In every part of the world-field God is manifestly working, and because He is working, His church finds new developments perpetually challenging her attention and response. While hurrying to occupy one new point and post of advantage another and another invite immediate occupation. While going up to possess some fair land that has suddenly been thrown open, fresh territory on every side commands and demands our prompt entrance, lest the enemy go in before us. While we are hurling back one wing of the enemy, the other gives way and the very center reels and staggers, and God sounds the trumpet call for fresh battalions to come to His help and complete the route of the foe. All healthy work and successful war makes constantly increasing demands on our resources, our sacrifices, our energies, our endeavors. A healthy boy will outgrow and outwear his old clothes, in fact they never get old, for while yet comparatively new, he gets too big for them, or his very activity quickly wears them through or tears them through. But no sensible mother ever complains because her boy is growing. A poor sickly cripple may wear the same pants till they rot from mere age, but the cripple does not grow. Because missions represents the healthy offspring of the church in her best type of life, the work of missions will always astonish us by rapidity of development. The more rapid~ the more normal and healthy and hopeful.
Secondly, let us not forget that it is the salvation of the church to be il'l, stra£ts. Laodiceanism is always already developed whenever and wherever disciples become rich in goods and easy in mind, as those that have need of nothing, or are sufficient unto themselves. Emergencies drive us to God for new help and strength, as they drove Moses and Joshua and Hezekiah to the throne of grace. To feel deeply our own inadequacy to the task; to be consciously in the minority; to be humbled by our own weakness, poverty, jgnorance, infirmity-this is the first condition of real power. If our trust in God be only as great as our distrust of ourselves, there are no triumphs impossible.
It is an indisputable historic fact that the eras and epochs of the greatest power in the church have been those when the exigencies and emergencies have been the most trying and desperate. The very fires which, by a seven-fold t"rial in the furnace, kept the Huguenots and Waldensian churches pure and true, were the fires of persecution. The most startling supernatural deliveranccs were wrought when every human hope had been crushed by apparent and overwhelming disaster. The church of God will never be in easy circumstances. Whenever J eshurun waxes fat he always kicks. Whenever God's people get in comfortable and especially luxurious circumstances, then evangelism declines, worldliness creeps subtly in, devotion dies, and the church has but a name to live. But to see a host of foes in our very front, which we cannot meet in our own strength; to behold a work whose very opportunities far overtax our available resources of men and means; to find God's chariot hastening on at such a rate that at our utmost speed we can barely keep it in sight-ah, this deepens the spirit of prayer, evokes consecration, and compels close fellowship with each other and with God.
Another impression left by this conference is the necessity of closer and more acUve fell01lJsMp among disciples.
Much has been said of our un'ity as expressed and developed in this great conference. Let us not forget that the very emergency of the church compels unity. Our opportunity and our peril alike make unity absolutely necessary. Before a united, determined, malignant, desperate foe, marshaling all his hosts and concentrating all his force against the Bible, the Ohrist and the instItutions of the gospel, we cannot afford to be divided. We unconsciously and involuntarily draw together in presence of a common danger. When the ark is in danger, we forget our tribal standards and close up our ranks about the tabernacle of God, until we touch shoulder to shoulder and forget our tribal allegiance in our anxiety for the treasures of our faith and hope. Macaulay says that in presence of men that worship a cow, the differences between evangelical disciples become positively insignificant. We add that to magnify and emphasize them till they become separating barriers and dividing lines, in the presence of foes that, like Herod and Pilate, become friends for the sake of crushing Ohristianity, is positively criminal. I take no merit or credit to myself that in this great conference I have forgotten my own country and my father's house, and almost lost my own identity and denominational connection. In the presence of issues so vast, and perils so tremendous, and work so herculean, and foes so colossal, all has been driven from my mind save the fact that I am a servant of God, and am standing with other servants of God, watching the imperative signals of His hand in the crisis of the opportunity of the church and the destiny of the world. And if, in- presence of such an enemy on the one hand and the Jehovah of the covenant on the other, I could not forget all else but this, that we have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one common cause, hope, and home, I should doubt whether, after all, I am a disciple. A man who, in such a presence, magnifies his denomination is only a fossilized ecclesiastic-a mere mummy.
In connection with this necessity of closer fellowship, one other impression this conference has graven on my heart, and that of many others, as with the pen of iron and the point of adamant: The voice of God to-day commands active co-operation among disdples in mission qoork. Here for ten days we have met from every quarter and every evangelical branch of the great Ohurch Oatholic, and not a discordant note has been sounded. Brethren may dwell together in unity, may talk freely and frankly of things in which there is wide difference of opinion, and yet feel one heart-beat of responsive sympathy. This harmony of feeling and concert of action would continue if the contact and fellowship could continue. But there is danger that when we separate, diversities of sphere, denominational view and practical working may leave the way open for misapprehension and possible conflict. Oan we not perpetuate this contact and preserve this fellowship? The conference has bound itself by wholesome restraints not to open the door to resolutions. But even wholesome restrictions must not become a yoke of bondage.
I am fully persuaded that there is at least one way in which we may preserve certain links of contact and co-operation. We have spent hours upon the discussion of missionary comity, and in it we were touching the very core of practical mission problems. Now the only hope of permanent adjustment of missionary comity is by a missionary committee. Change the emphasis of your accent and you have the remedy suggested. This blessed contact which has developed such overflowing charity it would be a disaster to have broken and lost. Could there not be a committee, not legislative but advisory, representing different denominations and societies, to whom might be referred any questions pertaining to the adjustment of our common and co-operative missionary work? What if such representative men as Sir John Kenneway and Eugene Stock, Wardlaw Thompson and A. C. Thompson, Ellenwood and Gordon, Hudson Taylor and Wm. M. Taylor, Bishop Wilson and Ninde, could be organized into an interdenominational and international missionary committee, to keep up this blessed contact and counsel with each other by correspondence or converse as new exigencies arise I Let me mention one direction especially in which such a committee would be pre-eminently helpful: the occupation of fields for Ghrist. First, as to fields already fairly preoccupied, it could be determined to leave them to those now working in them, unless too large. So has the Nile Valley been practically left to the United Presbyterians, Turkey to American Congregationalists, Palestine to English Churchmen, and Siam to American Presbyterians.
Second, as to fields now open but unoccupied, whose very vastness demands division of labor, such a committee might aid in securing prompt and united occupancy without overlapping and interference.
Third, as to fields not yet opened fully but just about to be-like Korea and Thibet-preparations might be made by which both delay and waste of material might be prevented. So important does this matter seem to me that I can think of no other work more important, and for the sake of doing this any man might feel honored if he were called of God, to lay down any other and separate himself unto this. I am painfully conscious that the occupation of the world-field, vast as it is, is not a matter of numbers. There is an enthusiasm of mere numbers that is often misleading and mistaken. God can work by a few humble faithful consecrated souls better than by a vast host of nominal disciples. Quality is far more important than quantity. But the fewer the heroic souls ready to dare the self-denying work the greater the need of preventing waste. We shall need all the men and women and all the money and means which can be obtained for the Lord's work. Let us have wise and holy counsellors, who act for the church and the Lord Christ, in mapping out the world-field and distributing the workmen widely and wisely.
But above !}ll our eyes need to be turned to the Lord. In the year-1863, in the midst of the great war for the Union, the ordinarily rainless summer in Nevada was suddenly interrupted by a
THB TRAINING OF WORKMEN
densely dark and threatening sky of storm-clouds. So heavy the pall that rested over Virginia City that Mount Davidson could scarcely be distinguished in the distance from the black masses behind it.
A remarkable phenomenen then appeared. Upon the very summit a little tongue of golden flame swayed to and fro like some weird supernatural signal; strange flame, indeed! for it neither waxed nor waned, but steadily burned on. It was the flag of the republic. There chanced to be a rift in the dense clouds, and the setting sun through that unseen rift flung its radiant beam upon that nation's standard and transfigured it to golden flame, an(l for an hour that burning bauner held the charmed gaze of the multitude. And, stranger still, that very day marked the fall of Vicksburg and the victory of Gettysburg!
Darkness that may be felt overspreads the earth, and gross darkness the people. The black clouds of skepticism and infidelity, irreligion and idolatry gather their awful masses in our sky and threaten a destructive storm. But on the very summits of Pagandom, in the midst of the death-shade, waves God's own signal. '1'he flag of the Cross burns in the ray of the Sun of Righteousness, the glory of God transfigures it. Even while we gaze upon it Satan's strongholds are giving way before the onset of God's missionary hosts, and the very tide of battle is turning. We have only to keep our eyes fixed on that banner, . and by that sign we shall conquer!
THE TRAINING OF WORKMEN.
• BY HENRY GRATTAN GUINNESS, LONDON.
[Dr. Pierson writes, concerning this paper, read at the London Conference and furnished 08 by the author for publication: "Clear, practical, pungent and powerful, it captivated the Rssembly. "-EDS.1 WE have in thiJ'l year 1888 reached an important crisis in missions. A hundred years of missionary labor lie behind us, and we gather at this International convention from east, west, north, and south, to study its records, and to learn its lessons, that we may start with the fresh knowledge and renewed energy for our still unreached goal-the evangelization of the world.
The century has been a glorious one in gospel work. After ages of apostacy-followed by stormy times of Reformation-the church awoke a hundred years ago to its duty to publish the gospel to all mankind. During the century, thousands of devoted laborers have gone forth; hundreds of heathen languages have been learned; the Scriptures translated into them; the Wora of God widely proclaimed, and some three millions of heathen converted to Christianity. Among all people the gospel has proved its soultransforming power. A co-operative providence has opened the world. Railways and steamers traverse it in every direction. Meanwhile Protestant Great Britain, America and Germany have largely increased their Ipopulation and their wealth. England alone, after spending freely on necessaries and luxuries, hoards annually now no less than 240 millions of money (1,200 millions of dollars). The means to accomplish our God-given work are increased and increasing. What we want now, and what we seek, is full purpose and resolution to use the powers we possess. God grant that this conference may be, as it ought to be, a tUrning-point in missions-a stage from which the church will make a fresh start, and push on her glorious warfare against sin and Satan with tenfold courage and energy, l'esolvingby divine help to evangelize the world before the present generation has passed away!
If this is to be done it is clear that there must be an enormous increase in the missionary army. The non-Christian nations number over a thousand millions. To give no more than one missionary to every ten thousand of these we should need a hundred thousand missionaries. There are at present only six thousand-in the entire field-men and women, all told. A new era, however, seems dawning-witness the hundred missionaries added to the China Inland Mission in 1887, and the thousands of undergraduates in England and America who have recently pledged themselves to missionary work.
God is evidently answering prayer, and thrusting forth laborers into His harvest.
We gather here to-day at the outset of this convention, to consider the qualifications and training necessary for missionaries. Four points al'e raised for discussion-the first as to mental and spiritual qualifications; the second a as to special training at home; a third as to training in the field; and fourth as to the advisability of establishing missionary lectureships in our colleges. I take up here the first two of these points-the testing of candidates to ascertain their suitability for the work, and their training after acceptance, and before being sent out.
And firstly as to the qualifications required. A missionary is an ambassador for Christ to the heathen-or to any non-Christian people. It is of necessity, therefore, that he be a true Christian-an anointed man, one called of God to the ministry of the gospel, and sent forth by Him. The church cannot create such laborers; only He who made the world can make a true missionary. No training can manufacture him; no human ordination can fit him for his work. The best musical education cannot make a musician of one who has no ear, nor the ablest instruction an artist of one who has no taste. It is clear that we cannot create even genius, how much less grace. A true missionary, like a true minister, is a supernatural gift to the church and to the world from the ascended Saviour. He ascended np far above all heavens, and gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. He alone gave them then, He alone can give them now, In considering the application of a candidate, therefore, the question to be settled is not, Can he be made into a missionary? but, Has God called him to be such? Have the necessary qualifications been bestowed? Only where this is the case can the training be of any use. If a man or woman is to become a true and useful missionary, there must first be not only genuine convel'sion and sincere personal piety, but whole-hearted self-consecration to the work of God, and a call to His holy service; including a strong inward sense of vocation, together with providential indications and adaptations. There must be mental and physical fitness for foreign service, and abQve all the spirit of Christ, for no matter what other qualifications So mah may have, he will never be a missionary unless he is filled with Christ-like compassion for the lost, and with a burning desire to seek and save them. This should be the ruling feature of his character. With this almost any special talents may be utilized in missionary service; without it, even the most brilliant are useless, If the heart be intensely set on the salvation of the perishing, love will teach ingenuity, and lead to painstaking and perseverance. Love will overcome all obstacles, and accomplish its object. The love of souls, the longing for llalvation, is one of the leading qualifications that should be looked for. But even the presence of this does not make testing needless, for there may co-exist with it physical, mental or moral disqualifications. Delicate or unsound health, a nervous irritabitity or desponding temperament, a lack of vitality or vigor, personal defects of a serious character, hereditary or acquired tendency to any dangerous malady or bad habit-these are so many physical disqualifications. So again, a prevailing mental obtuse~ess, the absence of general intelligence and common sense, the want of good memory, of the power of attention and observation, of ability to distinguish between thin~ which differ-to reason correctly and to reach right conclusions-any conspicuous defect in these mental requisites should create grave hesitation as to a candidate's fitness for missionary work.
And there are moral dejects also which would hinder usefulness even if body and mind were all right. Pride, obstinacy, want of docility, of meekness, of sympathy; habits of exaggeration, misrepresentation, or mischiefmaking; indolence, selfishness, rashness, levity of character, lack of patience and perseverance, of faith and courage, of self-denial and prayerfulness; all these are prohibitory defects, and the candidate in whom any of these are observed should be recommended at least to wait till he has grown in needful grace.
On the other hand, it should be noted that there are defects of a different character, which constitute no real disqualification, because training may, to a great extent, remedy them. Ignorance, lack of habits of study, or of experience, narrow-mindedness arising from want of intercourse with various classes of men, awkwardness of manner, and many and similar faults, indicate only a candidate's need of education and training, and should not stamp him as ineligible.
2. We turn now to the subject of the TRAINING of accepted candidates. The question stands in the prospectus, "Should there be special training for the missionary service in addition .to general education?" The answer is, ttndoubtedly. God always trains His instruments. Every true missionary must be specially trained for his work, though not all in our schools. God has His own schools. They are very various, and some of them strange and severe. Moses was trained to be the deliverer and lawgiver of Israel in the courts and schools of Egypt, and in the mountain solitudes of Midian, for eighty years. David was trained to be king over Israel by years of spiritual experience, and by many dangers and toils. Daniel was trained for his wonderful prophetic office by his education and career in Babylon. Any training that we can give to a volunteer for missionary work will form at best but a small part of a greater and more effectual training which God himself bestows. We can do something to help, though not much. Let us see to it that what we do be done in harmony with that which is done by the'great Master. Our Lord himself carefully trained His apostles for the great work He committed to them-;-the evangelization of the world. His example is full of instruction for us.
Christgave His disciples a threefold training-theoretical, moral andpractical. This was one of the principal works which He accomplished in the world. He prepared the instruments, He trained the men who should afterwards evangelize it. He chose them, called them, kept them, taught them, prayed with them and for them, impressed Hisspirit upon them, breatheditinto them : He corrected them, expanded their minds, exalted their conceptions, and purified their motives and purposes. Before He sent them forth into the world He kept them for over three years with himself, during which He set before them His own glorious and sacred example. What a development of soul! What a training for service! "Follow me," He said, "and I will make you to become fishers of men." "Take up your cross and follow me." "Learn of me." " Abide in me."
Besides this He imparted to them priceless instructions. He tanght them the nature of His divine kingdom, His own personal character and claims, the nature of true holiness, the simplicity, spirituality and power of prayer, the excellence of humility, the essential duty and blessed results of self-sacrifice, the sin of hypocrisy and formality, the spirituality of worship, and the supremacy of the Word of God over all human tradition,;. He revealed to them also the future, unfolding the prospects which lay before the church the Jewish people and the Gentile world. He revealed the advent and th~ work of the Comforter, to whom they were in future ,to look for guidance and help. It was by these instructions and influences that He fitted His disciples to be the promulgoators of a pure, spiritual, universal religion, with charity as wide as the world, with consciences sensitive about sin, yet free from superstitious scruples; with habits of obedience to the divine law, though emancipated from bondage to human customs, and with characters cured of pride and passion, impatience, selfishness and self-will. Christ employed as His first ambassadors God-given, God-taught and God-sent messengers, and even these He had both sifted and trained.
Hence it is evident that the development of spiritualli!e is the great thing to be aimed at in missionary training. Woe to the church if she neglects this, or gives it a secondary place! Her messengers will be of little use, for un_ spiritual agents can never accomplish spiritual work. Are we not building up a spiritual temple? Must not each stone of it be a living stone, seeing the house is to be the habitation of God through the Spirit? If, then, the end in view be spiritual, so must the means and methods be-we must follow the example of Christ.
The effect of this training was to transform the men who received it. They became a wonder in the world. Men marvelled at these Galilean fishermen -ignorant and unlearned as they were in earthly things-that they should possess such spil"itual light and love, such wisdom and boldness as they evinced. Men took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Yes, they had been with Jesus. That was the secret of their power; that was the method of their training. The society of Christ was the school of their apostleship, the college in which they graduated. They had been with Jesus, and as the Father had sent Him so He sent them into the world, promising himself to be with them, and with their faithful successors even to the end of the age.
The calling, qualifying and directing of the laborers thus commenced by our Lord was afterwards continued by the Holy Ghost througoh the church. He sent forth missionaries unto the Gentiles. The Apostolic Church acted directly under the Spirit's guidance. " As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." Then the church fasted, prayed, laid their hands on those men and sent them away. That is, they set apart and sent out those whom God had qualified and called. The Lord was with these missionaries and wrought glorious things through their instrumentality.
We cannot improve on this example of the primitive church. The Acts of the Apostles form the best guide-book for missionary societies and missionaries. The impulse and the energy must always come from heaven. Successful missionaries are God-appointed men. We must pray for such; watch and wait for them; welcome them and utilize them as they are given. Yes, for the thousands of workers still needed in the mission-.!ield we must first of all pray-pray as Elijah prayed for the rain, fervently, effectually, incessantly tIll the prayer is answered; pray as the church prayed for the promised Spirit before Pentecost. Such prayer would bring another Pentecost, and we need such a season to-day. We want the world to be evangelized, but we must remember that He who redeemed it and commanded His apostles to evangelize it, forbade them to leave Jerusalem on their glorious mission till they were endued with power from on high. They obeyed Him; the power came, and thousands were converted by it. But there never was and never will be any substitute for this spIritual power, this holy anointing. Without it evangelistic or missionary work must be in the deepest sense a failure.
With these sacred examples before us we cannot but ask the question whether our mode of testing missionary candidates is sufficiently careful and thorough, and whether our plan of training them aims, as it should do, at the development of the moral and spiritual naturH even more than at the invigoration of the mental powers, and the impartation of mere knowledge. Do we seek and select in the first place, and cultivate in the second, the type of character which Christ cultivated? Are we guided in our selection mainly by the spiritual stature of the candidate-by his humility, patience, prayerfulness, and faith-by his possession of the Spirit of Christ? In our training, again, is our aim the right one? We educate abundantly, and education is undoubtedly a good thing, but it is a poor substitute for grace exercised and spiritual gifts strengthened by use, for habits of practical devotion and self-denying labor formed and established. Collegiate study and examinations are not enough. Degrees are no criterion. Men of high scholastic attainments have been sent out in our own day to convert the heathen, who have been converted by the heathen, or rather perverted by them from the truth. As Gideon tested his three hundred, so do we need to test and sift our missionary volunteers, and the testing should include the Oross. "Master," said one of old, "I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests," was the answer, "but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." That is, Christ intimated to the would-be disciple that to follow Him, he must be prepared to share His lot." No training that misses this element is worth nluch.
'fhe reality of the missionary's devotedness is best proved and developed by hard a.nd humble work among the ignorant, the prejudiced, the poor, the degraded at home. If a man objects to, or slurs labor among them, as beneath his dignity or disagreeable to his tastes, it is useless to send him forth as a missionary. Selfishness may make a good student, natural ability an acceptable speaker, but only distasteful service puts to the proof a man's grace, his sense of duty and strength of principle. Fifteen years' experience in the training of young men, and personal dealing with more than three thousand volunteers for missionary service, leads me to urge the importance of this test. Next, perhaps, in value to spirituality may be ranked evangelistic gift and ability. How is this to be developed? In the same way that skill in any other line is imparted-by instruction and practice. The preparation for all ordinary work consists in the actual doing of it, not merely in gaining a theoretical knowledge of how it ought to be done. No one would employ a mechanic who had never worked at his trade, nor an architect who had never erected a building. No one would employ a doctor who had not treated the sick, nor should we ever send out missionaries-preachers and teachers for the heathen-who have not done teaching and preaching work, and been blessed to the conversion of souls at home. If a man is not a successful soul-winner in his native land, he is not likely to become such in China or Africa. It is surely unwise in a high degree to commit to unproved men one of the most difficult of tasks. Unless a man has succeeded in turning others to righteousness in these lands where it is comparatively easy, what reason have we to conelude that he will do so in heathendom where it is much more difficult? There are home heathen enough in our crowded cities to afford practical training for missionary students. Just as medical students walk the hospitals, so should om' missionary students learn their future work in our courts and alleys-in the centers where sin-sick and perishing souls needing the gospel remedy congregate. East London, for instance, with its vast and varied population, is an admirable training ground for missionary students. It was this fact which led uS,many years ago, to plant there our Institute for Home and Foreign Missions, from which, during the last fifteen years many hundreds of missionaries have gone forth. We have more than a million of the working classes in this quarter. We have infidels, Romanists, English and foreign Jews, French, Germans, and Italians; Africans and Asiatics, including Chinese, Hindoos, and other nationalities. We nave drunkards and paupers, and multitudes who are heathen in their habits, if not in their creed. Among these the evangelist can prove his gifts; he can either deal singly with indiVIduals, or preach to companies gathered in rooms, mission-halls, lodging houses, or on board ships; and above all, he can address crowds in the open air.
The value of open-air preaching as a preparatIOn for missionary work is exceedingly great. It cultivates aggressiveness, boldness, simplicity, directness, and earnestness of style, an extemporaneous delivery, and an interesting and striking manner of presenting divine truths. The open-air preacher 'must first gather his congrq'ation, and then hold it in spite of surrounding distractions, with nothing but the simple power of his words. He must suit his style to the roughest and shrewdest of his auditors. He must promptly meet objections, answer questions, and quiet disturbances, as he seeks to win an entrance to unwelcome truths in the hearts and minds of neglecters and rejecters of the Word of God. He has to face opposition, and enaure at times contempt and shame for the Master's sake. It is not easy work, and there is nothing in it to foster conceit or gratify self-esteem. It is really hard, self-denying service, more analogous to that which would be required of a missionary in the streets of India or China than almost any other form of gospel labor.
To preach from a pulpit to orderly congregations, prepared to listen re- spectfully and sympathetically, is no preparation for labor among the heathen. There is no trouble in gathering the people under such circumstances. Everything in their surroundings helps religious impression, and intelligent attention is bestowed on the preacher.. But there is nothing of this sort in heathendom lOne who is only up to work of this conventional type might almost as well stay at home. The missionary has to press his message on mim who have no notion of its importance, no disposition even to listen to it, no substratum of religiOUS knowledge on which to work, no enlightened conscience to which to appeal, no habits of reverence or decorum, no sym- pathy with the preacher's mode of thought, and but an imperfect compr~hen sion of his language. Like the open-air preacher, the missionary must not expect either to be sought, appreciated, or thanked for his service, nor to find in it any other gratification than that of serving Christ and saving men. In this and in other similar efforts to raise and transform degraded and sunken populations at home, the missionary candidate is not the best trained for his future work, but best tested, best proved fit for it.
In addition to such experiences a missionary needs, of cours'e, knowledge of various kinds. Education of the mind has its place, though it be not the first place. The higher the mental qualifications of a man or woman (other things being equal) the better. But here it should be clearly stated that the nature of the case indicates that only a certain proportion of missionary workers require what we call a thorough education. Do we not limit too narrowly the class of men from which we select missionary agents? Do we sufficiently remember that the first missionaries were mostly poor and uninfluential in worldly position, ignoran t and unlearned as regards mental attainments, not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble were called. For one learned Paul of Tarsus there were elev.en plain men of no special erudition, fishermen and men of that class whose principal education was that which they received from Christ himself. The army requires more privates than officers; and one architect can plan a building which will need many hands to erect. Some highly-cultured men are of course needed in a mission, and are essential to its highest prosperity; they are needed to do literary work, reduce unwritten tongues, and translate the-Scriptures; to train and teach native evangelists, to lead and organize, to direct and to originate. But are they the only men needed? Did any army consisting of officers only ever march to victory? Are not rank and file required as well? and does not the mission army need hundreds and thousands of privates? Is it essential that all, or even the great majority of missionaries, should be scholarly gen- tlemen who have studied from boyhood to maturity at heavy expense of time and money? Do the ninety per cent. of thc population of China who cannot even read, 01' the savages of Central Africa or the New Hebrides, de- mand teachers of a higher stamp than do the working classes in these coun- tries? Should we not elSteem it a great waste of rQsources to insist that all home and city missionaries should be classical scholars? And are not work- ers of all classes required among the heathen as much as at home? May not many men without either the leisure or the means, or perhaps even the incli- nation for a long and elaborate course of study-intelligent artisans, young clerks in banks, in offices, assistants in shops, the sons of farmers, mates of vessels and skilled mechanics, tradesmen, teachers and others-be well suited to serve Christ among the heathen, to preach the simple gospel to the masses of the people?
On the other hand, to send out ignorant and untrained men to undertake missionary work were clearly folly. "Let such first be proved," is a dictate of common sense as well as a precept of Scripture. Paul said to Timothy as regards the truths of the gospel which he had taught him, "The same com- mit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also." Of all men a missionary should be a man of general intelligence and fertIle resources. Without a measure of cultivation it is impossible that he should be this. Knowledge is power, and missionaries as a class should know something of everything. A missionary has to travel, and should understand geography. He may perhaps have to build his house, to make his own furniture, to till or direct the tillage of his garden, the cooking of his food, to work the printing- press. Knowledge even on such matters will therefore be valuable to him. He may be situated far from any skilled physician, and ought there- fore to have at least some elementary knowledge of anatomy and physiology and of the use of simple surgIcal and medical aids; The more grammaticaJ, knowledge he has the better, for he will have to learn and use a foreign tongue, and possibly to translate into it the Word of God. He ought to know enough of nature to appreciate the works of God, and enough of history to perceive the background of Bible facts. As he has to teach Christianity, he should know something about the history of its planting, its early sufferings and triumphs, the origin and progress of existing apostacies, and the story of the Reformation. He should also be acquainted to some extent with the history of modern missions, including the lives of eminent missionaries. But above all, he ought to be well acquainted with the Bible. That Book will have to be the companion of his loneliness, the guide of his perplexity, the support of his life, the instrument of his labors. It should be the chief subject of his study. His mind should be familiarized with the sacred text, with the evidences of its lDspiration, and with the varied doctrinal and practical truths which it reveals. He needs to be rooted and built up in Christ, and established in the faith, and the aim should be to give him afirm grasp of the teachings of Scripture, and instruction; as far as possible, in the whole counsel of God.
It is a serious question whether in our training of missionaries we give the Word of God the place which it deserves. Is not Bible study in our colleges apt to be too cramped, and too merely critical? We teach our stu- dents to dissect the Scriptures, but are they taught to dissect their own hearts, to understand themselves? We teach them the letter of Scripture, but do we lay due stress upon the posession of its spirit? We teach them to judge the Book, but they should he taught to let it judge them, and by its light to judge of all things. Is not God's Word a fire and a hammer? Woe to us if by our processes we strip it of its sacredness and strength. Let us give the Word of God its propel' place, and own its supreme authority, pre-eminence. and power.
It is the desire of this conference that those who take part should contribute to the general stock the,results of their experience, suggesting for the con- sideration of their brethren the chief practical conclusions to which they have been led. I may mention, then, that guided by the principles indicated in this paper, we founded, fifteen years ago. in East London, an institution for training' and helping into the foreign field young men who desired to be mis- sionaries. We subsequently added a country branch of the Institute, and later on a Training Home for Deaconesses. During these fifteen years we have dealt with more than three thousand volunteers for missionary work, have re- ceived on probation between eight and nine hundred, have trained and sent out five hundred missionaries, and have now about a hundred students in the Institute. Our plan is to give the students, where they require it, preiimi- nary secular instruction in the country branch, and then practical training in East London, including missionary, evangelistic, linguistic and medical de- partments. All our students receive from a qualified medicaJ man the train- ing of the ambulance corps, the results being tested by a public examina- tion. The deaconesses, in certain instances, are sent for three months to live in hospitals where the maternity cases are treated. Students going to Africa receive instruction in the treatment of tropical fevel's, and where there has been special fitness we have given students the advantage of a four years' medical course in the London Hospital. In almost every case these have be- come qualified medical men, and are now in the mission-field. The time spent by students in the Institute has varied according to their age and needs. Our system has been an elastic one. We have tried to give to each the help he or she was capable of receiving, and to introduce each to the sphere in which we saw they could best do good gospel service.
The results have not disappointed us. We have received men of all nationalities and all classes, as well as of all evangelical denominations. We have trained them for all countries, and former students are now working in connection with between twenty and thirty societies and organizations, while many of them have founded new and independent missions. As a rule they had done well, and given much satisfaction in the missions they have joined. There are exceptions. Every rule has such, but we thank God on remembrance of the majority of them. They have gone into every country in Europe. They have gone to the roughest and most westerly parts of North America, to the negroes in Jamaica, and to the Roman Catholics and English settlers in South America. They have evangelized in Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Egypt, in North Africa; have established missions in Cape Colony, Natal and Kaffir-Iand; and have penetrated the heart of equatorial Africa, founding fresh stations, reducing the languages of the people to writing, translating the Scriptures, and turning hundreds from heathenism to the knowledge of God. They have suffered, literally, thousands of attacks of fevers, and many of them have laid down their lives in the service of Christ and for the gospel. They have founded medical missions in Constantinople, Syria, and Armenia ; have evangelized in the wildest parts of the HaUl'an, have preached in the crowded cities and mountain wilds of India, and opened many mission-stations in the most distant provinces in China. They have scattered the Word of God in every province in that vast empire, and have traversed in their missionary labors almost every country in the world. Our experience has shown us that there are thousands of devoted young men and women suited for missionary work, and desirous to give themselves to it, that they are capable of rapid improvement under Christian training, and willing to go anywhere for the sake of the gospel, that there are open doors in all lands, and fields waiting for reapers, white to the harvest, and that the Christian Church may increase with appropriate effort the number of its missionary laborers to an almost indefinite extent.
Allow me, in conclusion, to summarize what I have said, and to emphasize certain points.
First, we agree most thoroughly with our highly esteemed and respected friend, Dr. Pierson, in his published opinion that "if we would largely increase the missionary force we must in some way lessen the time and cost of preparing the average workman.. . A most formidable barrier to the work of evangelization is that even where both men and money may be obtained it takes too long a time and too costly a culture to train the average workman; and this one obstacle often overtops all others, and is practically insurmountable. •• There ought to be a change in our ecclesiastical tactics; our system of training for the mission-field must be more flexible and more economical of. time and money, or we cannot send workmen mto the great world-field in adequate numbers." Without any rigidly uniform system.of training, we must encourage every willing soul to do the work for which he 01' she is best fitted, and endeavor further to fit eaeh for their proposed sphere of labor, and we must shorten and simplify the course of training.
Secondly, no candidates whatever should be accepted for training save spiritually-minded men and women, possessed of good health, good common sense, devotedness to God's service, and a divinely indicated call to the work.
Thirdly, such persons should be thoroughly tested, and carefully trained.
THE WORK AMONG THE FIJI ISLA.NDS. [SlU"f
Their training should be adapted to develop the unworldly spiritual character which missionary work requires. It should always be adapted to the individual case. All missionary students should be trained in laborious and self-denying habits, and exercised in evangelistic work among our own lapsed masses, especially open-air preaching.
Lastly, every missionary student should be furnished with the practical instructions of the ambulance corps, as to how to deal with accident cases; while those who are prepaung for labor in Central Africa and other parts of the world where no qualified medical aid is to be had should receive, in addition to other teaching, special medical instruction of an elementary and practical nature, and in those instances where there is marked aptitude and desire for it, the missionary student should have the advantage of a full medical course.
THE WORK AMONG THE FIJI ISLANDS.
[A Paper read before the London Conference by Rev. John Calvert.1 [The facts concerning the missionary life of this remarkable man, stated in a note to Dr. Pierson which we give below, will add interest to bis paper.-J. M. S.
.. DEAR DR. PIERSON: .. SEVENOAKS, KXN'!', June 19, 1888.
"IN 1838 I went to Fiji with John Hunt. 1n 1856 I came home with the printed New Testament and MS. of the complete Bible, and was four years in England. In 1860 I went again to Fiji with several younl!; missionaries newly married. Iu 18721 went to South Africa for nine years. In May, 1886, I went on a visit to Fiji and returned through America, and I am now settled down here as supernumerary. 1 have lately supplied twenty cases of Bibles and Testaments, from the Bible SOCiety, and four cases hemispheres iu ziuc cylinders to keep them safe, when not used, from the cockroaches, And I am now putting to press Hunt's Theology, Hymns. Catechism and Book oC Offices. .. Affectionately yours, "JAMES CALVERT."] OF all the many Oceanic missions in the Pacific, I am here to represent but one, in which a. great part of my life has been spent-the Mission to Fiji. This large and beautiful group, which lies 1,800 miles northeast from Sydney, and 1,200 north of New Zealand, consists of some 200 islands and islets, eighty of which are inhabited; and the two largest are ninety miles in length. The islanders are a fine race, of fair intelligence, and, according to the measure of their own simple wants, very industrious. Having been left to themselves and to the undisturbed control of bad influences in all the past, they became extremely vile and degraded. Cannibalism was a recognized institution among them and practiced to a frightful extent. Infanticide was a general custom, and the burial of sick persons before death was common. Cruelty of all·kinds abounded; and polygamy, with its inseparable consequences of evil, was established throughout the group.
The condition and claims of Fiji were brought urgently before the Chris- tian people of England, and particularly before the Wesleyan Methodist Churches, about fifty years ago. Already two white missionaries were doing noble work in the Islands. They were re-enforced from time to time. They never exceeded thirteen at anyone time-now they are only nine; and this number will probably be still further reduced, the work being carried on chiefly and successfully by agents raised up among the people themselves. Happily we have always been heartily one, so that our prayers and. labors . have not been hindered, but greatly helped. Regular weekly English wor- ship and the class-meeting among the mission families were of the utmost value in keeping our own souls alive. God chose the men employed; none of them extraordinary or great, but suitable, well adapted, ready to rough it and go on heartily with every branch of the work that had to be done, making little of difficulties, dangers and affiictions, but the best of everything and everyone. And all our work personally, and in the training of native agents, has always been done in the Fijian language, and interpreters not employed. On a recent visit to Fiji, my heart was gladdened at finding the same stamp of men supplied by Australia, carrying on the work successfully. A very great help to our progress was, as I believe, that we had the whole field to ourselves, and our laborers were not interfered with, by the presence of any other Protestants. The Romanists came too late, arriving after we had got a good footing, and supplied the Scriptures. They avowed themselves as our opponents, and relieved us of a few troublesome persons. They have never succeeded. to a large extent, and are now losing ground, though they have zeal and self-denial worthy of any cause.
The vital, experimental and practical truths of God's Word were explained, applied and enforced. Christ, the living Saviour of all, especially of them that believe to the saving of the soul, was shown to be all in all, able and willing to save to the uttermost all who came to Him. The divine personal Spirit, in all His glorious energy and saving power, was prominently set forth, and He was ever present, convicting of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Great numbers from the beginning of our work, and, thank God, to the present time, were thoroughly awakened by the truth and by the Spirit. They sorrowed after a godly sort, turned from sin, and turned fully to God through Christ alone. And such penitents in very large numbers have, throughout the whole history of the mission, found peace with God through believing, and have shown to all men the evidences of life renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Old things passed away: behold all things became new. On several occasions, on many of the islands, there have been special outpourings of the Divine Spirit, when considerable numbers were saved, and all ~ere quickened into life and prosperity.
The spirit in which they endured trials, persecution and loss, and their steadfast aim with all kindness to do good to anyone by any effort or sacrifice, proved the truth, depth and excellence of the religion they experienced, enjoyed and practiced.
Many of these new creatures in Christ Jesus, quickened and raised into newness of life, began to speak, and testify and entreat as the Spirit gave them utterance. It was more than meat and drink to them to spread among their relatives and countrymen the religion that was such a reality and boon to themselves.· Thus the truth and saving grace of God spread from one to another, from village to village, from tribe to tribe, from island to island. None could gainsay or resist their testimony in holding- forth the Word of life. The missionaries and our mission needed no better or stronger commendation. These real converts have been and are" manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written with the Spirit of the living God," "an epistle known and read of all men." And by their agency a most substan- tial, most blessed and extensive work of God has been wrought in all direc- tions throughout Fiji.
On my last visit I was d4llighted with the grand sight I witnessed at the District Training Institution. There I found 109 fully-devoted men, selected from the institutions in each circuit, under training as preachers of the gospel: fine, strong, whole-hearted men, who 'cheerfully surrender them- selves to the cause of Christ in Fiji or elsewhere. To the oversight of this vastly-important branch of our work are devoted a missionary and his assist- ant, a native minister, who are specially qualified and adapted. Since my return an appeal was made to these students to hazard their health and lives among the dangerous people and in the unhealthy climate of New Guinea, where Fijian teachers have already been sacrificed. Fifteen were asked for: forty volunteered! eighteen were chosen, and sent forth.
Mission work in every-conntry must mainly be done by the converts them- selves. The foreigner is an expensive agent, with the many real and im- aginary wants of himself and his family. His continuance is often inter– rupted, and his stay shortened. And he can never manage the climate and customs, or find out and adapt himself to the native character, so well as one of themselves. The native agent was well-known before the glorious change that has renewed him on the spot before their eyes: and he is a liv- ing specimen-well studied-of the power of the gospel to transform. He is already there without any expense, can be employed at small cost, and that raised mainly by those for whose benefit he labors: and mission funds are not required for his removal and sustenance should he fail. With only 9 white missionaries, we have 3,505 native preachers: 56 ordain{>d, who take full part in the work of the ministry with the English missionary, 47 catechists, 983 head preachers, with 1,919 ordinary local or lay preachers. There are 1,268 chapels and other preaching places; 28 English church members, 27,097 full native church membQrs. These are well cared for by 3,480 devoted class-leaders. There are 40,718 scholars in our 1,735 day and Sunday-schools, taught by 2,526 teachers; and 101,150 attendants on public worship. The jubilee of the mission was lately held. Fifty years previously there was not a Christian in all Fiji; then not an avowed heathen left! Canibalism has, for some years past, been wholly extinct, and other immemorial customs of horrible cruelty and barbarism have tiisappeared.
Behold! what hath God wrought! A nation has been born at once!
"Instead of the thorn the fir tree came up: and instead of the brier came up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for aname, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." "The wilderness has become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted for a forest." "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel [and of all nations, great and small], who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen."
Though poor, the people are most liberal in contributions for carrying on their own work, building all the schools and chapels and teachers'
houses; and they give generously, at much personal sacrifice, to the general mission funds. Had it not been for the business calamities that have come upon Fiji, as upon most parts of the world, the mission promised well ere this to have been self-supporting. Their deep poverty is borne well: and the riches of their liberality abound. I was delighted now to find them thoroughly good and fully devoted to God and His cause. Their religion is a grand , and powerful reality in very trying circumstances.
When this mission began, the Fijian language had never been written; the missionaries, therefore, had to supply it with an alphabet, and reduce it to a written form, and then to set to work to explore its grammatical structure, so as to give the people in their own tongue the Word of God, and furnish them with a useful literature. Very early in the history of the mis- sion the printing-press was brought into use.
When our printer failed in that far-off and out-of-the-way place we were in great difficulty, as a new edition of the New Testament and other books were urgently required. We ordered a man from London who would rough it, be content with the poor fare and small pay and hard work we were ac- ';:l!stomed to, but slch a man was not found. Then it came to pass that il! French count, an infidel, who was wrecked from an American beche de mer vessel, was thoroughly awakened, and sought and found mercy and saving grace. He was completely reformed and wished for employment with us. I taught him printing and book-binding, which he quickly learned; and just then, when we were in deepest need, he became a most efficient laborer wIth us. He could make sails, splice a rope, pull an oar, sail a schooner, floor a house, put in windows, make a door and fit it in. He became a teacher in our schools, and a good local preacher. The people felt that he loved them, and the best of our converts from any part of Fiji were cheerfulJy ready to settle down and work with him, so that we had a good staff of earnest and cheap workers in our printing and book-binding establishment. A new edition of the New Testament and all the books we required were well done and quickly supplied, helping on the work amazingly: A wh'ole-hearted man like that was beyond all price. Had one been made to order on purpose for our needs and work, he could not have been better adapted. And the case proved to us the all-sufficiency of God's resources; and just at the right, the very best time on the spot the demand was supplied, and without any cost. Oh, that we looked more to God for all we need I Then we printed innumerable portions of the Scriptures, catechisms (one especially, consisting o~ passages of Scripture only, which was invaluable), reading, and other books, as well as an excellent and immensely valuable system of theology, prepared by the eminent John Hunt when his heart and mind were in their best state, and when he had gained an excellent knowledge of the language; also an invaluable dictionary and grammar, provided by David Hazlewood, a man not known to fame, but whose record is on high, who did service of immense value in the language and translation department.
Since 1856 large supplies of Bibles and New Testaments in good bold type and strong and some elegant binding are constantly forwarded by the British and Foreign Bible Societies, on which many missionary societies are largely dependent, and from which all are cheerfully and promptly supplied with all they require. These Scriptures are highly l)rized, eagerly purchased and diligently read, the natives in many instances depriving themselves of the conveniences of life that they may secure and possess God's Word. The proceeds of these books are returned to the Bible House. They have supplied two editions of the completed Scriptures and fifty-six thousand of the New Testament in six editions. Other books in large quantities are also supplied fl'om England, better and at less cost than they can be printed and bound in Fiji, or obtained from the colonies.
Though Fiji is small when compared with the great nations, yet it affords a specimen and example of what can be done by the Word and Spirit and Providence of God, and it enheartens and encom'ages all to attempt and expect great things for all the nations of this sin-stricken, redeemed world. Ample provision for all our race has been made in the grand atonement and all-prevalent intercession of our great and loving Redeemer, who by the grace of God tasted death for every man, and wills that all should be saved in the gift of the life-giving Spirit who works mightily and can renew every depraved heart; and in the glollious gospel which saves all who believe, God intends to save our fallen race, and will do it. His glory shall be revealed antl all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. He hath said it, and He will assuredly bring it to pass. Christ must reign over all. Let us then go fOJ;'th in faith and preach the gospel to every creaturel feeUng sur~ tbat we have strongest ground for ille utmost hopes iu Him who has said: "And I, if 1 be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." And again: "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth; go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and 10, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
SEVENOAKS, KENT, June 1,1888. JAMES CALVERT.
THE KARENS.
[Paper read belore the Conference by Mrs. W. F. Armstrong. It made 8 deep impression.-Ens.J THE only apology for my appearance here this evening is that I am the only Karen missionary attending this Conference, and so noble a people should not be passed by unnoticed. Thousands of them are praying for us, and it is right that we should remember them.
The Karens were once the hill tribes of Burmah, treated by the Burmese with the greatest injustice and cruelty. While they were under the Burmese Government they hid themselves in the jungle on the mountain sides, con- cealing the paths to their bamboo homes, and constantly moving from one place to another to avoid detection. They were content to live on the pro- duce of their gardens, to weave their own clothing, and to be as independent in the forest as the birds or the bees.
Their religion was peculiar to themselves. They lived pure, honest, truthfullives-I speak advisedly-they were unbounded in their hospitality, had no idols; but made offerings to propitiate the demons whom they feared.
They had no books, but they had carefully preserved traditions of a book they once possessed to which they were disobedient, and it was taken from them. Some day-so their legends ran-their white brethren would come across the sea in ships and bring back the book which told of the Great Father. They retained much of the moral and historical parts of the Old Testament in sayings of theil' old men, and it seems probable that tpey had at some time had access to its sacred pages.
No wonder such a people should receive the gospel when it came. No peo- ple have ever been discovered who were so prepared for it or whose very prejudices were on its side. When missionaries came among them their old men said, This is what our fathers told us of, it is this for which we have so long waited; and they flocked by hundreds to receive it. Not without change of heart. Their simple faith took Christ at ilis word; the Spirit accom- ied that word. Though they were ignorant and untaught in schools, they came forward eagerly to learn, believing with all their hearts, and re- ceiving the promise of God" to everyone that believeth."
An entire change has been wrought among them in the last fifty years.
Now there are over 450 Karen parishes, each one of which supports its own native pastor and lts own village school, and many subscribe largely to send the gospel farther on. !
There are about 30.000 baptized communicants, and fully 100,000 nominal Christians, about one-sixth of the whole tribe in Burmah.
A marked characteristic of their Christianity is that th.ey are earnest for- eign missionaries. They have their own foreign missionary society and send out their own young men to distant countries and other languages, support- ing them there and re-enforcing them as the need arises. These have opened up new fields of labor where other missionaries could not reach; they have tuken educated <Lnd devoted Karen wb'esto assist them, and have undergone
HOME WORK FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS
much hardship and privation with a true spirit of heroism worthy of any Christian nation. One instance, which I was personally cognizant of, and I have done.
I loved the people dearly; I looked upon them as brothers and sisters indeed, but when my husband went to the Telugus I went too. One of my teachers, who had traveled with me in many a jungle tour, and who loved souls as well as I did, who had risked her life over and over again for Christ's sake, was moved to go wIth me. This Karen girl went to India and learned the Telugu, both written and spoken, and this more rapidly than any missionary I have ever known. She started a girl's school among them, teaching them in Telugu more efficiently than any of their own people could do on account of her previous training. Of course I speak of work in a new station where mission work had to begin from the foundations. She won many women and children to listen to the gospel, and was everywhere treated with respect. The natives giving her the same title they applied to myself. Indeed, she proved herself in all respects a genuine foreign missionary.
She is now living in Rangoon, where she is married, and works among Burmese, Telugus and Karens, as she has opportunity. She is Secretary of the Karen Women's Foreign Missionary Society, which supports and directs its own Bible women. She is not in mission employ, but is supported by hel" merchant husband, who also is an educated Christian Karen, speaking daily for his Master during business hours and giving nobly to the cause of Christ, as you in this country do.
I always felt that work among Karens was only half way to heathenism. Among the Telugus I saw many debasing influences of idolatry which I did not find among Karens. In the estimation of those who know them best they are the most remarkable of all Eastern tribes. God has surely some wonderful purpose for them in the future, and we see a forecast of this in their eagerness and ability to work as evangelists among other nations.
Another conference, I trust, may see some of them in your midst to speak for themselves.
HOME WORK FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS.
BY REV. A. T. PIERSON, D.D. [A paper read at the World's Missionary Conference on Monday. June 18.] WHAT the source is to the supply, the motor to the machine, the home church is to the foreign field. The vigor of the heart's beat determines the ' pulse beat at the extremities. It is of first importance that, at home, work for missions abroad be continuous and constant, healthy in !one and spiritual in type.
How shall the churches be raised to the degree of consecration required for the evangelization of the world? Sheldon Dibble used to say that two conversions are needful: first, to Christ as a Saviour from sin; and then to missions as the corrective antidote to selfishness. A century ago William Carey felt the thrust of the keen lance of Sydney Smith, who, by his unsanctified wit, proposed to "rout out thai nest of consecrated cobblers"; and Carey had to fight for fifteen years the apathy even of his own Baptist brethren. Dr. Judson's hand was nearly shaken off, and his hair shorn off, by those who, in the crisis which can be met only by self-sacrifice would, to save themselves, willingly let missions die.
Foremost among the means by which deeper devotion to the work of eV'an~ gelization is to be secured, I would put the education of the chu1'ch in the' very principle of missions. Where the hearty acceptance of this is lacking, the impulse and impetus of missions are wanting. The church of God exists, not only as a rallying, but as a radiating, center. It is indeed a home, but also a school; a place for worship, but not less for work. For a society of disciples to be engrossed even in self-culture is fatal to service, and even to true sanctity. The church is no gymnasium where exercise is the law and self-development the end. The- field is the world, and each sower and reaper. while at work for a harvest, gets in his exertion the very exercise which is needful to growth.
So important and so fundamental is this principle of missions, that any church which dj!nies or practically neglects it, deserves to be served with a writ of quo warranto. This law of church life must be constantly kept before believers, enforced and emphasized by repetition-that upon every believer is laid the duty of personal labor for the lost. This conviction must be beaten in and burned in, till it becomes a part of the very consciousness of every disciple, until the goal is seen to be not salvation or even sanctification, but service to God and man in saving souls.
In the educatiop of a church in foreign missions, nothing is more essential than that the missionary spirit burn in the pastor. A stream rises no higher than its source; and, ordinarily, the measure of the pastor's interest In the world-field determines the level of his people's earnestness and enthusiasm. He ought to be a student of missions, an authority on missions, and a leader in missions. He is not the driver of a herd, but the leader of a flock: he must therefore go before. His contagious enthusiasm and example must inspire in others the spirit of consecration. The personal character of the man gives tone to his preaching, and is perhaps itself the best kind of preaching. That must be a frozen church in which a man, alive with intelligence and zeal for the work of God, could not warm into life and action under such a pastor as the late W. Fleming Stevenson.
The rudiments of a true education being laid, we must go on unto perfection; and among all the means of this higher training we put, first and foremost, a knowledge of the facts of missionary history and biography. Information is a necessary part of all university training in missions; not a partial, superficial impression, but information-a knowledge of missions complete enough and thorough enough to crystallize into symmetrical form in the :mind and heart. Facts are the fingers of God. To a devout student of His will they become signs of the times, and signals of His march through the ages. Like the gnomon of a sun dial, even their shadow may mark the hour in God's day. Prince Albert used to say to the young men of Britain: " Find out God's plan in your generation and never cross it, but fall into your own place in it." There is a pillar of providence, the perpetual pillar of cloud and fire, whereby we may be led. That pillal'is built up of facts, oftentimes mysterious and dark, like a cloud, yet hiding the presence and power of Him who dwelt in the cloud and made it luminous.
To a true disciple missions need no argument, since the chm'ch has what the Iron Duke called her" mat'ching orders." But duty becomes delight, and responsibility is transfigured into privilege, when it is clearly seen that to move with the missionary band is to take up march with God. The apathy and lethargy prevailing among believers upon the subject of missions is to me unaccountable in view of the multitude and magnificence of the facts which demonstrate that in the movements of modern missions, more <han in any other of the ages, there has been a demonstration and a revelation of God.
We are observing the centenary of modern missions. But the most amazing results of this century have been wrought during its last third, or ihe lifetime of the generation now living. This World's Conference is simply the church coming together at the Antioch of the Occident to hear those whom the Holy Ghost has chosen and the church has separated unto this work, rehearse all that God has done with them, and how He has opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. Who dares to say, in the light of modern missions, that the days of supernatural working are passed? So far, as in primitive days, the disciples have gone forth and preached everywhere, it has still been true that the Lord has wrought with and confirmed the Word with signs following-signs unmistakable and unmistakably supernatm-aJ. Doors have been opened, within fifty years, that no human power could have unbarred. The mighty moving of God can be traced back through the centuries, long since g'iving Protestant England a foothold in the very critical; pivotal center of Oriental empires and religions. The necessity of protecting her Indian possessions, of keeping open the line of communications between London and Calcutta, determined the attitude of every nation along the water highway. Then from beyond the Pacific another mighty, puissant people, the offspring of Protestant Britain, moved forward thirty years ago to turn the extreme eastern wing of the enemy while Britain was piercing and holding the center. Commodore Perry knocked at the sea gates of Japan, and in the name of a Christian Republic demanded entrance. Rusty bolts that had not been drawn for more than two centuries were flung back and the two-leaved doors of brass were opened to the commerce of the world. Rapid has been the progress of the march of God. Japan unsealed her gates in 1854. From that time not a year has passed without some mighty onward movement or stupendous development. In 1856 the g-reat breach was made in the Chinese wall, and by the treaty of Tientsin one-third of the human race were made accessible to Christian nations, and, as Dr. Gracey says, that wide door was opened, not by the vermilion pencils of the Emperor, but by the decree of the Eternal. The same year, 1856, also saw signed and sealed the Hatti Sherif in Turkey, by which the Sultan, at least in form, announced the era of toleration. The next year the mutiny in India changed the whole attitude of the East India Company towards missions, and prepared the way for the surrender of its charter to the Crown of England.
Let us leap the chasm of twenty years and nole the progress of eventR on the Dark Continent. In 1871 Stanley pierced the jungle to find the heroic Livingstone. In 1873 Livingstone died near Lake Bangweolo; in 1874 Stanley undertook to explore equatorial Africa; in 1877, after a thousand days, he emerged at the mouth of the Congo. At once England took up the work of following the steps of the explorer with the march of the missionary, and now, ten years later, the missions of the great lakes in the east, and those of the Congo basin at the west, are stretching hands to link east and west together. Give us ten years more and Krapf's prophecy will be fulfilled: "A chain of missions will cross the continent." In 1884, fifteen nations, called together by King Leopold and presided over by Bismarck, met in Berlin to lay the basis of the Congo Free State; and in that council not only Protestant, but Greek, Papal, and Moslem powers joined I Such are some of the great providential signs of a supernatural presence and power. What shall be said of the gracious transformations that have displaced cannibal ovens by a thousand Christian churches in Polynesia; that reared Metlakahtla in British Columbia; that made Madagascar the crown of the London Missionary Society; that turned SielTa Leone into a Christian state; that wrought mightily with Hans Egede in Greenland, Morrison and Burns in China, Perkins and Grant in Persia, Carey and Wilson and Duff in India, McAll in Paris, ,and a host of other missionaries!
If disciples are indifferent to missions it is because they are ignorant 'of missions. A fh'e needs first of all to be kindled, then to be fed, then to have vent. The only power that can kindle the flame of missionary zeal is the Holy Spirit. The coal must be a live coal from God's altar. But, having that coal and a breath from above, all that is needed is fuel to feed the flame, and that fuel is supplied by a knowledge of facts. Too much care cannot be taken to supply these facts in an attractive, available form, at the lowest cost. The women's boards and societies have done no greater service than in providing and distributing a cheap literature of missions. The printed facts that are to do this work of education must be put in the briefest and most pointed form. This is an age of steam and telegraph. While Methusaleh turned round, we have gone around the globe. Men need now what they can catch at a glance. Ponderous volumes may do for ponderous men, who have leisure for prolonged study and research, but the bulk of people must get their knowledge of facts in a condensed form. Our bulletins must be bullet-ins. Some of us must skim the great pan and serve up the cream in a little pitcher, rich and sweet; we must boil down the great roots and give others the sweet liquorice in the stick, so that a bite will give a taste and make the mouth water for more. Students of missions will read with avidity the Ely Volume, and" the Middle Kingdom,"and kindred books that are the authorities on missions; but students of missions are not made by this process. We must feed first with milk, and not with strong meat-and by the spoonful, until both capacity and appetite are formed.
The value of simultaneous meetings, missional:y conventions, and other special services consists perhaps mainly in the wide, rapid, and attractive and effective dissemination of intelligence. Truths and facts are brought before the mind with all the help of the enthusiasm of a public assembly. The eye helps the ear in producing and fastening impression. The hearer comforts the living men or women who have come from the field, perhaps with the very idols of the heathen in their hands, or the relics of their superstitious practices; sometimes the native convert, or preacher, himself pleads for his benighted fellow countrymen. And so the most apathetic soul, III whom grace has kindled the fire of love, finds the fire burning, spreading, consuming selfishness, and demanding a proper vent in Christian effort! This is the way that missionaries are made.
In 1885 there assembled at Mr. Moody's boys' school at Mount Hermon, in Massachusetts, about 300 student." from the various colleges for a few weeks of study of the Word of God. A few who had in view the foreign field greatly desired a missionary meeting, and all the students were invited. There was not even a missionary map to assist in impressing the facts; the speaker drew on the blackboard a rude outline of the continents, and then proceeded to trace the great facts of missions, and so deep was the interest awakened, that meeting after meeting followed; from about a score, the number who chose the mission field rose to a hundred; then certain chosen men resolved to go and visit the colleges and carry the sacred fire; they went, met their fellow-students, and brought out the leading facts of missions; and to-day, in America and England, a band of probably no less than 3,000 young men and women stand ready to go to the foreign field if the door shall open before them. If disciples do not wish to flame with missionary zeal, ~hey must avoid contact and converse with the facts and the heroic souls who are the living factors of missions. It is dangerous business to trifle with the combustible material, unless you are quite sure there is not even", spark of life or love in your soul!
Among the means of education we mention last what in the order of time and of importance belongs first: the influence of Christian women in the home life. If God has shut out the ordinary woman from much participation in public life, and shut her in the home, iii is because her sphere makes up in quality what it lacks in quantity. Here are life's arcana, veiled from the common eye; the home is the matrix of character. The faith of the grand- mother Lois and mother Eunice still descends to Timothy. Anthusa and Monica still give the church her golden-mouthed Johns and her giant Augustines. To one woman may be traced the rise of the seven kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy. At evet'y stream there isa point where a human hand might turn its current, and at that point in human lives the wife and mother presides. The heathen rhetorician Libanius exclaimed: "What women these Christians have!" And, if the secret things were brought to light, it might be found that many, beside Morrison and Burns and Lindley and Pat- teson, have owed their saintly character and missionary career to the sanct- ity of a mothet'. Even before birth, maternal character leaves its impress upon the unborn, and at the mother's breast and knee the earliest lessons are learned in piety and prayer and personal consecration.
The nursery may be the garden where the precious germs are first nourished from which develop pillars of cedar and olive for the temple of God. The Earl of Shaftesbury learned of humble Maria Millis the first lessons in living,which made his influence capable of being measured only by parallels of latitude and meridians oflongitude, and its results only-to be computed by the :eons of eternity! My sisters in Cht'ist, do not hesitate to break on your Master's feet your alabaster flask; though it may seem but as waste to some, the house shall be filled with the odor of your consecration, and you shaH at least create in the home a mighty mould of chat'acter from which shall go forth men and women whose words and deeds shall shake the world: Here, in the home, if prevailing selfishness and extravagant self-indulgence are to be correctea, must be taught first lessons in giving, the divine doctrine of stewardship, and the responsibilities both of wealth and poverty. Munificent legacies cannot atone for parsimonious gifts. It is not God or His poor who need our gifts, so much as we ourselves need to give. Giving is the sovereign secret of serving, but also of getting and growing. To deny self and help others is God's antidote to that monstl'ouS sin of selfishness w,hich is the root of all others; and soit is more blessed to give than to receive. And if there ever was an altar that sanctified, magnified, glorified the gift, it is the altar of missions. Let the ethics, the economics, the :esthetics of giving be taught at the mother's knee, and we shall have a new generation of givers.
Too much emphasis cannot be laid on placing at the center of the family a consecrated woman. She is like Goethe's mythical lamp, which, set in the humblest hut of the fisherman, changed all within it to silver. She pours on the root of the cocoanut-tree the water, which comes back, by and by, sweetened and enriched, in the milk of the cocoanut which falls from the top. A selfish, sordid woman, presiding in the home, perverts child-life; in such a household there is a malign influence, which, like the mirrors in the temples of Smyrna, represents the fairest images distorted and deformed, and makes even piety seem repellant. The more I see of woman's influence on the whole structure of society the more I feel the stress of the apostolic injunction that the believer should marry only in the Lord.
The responsibilities of wealth are to be discussed by another in a separate paper.' BlIt I must add, to complete my own thought, that, among other necessary reforms in our church life, we must cease to depend upon the donations of the rich. It is alike harmful to them and to the church. God never meant that with such wealth of divine promises we should appeal to the rich, and especially the worldly wealthy, for money for the kingdom. Such appeals discount our faith, dishonor our Lord, and humiliate the church, while they inflate the rich with self-righteous conceit and complacence as patrons of the cause of God. Let there be a Bible type of systematic and proportionate giving by every disciple, and the treasuries of the church would overflow with voluntary gifts of disciples.
Above all other spiritual agencies affecting missions from the home side, we place earnest and habitual prayer. This is a supernatural gospel and demands a supernatural power, for conversion is a supernatural work. Not even a knowledge of facts can make a missionary or inspire a missionary spirit. The coal must be there, and the breath of God, before even the best fuel will take fire. A thermometer may be held in the direct line of the sun's rays and show but little rise in temperature, because the radiant heat is reflected from the bright, glassy bulb, like light from a mirror. Heat rays from the sun may pass through a lens of ice, and concentrated to a sufficient deeree to ignite, at the focus, combustible material, and yet those rays may not melt the ice of which the lens is formed. It is only when knowledge is sanctified by prayer that it becomes a power.
For one, I regard the increased-or rather the revived-observance of the monthly concert as a necessity to true home work for missions. It is now comparatively a thing of the past. Once it was a regular observance of the first Monday of each month; then merged into the first Sunday evening; then the first mid-week service; and in many cases, divided between home and foreign missions, it lost its original special character, and has now only a name to live, and is practically dead. I know a church member who thought the monthly concert meant a musical entertainment. To allow so valuable a help to the culture of intelligent interest in missions to he dropped from our church economy and become an arclu.eological curiosity is a fundamental mistake. It may be made both interesting and stimulating. I have found the most successful way of conducting it to be to divide the world-field among the church membership, so that every man and woman, willing to help, may have a special field from which to report from time to time, changing the fields once a. year, in order to broaden both intelligence and interest, Then have maps, and, best of all, maps made by the church members themselves. A man or woman who draws a map of any mission field will never lose the image of that field from the mind's eye. I have had a full set of fine maps made for me without a penny's cost, by members of my own congregation.
The lack of earnest, believing, united prayer for missions is both lamentable and fatal to success. Prayer has always marked and turned the crises of the kingdom. No sooner do devout souls begin to unite in definite supplication than stupendous results begin to develop. Fifty years ago the burden of prayer was for the opening of doors, and one after another the iron gates opened as of their own accord. Then the plea went up for larger gifts of money; and at a critical period, when the whole onward march of missions was threatened, God gave a spirit of liberality; in 1878, that annusmirabilis, some twenty persons gave about four millions of dollars. Woman came to the front, and showed how, by gathering the mites systematically, the aggregate of gifts may grow steadily year by year, and rapidly. Then devout dis-
1888.J THE HEROIC MISSIONARY SOCIETY
ciples were led to pray for more laborers, and especially for the consecration of our foremost youth; and now from the universities of Britain and America a host of three thousand young men and women are knocking at the doors of the church, saying, "Here we are; send us;" and even the church that has been praying for this very result can scarce believe that they stand before the gate.
Brethren, we shall have learned little at this Conference if we shall nothave learned new lessons of the power of prayer. Themistocles delayed the naval engagement at Salamis until the land-breeze blew which swept his vessels toward the foe, and left every oarsman free to use the bow and the spear. How much wasted time and strength might be saved if the church of God but waited for the breath of the Holy Spirit to provide the impulse and momentum which we vainly seek to supply by our own energy and endeavor! When He breathes and blows upon us, how tbey who have toiled in rowing are left free to wield the weapons of the Lord's warfare, to exchange secular anxieties for spiritual successes!
Zoroaster bade his followers let the fires go out periodically upon their hearthstones, that they might be compelled to rekindle them at the sacred altars of the sun. What mean the smouldering en;bers on our hearths and altars, but that we have forgotten whence come the live coals, and the breath which alone can fan them into an undying flame!
THE HEROIC MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
BY ROBERT N. CUST, J.L.D., LONDON.
(Ooncluded from page 603, August number.) I NOW pass to the Heroic Missionary Society. I take as my type "the Moravian, 01' the Church of the United Brethren;" for the church and society are identical. It was the offspring of a bitter persecution by the Roman Catholics in Moravia: a small remnant fled across the boundary of hated Austria into Lusatia, and settled on the estate of Count Zinzendorf, and founded their city of Herrnhut. I have lately visited it, sat in the councilroom, conferred with the leaders of the community, visited their widows and worn-out missionaries in their humble homes, and knelt in their great Freidhof: they were first in the Protestant mission field, they are one ot the few associations that have obtained a footing in everyone of the five portions of the world: and they deliberately chose the most debased and degraded tribes as the object of their love, because such as they seemed to need the gospel most; their agents in truth wore the garb of poverty, and were poor in spirit also; in the countries, where they worked among slaves, they became slaves also, even as our Lord took upon himself the form of a slave, "p.6p</>1JV dOVAOV Aaf3wv." With the poor Hottentot they were not ashamed to suffer hardship and persecution, and to maintain that these poor outcasts had souls for which Christ had died: with the Eskimo they lived as brethren, and won them to themselves, content with the poorest and most unsavory fare, laboring with their own hands, trying not to be a burden to their church, which was so poor that it has still to be sustained by the alms of universal Christendom, for they were doing work which no other society could do; they literally went about as the disciples of Jesus, without scrip 01' change of garment, and their examples of self-denial carried the hearts of their people by storm: in these last days they have opened an asylum for lepers at Jerusalem. Their doctrmes were as simple as their practice, "Nothing but Christ crucified"; they had a courage which no danger could daunt, and a love which no harsh treatment could efface; who ever heard of a Moravian appealing to public meetings, or a public press, to organize armed relieC-e:fpeditions, or avenge their slaughtered brethren? They took death and the spoiling of their goods joyfully; they had a quiet constancy which no hardship could exhaust; there were, and are, no Exeter Halls to trumpet their praise; in their church there are no rich men to sub- scribe annual thousands, and yet they have left a mark on the world which no time can efface. Their types were, ,singleness of pm'pose, simplicity of bearing, self-consecration, and contentment with a little. If I wished to praise a missionary, I should say that he is worthy of being a Moravian. Many societies have done well, but this has excelled them all, for it has most nearly approached to the ideal church, formed after the pattern of the Founder-first and foremost in the great battle-field, yet seeking the last and lowest among the ranks of men. "I was a stranger, and ye took me in; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." The blessings of those ready to perish have accompanied, and still accompany, the gentle footfall of the Moravian brethren, as they tread the soil of distant and inhospitable climes, unknown, unpraised, but not unrewarded, The mode of conducting missions must be heroic also. We have but one _.life to keep or lose: how can we spend it in the best way? If souls are to be won to Christ, it must be by men or women whose souls are overflowing with lo'e to Christ. We ask not for ascetics, nor adopters of the native dress, nor the turner of the formal prayer-wheel, nor the daily celebrant, but such an expression of character on the countenance, such a mode of utterance, such a voice, thoughts that move, words that burn, as display earnestness and that the soul of the missionary is on fire. All human talents are only so far profitably employed, as they are used to save souls; all human knowledge is of no avail, unless it conduces directly or indirectly to the extension of our Master's king- dam: the simple gospel outweighs it all, so simple that all can understand, so profound that no one can get beyond, ,The great he- roes of whom I have spoken, and the great missionary band of Moravian heroes, differed from each other essentially, but they had formed the same conception of Christ, and of their duty; they looked over the human fences of churches, and saw the awful vision of the face of Christ only; they had a burning desire to carry His message face to face, mouth to mouth, in i{s naked simplicity; they thought nothing of chapels, and altar-cloths, stoles, m.usic, painted glass and decoration; they took the living Word to dying souls, teaching the poor heathen to live decent, holy lives in this transitory world, and through faith to inherit eternal life hereafter. There was no necessity for hair shirts or flagellations, for long ceremonies or retreats; theirs was the daily round of holy duty, whether steering the mission-ship, building the mission-school, or preaching the mission-sermon, until the very hour that they are called away, which is the best proof that their allotted task was done. I would have you realize the dignity, the greatness of the office: it is not a romantic or sentimental employment, such as discoursing witb Brahmins under a tree, or gathering sweet little children in a school; there is much that is distasteful, and humbling, and sometimes a feeling of despair.
The hero must not be cast down, must not be diverted from his purpose, must not change his ground. We can admire the perseverance of a bad man in a bad cause, how much more 01 a good man in a good cause I The famous Las Oasas had a fixed purpose to protect the poor natives of America, and he IS reported to have done,something every day of his life to advance the one great idea which dominated his existence. Hudson Taylor has put it well, "GO· in glad obedience; in fullest confidence, without anxiety, to do a definite work." Such is the high type, s,uch the practice of those hero-missionaries, * * * whom I have noticed. (See our !August number.) Let me look at the subject from another point of view. How much do we read, in missionary letters and reports, of theirfamilies, birth of children,death of children, illness of wife, and domestic cares, while the reader is anxious to know how the gospel warfare goes on, what progress has been made. Only imagine the public dispatch of a general or governor in which such details were even alluded to! In private letters to friends such things might be noticed, but not in the documents placed before the dommittee. Nothing strikes a committeeman more than the preponderate proportion of the corre- spondence which is occupied with notices of the wives and children of mis- sionaries, as if the committee were a board of guardians of the poor. How often a missionary comes home in full health and vigor, leaving for a time, or forever, a field of work for which he is suited, and in which, after some years of pupilage, he has learned to be useful, because his wife is ill ! Would the general commanding an expedition, or the governor of a province, have done so? How often the Indian official, or soldier, has to ship off a sick wife and cannot accompany her! We have not far to look to find out what St.
Paul would have said, and what our Lord did say (Mark x : 29). Even in the life of John Williams we find mention of the illness of his wife brought much too prominently forward: he was !1lways anticipating the necessity of an early return to England for her sake: but he clung on for eighteen years, and she arrived home in excellent health, and outlived him some years. It is against this exaggeration of human affections that the servant of Christ should struggle valiantly and prayerfully.' * * * * There are giants amidst the body of missionaries, for whom nothing is too good, for they would in secular professions have risen to distinction and wealth, but to a very large proportion this would not have happened. The praise of the good, self-denying, consecrated missionary is in the heart of all who care for such things, and many, unknown to him personally, talk lovingly of him when he is absent, and sadly when he is dead; but the great missionary is thinking always of his own infirmity, of how much he has left undone, and how much he could have done better, and rejoicing that it is given to him to spend and be spent. There is in modern times a far wider spread of missionary spirit than in past years, but it is not so deep; it has become a fashion, not a revelation, in a man's mind.
We find no idle calls on the part of the heroic missionary society, or the survivors and relatives of hero-missionaries, for vengeance on the murderers of the slain; this is one of the features of the gradual degeneracy of the age and the overweening self-assertion of a certain section of the British middle classes. It is well to have a giant's strength, but it is not well to use it as a bully. Nothing would have been easier than to have swept the islands of Erromanga and Nikapu from sea to sea clean of all their inhabitants to re- venge the deaths of Williams and Pattison; but the missionary societies pro- tested against the very idea of retaliation, nor would tl:J.e British responsible authorities have tolerated it. The relations of the deceased did not gather excited meetings in British towns, and pass resolutions, as in later cases, to petition the Government to send expeditions of rescue or intimidation. Such weakness of faith, such want of sound judgment, such incomprehensibleruis- 1 We do not indorse all the strictures and criticisms of the writer in this paper, and think he is at times unduly severe and sweeping. Still, what he writes on mi.sionary subjects-and few write more-deserves careful reading and candid consideration. Missions and missiOnaries have not IL warmer friend thllIl he.-EDs. understanding of the duty of a Christian man, were reserved to a later age. On the platform the missionary proudly, yet humbly, professes that he C.al'- ries his life in his hand, ready to live, God willing, and ready to die: if this were not the case, how low the British missionary would rank after the Swede, the Norwegian, and the Swiss, who have no ships to send, and whose countrymen still are ready to give up their lives, and fill up all that remains of the sufferings of Christ. If a misdionary has not stomach for such warfare, he had better retire into the safe refuge of a London curacy, or a Lancashire manufactory, where he will find heathen to minister to, without risk to his life, or causing alarm to his over-anxious relations.
The hel'o-missionary remembers that his service is a life-sel'vice, not the pastime of youth, or the employment of manhood, until a good living and a pleasant home is provided for him in his native country. Nothing is so disheartening as to !;lee so many instances of this forgetfulness of their first love, and of the words of our Lord (Luke ix : 62), "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." 'l'here should be no discharge in this warfare save death or certified ill-health of the missionary himself, not of his wife and his children. It is a matter of congratu- – lation that we have aged bishops content to occupy their posts until death, that we have missionaries who have not preferred tbe ties of blood or the claims of family to the work which has been the desire of their youth, the joy of their manhood, and the solace of their old age. The hero-missionary is tender in heart, gentle in words, slow to anger, and easy pacified. He is not insensible of the heinousness of sin, but his heart melts in pity towards the sinner. He does not strike with his hl),ud or stick the bodies of the poor natives whose souls he has come out to try to save; he does not usurp an authority over them because his face is white and he is one of a strong nation, as he remembers that he is their minister, the servant of servants, as was his Master, who washed the feet of His disciples; he doe~ not tie them up to trees to be flogged, and kept in durance for whole nights, but he .attaches them to himself by the silken cords of love.
He may be the son of a noble in his own country, and he is not puffed up, or he may be the son of a country shopkeeper, and he is not abashed, nor does he strive in his new profession to be coventionally treated as a gentleman, for in his humility he takes in either case the standpoint of being a Christian, occupying the same position that was occupied by Paul the great scholar and Roman citizen, and by Peter the humble fisherman : he seeks not high places, nor great companies, nor first-class accommodation in steamers or railways; he is economic of the funds of the good society which is his nursing mother; he is not always calling out for grants for his wife or his children; he does not dwell in a fine, comfortable house, for he minds not high things, and is content with men of low estate; his door is ever open to the people, whom he came to win to Christ; his attire is simple, and he seeks not the company of this world, though indirectly the type of the holy, upright man, which he presents to their eyes, has a reflex blessing on their souls; though silent, his life is a sermon to them. He acts up to the ideal of the Christian soldier which he had conceived in his youth when the message came to him, when the Holy Spirit overshadowed him; to be brave and strong, yet loving and tender; full of holy ardor yet self-controlled and free from spurious excitement; firm in convictions, yet tolerant; firm of purpose, yet merciful and considerate; meek and lowly, yet proud of his calling; fearing God, and fearing no one else.
~y friends, you must lJe thorou~hly equipfled for th«;l cQmbilot with something more than the surface teaching of the ordinary theological college. One of my fellow-students, forty years ago, at the East IndIa Cl>Uege, was a Jew, a believing Jew and a clever Jew, and he took the highest marks in PalPy's Evidences. I asked him whether he were not entirely convinced, and he re- plieu that it had not the least effect upon him. Such must often be the teach, ing of the oruinary missionary to a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Mahometan, and, to a certain degree, to the Pagan. It is always easy to speak with contempt of the Indian Fakir, smeared with ashes, and sneer at the pJ'ayer-wheel of the Buddhist (something very like which in kind is found ill many a Christian church) and point out the blots in the Mahometan scheme of salvation; it seems casy to show up the utter abomination of pagan human sacrfiices; but the missionary will find that behind these exoteric symbols there is a rad- ical misconception of the problem of human nature in the minds of the pro- fessors of a false religion, and behind the poor ignorant devotee he will flnd men with minds much more l;ubtle than his own, gifted with a power of argu- ment far .exceeding his own, appealing to authorities, of which the ITltssion- ary is ignorant. The idol is something more to the believer than a bit of wood and stone; the believers are not men of the nineteenth century, and with the impress of European training. To miracles and prophecies quoted by the missionary the teachers and believers of the false faith will quote prophecies and miracles of their own; to the words of the Bible and the claim of inspil'ation they will oppose the words of their own sacred books, and claim equal supernatural authority; the sequence of historical events and the facts of geography are unknown to them; it becomes at last a struggle for life upon the first principles of human existence, and the contest must take place upon an arena, of which the poor theological student of England never dreamt, behind the altar, out of sight of the church, in scorn of the Bible or any Christian authority, and nothing but the outpoUl'ing of the ,Holy Spirit can bring the unbeliever to see, and know, and bow to the truth.
The Hindu in his prolific literature works out his great metaphysical ques- tion, "What am I? whence came I? whither dol go?" , lIov yev6f1a1; 1f60ev ripl; rivo, XaplV i;')JJov, a1fij')JJov; and it ends in nothingness; his successor the Buddhist makes this nothing- ness the object, aim, and end of existence; the Mahometan boldly pillages the Old and New Testaments to fashion a system which can never respond to the yearnings of the human heart or satisfy its aspirations; the pOOl'
pagan in his blindness is so far ahead of the modern educated atheist, that he feels and admits the presence of the Deity and His omnipotence, and tries to appease Him by sacrifices; he is ready, however, to listen to some- thing better, and welcomes the teacher, who .comes with a semblance of greater knowledge of the great Unknown. We read how, when the first missionary arrived from Rome in Northumbria, and a council was summoned to discuss how be should be received, a wise old baron remarked, that the life of man seemed to them in their heathen ignorance, like the flight of a bird outo[ the dark winter outside into the warm and lighted chamber, and then out at a window into another world of dark winter at the opposite side; the passage of a moment from a long unknown past into a long and unknown future; the contemplation of this was crushing; and, if the stranger from Rome could tell them something a little more certain, he should be wel- comed. Such is the spirit, with which a teacher is welcomed in many a pagan community. But is the ordinary missionary equal to this occasion?
Bred up in an atmosphere permeated by Darwinism and atheism, in a church whel'!~ more value is plac~d on the human surroundings, the ritual and th~ externals than the eternal truth, can it be hoped that he will mount up to the level of the religion of religions, the object and aim of human existence, and with the Bible in his hand aRd in his heart, and nothing else, grapple with the Hindu, Buddhist, Mahometan, or Pagan on the common ground of right and wrong, truth and -falsehood, judgment and mercy, sin and repentance, pardon and peace, opening out new worlds of thought to his astonished hearers? The hero-missionary can do this. He exhibits his principles, and his doctrines in his Christ-like life and words, and challenges his hearers to show him a better way than the way of self-sacrifice, self-control, and selfconsecration, to procure a higher conception than that of the fatherhood of God, of faith in a Redeemer, of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit leading poor weak men to personal holiness.
There are plenty of men who will volunteer to go out and dwell a season amidst the polished Persian, the civilized Arabized races, the Indian, who, with all his faults, is gentle and reasonable, the intelligent Chinese, and the progressive Japanese. They represent nations on the highest roupds of the ladder of civilization, our superiors in many arts and graces, with their monuments of literature, and architecture, and their time-honored customs: they have centuries ago got beyond the epoch of human sacrifices or cannibalism; they have had in their midst great sages who felt after God, if haply they could find Him, men standing on the same platform as Socrates, and Aristotle, and Pythagoras. There is very little discomfort in such service, and no danger; mere worldlings dwell among such races for the purpose of commerce and the service of the state. We do not wish to undervalue such services, for such were the missionary operations of St. Paul among the Greeks and Romans. The process of sapping and mining has long been going on. Education has brought with it a contempt for idolatory, but civilization has brought with it a contempt for all religions, and a disbelief in the supernatural, a doubt as to the reality of a future state.
But this is not the higher order of service; it does not mean the same self-sacrifice; it does not approach so near the services rendered to man by our Saviour; our Lord abased himself when He took the form of a slave and became man for our redemption. He thought it not vile to dwell in the tents of men, and associate with the poor, erring children of men. Patteson and John Williams, and the whole army of Moravian missionaries, learnt to look over the-wall of partition that separates race from race, and to call no one common and unclean; there have been missionaries who have had the fortune given to them to go in and dwell among lepers, and have succumbed to the disease themselves; there are those who have found a grace vouchsafed to them to dwell among the POOl', dirty savage outcasts of the human family, to submit to insult, hardship and perils; to die in spirit every day, and at length breathe out their last breath in some round straw hut, looking to Jesus, yet still thinking of friends and home.
U Dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos."
But there was no murmuring, for they knew how to be humbled but not ashamed, to be cast down but not disheartened, bearing about them the marks of the spear in their sides, and the print of the nails on their hands and feet. The service of such was great and noble; the heart of the worlding beats high when he hears of such achievements. Surely there must be joy in heaven w/len one of the miserable savages, to the outward eye nearer the beast than the man, is brought into the fold, and his body becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost, for Chris~ in very deed died for him also. The seU-sacrificing missionary teaches the men to lJe br(l.ve, yet not cruel, and the women to be sweet and affectionate, yet not unchaste; out of the stores of his acquired experience he teaches them humble arts, and the very rudiments of knowledge, the very fundamental of human graces, to be decent in act and word, to respect human life, to recognize property, to be sober and chaste, to love God as a father and cease to fear Him like a slave, to bow in gratitude to the free offer of pardon. And yet all this is possible: it has been done, it may be done again; it must be done by some of you who stand here and hear me this day: "EV 'TOV'Tr,J VlK(L."
It will be nothing wonderful, if in due time we convert the people of India, China, and the extreme Orient. They are not wiser and stronger than were the Greeks and Romans in the day of their greatness, and we know that the cross proved sufficient for their conversion. And experience has shown that the same cross is sufficient for races whom Cmsar never knew, of whose existence the Greek philosophers, and even St. Paul, had not the faintest idea. We thus begin to realize the full meaning of the prophecies of Isaiah, "The isles!lhaU wait for his law," and the words of our Lord, "They shall gather his elect from the uttermost parts of the earth," and again, in the Revelation, "Behold a great number, whom no man can number, out of every nation, and all tribes, and peoples and tongues."
There are three classes, in one or other of which you must, as Christian men, range yourselves : I. Whatever secular station you occupy, whether at home or abroad, you -must place the duty of assisting the evangelizing of mankind in the very first rank of duties, for nothing can approach it in impdrtance; if your lot takes you to non-Christian countries, you will find plenty of opportunities to serve the cause, and bitterly you will regret in your old age, if you neglect your opportunities.
II. If you have a call to go forth as a missionary to the civilized non-Chris- tian nations, if you find yourself in possession of special gifts, consecrate them; do not take a worldly view of the subject, and mix up a mission to a dying world with visions of early matrimony, social advantage, and a pleas- ant career. Mere worldlings act thus. Many a soldier, many a student of nature, ml:ny a ruler of men has risen far above such a low level of human aspirations. The athlete and the mechanic give you a lesson. Show to the heathen that you come among them unjerstanding the law of self-sacrifice, and that you come not, as the haughty Briton, one who lords it over, and sometimes strikes or ill-uses the lower races, but as then' brother and their servant for Christ's sake.
III. But Jet me show a more excellent way to those who are strong in body, strong in spirit, and also have worked out the sublime idea of self-sacrifice and self-consecration. The call will come to some of you, as it has come to others, in your dreams by night, in your visions by day, as you walk alone, or are in prayer, or in the midnight watches. It will gradually overpower you and make you captive, and at length you will call out with a loud voice, "Send me, Lord, for I am ready." For still many a sunny island of the South Seas, many a retired valley of the great central plateau of Asia, many a dark, forest-clad savannah of ,the great valley ot the Congo, many a wild tribe of South America, and, alas! our own fellow-subjects, the neglected, ill-treated Australian aborigines, and the poor Bushmen of the Cape Colony, are waiting, waiting for the moving of the waters of the fountain of life, and for some one to help them down; lifting up their eyes for the sight of the blessed feet of those who bring the gospel message; calling for their man, the Allen Gardiner, and Patteson, and Williams of this generation; they are standing in your midst, though not as yet revealed to the eyes of men. In the long course of centuries no prophet or evangelist has ever come near these poor heathen; they have laid out of the course of the revolution of the gospel; they are waiting for one who, in his life as well as his words, will illustrate to them the life and passion of our Lord and their Lord; they ask not for the refinement, nor the fantasies of modern religious thought and practice, but with dumb voices they ask the men of the nineteenth century and civilized Europe to teach them to clothe their nakedness, to dwell in decent dwellings, to cluster in villages, to live with one consort, and to respect human life, to do all things in a Christian way, and to realize the presence of the risen Saviour. In the last desperate struggling of heathendom it may be .:that the man of God, who thus appears like an angel among them, will be killed and devoured; but his death will prove the dawn of the new life; over the martyr-tomb will spring up the new chapel, and the younger generation, who witnessed the slaughter and partook of the ter~ible feast, will, by the grace of God, be converted and made new men, and, like St. Paul, become evangelists. When their day of grace comes, and they understand the matter, like the Jews at Jerusalem a few days after the crucifixion, they will be pricked to the heart. History is always repeating itself; but on this generation, the men of your age and country, rests the duty of completing the work, till the gospel cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. At the present moment there are regions still unevangelized, sufferings for Christ's sake not yet suffered, and crowns of martyrs and confessors not yet won.
Finally, my dear friends, suffer me to say to you one word more, and this word applies not only to the missionary, whose vocation is the highest of earthly vocations, but to each one of us, however humble and prosaic our special vocation may be. What were we created for? Why are we kept alive, except to do some special work which is marked out for us by the inexorable teaching of circumstances, circumstances wqich are controlled by the omniscience of God I How can we succeed in any work if our attempts are not sanctified by prayer! "Labora et Ora," for true prayer is somethmg done in the service of the Master, followed by praise for being selected to do it; not the empty litany or the conventional prayer-meeting. Say what we like, we are all day-laborers, and he serves his God best who does his day's work in the best manner and in the best spirit. None miss so entirely the mainspring of human action as those who strive to dissociate religion from the simple round, the common task of the most prosaic, the mostunroniantic, the most depressing lot in life.
It is not success that sanctifies the work, fot many of the best of us in our noblest undertakings do not succeed. We are thwarted by some narrowminded obstructers standing on the next round of the ladder above us; we are baflled at every turn, and at length laid aside by poverty, sickness or death. It is not striving that wins; the race is n()t to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. We must not look for the selfish satisfaction of thinking that we have done something; we must not hope for the applause of bystanders, for the foolish multitude generally praise the wrong person, or praise the right person for the wrong thing. We must find our reward in the work itself; something each day accomplished; something done; some kindly word spoken; some cup of water offered to the suffering; some noble thought cherished, some achievement, which the world ought not willingly to let die, shadowed forth, thought out, conceived, If not actually brought forth. Good work, earnest work, prayerful work, can never be without a
A TRINITY OF MONSTROUS EVILS DENOUNCED. 6'75
blessing to the worker, which will follow him after life's endless toil and endeavor to his rest, and what greater work than the saving of a soul I I once stood at the mouth of the great Panjab Salt Mine on the river Jhilam, and watched the long procession of women, children and men, of young and old, slowly advancing towards me, toiling up the steep incline, each with his head bent and back curved under the burden of rock-salt, which they brought from !he bowels to the surface of the earth. This was their hard and palpable day's labor. To the strength of each the burden was adjusted ; the young daily grew into capacity to bear heavier, the old daily felt their strength less equal to their diminishing load, but all rested night after night wearied with their daily round, and all each morning rose to the consciousness of a day's sweating and straining, and a risk of accidents and disease, and the dark river to be crossed at last. Tears started in my eyes as I thought of the sad procession of my contemporaries, whom dut'ing my own life I had seen toiling and striving, lifting their heavy burdens, or sinking by the way under them. I thought of the strong and enthusiastic, too eager for the strife, who fell years ago; the patient and uncomplaining, who toiled on till within the last few years; the yearly diminishing group of fellow-laborers, with yearly diminishing force, and the dark unknown future before me.
But there is no prison so deep that its depths are not reached by some ray of God's interminablfl day, and, as I looked into the faces of the salt-bearers, I became aware that one ray of light reached to the lowest slope of their dungeon, and, as they advanced upwards, it ever became brighter and brighter, shining hopefully in their uplifted eyes, and gladdening their hearts with the thought of home, and rest, and of labor, sanctified for the sake of the little ones, the old ones, the sick ones, to whose cOljJlforts their earnings ministered. The hero-missionary places the heathen, to whom he goes as Christ's ambassador, in that corner of his heart where other men place their families. Nay, more; God's greatlessons are taught in His works and in His creatures. As each laborer reached the outer world, and flung ((own his burden, his eyes insensibly turned up with a look of thankfulness and acknowledgment to the kindly light which had led him, and then each unconsciously shrouded his eyes with his hands, as if unable to bear the full glow of unutterable gladness, which the grace of Gcd sends to testify to the sanctity and dignity of labor, however humble and contracted the sphere: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things. 'Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
A TRINITY OF MONSTROUS EVILS DENOUNqED.
[A popular meeting of an extraordinary character was held on Wednesday evening, the twelfth dl>y of the session for the express purpose of giving public and indignant expression to the intensified feeling of the Conference in relation to three stupendous evils which had been brought to its notice during the meeting. It was not down on the programme, but the Loudon papers speak of it as a "magnificent dembnstration," and the most .. enthusiastic as well as the largest meeting of the series. Several of the speakers were Americaus-Dr. William M. Taylor of New York, Dr. A. J. Gordon of Boston, Dr. G. E. Post of our Syrian Mission, and our associate, Dr. Pierson of Philadelphia. We have full reports of the meeting in various English papers, aud proceed to give our readers a bird's-eye view of the great meeting, that they may feel the pulse of the world's missionary representatives in regard to such giant social, commercial and national sins as those here unauimously denounced by the largest and grandest popular council ever held. We follow chiefly the report in The Christian of London.-J. M. S,1 THE final meeting of the great Missionary Conference will not soon be fo.rgotten by those who were present. It was the largest of the series, and by far the most enthusiastic. The subjects under consideration-the Opium Traffic, the Drink Traffic, and Licensing Sin-naturally lent themselves to the expression of strong feeling; both speakers and hearers fully took advantage of the opportunity. The opinion was expressed during the evening that in the matter of the opium trade the Christian conscience of Great Britain has of late gone to sleep. The proceedings of Wednesday evening ought to do something in waki:e.g it up and keeping it wide awake till the cause for such wakefulness has disappeared. The outstanding features of the evening were the powerfully explosive utterance of Dr. Taylor, of New York, the remarkable reception given Mr. Alfred Dyer, on his return from India, and the heartiness of feeling shown towards our two eloquent American brethren, Dr. Gordon and Dr. Pierson.
"The chair was taken by Sir Arthur Blackwood, who was supported on either side by an array of gentlemen well known for their active interest in questions of national morality. In the opening prayer, Dr. Parsons, of Toronto, struck an appropriate keynote by his reference to the foes that oppose the kingdom of Christ and prevent the salvation of men.
SIR ARTHUR BLACKWOOD'S ADDRESS.
" After some remarks on the wisdom of the decision to hold such a meeting in connection with the Conference, the Chairman said: 'Not as part of a cutand-dried plan prepared beforehand, not as an outburst of hasty enthusiasm, but as the deliberate, solemn conviction of men and women qualified to judge, you have decided to speak out and denounce certain deeds and practices, and to deplore their terrible results. I a!ll sure I am right in saying that we do this in sorrowful confession of the blameworthiness of the churches, as well as in solemn condemnation of these practices. Were it not for lack of faithful testimony, watchful attention, earnest prayerfulness, courageous utterance, these things could never have attained their present magnitude. Surely the standard of morals in so-called Christian nations and governments must be low ir..deed, when practices like those cannot only continue unchecked, but be defended; and that not merely ou the ground of expediency, but of actual necessity. Where have the churches of Christ been in their testimony against these things? We must confess om' own guilt. We are not met for discussion; that time has gone by. Denunciation is our object to night-unanimous, I hope, and vehement if need be. What cause can demand it more? It is to be the denunciation of deedsdone contrary to every pre- cept of the gospel, contrary to the whole spirit of the Christian dispensation, and even protested against by the very heathen themselves. We are indeed deeply thankful that no sooner has one of those practices in its clear and ter- rible character been fully exposed and recognized than the British House of Commons resolved unanimously (for the few defenders of the practice dared not record their votes against the resolution) that this system should be abolished root and branch.* That proves, thank God, that the moral sense oC this nation is still alive with regard to such matters. But doomed systems often live long, and your denunciation and your protest to-night are none the less needful because, so far as that judgment has been uttered, this thing is doomed in all its horrible enormity and atrocity.
We are not only here to denounce, but to deplore the results, direct and in- direct, of these deeds and practices. The direct results, alas! who can esti- *This reference is to the formal licensing of harlotry by the British Government for the gratifiea- tion of the army in India. A fierce fight has been going on against the awful and scandalous in- Iqnity for months past, led on by Mr. Alfred S. Dyer, who in return has been assailed with as mnch bitterness as the Pall Malt Gazette once received for uncovering similar, though unlicensed, in- iquities in Lonaon. The British Parliament was finally forced by the terrible revebtlons made and the protests nttered to repeal the act, just as the Conference came together.-EDs. mate? Eternity alone will disclose the ruin to the thousands and thousands of bodies and souls of those amongst whom these practices have been carried on by members of so-called Christian nations-carried on by those who ought to have been the protectors and the friends and the saviors of the heathen to whom they went. The indirect results have been no less fatal. What might not the progress of the gospel of Christ have been among the nations of the earth had that gospel been commended and enforced by the lives of those who profess to be Christians? What can more effectually have barred its advance and have stayed its progress? I must allude here, for one mo- ment, to a challenge thrown down to you by the world. It is not often need- ful nor wise to pay much heed to what the world says about Christian work. Yet at times it is necessary, and I wish to draw your attention to the utter- ances of The Time8, which, in a leading article dealing with your Conference, spoke the other day in these words :- .. , Criticism cannot express itself aR altogether contented with the amoont of groond which has been annexed. • . • Before the promoters of missionary work can expect to have greater resources confided to them they will have to render a satisfactory acconnt of their trnst in the past. Their pro- gress, it is to be hoped, is sure; indisputably it is slow. A Congress like the present would be better employed in tracing the reasons for the deficiency in quantity of success than in glorifying the modi- com which has been attained. • • • The cause marches at a pace which, unless it is registered by the enthusiasm of Exeter Hall, appears little more than funereal. • • • For eyes not endowed with the second sight of the platform, the principal citadels of heathendom continue to 1lannt their banners as before. If some people profess to believe that they hear too much of foreign missions, the explanation is that they see too little of their results.'
"I think that demand is a fait- one, and that we are right in answering the challange. The world asks, Why have you not accomplished more? It says: 'Traae the reasons for your want of success, instead of talking about what you have done.' We have come together for that purpose to-night. Whilst . in the spirit of self-judgment and true humility before God for our well- known shortcomings in enthusiasm, in zeal, in self-denial, in prayerfulness, in effort, we declare before the world that, foremost, perhaps, amongst the causes which have hindered the progress of the gospel of Christ in heathen lands, have been the three practices which we desire to hear denounced to- night. How could it have been otherwise, when wherever the missionary has pitched his tent the rum merchant has sent his barrels, so that we have gone to the heathen in certain lands with the Bible in one hand and the rum-keg in another. What can those people have thought of the character of the Chris- tianity which thus presented itself to them? How can we wonder that the gospel makes small progress? With our cannon balls and bayonets we have forced the introduction of opium into China, and, alas! taught the popula- tion to grow the drug itself in order to oust our Indian products, thereby inflicting upon them irretrievable injury. What can that people think of the Christianity that came to them in that guise? And, again, when upon the defenseless, uneducated female population of India, a Christian government has fastened the horrible diabolical system to which allusion must be made to-night, and enforced it with all the tremendous weight of its authority; when side by side with the chaplain and the church has been the Govern- ment brothel, how can we wonder that there, in India, they have laughed at our Christianity, and cast contempt upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? If the world taunts the missionary enterprise with its little progress, and says, 'Find out the reasons for your lack of success,' we can indeed say, with all self-judgment as regards our own shortcomings, 'These practices, carried out by Christian nations, and authorized and enforced by so-called Christian governments, have much to bear of the blame for our want of success.' It is our business to-night to lift up our voices, and that with no bated breath; a.nd in no indistinct manner, to declare, in the name of the Lord, and on the ground of every obligation that we owe to Him who has redeemed-us by His blood, that, so far as lies in our power, so far as our protests and prayers can effect it, these deadly evils shall be stayed, and, by God's help, be impossible for the future."
THE CHINA OPIUM TRADE.
Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, moved the following resolution: .. That this Conference, representing most of the Protestant Missionary Societies of the Christian world, desires to put on record its sense of the incalculable evils, physical, moral, and social, which continue to be wrought in China through the opium trade-a trade which has strongly prejudiced the people of China against all missionary eftort; that it deeply deplores the position occupied by Great Britain through its Indian administration in the mauufacture of the product, and in the pr'Qmotion of the trade which is one huge ministry to vice; that it recoguizes clearly that uothing short of the entire suppression of the trade, so far as it is iu the power of the Government to suppress it, cau meet the claims of the case, and it now makes its earnest appeal to the Christians of Great Britain and Irelaud to plead earnestly with God, and to give themselves no rest until this great evil is entirelv removed; and further, that copies of this resolution be forwarded to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for India.'
"Mr. Taylor observed that the fact that the opium traffic is a huge ministry to vice, and an obstacle to the evangelization of China, is surely sufficient reason why the subject should be brought forward and protested against by this Missionary Conference. He then said: 'I made the statement at a previous meeting, which I will repeat, that while the result of eighty years of evangelistic effort in China has brought us to rejoice in 32,000 converts to Christianity, about 150,000,000 of the Chinese have been either turned into opium smokers or have come to suffer from the opium vice, as husband, wife, father, or mothe)'. If the evil is so rampant, and it is most difficult to help the smoker or his unfortunate family, surely it is high time that our protest was raised against it, and that we did our utmost to bring the evil to an end.'
"Proceeding to quote from official documents and the writings of wellknown men, Mr. Taylor showed the iniquitous character of the traffic. Rev. Griffith John condemned it unsparingly, and appealed to 'the great heart of England' to remove the curse. Rev. Howard Malcolm, of the United States, remarked that' the proud escutcheon of the nation which declares against the slave trade bears in this trade a blot still broader and darker.' Mr. C. Aitchison, chief commissioner of British Burmah, in a memorandum addressed to the Government of India, speaks of the' demoralization, misery, and ruin produced among the Burmese by opium smoking.' After quoting other testimonials, Mr. Taylor contended that England is directly responsible for every acre of Chinese soil engaged in the cultivation of opium. We introduced the drug, and then the people of China raised it themselves. The Chinese appealed in vain to England's kindly feeling and sense of.rectitude; they appealed to every sentiment which was likely to move a professedly Christian people: but in vain. Then they came to the conclusion that Eng- land has no moral sense, no conscience, but only a pocket, and that the only way to move England was to prevent the money from reaching her revenue by China producing the drug at home, until the pressure of England is removed. , "The government of India is to a large extent the producer of the drug. More than half the drug manufactured in India is produced and sold directly by the government of India. It is said that we need the revenue. Remem- ber the well-known words of Mr. Henry Richard in the House of Commons. He said he had a firm conviction that no nation had ever been engaged in any business so absolutely indefensible on all grounds as the opium traffic: … It might be true that the power of England was forcing it upon the Chinese, and was spreading among them demoralization. disease and death-but there was the Indian Revenue. It might be true that the tralllc created an enormous amount of ill-will and heart-burning towards England on the part or the Chinese Government and the Chinese people, which had led to one war and might lead to another-but there was the Indian Revenue. It might be true that the traffic constituted the most formidable of obstacles to Christiauity among the Chinese-but there was the Indian Revenue. It might be true that it interfered with the development of every kind of legitimate commerce-but there was the Indian Revenue. It might be true that it dishonored the character of England in the eyes or other nations, and prevented her from protesting against similar practices elsewhere-bnt there was the Indian Revenue.'
"To put it plainly, as Mr. T. A. Denny had well put it, this plea amounts to this, that' the English nation cannot afford to do right.' I sincerely trust that this meeting will make it very plain that in its estimation the English nation cannot afford to do wrong. In conclusion, Mr. Taylor expressed a hope that the wrong may be put right while there is opportunity, and before the wrong-doer is visited by divine judgment.
Dr. James L. Maxwell, formerly missionary to Formosa, seconded the resolution. It is quite true, he said, that the Indian Government is the chief party to the evil. But before that there is a BritIsh House of Commons to be reached, and still before that there is the conscience of England to be reached, and, yet again, before that, there is the heart of the Christian church in England to be touched. The question is absolutely beyond discussion. We deliberately cultivate the poppy and minister to the vice of a heathen people; more than that, we fatten upon that vice, in spite of the fact that the rulers of the Chinese have again and again remonstrated with us, and in spite of the fact that our action is leading to the physical, moral and social ruin of the people. Of late years there has crept over the Christians of this country a very strange apathy in dealing with this opium trade. Intellectually we have acknowledged that it is wrong, and we have signed memorials against the traffic; but we have not kept it in our hearts as a burden upon our souls before God. Why do we not arouse ourselves? In this hall to-night, there is a constituency large enough, if set on fire on this subject, to begin to move England from end to end. Who dares to measure what the progress of speed in dealing with this would be, if each of us pledged himself before God not to forget the matter; but in private and in public so to move that this blot shall be removed from the nation? Only let us get to faithful handling of the evil, looking to God for help, and absolute suppression will in due course be reached." The resolution was carried unanimously.
NATIVE RACES AND THE DRINK.
Dr. W. M. Taylor, of New York, submitted the following resolution, which he supported, by a tremendous earnest and rousing- speech :'- " That the International Conference, compristng delegates from most of the Protestant Missionary Societies in the world, is of opinion that the traffic in strong drink, as now carried on by merchants belonging to Christian nations among native races, especially in Africa, has become a soarce of terrible and of wholesale demoralization and ruin, and is proving a most serions stumbling-block to the progress of the gospel. The Conference is of opinion that all Christian nations should take 8teps to suppress the traffic in all territories under their influence or government, especially in those under International control, and that a mutnal agreement shonld be made to this effect without delay, as the evil, already gigantic, is rapidly growing.
" After stating that he had received several pressing mandates on this topic, to be delivered to the Conference from Presbyterian bodies in the United States, Dr. Taylor said: 'We who look back to this as our dear old home-land have a very tender regard for her reputation, and we feel sad to have to hang our heads in shame over her when the opium traffic is brouglit up against her. But our hands in America are as deep in this drink traffic~ yours are, and we come here to beseech you a!ongwiih us that the Christian Church of Europe and America as a whole shall advertise itself out of this business, and shall declare that whosoever hereafter is responsible for its continuance, that responsibility, by the help of God, shall no longer lie at our doors. I protest against this traffic because of the demoralizing effect it has on the native races. We know something of what it does at home, but these effects are far more tremendous abroad. These native races are in the position of minors or infants. If we insist, and rightly insist, that those who sell liquor to children and minot'S shall be punished, shall we force this traffic on those nations that are composed of minors altogether? I protest against the traffic, also, because it is destructive of legitimate commerce. The expenditure of resources for the gratification of the drink appetite renders it impossible for the natives to deal in more wholesome articles of trade. I ask you, in the name of common sense and righteousness, if you are going to allow this one deadly traffic to deprive you of honest gain in those countries which in so wonderful a way have been opened up to trade in modern times? If you force rum upon them, you cannot give them cotton, because they have nothing to buy cotton with. But stay, there is one trade that may be Improved by the rum trade. I saw in one of your morning papers this week a paragraph with reference to King Quamin Fori, and a visit paid to him by Sir Brandford Griffith, Governor of the Gold Coast: 'All that King Quainin Fori asks is that Her Majesty's l'epresentive will instruct the merchants of Addah to pay for palm-oU in cash instead of gin.' The Governor, III answer to this appeal, said he could not interfere with the course of trade. The last sentence in the paragraph is to the following effect : of .. The prevalence of the habit among Christian traders in that region paying the heathen for his goods • in gin,' may possibly have something to do with the curious circumstance that king after king with whom the governor held a palaver, during his official progress, appears to have asked for a supply of handcull's,"
"Yes, the trade in handcuffs is one that is stimulated by the gin traffic. Here is a trade-mark for the gin bottle. Handcuffs! Handcuffs ! Yes, handcuffs that enslave, handcuffs that degrade; 0, yes, put it on the gin bottle everywhere.
"I protest against this traffic because of the retribution wbich it is sure to bring on the nations who protect it. I rejoice in the ringing words quoted by Mr. Hudson Taylor from Mr. Henry Richard: 'The government of God is real; the government of God is moral; the government of God is retribu- tive.' Has Great Britain forgotten to read the lesson of the Indian mutiny? Has America forgotten to read the lesson of the civil war? Shall we allow ourselves to go to sleep agamover an eVil like this, folding our arms and saying : ' Let it alone; it will take care of itself'? The Governor of the Gold Coast said, 'We cannot interfere with the course of trade.' This has been said again and again in history. It reminds me of the passage: 'Yet a little more sleep, a little more slumber . . . so shall thy poverty come as one that travaileth, and thy want as an armed man.' Oh, that armed man! We saw him in America twenty years ago, and Gettysburg was the retribution of letting it alone. You saw it in the Indian mutiny away back among the fifties, and that fearful time was the retribution of letting it alone. Are we to let it alone again, and bring down still greater retribution upon our heads in America and upon you here?
" Once more I protest against this detestable traffic because of its neutral- izing effect upon the efforts of our Chrlstian missionaries. Why should we go to the heathen handicapped and hampered by men who have no care but to make money, and who have yoked the motive-power of appetite to the car of Mammon, that they may ride the more surely over men? Oh, brethren, as the representatives of the Missionary Societies of the world, let us rise in our might and say: 'It is time that we should be unlimbered and unhampered and delivered from this terrible evil.' If the churches of England were united, and in earnest, and right, no government would be able to resist them. If the churches of England, of Europe, and America were united, and in earnest, and right, no evil in the world could stand before them. Let there be no pessimism among us in regard to this. PessimIsm is lor those who have no Christ; courage is the characteristic of those who know they have Him with them and in the midst of them. But we must ourselves have clean hands. Let us labor, and pray, and determine in the might of God to lay low everything in the shape of demoralizing traffic with these native races. Let us knock it on the head, and sweep its kennel clean out. The resolution was carried by acclamation.
KING LEOPOLD AND THE TRAFFIC.
" A third resolution, recognizing the benefits that have already accrued to Africa in connection with the founding of the Congo Free State by the King of the Belgians, invoking his aid in suppressing the drink traffic, and appointing a committee to proceed to Brussels and lay this important matter before his Majesty, was submitted to the meeting by the Rev. Dr. J. Murdock, of Boston. In doing so he mentioned an incident told in New York by Mr. H. M. Stanley. When that explorer met the King in Uganda, the King asked him many questions about Queen Victoria, the Emperor of Germany, and others i then he said, •What tidings can you bring me from above?' Mr. Stanley, unhappily, was not an expert in these matters, but he gave the King a New Testament, which he declared contained the only answer which man could ever receive to that most momentous inquiry. After a long passage across the continent, Stanley came at last to meet with the colored people of the Western Coast, and the first question they asked of him was, 'Have you any gin?' That, said Dr. Murdock, is the difference between heathendom pure and simple and heathendom as touched by the curse of Western civilization. It was in order to touch this evil at its very core that the matter would be laid before the King of the Belgians. The resolution was seconded by Mr. H. Grattan Guinness in a paper full of startling facts, most eloquently and impressively stated. The resolution was heartily agreed to i the gentlemen appointed to carry out its provisions being Dr. Murdock, Mr. Grattan Guinness, Mr. J. Bevan Braithwaite, and Mr• .Alfred Baynes.
L!OENSED VICE IN INDIA.
"The fourth and last resolution was moved by MI'. Alfred S. Dyer, who, as the Chairman remarked, had only a few days before returned from India. On rising, MI'. Dyer was greeted with oft-repeated rounds of cheering, and it was some time before he was able to speak. He read the resolution as follows: " That this Conference has heard with shame and sorrow of the extensive system of State·licensed vice carried on throughout India by authority of the Indian government; that at the same time it desires to place on record its deep sense of the great service rendered to the canse of morality and religion by the House of Commons determining the repeal of all legislation which anthorizes and en· courages vice; and it confidently expects that Her Majesty's government will now take Immediate measures to abolish what constitutes a social degradation, and so remove a stnmbling-block to religion, and the dishonor to the name of Great Britain which have resulted from this system; and further. that copies of this resolution be forwarded to the Prime :Minister and the Secretary of State for Indis.
"The time being far spent, Mr. Dyer had proposed simply to read the resolution, leaving it to speak for itself without any advocacy of his own. In response, however, to the calls of the audience, he said: The uppermost feeling in my heart is one of unbounded thanksgiving to God for the great victory which has been gained in the House of Commons in this cause of social purity. I honor the noble men in that House who have stood faithful to this cause amid so much ridicule. I honor them in that they have been • faithful to the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I look upon this victory entirely as an answer to the prayers that have been offered up. We have been praying about it in India. Not a day passed that I did not pray for it, so that I feel, as I have said, unbounded thankfulness to God, while I thank those members of Parliament. After seven or eight months' patient investi- gation in India, and coming into contact also with the drink traffic, I have come to the conclusion that the two great obstacles to the success of mission- ary work in India are the systems of licensed vice and of licensed drink. I would only add that we must see that the resolution of the House of Com- mons is carried out in India. I hope in a few weeks to go back there; and I intend to stay there, to act as your representative, to exercise a due vigil- ance, and to see that the system of licensed Ivice is abolished. While I am there, I shall also make it my business to investigate further these questions of the drink traffic and the Chinese opium traffic, and to see if I can help you to get rid of them.
"Rev. G. E. Post, M.D., seconded the resolution. He said: 'It was with extreme repugnance that I undertook to speak. My repugnance arose from the fact that I felt myself to be a citizen of another land, and that this was a question which primarily concerned Britain. But in presence of such a ques- tion you are not Eng-lishmen, and I am not an American, but we are all of us citizens of the commonwealth of man, and endowed from heaven with the freedom of the city of God. I take that freedom to protest against the worst form of outrage that has ever been perpetrated against a defenseless people, Anglo-Saxon fathers, hang your heads with shame for the cause that brings us here to-night. Anglo-Saxon mothers, turn your hearts away from your husbands and your sons; you cannot look them in the face as you discuss a question like this. Anglo-Saxon daughters, draw your veils over your eyes lest you put me to silence by ihe mantling blushes on your cheeks. Twelve years ago the civilized world was stirred to its depths by the story of the Bulgarian atrocities. A few undisciplined Bashi Bazouks, elated by victory, were guilty of atrocities which brought down upon their country a desolating war, which dismembered it, and which drew from one of your statesmen that famous utterance that the Turks must be driven, 'bag and baggage,' out of Europe. We have been guilty of an atrocity which surely might justify the statement that we ought to be driven, 'bag and baggage,' out of Asia. This, moreover, is not an atrocity by a few guerilla soldiers, but by a Christian Government, with its two estab- lished religions and its numerous churches and chaplains. We have gone into India in an official capacity, to degrade, first our own sons, and then the daughters of the weak subject races. It is with shame that we confess that our race has sunk to such a degradation as that. Turn to a lIlore cheerful aspect, and reJoice at the action of the House of Commons. All honor to those noble men who have stood up and vindicated the right. I repudiate, and never will believe, the accusation, that the medical profession stands behind these acts. I have been a member of that profession for twentyseven years. I say that when you press this matter on your legislative bodies, you may rely upon the medical profession being with you. And let us press forward in the consciousness that God is with us." The resolution was carried unanimously.
CLOSING WORDS.
The evening was now far advanced, but the Chairman called out Drs. Gordon and Pierson for brief addresses.
Dr. A. J. Gordon said: "It has been said, and I think truly, that there is enough sentiment, and conscience, and enthusiasm, and spiritual power in this audience to move our governments to the abolition of these terrible iniquities. Let it be remembered for our encouragement that in England, when the slave trade was to be abolished, agitation began with only two or three men, who carried it to a successful issue. I remind you also that our great conflict in America began with two or three men, who for years stood alone. Again, remember that the leader of that movement placed on his banner the motto, 'Immediate, Unconditional Emancipation,' and in spite of all ridicule and all abuse, and all dissuasion, he never would take that motto off his banner, but carried it forward until at last the whole nation followed him, and we swept the curse of slavery from our land. I suppose it will be admitted by our American brethren that the most eloquent man America has produced in modern times was Wendell PhiUips. He stood side by side with Lloyd Garrison-the two stood alone for years. I remember the time when they could not rally twenty men in a city to listen to them, eloquent as they were. This, however, is what I am going to say: Dh, English women! oh, American women! do you know what you can do? Just before Wendell Phillips died, I had a memorable conversation with him. Knowing that he had sacrificed social position, and much besides, I had the curiosity to ascertain what led him into the agitation. He had an invalid wife, who for years never left the house. I asked, 'What first led you to espouse the cause of the slave and to stand by him? ' He replied, 'My whole career is due to my wife. She said to me before the thought had ever touched my conscience, 'Wendell, you must take up the cause of the slave,' and I did it at her request, and I fought it out because she stood behind me.' There is a lesson for Christian women! And now let us remember that if two leaders can. finally bring a whole vast nation to follow them in deIpanding the abolition' of such an evil, we are more than two, and we have had as eloquent men leading us to-night as either of those I have named. Let us follow them. There is nothing that ca'n stand against iteration and reiteration. Suppose you suspended a piece of iron .weighing a hundred pounds In the midst of this hall, and, when it was perfectly poised, you brought a schoolboy to pelt it with pieces of cork. At first there would be no impression, but if the boy kept at it long enough and directed the pieces of cork at one point, the time would come when the whole mass would begin to mo,'e. In like manner, our testimony may in itself be very weak and unworthy, but let us bring it to bear long enough-testimony after testimony, protest after protest, demand after demand, abhorrence after abhorrence, expressed in the intensest terms against these evils; and by and by the great mass will begin to move, and it will be swept out of the way. Let us not be disheartened. Let us take courage from the assurance that God will bruise Satan under our feet shortly."
Dr. A. T. Pierson, lD the course of a stirring address, said: "If I had time I would like to take up the challenge thrown down in that secular news-
MISSIONARY MONTHLY
paper. For I reckon that it knows a good deal more about the kingdom of Britain and other kingdoms than it does about the kingdom of God. We stood this afternoon in the London Missionary Society's premises, and had rehearsed to us in brief outline the wonderful story of the progress of the gospel in Tahiti and the neighboring groups of islands. The missionaries labored in Tahiti for years without any apparent results, but then within a very short time the people became so thoroughly Christianized that they sent to the otqer groups, and within forty-four years the regeneration of Polynesia was accomplished. And yet this newspaper thinks that the progress of foreign missions has been funereal! Having told of wonders wrought in China, Dr. Pierson said :We have spoken much in this Conference about the union which has been exhibited. I want to say that I take not the slightest credit to America or to myself for this unity. If in the presence of the gigantic foe that unites all its forces and masses all its hosts against the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, I did not forget that I am an American, and also forget the denomination to which I belong, I should consider myself a fossilized ecclesiastic, and not a disciple at all. When Herod and Pilate are made friends in order to crush Christ and Christianity, it behooves all true disciples to stand shoulder to shoulder, and to close about the ark of God. The fact is, our unity is largely the involuntary unity of those who in the presence of the adversary have come together because they cannot help it ; and I think that the methods and manner adopted by our foes make it clear that we can pursue no successful policy of warfare but an aggressive one. We had better stop throwing up defenses, and carry war into the enemy's camp. A positive, aggressive gospel is surely the one that is going to win the day."
THE MISSIONARY MONTHLY CONCERT.
BY DR. JAMES L. PHILLIPS, CHAPLAIN TO STATE INSTITUTIONS, R. I. ALMOST a century ago a few earnest Christians in England founded the Monthly Concert of Prayer for Missions. To this day it is faithfully observed in many churches of the mother country. More than twenty years ago, when I was a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, this monthly concert was regularly held in many of the New England and New York churches; and while visiting friends in the Western States, before embarking for India, I found it in some of the churches there. On coming back to America I have been making many inquiries, and regret to learn that there seems to be a marked falling off in the observance of this missionary service. The history of this meeting for nearly a hundred years affords ample proof of its importance. Its real value cannot be estimated, for facts and figures can neither detect nor determine the full benefit it has brought to the church of Christ at home and abroad. The journals of missionaries in foreign fields, and records found in our best periodical missionary literature, and in the memoirs of men who have been valiant pioneers in extending the triumphs of the kingdom of God on earth, yield abundant and remarkable testimony to the benefit and blessing that this monthly concert has been to Christian toilers in many lands. It is very cheering to find THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD calling attention regularly every month to the Concert of Prayer, and the following incidents may serve to illustrate and impress the importance of this service. Ten years ago, when at home on furlough before, one of the last things I had to do was the raising of an endowment fund for our Bible School in India. While engaged in this work, which occupied several months, I was traveling much and met with many very Ct9nvincing proofs of the educating power of the Missionary Concert. One of these I wish to cite, because it illnstrates how the regular observance of this monthly meeting tends to plant the habit of cheerful giving, one of the hardest habits, so the pastors tell us, for Christian disciples to acquire.
The committee sent me to some strange spots for money. Everyone who has done such deputation work among the churches on either side of the Atlantic knows wh~t surprises, pleasant and otherwise, drop into this line of service, and some of these become the salient points of the scene as you look back upon it in after years. One week day evening I had an fLppoint- men t in a village of Central Ohio. On stepping off the train, and looking over the place from the railway station, and there learning that the church to which I was sent was without a pastor, I wondered how this appointment came to be made. The outlook was anything but bright.
The hour for the missionary lecture found about seventy people seated in a plain house, the women on one side and the men on the other. They listened admirably to what was said about gospel work in India, and the demand for. trained native helpers. A stranger minister had offered the opening prayer, and no one volunteering to take pledges or the collection for my endowment, I asked my brother to wait upon one side of the house, while I did on the other. Catching up paper and pencil, he straightway went for the men, fancying no doubt that the pocket-books belonged on that side of the house. For once it wasn't so, for in cash and pledges together moire . than ten times as much came in from the women's sIde as from the men's side of that small congregation. I shall never forget the very first woman whom I asked for money that evening. Her quick answer to my question, "Would you like to help our Bible School?" was significant and cheered me so. Looking up through her glasses squarely into my face, she said :- "Indeed, I should, sir," and she gave me fifty dollars. Anotherlittle woman gave me twenty-five dollars, and still another ten. On reaching my lodg- ings I learned from my kind hostess that these three women were sisters, and naturally I was curious to know their history. One of them lived close by, so the next morning on my way to the railway station, I called upon her and thanked her and her sisters for the good cheer they had given me at the meeting. And from this humble Christian woman I learned these facts. Their childhood home was in Western New York, and they used to attend a Presbyterian church. Their pastor never failed to observe the monthly concel·t of prayer for missions, at which service he regularly brought be- fore his people the conditions and claims of the pagan nations, the freshest news from the front ranks of Christ's advancing army in all lands, and also the duty and the privilege of helping on this grand movement for the world's evangelization by earnest prayers and cheerful offerings. That faithful pastor had reached his rest and reward in heaven, and I, a stranger from the opposite side of the earth, had been permitted to reap' some of the golden harvest for which through years of patient toil he had sown the seed.
Another incident of more recent date illustrates the other side of the ben- efit that accrues from thIS missionary concert, that is the cheer it carries to our brethren across the seas. On the 6th of March, 1887, the concert topic in quite a number of churches was New Fields, and particular men,tion was made in the addresses and prayers of a little station recently opened on the Orissa coast. The young missionary planting this station had met with serious obstacles. A cyclone had blown down his first buildings, there had
ISLAM AND CIVILIZATION
been lack of funds for pushing on the work of rebuildhtg, and other discouragement. He did not know that on the first Sabbath of March we were to offer up special prayer lor him in our monthly concert. But the blessing came just the same.
In a private letter this missionary writes: "On the 6th and 7th of March I received a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Such courage I have never felt in my work, and all the native Christians felt more or less the same spirit of consecration. The following Sabbath I baptized six, and there are a number among the Hindus and Telugus here who, are seeking Christ. Wherever we go, the Spirit of the Lord seems to be going before to open up the way. It has been surprising to me, and the native workers have remarked a number of times, how wonderfully the people accept the gospel."
By the slow course of an ocean mail, our brother on that Ori!'sa coast learned on the 3d of April, from a Boston newspaper dated February 24th, that the missionary concert of March 6th was to make him and his field the special subject of prayer. Whereupon he writes: "Then it flashed upon me like light from heaven that my wonderful blessing on the 6th and 7th of March was a direct answer to your prayers, and I went into the service and told the Brethren. Instead of preaching, we had a consecration meeting, in which the power of the Spirit was wonderfully manifest. It was a blessed day. I believe the prayers offered there for this special field were answered. Today the hardest man in this place sent to buy a New Testament. God's Word will make its way, and His kingdom prevail."
These words from a lone man on a far-off shore speak volumes to every pastor in America and Europe. Would that all pastors, in city and country alike, could be of one mind in observing this Monthly Concert of prayer for Missions. How the church at home needs the quickening and refreshing it would surely bring! One of the most interesting sessions of the Convention of the International Missionary Union, held at the Thousand Island Park in 1887, was devoted to discussing ways and means for stirring up our home chnrches to persevering prayer and systematic beneficence in behalf of the millions still in pagan darkness. Over and again during this discussion, it came out that wherever the monthly concert was regularly kept up, the interest i,missions was intelligent and aggressive. Beloved pastors of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout all lands, will you revive and sustain this MONTHLY CONCERT, and so teach your people to obey His great command to disciple the nations?
ISLAM AND CIVILIZATION. "THE recent controversy as to the comparative merits of Islam and Christianity raises issues deeper and wider than the so-called' religious world.' It is not Christianity alone, but civilization, which is involved in the issue. I believe that under Christianity alone can man reach the perfect development of his nature. • . • Islam can raise to its own level tri,bes lower than itself in the scale of humanity; but this it does at the terrible cost of petrifying them at that level forever-the level, that is, of the barbarous Arabs of Mahomed's day. For, except in the matter of idolatry and infanticide, Islam, as we find it in Mecca, its metropolis, is not in advance of the social and intellectual condition of the Arabs of that time; and inasmuch as the Koran claims to be the last declaration of the divine will to man, it follows that any progreiis beyond the Koran is not only superfluous, but impious in addition. And the history of Islam all ovel' the world proves to demonstration that what was antecedently to be e~pe~ted has in fact occurred. • • • The Koran, in Islamic belief, was written by the finger of God in the highest heaven before all time, every word and letter of it, in the Arab tongue; was· then, at the predestined time, taken down to the third heaven by the angel Gabriel, and there recited, word for word, to Mahomed in an audible voice in 'suras' or chapters, as occasion required, and was by him miraculously re- produced from memory. This is an article of faith throughout the world of Islam; and as the Koran professes to be the last revelation of the divine will to man, it follows, of course, that nothing which is sanctioned in the Koran, explicitly or implicitly, can· ever be abrogated, altered, or become obsolete.
Nobody who realizes this fact will believe that the Koran can possibly be a preparatory discipline, like Greek philosophy, for Christianity.
There is no living voice in the church of Islam to reconcile the past with the present and make provision for the future. It claims an infallibility more sweeping and more rigid than that of the Vatican decrees, but it is the in- fallibIlity of a dead pontiff, an ignorant and immoral Bedouin, who died twelve centuries ago. . . . As a spirtiual force, in so far as it ever was one, Islam is not advancing, but retrograding. The Musulman world contains no longer a single center from which radiates any intellectual light 01' any sign of material progress. There is not one Mussulman state in the world which wields independent sway-which, in fact, does not exist solely by the suffer- ance of Christendom. A creeping paralysis has fastened upon Islam, and the shadow of the devouring eagles may even now be descried on its horizon.
How stands the case of Christianity in comparison? Its Pattern Man is not only to the Christian, but to the great mass of intelligent and educated un- believeJ's, the highest and noblest ideal of humanity that history records or the human mind can conceive. His teaching and example are the most per- fect exhibition of human virtue that the world has seen. . • . As to the comparatively slow progress of Christianity and its imperfect success, even within the frontiers of Christendom, we must distinguish between the essence of a system and its separable accidents. Islam, at its best, bears within it the incurable germ of inevitable decay and dissolution. The hin- drances to the spread of Christianity, on the other hand, are but parasites whioh cling to it and which it may shake off. They may be summarized as follows: "1. The divisions of Christendom. Islam, too, has its sects, and many of them; but they close their ranks and present a united front to the 'unbe- lievers.' 2. Faulty methods of propagandism, such as neglect of rearing in foreign lands a native ministry, while importing European habits, customs and dress among native converts. 3. The discredit cast upon the Christian name by the lives and demoralizing traffic of professing Christians. 4. To which may be added, as regards India, the active discouragement and even resistance which, until a recent period, a professedly Christian government offered to the propagation of Christianity. . It is a superficial view which would confine the comparison between Christianity and Islam to the numerical proportions of their respective adherents, though even on that score Christianity has no reason to blush, as I have already shown, and as Sir William Hunter has explained with respect to India. At the time of Christ's dea.th, 'the number of names together,' who owned themselves His disciples, 'were about an hundred and twenty.' Was that a fair test of the success of his ministry? The apparently signal failures of Christianity have generally been the preludes to fresh victories. So it may be now. The suc- cess of Christianity at any given time is not to be measured by visible r~sults.
In India, in Japan, in China, in Africa, throughout the Turkish empire, it is
ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK
silently sapping the foundations of rival religions. Its ideas and principles are in the air, like those minute yet potent germs of which physical science tells us. Only they are germs of health inoculating diseased organisms with the seeds of a. regenerate life. Christianity is impregnating Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Paganism, with hopes, aspirations, ideals, principles, which are gradually but surely disintegrating the old order of things, and preparing the way for the reception of Christianity."-Malcolm MacOoll, in Oontemporary Review.
n.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.
Established Ohuroh of Scotland. crease in the membership of the church to the number of 7,973_ The total number of commu- AT its recent session the Foreign nicants is 579,002. In 1873 the membership was Mission Committee reported to the 460,464, so that there Is an increase of 118,538 in General Assembly 827 baptisms as fifteen years. the fruits of the labors of their missionaries during 1887. Of these The Free Ohuroh of Scotland. 676 were in the Punjab, around Sialkot; 120 in the threefold Darjeeling GEN1IRAL abstract, showing the sums raised Mission; 13 in Madras, and 13 in Ar- for the various objects of the church for tbe konam; 4 in Calcutta, and 1 in Bom- year, from 31st March, 1887. to 31st March, 1888: bay. To these add 1 at Calcutta and 2 at Madras, in connection with the I. Sustentation fund ………… £167,37474 Ladies' Association. There are at II. Local building fund. . . . . . . . . . 65.689 8 IIJ-ii present about 3,000 baptized persons III. Congrega- In the Church of Scotland's missions to the heathen in India, Africa and tional fund. £16:>,005 8 5J-ii China. Congrega- RECEIPTS. tional mis- cellaneous The Foreign Mission Revenue from all sources objects …. 43,123 12 6 in 1887 was £43,399. This sum inclndes income – – – – 208,129 0 llJ-ii IV. Missions and education.. . . •. 117.916 5 1 at home, £24,481; income abroad, £10,799; in- V. Miscellaneous ………….. 33,746 3 2 terest on J1lvested funds, £1,267; income of Total……………………£592.855 5 1 Ladies' Association for Foreign Missions, £6,8,;2. The missionary receipts were as follows: Revenue at Home…………………. £50,295 As regards income, results, and additions to the Revenue Abroad………………….. 33,5UI For tho Conversion of the Jews…….. 8.682 sta1l', 1887 has been the most prosperous year ill Making the whole missionary revenue the history of the Foreign Mission. of the Free Church of Scotland for – – 1887-8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £100,756 The total contributions to the various schemes of the church for the year amounted to £151,805, an Increase on the previous year of £9,293.
DUring the past year there bas been an in- United Presbyterians of Sootland.
SUMMARY FOR 1887.
Annual Income, '£43,430 13s.• Including a Small Expenditure in Spain.
No. of Com- Native Fields of Labor. Sta- Foreign Workers. Native Workers. muni- Schools. Schol- Contri- – – – – – – – – tions. cants. ars. butions. ——— —— — — — Or- Fe- Or- !~~. dained. Lay. male. dained. Lay.
Jamaica ………… 46 19 . …. …… 13 82 ………… 8,796 68 £ Trinidad ……….. 3 2 "2" 1 ··42" 359 2 5,967 6,000 Old Calabar. 6 6 7a 4 "iil' 269 ]6 Kaft'raria ……….. 11 11 3 76 1,426 India…………… 10 15 10 ….2· .. 65 2,180 3'~ 517 194 195 1,482 1,266 .. ..2.. 15 2 445 92 5,029 . 217 ..2… …1… 499 5 – – – -13- – – – – – – – – – – – China ………….. 43 -3-90 Japan ………….. 4 –** – ** 80 – -ll!2- Totals………… 84 61 7 21 22 389 44 12,938 210 13,071 £9.325 *Not reported.
The Income as given above IS over 1886 gaye, and 161 more native com- .£3,800 more than our report for municants. Irish Presbyterians. Total home receipts .. " ……•.. £124,581 19 fa FORTY-SIXTH annual report on FOREIGN RECEIPTS.
Foreign Missions, presented to the Mission districts auxiliaL·'ls…… 5,803 0 6 General Assembly in Belfast, June, Total ordinary receipts. . •. . •. . 130,337 19 8 1888. EXTRAORDINABY RECEIPTS. The report is encouraging. The Contributions for special missions year 1887 has been a notable one in the Indian Mission. There were 147 in UpperBurmah, Central Atrica, baptisms, and an increase of communicants, and two natives were China, India, etc…………… 1,508 18 6 ordained over congregations of conveds from heathenism. The outlook Ditto, for St. Vincent Hurricane in China to.day is more hopeful than it has been for many years. The in- Di5tress Fund…. …………. 20 4 4 come of the Society is also steadily, though not rapidly, increasing, as Total Income ..•…………. £131,867 2 6" the figures below will show: PAYlIlENTS. Total sum raised 1884-5, £11,130 5s.; 1885-6, £12,032 lOs.; 1886-7, £12,728 18s.; 1887-8, General expenditure …………. £136,124 8 0 On account of Special Missions, £13,054 16s. If we add to last year's sum the £2,000 raised etc ……………………… . 1,529 210 Ditto,Ladies'AnxiliaryCommittee 313 19 5 for the Stevenson Memorial Fund, it would Total expenditnre ……….. £131,967 10 3 make the sum total above £15,000. From which deduct ordinary and Presbyterian Ohuroh in Oanada. extraordinary receipts for the year.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. …. . 131,867 2 '> THE report made to the General Leaving a deficiency on 1887 Assembly, which met in June, is account of……………. . 6,100 7 9 highly interesting and inspIrIng. To which add the debt of 1886.. . 10,768 19 11 Decided pl'ogress is reported in all Leaving a total deficiency of. £16,869 7 8 the Missions under the Assembly's GENERAL SUMMARY.
care. Missions nnder the immediate direction of the Wesleyan Missionary Committee and British According to the returus the Canadian Pres- Conference, in Europe, India, China, West byterian Church now embraces 1831 churches 4(rica, the Transvaal, B,"itish Hondura8, and stations, with 793 ministers. The active and the Bahamas. membership aggregates 76,226 families, 13,261 single members, while the church-goers number Central or Principal Stations called Cirahout 400,000. There are 112,940 Sabbath cuits ……………………………. 336 scholars, and 12,976 teachers, having the privilege of libraries containing 183,471 volumes. Chapels and other Preaching Places in The income of the Church last year was $1,772,- connection with the above-mentioned 000, against $1,215,000 in 1881. Last year Central or Principal Stations, as far as $738,000 was paid in stipends, or an average of ascertained.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . .. . 1,338 $943 to each minister. $112,000 was also subscribed last year towards Home and Foreign Missionaries and ASSistant-Missionaries, missions; $86,866 for foreign missions, as including Supernumeraries.. . . . . . . . . . . 333 against $69,000 last year. Knox and Queen's College each have sent out and support a mis- Other paid AgentR, as Catechists, Inter- sionary to China. The Women's Foreign Mis- preters, Day-school Teachershetc…… 2,000 sionary Society contributed over $23,000, as against $18,500 last year. Unpaid Agents, as Local Preac ers, Sab- bath-school Teachers, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,859 Wesleyan Missionary Sooiety. Full and accredited Chnrch Members…. 32,lt?O THE seventy-fourth annual meet- On trial for Chnrch-Membership…….. _ 4,1114 ing of this society was held in Exeter Scholars attending either the Sabbath or Hall, London; April 30. The abstract of the report shows that the Day·schools… . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . .. .. .. . … 59,388 Society's debt has been increased by £6,100, and is now £16,869. Unless Ohurch Missionary Society. there is an increase of income this year it will not be possible to main- THIS society, which has the largest tain the existing missions of the income of any missionary society in society. the world, held its eighty-ninth an- niversary in Exeter Hallin June. Its income for the year was £221,331 ($1,106,655). We give an abstract of the financial report: Last year the committee reported the larg- est ordinary income on record, viz., 207,7931., the advance being mainly due to an exceptional amount of legacies. This year the total is only 191,557l., the lowest in the past five years; but this again is due to a falling-off of nearly 14,- ODOl. in legacies. The receipts from all sources except legacies, viz. 173,7561., are the highest in the past five years. The committee therefore feel constrained to utter a note of heartiest thanksgiving. Moreover, some of the most im- surplns of one year and being charged with the portant gifts of the year do not come nnder deficit of another, is entirely exhausted for the ordinary income. The Extension Fund has re- first time since it was formed, in 1880. Judged, ceived, 8,6791., including a benefaction of 5,5OOl., therefore, from a business point of view, the po- specially allocated to Japan and the Punjab. sition is a seriOlls one. Yet the committee dare More than 4,0001. has been received for the Ny- not send back the candidates for missionary ser- anza Mission. The contributions for the Winter vice who are coming forward in increasing Mission to India amounted to 1,700l.; and 700/. numbers, and who are plainly brought by the has beeu given towards the proposed Hanning- Lord of the harvest to be thrnst forth into His ton Memorial Church at Frere Town. The total harvest. Nor do they believe it is necessary to receipts from all sources amount to 221,3311. do so. If only there is faith to roll upon Him the whole burden, and to follow in simple obedience Nevertheless, the facts remain that the defi- the clear indications of His will, there is no ciency in legacies has diminished the resources cause for fear. But the committee are bound to at the committee's disposal for carrying on the state the case to their friends exactly as it stands. work by Over 13,0001. ; that the expenditure of Put in one sentence, it is this: to replace the the year is more by 2,333l. than that of last year, Contingency Fund, and to cover the estimated and though considerably under the estimate, expenditure of the current year, will require a sum exceeding the income of the past year by I has exceeded the receipts by 12,oool. ; and that 3'.ooOl. the Contingency Fund, which is always the bar- ometer of the Society's position, receiving the Fields of Labor. – – ——– — – – ——– – – No. of Com- Schol- Native Sta- Foreign Workers. ars. Contri- tions. IDuni- Native Workers. Schools – butio-ns. cants.
Or- Lay. Fe- 01'- J..ay. Fe- £ dained. male. dained. male. West Africa…….. 42 10 14 49 151 75 9,598 96 6,995 7,875 East&Central Africa 11 14 11 1 Egypt aud Arabia .. 2 2 14 ..7 281 .. 8 528 95 Palestiue ……….. 9 6 13 1 1 '5 2 140 9 11 45 1,875 266 48 12 885 Persia and Bagdad. 2 4 1 .. 1 11 11 93 8 309 Poenrslyia } 343 India…………… 91 Ceylon………….. 12 109 1..2 12 137 1,724 421 24,531 1,314 47,089 6..,8..73 Mauritius ………. 6 12 250 93 2,009 192 9,793 …… China ………….. 20 18 1 ..1 29 1,470 Japan ………….. 5 3 52 4 16 3 421 115 2,007 New Zealaud……. 42 10 5 N. W. America ….. 31 23 3 I .. 242 16 2,570 129 North Pacific……. 7 8 '43 11 ~17 ~415 is 336 1;211 15 I .. 122 2,562 1,115 227 2 .. 92 201 7 268 Totals………. 280 247 40 22 265 2,881 653 4i,115 1,859 71,814 £15,452 The London Missionary Sooiety. and kindred societies to preach the The ninety-fourth annual meeting gospel to the heathen." The plea of this society was held in Exeter Hall, May 10, under the presidency of Lord Brassey made for the extension the renowned traveler, Lord Brassey, K.C.B. The testimony of the chair- of the work was very effective. man, who has had such exceptional opportunities for witnessing the " Iu the report reference is made to the splenwork of missionaries in different did success which has attended the work of lands, haviug, as he himself indi- your Society under those illustrious missioncated, seen the work in Labrador, aries, Lawes aud Chalmers, iu New Guinea. We Terra-deI-Fuego, in Turkey, India, have very interesting details with reference to Tahiti and elsewhere, is very valua- the progress of the work iu Iudia and in China; ble. He admits that there have been and as a most remarkable instance of the sucindiscretions in some cases, but he cess of our work, let me refer once more to that adds: "I venture to say that few in- devoted zeal which is shown by the native misdeed are those instances of indiscre- sionaries who are recruited from the South tion in comparison with the mass of Seas. I do not know any evidence more imnoble work which has been done for pressive of the good results of the work which generations by those who have been is done by this Society than this most telling sent forth under the auspices of this fact, that the work which is being carried on by those 160 devoted men and women, who have gone forth from this country, is being supple- mented and carried forward by no less than 1,000 native ordained ministers, and 6,000 native preachers. Aud looking to another and per- haps a less impressive circumstauce, is it not ex- ceedingly grat!(ying to observe that the statement of income which this society has at its dis- tary (Dr. Green), set forth that: posal for its good work contains an item of nO less than £17,000, which Is subscribed by the The receipts from !Ill sources during the year, native people from theIr limited aud narrow re- ncluding the balance at commencement,. were sources,to carry forward the missionary work?" £211,108. There was a net increase on the year of £9,098. The total expenditure had been The total income of the society Cor 1887 £208,662. The number of new publications isamounted to £157,000. But uo less than £27,000 sued during the year amounted to 757, of which of this sum came from legacies, which is £16,000 214 were tracts and leafiet.. The circulation above the yearly average, necessitating mnch had reached 61.061,050, including 24.590,600 more liberal giving the current year to avoid a tracts. To this number must be added that of heavy debt. the Issues from foreign depots, estinlated at 15,- 000,000; the total amount being 76,061,050, a Religious Traot Sooiety. slight diminutiou upon the whole as compared with the issues of the previous year, although EXETER was crowded on the occa- the circulation of the tracts has shown an insion of the eighty-ninth annual meet- crease of 870,300. In the year 1887 no fewer than ing of the Religious Tract Society. 222,000 of the London Board School children Lord Balfour, of Burleigh, presided. were presenled for examinalion in Scripture, of The annual report, read by the secre- whom 5,555 received prizes and certificates.
Methodist New Oonnenon Missionary Sooiety.
Annual Income, £7,106.* No. of Ad- Com- Native Sta· herents. Contribu- tions. muni- cants. tions. Fields ofEntered Foreign Native Schools. Schol- Workers. Workers. arB. —- —- I ;LaY'1 – – — – – – – Labor.A.D.
— £ daOiure-rl. Lay. • mFaele-.
Ohina …. 1859 50 6 1 47 3 2,436 1,218 6 162 388 *Iucluding the sums spent in Ireland, Canada and Australia. The Missiou in Canada 1D 1874 united with the various other Methodist bodies in the Dominion, and thus was formed '.' The Metho- dist Church of Canada."
United Methodist Free Ohurch Missions.
Annual Income, £21,876 178. 9d. * No. of Foreign Native Com- Schol- Native Sta- Workers. Workers. muni- ars. Contribu- tions. cants. tions. — – – – —- – – – – – —- —- Entered A.D. Fields of Labor. Schools.
'– Ordained. Lay. £ China ……………… 1864 3 3 11 306 4 77 34 East Africa ………… ]861 5 4 9 180 5 241 24 West Africa………… 1859 6 5 92 2,894 11 1,122 641 J-am-aic-a .- – ……. – – ……..- -1838- -10- – -9 – – -48 – – – 3,342 -31- -1,-924- -1,-188- – Totals ………………… 24 21 160 7.622 51 5,864 1,893 * This total includes the sums expended in the colonies of Australla and New Zealand, as well as in heathen lands and in Jamaica.
The Southern Baptist Oonvention Maryland. . •.. . . •. . •.. . •••. •.. . . . .. .. •.. .. 2 M!ss?u~i…………………………….. held its forty-third anniversary in 4 MISSISSIPPI. .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . .. .. . .. . .. • 3 . ~r::i~i~· …………….:.:::.::::::::::: 1~ Richmond, May 11-15.
Total income from April, 1887 to Western Arkansas and Iudian Territory.. 15 Western North Carolina……………… 18 April,1888 $86,385,66 West Virginia………………………. 1 Total expenses 84,848,34 Total………………………… ~ Actual balance for the new ••• WORK DONE. MISSIonarIes ………………….. '" year – $1,748,60 287 Churches and stations …………… . 1,114 The number of missionaries in the employ of Baptisms ……………………… .. 4,857 the Board during the past year has been as fol- Reeeived by letter……………… .. 2,63n Total additions . . . . . . . . . . . " ……… _ '1,4H6 lows: S. S. organized ………………….. _ 431 Arkansas ……………….. ~………… 22 Cuba………………………………. 17 Teachers and pupils ……………… . 17,240 District ocColumbia……… …. …….. 1 Churches constituted……………. . Houses of worship built………… ,_ 306 FlOrida…………………………….. 37 Georgia…………………….. …….. 5 64 Iodi!,,! Territory. . .. .. . … .. . . .. . .. .. .. . . . 15 Cost of bouses of worship ………..• $54.068 LOulSlana………………….. ……… 21 Pages of tracts distributed……….. . 442,852 Bibles and Testaments …………… . 1.769 Total Snnday-school publications…. . 4,754,000
CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE
III.-CORRESPON DENCE and GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
The Jews of Morocco. or forced outside the city walls and there m~ dered in cold blood. Their hodies were then cat By Rev. E. F. Baldwin, our Ed- into pieces, and their clothes as well. The money itorial Correspondent at Tangiers. that each one had was put into hi. hands, which MOGADOn, MOROCCO, May 25, 1888. were severed from the bodies. Their headlcss DEAR EDITons.-Although I am working as trunks, their heads themselves, their hands and a missionary among the Moors aud Arabic- feet were laid in order in a long ghostly row.
speaking Berber races of this great empire, yet The scene of lamentation and woe the next morn- I feel great ,interest iu the Jews which are found ing, when the entire Jewish population poured crowded tcgether in all its many cities. A few out to behold the harrowing sight, was inde- notes respecting them will doubtless interest scribable. The heads only conld be recognized.
your readers. It was impossible to know to which of the mur- Large numbers of these ancient people of dered men the severed members belonged.
God are supposed to have been settled in Moroc- Doubtless the Jews often exasperate the co from the earlier centuries of the Christian era. Moors beyond endurance by their nsurious if They were greatly increased by the influx from not dishonest extortions. The following incident Spain about the end of the fifteenth centnry. was just told me by a credible witness. In an When Columbus was sailing westward to dis- inland Morocco city a Moor died, leaving a wid- cover a new continent many scores of thousands ow and three little children. Before there had of wretched Israelites were sorrowfully making time elapsed to bury him, a Jew appeared, de· their way out of Spain and Portugal, where they manding from the widow the sum of $600, which had been enslaved and persecuted, and from he clainaed was dne him from the deceased. The which they were now finally banished. Spain had widow protested that it could not be so or she long afforded them an asylum. To them is would have known of it. She had nothing to largely due the attainment in arts and letters pay. He was one of the protected Jews referred that marked the period of Moslem conquest and to. At his demand the body of the dead man rule in Spain, and which has been so vaunted by was brought out of the house which had bethe admirers of Islam, which in itself is incapa- longed to him, and his widow and her children ble of aught but blight and ruiu. The descend- were also ejected. She buried her husband and ants of these forlorn Jews are now found then made her way to the house of the chief throughout Morocco. They densely fill the sep- rabbi of the Jewish community. She was ad- arately walled off portions assigned to them in mitted, her children being with her to add force the Moorish cities. These Jewish quarters are to her appeal. She tcld hina her piteous tale.
called the Mellahs or places of damnation. Into He was an upright man. He sent her away to these they are shut from sunset to sunrise. They return after three days. That night he called are downtrodden and despised. They formerly together the leading Jews of the place, the of- were compelled to wear only black garments. fending Jew among them. The rabbi, when Also when outside their Mellaha in many towns the Jew persisted in its being an honest debt, they must go in their bare feet. Neither may counted out before him the $600 in gold from his they ride through the Moorish part of the town. own store, and, placing their Scriptures before They are in constant dread of the Moors, who him, demanded of him that he shonld swear tc oppress and maltreat them. The Jew never the righteousness of his claim and then take his makes the least resistance. The fear of the na- money and restore the widow her house. He tions among whom they dwell is indeed upon refused to swear, from which his gnilt was evi- them as foretold. dent. The next morning the rabbi sent for I recently heard from an eye witness of an mules, and began lading them with his goods, appalling circumstance that occurred in Fez, the saying he would leave such an iniquitous people northern capital of Morocco, now less than a year before it was smitten with the wrath of God.
ago. ·Several Moors, it is asserted, had been The Jews gathered about hina and entreatedhina thrown into prison on false claims for debts and entreated him to stay, but without avail. brought against them by Jews who had the ben- Then they insisted on the offending Jew leaving efit of foreign protection, that is under the pro- the town, hanishing him from their midst. Upon tection of one of the foreign consuls. Such pro- this the old rabbi consented to remain. The tected natives, whether Jews or Moors,cannot be Moorish authorities were appealed to, and the called to account for their actions by the Moorish addule, or Moorish officer who conspired with authorities, being only answerable to the minis- the Jew and gave him a false paper on which he ter or consul who gives them protectIOn. The made his claina, was arrested, and on confessing friends of the agrieved Moors took summary his gnilt was thrown in prison, where he still re- and dreadful vengeance by waylaying nine of mains. the chief men of the Jewish community, includ- On the Jewish Sabbath just passed I accoming some of the offenders. They were on their way from the business part of Fez to the Mellak, panied a missionary of the Jews who is laboring In the gathering dusk, when they were enti~ed here to the Jewish synagogues, and there saw much the saml) scene as was witnessed when the Lord and IDs apostles were on the earth. sible tiDle; and to this end it is the duty of There was the venerable rnier of the synagogne. Christians to give personal effort and money. Then, too, after their reading of the law and Besides. this there are some things that need prayers it was virtually said to the friend I was special attention. One is to sonnd out a strong with, "If ye have any word of exhortation for voice against the Drink Tramc in the Free Congo tile people, say on." Whereupon he preached State. Such a protest will be concurred in by Christ to them from their own law, much in the the leading inlluence of the Established Churches same way that Paul did in Antioch, in Pisidia. of England and Scotland. At the same time, The place, the faces, the dress, the manners, the however, the arts of the opium trade aud use in service were all Oriental, Jewish and full of China and India, and of the free still system of Scriptnre suggestions. I noticed also that" when India'ought to be noticed as great hindrances to they heard that he spake in the Hebrew ton!(ue the evangelization of the 600 millions in these to them, they kept the more silence." The two lands. brother I speak of was a converted Persian Jew who is the assistant of Mr. Zerbib, the mission- Another question in relation to which the ary of the London Jewish Society for Promoting Conference should give expression is this, viz.: the Gospel among the Jews_ He succeeded Mr. What shall be done with converts who have, in Guinsburg, who was long here, but has now accordance with the laws and us~ges which prebeen removed to Constantinople. He was much vail in China and India 'from the days of Abrabeloved in this field. ham, and before them, two or more wives. The present prevailing usages of different mission- I have no space to speak of my own work, ary societies is to require them to put away aU which is among the Moors and other Arabic- wives but one. I think this contrary to aposspeaking races of this vast and almost entirely tolic usage. I think they should be permitted til unevangelized empire. I have recently come to retain their wives till separated by death. I Mogador in the sonthern part of Morocco, from seud you a printed copy of my views. Tangier, where I have been working for several years. The outlook is full of promise. We are The estimated number of Buddhists. EdwlJ: hoping soon to be joined by others. Perhaps I Arnold, in his .. Light of Asia," states the num ought to mention that I am an independent missionary, unconnected with any society, and ber to be 470 millions-the greatest number or therefore looking to the Lord alone for needed direction and supplies. But we find it true that religionists of one sect in the world_ Others, al "He is faithful that promised." Mr. Eugene Rev. James Freeman Clarke, in his" Ten Great Levering, 2 Commerce street,Baltimore, receives Religions," states the number to be 300 millions, and forwards funds for me, Dr. John Peddie, and others at 250 millions, and so on_ These pastor of the Fifth Baptist Church, Philadel- statements are made with a view to discredit phia, and Rev. A. C. Dixou, pastor of the 1m· our holy religion. I regard these statements as manuel Baptist Church, Baltimore, know me entirely unwa'/"1"anted and uiuJUpported by facts well. The church of the first licensed me to and principles which guide in classifying re preach, and in the church of the second I was ligionists. I inclose a pamphlet in which I dis- ordained. My father was formerly a pastor in cuss the subject and give my reasons for fixing New York city. the number of Buddhists at 8eventy·two millions. Prof. Monier Williams, who is a very much Ohina. more reliable man than EdWin Arnold or Dr. Freeman Clarke, states, as his opinion, that 100 LETTER from Dr. A. P. Happer: millions would be a large estimate of the Bud- [This lp.tter was written before the dhists in the world. It is too bad that Christian writers should accept and publish the opinion of meeting of the London Conference, skeptics and infidels on this point when there is and contains several important sug- positive testimony. If the Conference should appoint a committee on this point who would gestions in relation to its action, most publish a report, accepting Prof. Monier Will- iams's estimate of the number of Buddhists in of which received due attention.- the world, viz., 100 millions, it would be ac- cepted by Christiau writers as a reliaQle state- EDS.] ment, and do away with this infidel reproach to Christianity. For, with Protestant, Greek and CANTON, April 30, 1888. Roman Catholic followers, Christianity has the My DEAR DR. PIERSON.-THE MISSIONARY most numerous following lin the world, and au REVIEW OF THE WORLD for April has just ever increasing multitude. I include a pamph- reached me. I suppose you expect to be in Lon- let on this subject that may go into the hands of don from Juue !l-19th at the World's Missionary such" committee. Conference. I pray that the Spirit of God may be poured out upon the members with great Iu this day of multiplying the number of mis- power. sionaries, I think it specially importaut that There are some things that should have con- sideration of the Conference. First, and above some arrangements should b'e adopted to give all, it will seek to deepen the conviction in the whole Christian church that it is its duty to them some distinct and practical instruction aud evangelize the whole world in the shortest pos- training regarding the work to be done, and the best way to do it, by missionaries, men and women. :Many men and women come out with In what lis God glorified t 1110 being kTI(JWn. the most indefinite idea of what they are to do, A biographer. in making people adniire his hero, or how to do it. I inclose a pamphlet on this does a great deal of "touching-up," cutting paint. I do emphasize !uno it may best be none. down faults and expanding virtues. A homan I favor a professorship in existing institntions, character suft'ers by being perfectly known. But though a distinct institute for that purpose may the glory Of God is in being known. Our busibe best. ness is simply to cry with Isaiah, "Behold your God! " One cannot look at the sun without Some of these papers may be of use to you, if Beeing ItB brightness. One cannot look on Jethese pOints come up in the Conference, and I hovah without beholding His glory. noticethat several ofthem are on the programme. The drink trade in Africa, and the opium trade If, then, we would be God-gloriften, we in India :and China, I observe, are not down, must be God-revealers. Isa. ii : 9-" The earth but I think they ought to be acted upon. The shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." number of Buddhists is a matter of fact, and it Hab. Ii : 14-" The earth shall be filled with the somewhat concerns the honor of our Lord, and knowledge of the glory of the Lord." The two it is easy to vindicate that point from the taunts are one. To know Him is to know His glory. of infidels by Btating the fact. . When His glory is known, then He is glorified. The end of creation and redemptionis attained. With best wishes, and praying that a special In both passages it is written that this knowlblessing may rest upon the Conference and the edge is to fill the earth "as the waters wver the Spirit of God direct all their counsels. sea." God has set the limits of the sea, and from limit to limit the waters sweep. The Yours in Christian work, limits of the gospeJ.sea are uothing short of the A. P. HAPl'ER. limits of "the earth." "As the Waters Cover the Sea." Here, in India, we have tracts nearly equal to FROM Rev. John M. Forman. London in population, which are unoccupied. FATERGARR, N. W. P. INDIA, May 26, 1888. In China there are a thousand counties, averag- .. What i8 the chief end of man!" "To ing in population about the same as English glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." counties, unoccupied. The Soudan, with about To ENJOY GOD. 1. The Christian is sure of 70,000,000, occupied by two young men I If all heaven, and the JOY of heaven is God. So, as this extent is to be filled with the knowledge of to future enjoyment of God, he is certain. Let the King of Glory, we must be at work. him, then, be glad of what he has, and go on to " As THE WATERS COVER TI'IE SEA."-The the next point. waters fill every crack and crevice. How differ- 2. The present enjoyment of God. Any child ent from the knowledge of God thus far. Look at London, Boston, New York, Chicltgo and the knows that when he takes candy into his mouth he need not try to enjoy it. The enjoyment is Great West. The number of unfilled corners is iuevitable. A man who tries to be happy is un- allpalling. Then look at our nominallyoccupud happy. But even an atllicted and sorrowful fields in India, China, etc. Here in the district soul, when once occupied in seeking to make of Fauakhabad (one of our oldest mission-fields) others happy, is itself happy. When the enjoy- we have yet some half million practically unment of God is our aim, we fail to eUJoy Him. touched. If this world is really to be filled with Simply because the aim is selfish, and selfishness the knowledge of Jehovah we must be up and is sin, and sin hides God from us. doing. "Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion." A man who carries the name of Christ The way to enjoy God is so to live that He and does not try to fill the earth with the gospel enjoy us, i. e., to please Him. There is no ques- is a clog to the wheels. He is a destroyer… He tion as to Enoch's having a keen enjoyment of also that is slack in his work is brother to him God, as he walked with God; for in that walk- that is a destroyer." ing he had "witness borne to him that he had been well-pleasing unto God." But wbat an inspiration in this prophecy I It will be fulfilled. The sea bed with all its rough- The way to enjoy God is to please God. The nesses,ups and downs, is covered by one great way to please God is to fall in with His plans. ocean. So this earth, scarred and furrowed and The consummate plan of God is God's glory. valleyed by sin, is to be covered by the glory of Then, though man has two ends, he must have but one aim. That one conscious aim or pur- the Lord. And when we look we Bee His glory, pose Is TO GLORIFY GOD. glory; nothing but a sea of glory I Praise the Lord I "Let us fall in line with God's plan, not :Many Christians think this savors of tran- with theories but with work, giving first of all . scendentalism. But Paul, by the Holy Ghost, makes it a plain, business·like. every-day prin- our own selves unto the Lord. " ciple. "Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, ·do all to the glory of God." "Now concerning the collection," give cheer- Our first petition must be, "Hallowed be Thy folly, give liberally, give to the last cent. What uame." Christ's loftiest prayer is "Father, is holding the wealth of a million millionaires glorify Thy name. And there came a voice from compared with knowing that we have" fellowheaven saying, 'I have both glorified it, and I ship with God" in His glorions purpose! When will glorify it again.' " Alexander Duff was a yonng man he locked his closet door and said," Silver and gold have I years, at last will throw open the doors to none, but such as I have give I thee; I give thee missionary efforts over the length and breadth myself." Young man, young woman, go and of Dutch India. Being thus challenged to send do thou likewise. And let the mother teach her out more missionaries it is to be confidently ex- child from infancy that the only thing worth liv- pected that the Christians of Holland w!ll, in the ing for is to fill the earth with the knowledge of name of God, accept the challenge. So be It.
God. Japan . .. What Beest thou 1 And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree (shaked). Then said the Lord LETTER from Rev. C. S. Eby: unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch (shaked) over my word to perform it." As TOKIO, June 23, '88. sure as God is sure, this earth is to be filled DEAR BRETHREN.-I "m not sure whether I with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah as have not already sent you a copy of my " Appeal the waters cover the sea. Brother, if you are for Japan," at all events I send you a copy each not striving for foreign missions, you are miss- by the present mail, and also a copy of the ing the purpose of your creation. course oflectnres delivered in the Meiji Kwaido in 1583, English edi!ion.
LETTER from Rev. F. Leon Cachet: I am delighted with tl:.e MISSIONARY BEVIEW OF THE WORLD, and wish it godspeed ; it will [Foreign Secretary of the Dutch do much to stimulate the missionary zeal of the Reformed Missionary Society, Rot- churches and to promote the missionary revival terdam, Holland. The news it con- almost upon us. God grant that the real misveys will carry joy to the missionary sionary age may soon dawn when the efforts of world.-EDS.] the churches will be commensurate with their AlIlLITY and with the OPPORTUNITIES of the DEAR EDITORS.-Will you allow me room in hour.
your highly valued REVIEW to state that the Rev. The " Appeal " will speak for itself. I do feel Mr. Cook's' powerful appeal,' which you give in that the imperial opportunity in Japan is not your June number (p. 448), respecting the want being fully met by ordinary methods, arid tre- of missionaries in Dutch India, and which ap _ mendous forces of prejudice and unbelief and peared at length iu The Straits Times, is bearing imported misbelief run rampant and almost un- good fruit alre!,dy. You must know that there rebuked, except in a small way. A large and was a change of government in the Netherlands bold movement" takes" with the Japanese as a few weeks since, and one of the first official well as with any people, and through the central acts of the new Secretary of State for the col- institution piIrpose we shall be able to speak so onies, Mr. Reuchenius, was to send a circular as to be heard by an empire.
to all the Protestant mission society in the Neth- Will you give the aid of your powerful advo- erlands, of which the following is a translation: cacy? Surely there are devoted men of wealth "COLONIAL OFFICE, No. 46. who would invest. May our common Master THE HAGUE, May 8, 1888. guide.
In an article, 'Netherland's India: An Ap- Spain. peal,' appearing In The Straits Times, a Singa- pore newspaper of March 6th, attention is drawn ~ur readers will recall the brief to what Dr. Schreiber, Secretary of the Rheney appeal we made in our July issue in Mission at Basmey, had pointed out ten years behalf of these heroic missionaries. ago, that the number of missionaries in Dutch The Lord gl'antedspeedy help, and we India should be greatly increased, in order to rejoice with His sel'vants.-EDS.] counteract the growing influence of Islam there: and it is further shown how great the need FIGUERAS, SPAIN, June 30, 1888.
yet is that the number of missionaries should he DEAR EDlTORs.-The pastor nnites with me increased. It appears to me that this article de- in thanking you very warmly for so kindly in- serves, in every respect, yonr attention, and I serting my last letter in your valuabie MISSION- therefore do myself the pleasure to offer you a ARY REVIEW. If you remember, it was there copy thereof. stated that we were anxious to build a Gospel I need hardly state that the government Hall in this dark Spanish town, and that £400 would valne it highly if the mission societies in was needed for a site. A friend, then traveling the Netherlands would put forth their utmost in Italy, most kindly wrote telling us to buy the efforts to increase the number of missionaries in land at once, adding, 'I will cover the cost.' The butch India, and to counteract the increasing pastor lost not a moment in trying to secure it, influenee of Islam among the heathen in the but the lawyer would not credit the assurance Indian Archipelago. that the money would shortly he sent from Eng- The Minister for the Colonies, land, and refused to draw up the legal document.
(Signed) " REUCHENlUS." The landlady, however, agreed to wait a couple This is a most important docnment, as it of week•.
shows that the Dntch Government, after having The Romanists at once seized their opportu- more than favored the Mohammedans for many nity. Deputations from the Societies of St. Yin·
INTERNATIONAL DEPAtfT:M:E~'t'. [SEP'l'
cont de Paul and the Holy CroBS, beaded by tbe returniug home iill after midnight. Will your rector of tbe largest church here, called on the readers praythat his precious life,and thoseofhis landlady and urged that she on no account be fellow workers, may be preserved. Our comfort gnilty of selling land for a Protestant capilla. At and conlldence is that .. not a shot cau hit till the same time they laid down the money (£400) the God of love sees lit." For the angel of the for·the site, and also £1,400 to purchase a house Lord eilcampeth ronnd them tbat fear Him, aud "nd garden adjoining, thus effectually shutting delivereth them. From month to month our the Protestants out on each side. All we could do little party give a hearty welcome to your valuwas to unite in prayer that God would undertake able and most interesting M,SSIONARY REVIEW for US and for the honor ofilis cause. The triumph OF THE WORLD. Wishing it increased blessing of the enemies of the trnth seemed complete. and a yet wider circulation, But, contrary to all expectations, a far better Yours faithfully, site was immediately offered for sale. It is EMILY LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ. situated in the principal street, in a central part of the town, having also the great advantage Afrioa. that it commands a back street by which many who, like Nicodemus, lack courage, may be LETTER from Rev. Jos. Clark: able to enter the hall unobserved. Our only dilllculty was that the price, including govern- CONGO, PACAVALA STATION, May 9,1888. ment payments and legal costs, came to £250 Rev. J. H. Weeks and Mrs. Weeks, also more than we had in hand. This we laid Rev. A. D. Slade, all of B. M. S. (English), arbefore the Lord in prayer, and He graciously rived safely at Bauana ou the 24th of April. Mr. answered by inclining the hearts of two of His and Mrs. Weeks spent some considerable time servants to come to the rescue. In addition to at San Salvador, Congo, and have beeu to Enga former donation of £100, a friend in Surrey land for rest and change. sent us £200 more, and another in Scotland Receut reports from Bishop Taylor's party £50. Thus the e:JJact sum needed arrived just state that M,.,.. Walker has been ill and delayed in time to make the purchase I Truly the in journey to Stanley Pool. When taken ill she Lord has made what seemed so evil to • work was fortunately able to be taken on to our Lu- together for good,' kunga Station. Messrs. Waiker and Burr are also there. About 600 loads of their steamer are What would not the Romanists give if they now at Isangila; none beyond. could take from us that precious site I But it French, State and trading steamers refuse to is legally secured. .. If God be for us, who can take Mr. Brooks and his companion to the falls be against us f" All that now remains for us to of the Mobangi, where he desires to be placed so do is to build the first permanent Gospel Hall as to work his way to the Soudan. They refuse in the province of Gorona. Being for the to leave him in any place except where there is Mastor's glory, we believe that through His a station with white men. servants He will provide the means. Recent news from Stanley's Aruwimi camp report the whites there all well, bnt a good deal Since writing the above we have heard, on of sickness among the Zanzibaris. No news of reliable authority, that a priest belonging to a Stauley. church quite near to our new site, said, 'I All well at various missiou stations. would gladly have given $5,000 to have 'Jre- May, 12, '88.-Mr. J. S. Cutler of Ohio, who vented the Protestants bnying that plot of land.' joined himself to Bishop Taylor's mission here, Last Sunday night, while we were returning died at Vivi on the 3d May of gastritis. He was home from the service, a man was seen hanging about 65 years of age. about our house armed with two long knives, and At Vivi aud Isangila the bishop's people are was arrested by the civil guards. We thank God working hard at getting the steamer up country, for what we have reason to believe was a narrow but they are hampered for trade goods (cloth escape. Of Rome our Lord's words still hold etc.,) wherewith to pay carriers. Those that good, .. The time cometh that whosoever killeth are left are not at all dismayed, though their you will think that he doeth God service." In numbers have been greatly reduced. If the preaching among the villages the pastor has to Methodist Church "Would only take up the work, drive along very lonely country roads, often not they have a grand opening before them.
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL MIS- SIONARY UNION."
The Medioal Work in Missions.* sityof urging the importance of the BY REV. EDWARD CHESTER, M.D., medical, in connection with other forms of mission work. And more INDIA. than ever before, most missions are feelIng that the medical work THE time has passed for the neces- must be cared for and }'alued, just *Read before International Missionary Union, Bridgton, N. J., 1888. as are the educational, the evan- Fourth, and lastly, the exigency of gelistic and the congregation and the times demands a much larger church work, and that for women force of medical men and women and girls. upon mission fields.
There will be cases where the par- 1. The medical work should be ticular circumstances of location, given a place in every well organized custom, a deficiency of funds, or a mission. I do not mean the having paucity of laborers may render it one or even more men in a mission almost impossible to carryon every who know a little about medicine, or form of mission work. But in a mis- even have a degree,. providing they sion with a sufficient force, not confine their medical work to the lim- cramped for funds, and with ability o its of their own family and servants, to undertake the various forms of or even the families of the catechists mission work, the medical work and teachers living at headquarters.
should be conducted with the same Nor do I mean an occasional taking care and energy as the educational up of the medical work for a week or or other form of labor. two, and then giving it up for months The statement that the medical at a time. With the same expecta.- work is very expensive, almost as tion of permanency as you would much so as the educational, will not commence a high school or boarding be found true in all cases. And it is school at headquarters, with the a question whether it may not al- same use of recognized appliances, ways be almost self – supporting. the same amount of energy and sys- Certain it is, that the medical man tem in carrying on the work, and the himself in each locality may do same generosity in the use of funds very much to make this work in a for necessary expenses, thus only, is mission inexpensive, and it depends it of any real use to conduct the greatly upon him whether it is pop- medical work in missions. One or ular with the people and a success more dispensaries at important cen- or not. tel's; a hospital, if the funds will I would start with the proposition allow, and accommodation in this for "that in organizing any new mission at least a dozen in-patients, a good in a locality where none had existed supply of inexpensive medicine, so before, the medical work should be. that all the out-patients as well, who given a place, as much as the educa- attend the dispensary, may receive a tional or the WOJ:k of preachmg. supply of medicme; a sufficient staff And even in missions of long stand- of native trained assistants to pre- ing, if the medical work has not been scribe, compound, and look after entertained, I would' urge a trial of surgical cases, with a sufficient stock it, with an eye to the great gain it of surgical instruments for all mi- would be to the mission. nor operations. All these are neces- My second point would be that the sary for a successful medical work in medical work in a mission must be a mission.
eminently evangelistic, and In har- I have for years, m my mission mony with all the other work of the work in India, found it wise, as en- mission. abling me to save myself for more A third consideration is that if the important work, to do nothing my- medical work is taken up at all in a self which could be about as well mission, it must be a thorough and done by a native. It is on this line efficient work-one which will com- that I have always had, in my work ..land the respect and regard of all in the Dindigal Dispensary, such a classes. staff of native assistants that I could trust the work to them for a few the relief of suffering and saving of days at a time, when obliged to be life. myself out in the villages. In short, I think that in the medical work 2. But I pass to the second point: in missions, as in the educational that the medical work in a mission work, those steps must be taken which must be eminently evangelistic and will insure success. The natives of in harmony with all the other work India are clever enough to know of the mission. The more skilful the which are the best schools, the gov- medical missionary as a physician, ernment or the mission schools, and the more clever as a surgeon, the choose the best, which are, as a rule, better for the work and for making the latter, even though they know it a success, so far as popularity goes. they will have to give an hour a day, But it will not be a success as a for five days of the week, to the study mission work unless the saving of of the Bible. And just so is it with souls is ever brought to the front as dispensaries in India. As a rule, the the main object to be accomplished, mission dispensary is the most popu- and unless the medical missionary is lar and has the largest attendance. eminently a spiritual man with much And it is good policy for any mission of the mind of Jesus. As in New to make its schools and its dispensa- England of old, the church and the ries the best in the market. schoolhouse were side by side, and each helping the other, so should the Tothe work of the dispensary and church and the schoolhouse and the the hospital already noted, I would dispensary, on mission ground, work add, to be attended to, if possible, into one another's hands and be emiby the medical missionary, the train- nently fellow-workers. In a mission ing of good native men and women dispensary, among out-patients and for the work of hospital assistants Ill-patients, there is ample opporand nurses. Then native Christians tunity for making known the goscould be selected, and a choice made pel. And oftentimes the patients among these, so as to secure those are in such a state of mind that they who would add evangelistic to their may truly be said to hear the Word medical work:. gladly. In every part of our mission work we turn to the Lord Jesus as I would give the medical work a our great example. But eminently place in every well organized mission, in the medical work must we follow because I believe that, in a very His example in striving to reach the specialdegree, it adds to the efficiency heart and save the soul by showing of every branch of mission work, and our desire to relieve suffering, to heal makes the work, as a whole, more the sick, to give sight to the blind, successful. and hearing to the deaf. The medical work in missions is nothing, save as I would do so, also, because I think it helps to show to the heathen that that it furnishes, in the course of a the divine Christ is the center, the year, a very large number of most at- soul anltthe life of Christianity, and tentive and mterested hearers of the that we are His disciples and followgospel, not to say scholars. I would ers. do so because I think it gives us an entrance into many houses, 3. Our third consideration is that and an intimacy and friendship If the medIcal work is taken up at all with many of the more intelli- in a mission, it must be a thorough gent, respectable and influential na- and efficient work, one which will tives, such as could be secured in no command the respect and regard of other WilY. And all this quite aside all classes. In all cases with which from the positivegoodresulting from I am acquainted in India, the medical form of medical disease and surgical, missionary has become proficient in of which our best American medithe vernacular, so that he speaks cal text books inform us. And a with his native patients without the medical missionary has seldom the help of an interpreter. 'I'his is sel- opportunity of holding a consultadom the case with the civil or govern- tion with a brothel' doctor, even in ment dispensaries. But this greatly a dangerous case, requiring, perhaps, pleases the natives, especially the a most difficult surgical operation. women. Then, with hardly an ex- The nearest European doctor, as in ception, the rule in a mission dis- the case of the writer, may be 38 pensary is one of kindness. Not only miles away, and the medical missionis the medical missionary very care- ary may have to treat all his medical ful to gain the affection of the native cases and decide upon all his surgIcal patients by his invariable krndness, operations entirely by himself. If a but he insists upon his native assist- mission would have the medical ants in the dispensary following his work a Slccess, it must be willing to example. And here the natives are take pains to secure a really efficient not slow to mark the difference be- workman and grudge no expenditure tween the mission and other dispen- which is necessary to secure him a saries. competent corps of native assistants and a fair supply of surgical instru- But, important as it is to let the ments and medicine. law of the dispensary be a law of love, other things must be added. The medical mission work has been The work of the dispensary must be found to pay, and to pay well, in all carried on with the greatest regular- cases where it has been conducted ity, precision and care. It must be properly and in a liberal spirit. Indecidedly first-class work. There is stances to prove this could be given no place here for half-way work, by the hour. Thorough work and skimping 01' sham. He who is not the best, carried on in love to Christ willing to give his whole time, his and souls, and for Christ's sake, this whole heart, and his whole love to must be the motto and life of all sucthe medical mission work, had better cessful medical mission work. leave it alone altogether. The loathesome leper must have our best care 4. Fourth, and lastly, the exigency as well as the simple cases of fever. of the times demands a much larger Case;; of cholera and small-pox can force of medical men and women in no more be avoided or neglected than mission fields. I can speak of India the farmer neglect to feed his horses from what I know of the state of 01' cattle. The best results, which mission work there, after an experionly follow the best service, must ence of twenty-eight years. But gain for a mission dispensary a good what I note of India, I think, I may, name. Let no one imagine that a with equal force and truth, say of mere smattering of medical matters, China, Japan, Turkey, Persia and the knowledge of medicine which Syria. Never before has there been would be picked up in reading a few such an interest felt in medical mis- pages here and there of the books sion work; never before such an denominated" Medicine for the Fam-' opportunity afforded for reaching the ily" would suffice to enable a man people through the dispensary. In to have charge of a dispensary in India the Lady Duiferin scheme has India, Japan, China 01' Africa, where, excited an intense interest through- in the course of a month, there may out the whole of India in the medical present themselves almost every work for women, and though more lady physicians have come out to India in connection with the various pensaries. Even for this purely evangelical missions during the past evangelistic work we need more medten years than in all previous years, ical missionaries. And I can speak yet it seems to-day as if there were from personal experience when I say places for scores more. And in the that with an efficient corps of trainmedical mission work for women, in ed native assistants in his dispensaall the countries noted above, there ries the medical missionary can do is, perhaps, the strongest argument a great d('al of evangelistic work. for the importance of the medical For 24 years I have been compelled, mission work, the strongest ground from th£' smallness of our mission of its great necessity as a part of force, to have charge of a large and mission work, than can possibly be important station, with its churches given. I need not take fl'om any and congregations and schools of table of statistics the proportion of various grades, and the work of the women to men in the population of itineracy, or preaching in heathen the prominent countries of, the East. villages, while carrying on all my Their number is immense. And with medical work. An English service all this countless number of women every Sunday evening, with an Engand girls there is no possible way of lish sermon, has been thrown in as a reaching them and influencing them, matter of simple recreation. It has and blessing them, which will com- truly, however, been a great pleaspare with that in the power of the ure. Christian lady physician. To ev('ry lady physlCian now on the ground, That my Dindigal dispensary has in the countries noted above, if there been of the greatest help to me in were ten, yes, a score, it would not my general mission work, I have had be one too many for the great and many proofs. I have gained the good impol·tant work the Lord is giving to will of the people; our native pastors just this class of Christian laborel's. and catechists can preach and sell Scripture portions and tracts in any And the number of male medical part of the station without any fear missionaries should be greatly in- of insult or opposition. They are creased. We can do much of our listened to with the greatest interest. work through our native Christians, I would receive a welcome in the but they require to be trained for house of any man in the whole of the special work. We can never, in any Dindigal district. I find it more easy, heathen or Mohammedan country, on this very account, to establish expect to have all the European or schools in the villages, and I receive American laborers required for the more money from the people for evangelization of these countries. their support. And the Dindigal dis- We must call to our aid the natives pensary and hospital, with about of the different countries. But for 9,000 new cases every year, and 20.- aid in Christian work the missionary 000 old cases, or those coming more must train them for each specific than once to the dispensary, and form of mission work. For the med- patients coming in the same period ical work, both among men and from 500 and more different villages, women, many more native men and have cost the mission nothing these women need to be carefully trained, 24 years, from the first year they and this is an important work de- were established. For my services, volving on the medical missionary. which I am only too glad to give gratuitously, the English Govern- I have already alluded to the large ment gives me the whole cost of the and appreciative audiences which the dispensary establishment, all the medical missionary has in his dismedicines required each year, and all about doing good to all. A mission the surgical instruments and hospital dIspensary on heathen ground is a. appliances. The American Board of beautiful and strikmg object lesson. Foreign Missions kindly gave me the It is ever educating the heathen in money for the hospital and dispen- the first principles of the gospel. Its sary buildings, which secures these golden word is "Love," its motto, permanently to the mission. " Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do And I see no reason why the Eng- ye even so to them." lish Government would not grant International Missionary Union, Fifth this favor in any part 0/ India, if Annual Meeting.
satisfied that a medical work in a As the International Missionary given locality is needed, and will be Union IS a unique institution, not yet carried on efficiently. fully understood in many quarters, and unheard of in some others, we After these twenty-eight years in may once more introduce it to our India, watchillg with intense interest readers as a permanent organization the work in various missions and va- seeking to accomplish in its measure, rious localities, I have been forced to the same general ends aImed to be the conviction that it is not best to reached by the great missionary undertake anyone form of mission conferences in bringing together the work at the expense of the others, missionaries of all societies, from all but rather have them all carried on fields, that they may annually comwith as much skill and energy as pare views on current developments possible, letting each help and sup- of Christ's kingdom in the several port the other. I would not, there- parts of the globe. The Union was fore, exalt the medical work beyond organized at Niagara Falls, Canada, others, which for many veal'S have in the summer of 1884, met there been found worthy of trial. I would, again in 1885, and at Thousand Island however, strive to have this work Park in the River St. Lawrence in given the place it deserves, and fairly 1886 and 1887. It is composed of re- turned foreign missionaries of all tried. branches of the Evangelical Protest- W hen we see m England and ant Church, temporarily or perma- nently in America. Its international America the splendid building's which character has thus far embraced are being erected for hospitals, when representatives of the British Empire we know what large amounts are and the United States of America. necessary to carry them on success- The constitution names as the object fully, we cannot believe that this of the Union "to promote the gen- medical work is being tried, and the eral cause of Missions in all possible large expenditure made without care- ways, chiefly by the diffusion of mis- ful consIderation. More costly hos- sionary mtelligence, the discussion pitals are being built and a larger of missionary topics, and the increas- expenditure incurred, because it is ing of mutual acquaintance among known that the work appeals to the missionaries of different churches interest and sympathy of the whole and countries." people. And none the less is this medical work needed in heathen The Union holds one meeting a. lands. We cannot conduct it on such year, as near August as possible, on a magnificent scale as in this country. invitation of such community as may It is not necessary. But we can show proffer entertainment to its members the heathen, in a much less expen- sive manner, the same lesson of the gospel, and how our Lord and Master cared for His fellow men, and went a.nd be easily accessible.Thetotal num- fifth annual meeting, held in Bridgel>er of missionaries now enrolled is 134. ton, New Jersey (1888), are found On the roll of attendance at the the following names: Years of NAME. Field. Denomination. Service.
1858–…•. Rev. H. N. Barnum. D.D ..•.•••………••.•…•. Turkey•••••.. American Board. 186(}-'64….. Rev. A. Bates …………•…•••.••…..••.•….• Ceylon.••…… American Board. 1879-·81. •.•. Rev. W. H. Belden…………………………. Bulgaria.•.•••. AmericanBoard. " ….. Mrs. " …………………………. Bulgaria..•…. American Board. 1861-·69•…. Mrs. M. H. Bixby………………………….. Burmah .•.•…. Baptist. 1S6{}–•…. Rev. E. Chester. M.D ..••••…•…•••••.•.•…… India ….••..•.. American Board. 1867-·74•…. Rev. M. B. Comfort ……………•.. , ..•••…… Assam•…•….. Baptist. 1878-'84•..•• Miss C. H. Daniells, M.D ……………………. India ……….. Baptist. 1869-'70….. Rev. J. A. Davis …………………………… China………. Reformed " ., … Mrs. " …………………………… China………. Reformed. 1834-'84•…. Itev. William Dean, D.D ……………………. China……… Baptist. 1883- – ….. Rev. N. H. Demarest……………………….. Japan .••……. Reformed. 1846- – ….. Rev. S. B. Fairbank……………………….. Iudia……….. American Board. Rev. L. A. Gould…………………………… China………. Baptist. Mrs. " …………………………… China………. Baptist. 1861-'68•••• Rev. J. T. Gracey. D.D ……………………… India ……….. MethodistEpiscopal 1856- – ….. Rev. R. H. Graves. M.D .•……………•……• China………. Southern Baptist. 1837-·77….. Rev. Cyrus Hamlin. D.D.• LL.D ……………… Turkey ……… American Board. 1885- – •…. Ira Harris. M.D.. . .. .. . . . . ••• .. . …………… Syria ……….. Presbyterian. 1884- – .•… Mrs. " ……………………………. Syria•…•…… Presbyterian. 1846-·72••••. Rev. Allen Hazen ………•••.•••…………•… India…..•….. AmericanBoard. M. B. Kirkpatrick. M.D …………………….. Burmah …….. Baptist. Rev. R. M. Luther. D.D. (Secretary) ………….. Burmah…….. Baptist. 1878-'83….. Rev. James Mudge ………………………… India ………. Methodist Episcopal 1870-'78….. Rev. R.E. Neighbor ………………………… India……….. Baptist. 1861-'82….. Mrs. S. E. Newton ………………. , ……….. India……….. Presbyterian. 1866- – ••••. Rev. H. V. Noyes ………………………….. China………. Presbyterian. 1872- -…. Mrs. " ………………………….. China………. Presbyterian. 1873- – ….. Rev. G. W. Painter………………………… China………. Sonthern Pres. 1570-'81. …. Rev. C. W. Park ………………………….. India ……….. AmericanBoard. 1885- – ….. Rev. J. L. Philli~s. M.D., D.D ………………. India ……….. Free Baptist. " ….. Mrs. ' ……………….. India ……….. Free Baptist. Regillald Radr.lilfe. Esq ..••.••..••…•.•…••…. Russia ..•••…. Church of England. 1877- – ….. Rev. J. H. Roberts …………………………. lJhina………. American Board. 1880-'86….. Rev. W. Royall ……………………………. China………. SouthernM.E. 1682- – ….. Rev. E. C. Scudder. Jr ……………………… India……….. Reformed. 1854- – ….. Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, M.R.C.S.• F.R.G.S ……. China………. Inland Mi,sion, 1848-·56….. Rev. Geor~e Thompson …………………….. Africa………. Am. Miss'y Society. 188()…'87….. Miss Jeume S. Vail ………………………… Japan ………. MethodistEpiscopal 1846-·64….. Rev. Edward Webb ………………………… India ……….. American Board. 1872-·82….. Miss Lula Whilden …………………………. China………. Southern Baptist.
To this group of missionaries was heartily sustained the Executive added Rev. Dr. Wm. Kincaid, one Committee in the experiment of apof the Secretaries of the American pointing the meeting aw&y from pop- Board, who made a handsome ad- ular summer resorts, and though the dress, in which he recognized the spe- smaller number was doubtle·<s in part cial benefits of such a union, not only attributable to this "new departto the missionaries, but to missionarv ure," yet the meeting was acknowlsecretaries and other prominenthome edged as equal to any of the precedworkers for missions. Rev. Dr. ing meetings in all other respects, Luther, a member of the Union by and superior to them in some features. virtue of service in Burmah, is also Bridgeton, through its churches, Di&;trict Secretary of the American represented by their Ministerial Un- Baptist Missionary Union. Miss ion, became the host of the Union McIntosh was the only lady secretary from July 5 to July 12 inclusive. It is this year, and she represented the a beautiful, thriving city, with glass, young organization .of the Woman's nail and iron manufactures and ex- Board of the Southern Baptist Con- tensive canning interests, seminaries vention. No one was discouraged by of learning, a personally highly rethe small number in attendance, as spected mayor and council, and not a compared with previous years, but 8aloon! The hospitality was cordial, and the guests found themselves af- annual meetings are usually inaugu- fected with "enlargement of the rated served to stir the finest relig- heart" ; the local newspapers gave ious emotions. This "Recognition daily reports of the meetings; fast meeting," in which each missionary friendships were made, and we trust introduces himself or herself, stating both entertainers and entertained field, form and years of service, call were made mutually helpful to each to the work, special difficulties, trials other in spiritual things. It will not and triumphs, or other personalfacts, be surprising if a gracious revival of tends at once, and at the beginning, religion shall follow on this sweet to blend souls that have hitherto only season of the "communion of saints." known each other through remoter The devotional meetings which agencies in purest fellowship. Cloud- occupied the first hour of each day's pillar and fire-pillar, springs in the exercises sustained the character of desert, manna that "tasted to every those of previous sessions. Dr.Dean man like that which he liked best,"
pronounced them amongst the most dew on Hermon, vision, miracle, par- precious· of his experience, and de- able and prophecy-all were recalled clared that of Tuesday morning to or realized in this mosaic of Chris- be the best meeting he had beep in tian narrative. One becomes confi- since he returned from China. Of dent that neither the Acts of the course, it was with depth of tender- Apostles nor the eleventh chapter of ness that these members prayed for Hebrews is yet finished, as he listens missionaries' children. The session to these "testimomes." God does devoted to interchange of thought on "in very deed yet dwell upon earth the specific power of the Holy Ghost and among men.
was not only one of earnest self- Turning from this feature of the searching, but of discrimination be- week to the free" round table" con- tween even the most highly analyzed versations on practical problems, one moral character and power and the finds in these meetings What Dr.
supernatural c~:;erations of the adora- Chester would call "sanctified com- ble Spirit. mon sense." The hour given to the If ever, since Pentecost, a company consideration of the subject of re- of Christians realized more fully the production of western ecclesiastical unity of the Spirit, it wDuld be diffi- forms on foreign mission fields was cult for any who enjoyed these hours the most remarkable of its kind the to name the place or time. The writer ever knew.
deeply spiritual character of the de- It was much more remarkable than votional hours of the Union through any participating in it had planned its five annual meetings suggests that or could have anticipated. The frank- that they be placed in the list of ness and freedom, the manifest intent "movable feasts." It were worth· to lay aside as far as possible the bias traveling across the continent to ex- of education, association or other perience the indwelling, the abiding preference, that each might contrib- presence of the Holy One as it· was ute his quota to the honestest pos- realized at Bridgeton. One may go in sible inlook to the real needs of the the strength of such meat more than foreign churches; earnest Chris- forty days. Some of the addresses, tian rivalry in making concessions, eminently those of Rev. J. Hudson without yielding or expecting any to Taylor and his associate, Reginald yield what he was supposed honor- RadclIffe, Esq., only served, if possi- ably to maintain-all made this ble, to deepen the divine impressions company of ten denominations ap- of the devotional hours. Even the pear a charmed circle. The equal of peculiar service with which these it has seldom been experienced. If the spirit that pervaded that com- American Indian vernaculars by pany could become the spirit of the Rev. E. _Arnold, of the St. Regis churches everywhere it would make Reservation, caused considerable dis.
but a mite of difference what forms cussion and showed wide diversity of of church government and polity ob- view. The question whether it was tained. Herfil was a Congregationalist desirable to bring natives from the brother saying that in his district the foreign fields to give them an educa- churches would in his judgment soon tion in Europe or America developed form into a modified episcopacy, as a the existence of only one set of opin- form of government most suitable to ions. All declared against the course, the native mind ; and another, a Pres- as leading to most unsatisfactory re- byterian, declared to be, in fact, a sults.
bishop over the churches under his A paper from Rev. Dr. Cunnyng- care; and others, not Presbyterians, ham, formerly of China, now Secre- conceding that the Japanese would taryof the Sunday-School Union of probably prefer and possibly come to the M. E. Church, South, was read, demand a Presbyterian form of gov- and followed by healthy discussion ernment, and yet another declaring on the development of this and other that the Anglican Church in China agencies for increasing-the interest of did not aim to strictly reproduce the the home churches in missions. Rev.
Episcopal polity, but to recognize in Dr. Barnum of Persia, who contrib- it such modifications as might nat- uted much of wisdom and interest to urally grow out of its new relations. several of the leading discussions, Some oC the discussions were much read an able pap{'r on" Some points more formal than others, and were of comparison between the mission- introduced by able papers. One of ary work of to-day and the early these was by Rev. Edward Chester, planting of Christianity."
M.D., on "Medical Missions," to Women's work for -heathen women which we have given the position of was considered during one session, leading article in this department, and the missionary ladies took part and which it is possible may be in the discussion, rendering there, as printed hereafter in other form for they did at the evening platform general circulation. meetingsand specialafternoon ladies'
Dr. Cyrus, Hamlin's paper on services, the most helpful interest to "Five Hundred Years of Islam" the whole annual session. Their con- was a terrible impeachment of Is- tribution to the spiritual directness lamic civilization. We hope to be and power of the devotional exercises able to favor the readers of the RE- was of great worth.
VIEW with this paper, and some others The papers and addresses cannot also hereafter. The wide range oC be all recounted, though none were experience and observation, and the below the merit that would entitle intimate personal acquaintance with them to speCIal mention. The even- Islam in Turkey, Persia, Bulgaria, ing platform meetings were devoted Africa, India, China, Ceylon, and to countries or to subjects, as other quarters of the globe, by the "India," or "Medical Missions."
members present, made the discus- One whole evening was occupied by sion of the subject of "Islam as a Civ- Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, founder and ilizer" one of rare value a.nd interest. present Superintendent of the cele- A paper presented by the writer of brated China Inland Mission, in these lines on Bible and other trans- narrating his personal experiences lations in' the Mexican vernaculars, and the development of his peculiar and another paper on the narrow- work which challenges solargeatten- ness and the limitations of the North tion. The spiritual effects of the simpIe story were not the least of the Several missionaries not present results of the evening with this sent their congratulations, and made brother, who was admitted to mem- suggestions of value for the future bership in the Union. The Union usefulness of the Union. We furhad been represented at the World's nish herewith the personal letter of Missionary Conference in London by the venerable Dr. Wood to the meettwo of its members, Rev. W. H. Bel- ing at Bridgeton. den and Mrs. Belden, and an hour was profitably and entertainly spent LETTTR from Rev. George W. in listening to their report of the Wood, D.D., to the Secretary of the great meeting from the personal and International Missionary Union: social, as well as the more official side. They evidently absorbed much, Unable myself to attend yonr meeting last and were able happily to reproduce it year, I was glad that the missions in Turkey for the delight of others. It was to Mr. and Mrs. Belden that the Union were so well represented by Drs. Hamlin and was primarily indebted for the courtesy of entertainment in. the city Barnum; and I hope tbat they and others from where they reside. that field may be with you also at Bridgeton dur- The address by R. Radcliffe, Esq., before the Union, on his personal ex- ing the present week. It would gratify me highperiences as an evangelist in several countries in Europe, eminently ly to be with you in bodily presence, as I shall Italy and Russia, was instructive and practically suggestive. It was a be in spirit and fullest sympathy; but the ordersurprise to most of those present, surely, to be told that Russia is pEn'- ing of the Divine Will, ever wise and good, defectly free for any number of evangelists who may go from person to nies me this privilege. From my late temporary person, and do effectivework through interpreters. sojourn in Summit, N. J., I have come with my The officers of the Union were, in wife for a little visiting among relatives and the main, re-elected, but Dr. Dean was added to the list of Vice-Presidents, friends in Livingston County, N. Y., on our way a class which Dr. Hamlin already. graced. to Dakota and Montana, to spend the summer, if The Rev. Mr. Mudge says; the Lord will, with children whom we have in .. Notes can give but ltttle idea of the rich those Territories. feast that was spread before us for each of the seven days, enlarging our stores of information, The death of our brother, Dr. Byington, has qnickenlng our sympathies, broadening Our view, deepening our consecration, and intensi- brought a great a1lliction upon the missions in fying our love for the work of saving the nations. We lloated ou a stream 01 keen enjoyment where Bulgaria and Turkey. Cut off in mid career of the pOints of beauty .ucceeded each other with almost bewildering rapidity. The people of a most useful life, he speaks to us impreSSively Bridgeton, who opened their doors to us with most cordial and abundant hospitality, showed of the supreme importance of spiritual and eteralso by their attendance a high degree of appreciation of the great privileges thus brought nal realities as a motive power in all Christian withiu their reach. Their pulpits were nearly alllll1ed on Sunday by the ·misslonaries, and the activity, and in the spirit of a true consecration, testimony of the pastors was that an entirely new era of interest in lllissions among their of a wise husbanding of physical energy in order people would date from this Convention. The members of the Union will certaiuly hold in to continuance of service in a world where the grateful remembrance their unstinted kindness. " most that we can do in the longest period that may be allowed to any of God's servants, is so greatly needed. '
May I exprees in a word the joy which I feel in the multiplying evidences of a new uprising of a zeal, not blind or tranSitory, for the conquest of the whole world to the dominion of Imman- uel, our Saviour and Lord 1 The trend of divine providences over our entire globe and the work of the Spirit in its measure and fruits in the hearts of Christ's true disciples, while accom- panied with much that is painful, bring to the church an appeal which it becomes us to wel- come with cheer and thauksgiving, and glad re- sponse in the line of individual and organized efforts to which we are called. :May you con- sultations be stimulating and productive of richer results for good than in years past, when occasion for congratulation was so great. In the might of the forces of evll in our Own country and in other lands, let ns see no ground of dis- couragement; for greater is He that is with ns than can be all they who are against us. What- ever drawbacks or defeats may occur, these are permitted for benellcent ends to which they are noedful or may be made subservient. What we may not now understand, we shall see hereafter
70ti THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
With adoring admiration of the wisdom that Is Dege of carrying it forward to new triumphll higher than oura, May the, be wise, faithful and happy, lind ui As I look forward, knowing that my con their turn be succeeded by a generation who nection With present Corms of service Is com- Ing to Its termination, I desire, with penitent 'shall be more honored and blessed even than confession and supplication in respect to my own relations to the cause I love, to give the hand of they, as workers together with God for the fulfellowship, with words only of encouragement, to the young and vigorous who have the prv- filment of all that He has promised to do for men, With fraternal affection and regard, youra most sincerely, GEO. W. WOOD.
V.-THE- MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY A. T. PIERSON, D.D.
JAPAN. of fellowship." What a scene was that to betoken the change that ABOUT twenty-five years ago a twenty-five years had brought I native of Japan, not known by name to modern history, conceived the The whole nation is awake and adidea that for his country to open her vancing. In 1872 the name of Chrisgates to Occidental civilization would tian was odious in Japan; now there be a benefit and blessing, and with are 16,000 who are loyal to Christ, a the prophetic foresight of a practical multitude of students there are waitpatriot and statesman, he dared pub- ing to learn of this new religion; and licly to advocate the abandonmen~ thousands are on the very pivotal of the exclusive policy hitherto pur- point of destiny, the question must sued by his nation. For such advo- speedily be determined whether they cacy he became so obnoxious to his become Ohristians or agnostics and countrymen that it was resolved to atheists. Years ago a school for put an end to his influence by put- boys and girls began in Yokohama; ting an end to his life. On a great now 'the boys' school is moved to festival day, when Japanese came Tokio, and becomes the Union Colfrom all quarters to do honor to the lege, with 300 students, under presigods of the kingdom, three bands dency of Dr. Hepburn; and the girls' prepared to waylay him: he escaped school remains at Yokohama as the the first, but fell into the hands of Isaac M. Ferris Seminary. Christhe second and perished. tianity is penetrating to the very borders of the land of the Rising A few months ago, a native pastor Sun. The Government itself offers was celebrating the Lord's Supper in to aid teachers while they are studyone of the Christian churches of the ing the Japanese tongue, and the island empire. He was a relative of door is wide open to Christian misthat murdered man who was the sions. Five denominations are united first modern martyr to his country's in the Union church, which is repreadvancement. In the congregation sented in the Union College. Young an old man arose and begged to be men are so anxious to get an educaheard. He said, "I am one of those tion and be fitted to preach to their who murdered that man, twenty-five countrymen that they resign lucrayears ago, and I want to confess my tive positions, or refuse tempting part in that crime. " The young pas- offers for secular positions, in order tor said, "By all the ancient customs to fit themselves for Christian serof Japan, I am bound to avenge that vice. Who shall guide these inquirblood-feud by plunging my dagger ing, intelligent minds and encourage into the throat of the man who was these young disciples, unless the the murderer of my relative. But church in this land supplies men and Christ's blood reconciles all blood- means? Was there ever such opporfeuds, and in Christ's name I wish to tunity offered by God 'for the evan~ extend to this brother the right hand g'elization of an empire containing on a persecution, and the Catholic thirty-eight millions of people I How converts recanted or fled to China, slow we are to go in and possess the or endured torture and martyrdom. 131nd I With a proper, prompt, ener- In 1835 Roman Catholic missions getic occupation of these wonderful again found a way into Korea by way fields of Christian labor, we might of China and Mantchuria, and the turn the whole future of the Sunrise Jesuits claimed 15,000 converts even Kingdom in the direction of the as late all 1857. cross: Not only is all antagonism abated, but Japan actually invites But we are especially concerned Christian teaching and missionary with the late opening for Protestant labor. The plowman may overtake missions. Japan in 1876 made the the reaper, and the treader of grapes first complete treaty with her neighhim that soweth the seed. The sower bor across the channel; six years' must carry the sickle. later, partly through the aid of the great Chinaman, Li Hung Chang, a KOREA. similar treaty was made with the United States. In 1884 the Presby- AFTER a strict isolation of centuries terian Board, at the solicitation of this hermit nation is open to the Rijutei, a Korean of rank, who was gospel. Its territory is partly penin- converted while representing his sular and partly insular; the penin- government in Japan, established a sula is about 400 miles long and 150 station at Seoul, H. N. Allen, M. D., miles broad, and is shaped like Italy. a medical miSSionary in China going Numerous adjacent islands constitute there. The American resident minthe Korean archipelago, chiefly of ister, General Foote, gave him an granite rock, some rising 2,000 feet appointment as physician to the above sea-level. The population legation. Dr. Allen was simply numbers from 8,000,000 to 12,000,000. tolerated at first by the Koreans; but during a revolt 10 Seoul, he skilfully The predominant religion is Bud- treated several persons of rank who dhism; though there are some follow- had been wounded, and saved the life ers of Confucius, as in China, and of the king's nephew, Min Yong Ik. some of a religion similar to that of He found the native doctors and sur- the Sin-tu in Japan. Indeed, Korea geons trying" to staunch the wounds seems, in some respects, a cross be- with wax, and his own scientific tween these two immediate neigh- treatment won the admiration of the bors. In 1882 Korea was, by treaty, Koreans. The king's nephew de- opened to American commerce, the clared they that believed him" sent key used by God to unlock this em- from heaven to cure the wounded." pire to the gospel was the medical His medical services to the royal m~88ton. Somewhere between the family led the king to build a gov- sixteenth and eighteenth centuries ernment hospital, which he named Romanism was carried into this Hay Min Lo, House of Civilized country by papal converts from Virtue, and which he placed under Japan and China. About one hun- the care of the Presbyterian mission dred years ago, Senghuni, a distin- and the supervision of Dr. Allen. guished official, professed conversion The mission finds in Rijutei a true and was baptized under the name of helper who has devoted his energies Peter; the missionaries were popu- to giving the Koreans the New lar, and the more educated classes Testament in their own tongue. Mr. saw that even this corrupted form of Arthington, of Leeds, gave the money Christianity was an improvement to pay for printing 3,000 copies of the upon "paganism. The government Irospels of Luke and John; and so became alarmed; the priesthood led the last door is opened by this her- change in public opinion, we would emphBSlm mit nation for the admission of the this fact, which very much simplifles the probgosPIlI. The working force has been lem : that you are not now asked to build and increased by the addition of Rev. Mr. furnish school-houses, supply native teachers, Underwood and Dr. Herron and his pay annual detlciencies, etc., but simply to fur- nish and support lady teachers to work witla wife; and some are so sanguine as to sympathetic Japanese in giving the girls ot Jwhope that God is going to work a pan .. Christian education. The ripe opportlD" greater and more rapid change here ity consists in this-that not only Christian than in Japan. Fragments of evan- clmrches, but non-Christian philanthropists, are gelical truth, brought by stealth from looking to Christianity as to the ouly force they the· Sunrise Kingdom, found their know of that will lift woman ont of her Ignoway to the heart of Rijutei. Years rance and degradation, and enable her to exert passed by, and the crisis came. such an Influence in the home as do the womell Rijutei was the means of saving the ot Christian lands." life of the queen, and so earned favor with the king. At once he went to Dr. Wm. Fleming Stevenson, while Japan, where he learned the way to Christ more perfectly, and so was an enthusiast in Missions, said to his led to undertake, like Luther, to give brethren: his own countrymen the Word of God in their own tongue. Here is .. We must not be over sanguine as to the rll' another pruof of God's seal on the ception given to the gospel in heathen communiwork of missions. A few years ago ties, as in Japan. It is partly of an Athenian type, born of cnrioslty and love of novelty; and we were just beginning missionary partly the result of proverbial politeness, giving teaching in Japan, and now Japanese courteons audience to a foreigner; and partly converts are proposing to go to the fruit of a Progressive, aggressive spirit, Korea as evangelists I which, especlaily in educated people, takes to Occidental civilization; and partly the movement SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. of governmental policy. From motives of State, neutrality is exercised. The Sabbath is ob- Desire of Japanese Philanthro- served in Japan only in government omces pists.-The Rev. J. H. De Forrest, a where are many foreiguers. The edict against missionary in Japan of the American Christianity Is not repealed, and much real Board, says in a recent letter: hostility hides behind the veil of indifference."
"Thoughtful Japanese have long been watch- The Mildmay meetings and all the ing missionaries and their methods of work; and when they compare the gifted women en- great religious societies' anniversagaged in school and evangelistic work with the better classes of women here, tbey see tbat ries held in England and America, in something-either that Christianity or civilization-has given tbe women of the west a posi- the month of May, have already their tion that excites their admiration and earnest longing to bave the women of Japan gain a sim- counterpart in Japan. This year the ilar place of influence. They also see that unless some way of elevating woman is systematically tide of these has been at its flood for uudertaken, Japan cannot push forward into the position of a truly civilized country. Hence it nearly the entire month in Tokio and happens that woman's work is now attracting tbe thought of philanthropists, who are asking vicinity. The meetings may be said in pnblic and in private that we aid them, espe- cially in the establishment of Christian girls' to have commenced with the fourth schools. We have already at hand importnnate calls for lady teachers from TokiO, Okayama, biennial meeting of the General As- Takahashi, Matsuyama, and other large cities; and what &11all we do in the face of these re- sembly of the United Church in qnests? Professor Toyama vehemently says, •It is an opportunity that missionaries cannot Japan, when fifty-seven churches, afford to lose.' In asking you to do all you an to take advantage of this unexampled represented by their delegates and a nearly equal number of natives and foreigner ministers met in Tokio, and a large number of clergymen of other churches were invited to sit as corre- spo n ding me m be-rs-. – .
. Mistaken Devotion.-In one of the great temples in Japan the devotion of the worshipers consists in running around the sacred building one hun- dred times, and dropping a piece of wood into a box at each round, when, the wearisome exertion being ended, the worshiper goes home tired and 000, about that of the United States very happy at the thought of having in 1845. done his god such worthy service. Are there not some Christians whose How the Gospel was first Planted activity is very similar to this, and of in Korea.-This incident is related about as much value? They are on by Mrs. Fannie Roper Feudge, Balthe street, running to all sorts of timore, Md. : meetings, and ever bustling from place to place. They feel and talk as .. Among many efforts made during the presif they were rendering most valuable ent century to carry the gospel into Korea, and service, and solace themselves in their weariness with the comfort that with little apparent success, one seed ot sacred they are doing great good and will have a rich reward. Yet really they truth was planted by a little Chinese lad shortly are accomplishing nothing. Their before Korea was opened to missionary effort ; exhausting labor is really only run- and this, so far as we know, was the first in nil ning round and round the temple; the hermit kingdom to spring up and bring forth no cause is advanced by it; God's fruit to the glory of God. This little boy's name name is not honored by it. was Ah Fung. He had been taught at one of the mission schools at Ningpo to read the Bible, Every indication goes to show that and to go to Jesus iu prayer whenever he was the Hermit Nation, as Korea is called, in need of help. When he was about nine years is rapidly leaving the hermitage and of age, his father took Ah Fung with him on one coming to the fore. The United of his trading expeditions to the Korean capital. States steamship Omaha has just By some mishap, while there, the boy was stolen arrived at Yokohama from Korea, and sold to the governor, who presented him to and Captain McNair reports his ob- his wife. She made him her page, and he would servations from a visit to that coun- often attempt to tell hili young mistress of the try, at whose capital, opened up to Saviour he loved and trusted, but withont avail, Americans by the treaty of 1882, he until one day the reaper Death took away her met the American Consul. For baby girl ; and then, in her great loneliness and miles, in the journey to Sevul, the sorrow, she recalled the words of her little page capital, the country looks like one about Jesus and His love, and asked him to teU vast cemetery, with its thousands of her the story agalu. Day after day did this green mounds on hillsides where Christian child talk of the Saviour, until she, too, sleeps the dust of more than ninety came to love this same Friend." generations. The crops are grown, the trades flourish as they do here. TEXTS AND THEMES. They have crime and criminals just as we do, but unlike our own courts, Zech. iv : 6-" Not by might (num- Korea punishes thieving with decap- bers), nor by power, but by my itation, consequently a great many Spirit." heads roll about wanting bodies to fit them. Remington and Martine rifles, Zechariah is encouraging Zerubbawith Gatling guns, the telegraph and bel,who was disheartened in attemptelectric lighting abound in parts of ing to build the second Temple by Korea, so rapid is the march of civil- paucity and poverty of the returned ization. Mission work is just begin- captives, who must be his human dening to occupy the ground, and no pendence. God assured him that not doubt there it will meet with great by a host of people, nor by human' opportunity for spreading the gospel, resources, but by His Spirit, all although at flrst the work will have work for <Sod is to be accomplished. to be limited to the youth. Korea When His Spirit moves, the most now contains a population of 20,000,- colossal mountain of obstacles be- comes a plain.
To enforce and illustrate this, the vision of this chapter is portrayed.
The candelabrum represents the church of God-God's golden light- bearer. The reservoir of prophecy supplies the lamps with oil. _ But the reservoir itself must be supplied by golden pipes, and these must connect with the living trees, which are per-
PROGRESS AND RESULTS 01' MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
ennial oil-producers. These trees, personal influence more obviously represent Jesus Christ in His royal appear. This compels us to shout and priestly offices as Mediator, in " grace! grace!" all the way from which offices He was typified in Ze- cornerstone to capstone. rubbabel and Joshua. Exodus xxxviii: 8-" And he made The way to build and nourish the laver of brass . . . of the churches is to depend on the Holy looking glasses of the women assem- Spirit. The foundation must be laid bling." in Jesus, and then the structure carried from corner to capstone as a The banished metal mirrors of ~he work of grace. Let us not despise women were contributed to be melted the day of small things. If the seven and cast into a laver for God's tabereyes of omniscience are supervising nacle. What a sacrifice of vanity! our work, and the seven hands of and what a lesson for us on the way omnipotence are building for us, to furnish God's house with needed even the feeblest, faintest body-a supplies! mere remnant-can build the temple of God in a strange land. This has 1. We ought to sacrifice our luxbeen the hope of missions always. uries. Not one step has ever heen taken successfully in d~pendence on num- 2. Common things may be put to bers or wealth or social patronage. uncommon uses-a brazen mirroJ' In no work does the Holy Spirit's becomes a brazen laver.
2. The instruments of vanity unto the sacred vessels of the tabernacle.
VI.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
Africa•…,..Mr. Moil', of the African The native church among the Hydahs, Rev. J. Lake Company, states that at least Loomis Gould, missionary, has 42 communiten thousand slaves cross Lake Ny- cants. At the communion of the Thllngit Presassa every year. "I once looked into byterian Church, Sitka, on May 5th, Rev. A. E. the hold of a slave-dhow," he says, Austin received six adults and baptized four "and saw eighty or ninety little chil- infants. dren there. Oh, friends, if you had seen those eyes gazing up into yours, Austria.-The British and Foreign you would pray earnestly that this Bible Society distributed by sale and 'open sore,' as Livingstone called it, gift 20,597 Bibles, 102,01l Testaments might be healed."-Spirit of Mis- and 45,391 portions, making a total sions. of 167,959 volumes. The largest number was in the German language, -The first Christian church in the the next in Hungarian, then Bohe· Congo Free State was organized in mian, Hebrew, Roumanian, Servian, November of last year, and there are Polish, etc. now 1,062 converts in the Congo Mission. Burmah.-Sir Charles Bernard, wbo has two sisters working as missionaries of the Alaska.-The reports of the churches in South- Church of Scotland in India, has recently stated some interesting facts a.bout the east Alaska are f8ll of encouragement. Rev. S. Christian Karens of Burmah. He says they number about 200,000, that is, about one- Hall Young reports from Fort Wrangel47 com- third of the Karen people. There are from 500 to 600 congregations practically if not municants ; 7 added on examination and one by entirely self-supporting. It is their practice to set apart as much produce of their land certificate; adult baptisms, 7 ; Infant baptisms, as will support their native pastors,and this they do before appropriating any of the har- 4; enrollment of Sabbath-school, 50 ; collections vest for themselves. They also sen4 mig. sionaries into Siam, and support them fully. Corall purposes, $277. Rev. Eugene S. Willard -The annual meeting ofthe Bassein reports from the native church, Jnneau, com- Sgau Karen Churches was held remunicants, 'rI ; 'added on examination, 14, and by cently. During the year, 562 have certficate,13 ; adults baptized,14, and Infants, 1 ; enrollment of Sabbath-school, 80. Rev. Alonzo E. Austin reports from the native church, Sitka, communicants, 222. Added on examina- tion, Ill, and by certificate, 1. Adults baptized, 108, and Infants, 75. Enrollment of Sabbath- school, 175. Collections for all pnrposes. $70. been baptized on profession of faith, given away, the rest sold. The of whom an unusually large number American Bible Society has also have come from the heathen. The made a grant of $1,500 to the Evantotal contributions of th(l churches of gelical Society of France to aid in its work of Bible distribution. That the association for the year amount society has had in its service durto Rs. 41,000. The pupils in the town ing the year 42 colporteurs, and high school have increased to 400, the distributed 28,745 volumes of the largest number ever known in the Scriptures. history of the Bassein Sgau Karen Mission. Besides the Sgau Karen Germany.-Fifty years ago seven Association, there is a Pgho Karen Association having about 1,500 com- shoemakei's in a shop in the city of municants. The Henthada Karen Mission numbers 2,000 communi- Hamburg said, "By the grace of cants. These Christians have taxed God we will help io send the gospel to our destitute fellow-men." In themselves voluntarily to raise Rs. 5 twenty-five years they had estabper member toward new school buildings in the town of Henthada. Al- lished fifty self-supporting churches, ready Rs. 7,000 have been paid in, and the rest ,will be forthcoming had gathered out '10,000 converts, soon. It must be remembered that the great body of the Karens are had distributed 400,000 Bibles and small rice cultivators, yet they are willing to bear heavy burdens in or- 8,000,000 tracts, and had carried the der that their children may receive gospel to 50,000,000 of the race. It would take only 150 such men to carry the gospel to the whole world in twenty-five years. • -Pastor Rohrbach, of Berlin, said that he an education.. . gaioed his first ideas of evangelistic work from China.-The news from Central Mr. Moody, and when he read of the work of China, received by the China Inland Robert Moffat in Buchuanaland, he asked, Mission, is very cncoura.ging. Mr. " Cannot the same power be' brought to bear Stanley Smith reports 210 baptisms upon Germany Y" He was glad to say that the at one time, and as many inquirers. initiatory work of Dr. Schluembach, Dr. Somer- The Rev, G. Clark tells of preaching ville, Dr. Ziemann, and others, had done a great deal for the caose of evangelization. to immense audiences, sometimes as Hawaiian Islands.-Seventy years many as 4,000. It is stated that "a ago the inhabitants were depraved few as influential men as the empire has produced have embraced Christi- heathen, and human sacrifices formed anity, others are ready to do so, or a part of their religion. In 1820 the wish to reap the benefit of its civiliz- American Board sent the first mis- ing influences." Nine men have been sionaries there. From that time baptized and admitted to the Lord's Supper by the China Inland Mission there was steady progress; at one at Honan. This is stated to be the first Christian church founded in time, during a great awakening, 1,700 this province of 15,000,000 souls. The only other society at work in persons being received into the the province IS the Baptist Mission- church in one day. The time came ary Society, and there are but three when the islands could be called European agents in all this vast Christianized, and in 1863 the Amerpopulation.-O. M. Intelligencer. ican Board closed the evangelizing agE:ncy, continuing only the educa- China Inland Mission.-Ohina's Millions for tional, and an independent self-sus- taining native church was formed July says of last year's labors: "Looking on under the name of "The Hawaiian the work of the whole year, we have to praise Evangelical Association." From a report of the Association made in God for the addition of between five and six 1886 we gather the following: There are fifty-eight Hawaiian churches hundred members to the churches-a larger ac- connected with the Association re- porting 5,387 members, who paid cession than we have ever yet had to report. $8,463 for pastor's su~port; $9,829 for church building; $3,655 to send We look for yet greater results this year. All the gospel to others; $5,593 for misthe stations and oot-stations can be better cellaneous purposes; a total in one year of $28,142. worked by our augmented numbers."
France.-By the aid 01 the Ameri- Holland.-The Ministerof Colonies, can Bible Society the Bible Society of France has printed 10,000 copies of the New Testament, and distributed by sale and gift 13,938 volumes, of which 196 were Bibles, 9,486 Testa- Mr. Keuchenius, has sent a missive ments andS,487 portions. About one third of the entire number were to the various Missionary Societies in the Netherlands, declaring in it, that 8,523 probationers and 10,180 Chris- tians. This is Bishop Thoburn's the Dutch Government should like to " diocese."
see if the societies 01' unions afore- At the Conference on Foreign Mis- sions in London, Sir W. W. Hunter said could contribute largely to in- saId that while the ordinary increase of the population of India had been crease the number of missionaries in 10~ per cent. the increase of Chris- tians had been 64 pel' cent. in the last the Dutch East Indian Archipelago ten years.
and to stop the progressing influence -The Indian census shows that the native Christians are increasing of Islam among the heathen popula- fifteen times as fast as the general population. tion of these islands. -The Maharajah of Darbhauga, of N. D. SCHUUMANS. Bengal, has given $25,000 for a hos- HAARLEM, July 5. pital and dispensary in connection with Lady Dufferin's medical work. -The evangelical population founded a union His gifts for benevolent purposes the last eight years reach fully $1,- for the purpose of establishing schools independ- 700,000.
ent of the State becanse of the law forbidding Italy.-In this stronghold of Ro- man Catholicism the work of the the reading of the Bible and Christian teaching British and Foreign Bible Society has met with marked success during In olllcial schools. These independent schools the past year, the distribution being 83,349 copies in advance of the year are prospering; at the end of 1886 there were preceding. The figures are: Bibles, 7,322, Testaments, 18,885, and por- 441, In which 71,000 children receive a good ed- tions, 102,821; total, 129,028.
ucation.-JOIIN1Cil Reli{lieux. -A Japanese correspondent writes India.-The Hindus are not disposed to the Christian Union: to allow Christianity to win a victory " Sunday, March 25, was another rad·letter in India without a struggle. Publica- day in Kyoto. Twenty-five yonng men and tions in defense of Brahminism are eight young ladies, students in· onr Doshisha scattered widely over the country. schools, publicly confessed Christ as their Just now we hear of a Hindu Tract Society started in Madras, which is Savionr. This, with six young ladies baptized issuing large editions of handbills monthly, in which the Christian re- in January, and forty-three young men baptized ligion is furiously attacked. The English missionaries report that all In December, makes eighty-two accessions from this is working for good, and that "the Tamil country is being stirred the school during the current school year. Ten as never before." These conflicts are rousing men from their indifference, were received Into one of the city churches on and will lead to decision, either for Christ or against him. the same day. One of the young men joini~ -A Parsee Student. A Parseegirl in from the school is a son of one of the most fa- India named Sorabji has become mous men in Japan. The Osaka Church will quite distinguished for her intellec- dedicate a very large and commodious chnrch tual ability. In her University course April 5."
she has gained scholarships each Jews.-The number of Jews in the world is estimated by the Hebrew year, and has kept at the head of the .Annual at 6,500,000; of these 800,000 list of competitors in English. She are in Palestine. The largest disperhas recently graduated in the first sions are in Russia, which contains class. Only six students in all, of 2,550,000, of whom 766,000 are inRuswhom the remaining five were men, sian Poland; in Austria-Hungary, succeeded in obtaining this degree. 1,645,000; Turkish Empire, 800,000; Miss Sorabji is the only" girl gradu- Roumania, 265,000;· United States, ate" in the Bombay Presidency. 230000, and Abyssinia, 200,000. Best of all, she is a Christian, and the child of Christian parents, one of -Alexandria Reports for 1887. The seven sisters, all of whom have been Rev. William Kean, the head of the well educated and are doing good station, givesa frank statementof the service as educationists. Her mother difficulties of work among adult Jews. has established a successful high Miss Kirkpatrick reports continued .chool in Poonah. success in the two schools under her charge, the fees of the girls' school -calcutta has 200,000 Mohammedans and one not only paying:aU expenses, but with ordained missionary to them.-Indian Witness. £25 from the Glasgow Ladies' Associ- -The Methodist Episcopal Church has in India foreign, native and zenana missonaries, 4,450 members, ation, meeting all the requirements rents, $32,986, and the remainder ~m mis_ of the pOOl' school in the Jewish cellaneous sources. The appropriations already quarter of the town. Mr. Douglas pledged by the Board for foreign work during Dunlop, the head of the boys' school, the coming year amounted to $183,076. To reports 251 pupils (124 being Jews) translate, publish and distribute 500,000 volumes enrolled in the boys' schools, 190 be- of the Scriptures In foreign lands, $143,570 was ing in attendance at St. Andrew's paid. school. Of the 190 there were 63 Jews, 42 Roman Catholics, 31 Protestants, -The address ofthe Methodist bishops 24 Moslems, 23 Greek Church, and at the Geueral Confereuce shows that In the 7 Copts; 01', with regard to nat:ion- past few years 450,000 souls have been brought ality, 51 Egyptian, 45 British, 25 into the church, and the membership Increased Greek, 25 Italian, 20 German, 11 from 1,769,534 to 2,093,935. Receipts for mis- French, 8 Austrian, 3 Spanish and sionary work last year upwards of $1,000,000; 2 Swedish pupils. The ages of the approprlatlons for next year, $1,200,000. The pupils were remarkable. Of the 190 church claims 12 theological semi)laries, 54 colenrolled in St. Andrew's school 6 leges and 120 seminaries, with a property valua were over 20 years of age, or 21 over tion of $25,000,000. seventeen, or 42 over fifteen, or 78 in all over thirteen. The New Testa- -'l'he General Assembly of the United ment is carefully read and explained Presbyterian Church of North America recently in various languages every day, and held its sessions in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Ten all the Jewish boys without exception Synods and 61 Presbyteries belong to the Assemtake full part in the devotional exer- bly, with 753 ministers, 3,580 elders and 9S,992 cises and religious instruction. At members. The contributions of Sunday-schools the Sunday-school there is a good at- and missionary societies frp: the past year tendance of Jewish boys-sometimes amounted to $1,019,937. a dozen of them senior pupils. The basis of the success of the school is -The foreign missions of the Protestant the solid and high-class commercial Episcopal Church report communicants as foleducation provided, for which £347 lows: Liberia, 472; China, 374; Japan, 429; were realized in fees in 1887.-0hurch Haiti, 855; total,1,730. The income was $175,- of Scotland Record. 84S.46, including a balance of $20,739.51 from last year. There is a balance of $44,974.3Sln the -The Mission work among the treasury. 6,400,000 Jews of the world has been developed with especial rapidity -The English Wesleyan MisBiona.ry since 1881. An investigation made Society expended last year $700,000, and reports then showed that there were engaged statistics as follows: Stations, 339; preaching- in it 20 societies, employing 270 mis- places, 1,224; missionaries and assistant mis- sionaries. Statistics recently pub- sionaries, 324; other paid agents, 1,825; unpaid lished report the existence of 47 so- agents,3,651; cburchmembers,31,26S; scholars, cieties, with 377 missionaries. The 58,10S. increase in contributions has not been proportionally large, being only -During the six years, 1881-7, the North- about $96,000. Of the $432,000 which ern Baptists expended for Home Mission work, constituted last year's income, $363,- as shown by the receipts of the "American 163 were given in the British Isles. Baptist Home Missionary Society," $2,256,656. The missionaries make their head- For the same period they expended for foreign quarters at those cities where the missions, as shown by the receipts of the Jews chiefly congregate. Fifty-eight "Baptist Missionary Union," $2,327,289. The work in London; 14 in Buda-Pesth; Southern Baptists duriug the same six years 33 in Constantinople, and 28 in Jeru- contributed for Home Missions $455,399, and for salem. A proportionally smaller Foreign, $472,411. number of wQrkers are stationed at the less important cities. -The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, reports a total of members and preachers MISSIONARY SOCIETIES' RECEIPTS FOR of 1,107,456, an increase of 41,079. It has 11,364 churches, valued at $15,204,883. 1887-8. -The United Presbyterian Church of -The seventy-second annual meeting Scotland reports 565 congregations, an increase of 1, aud 182,170 members, an Increase of 107. olthe American Bible Society, New York, was The total congregational Income the past year held May 10. The cash receipts for general pur- was $1.603,500. -The German Evangelical Luthera.n poses amounted to $557,340, and disbursements, Church Synod embraces 246 ministers, 387 con- $506,443. The receipts from legacies for gen- gregations and 38,000 members, 219 parochial schools, and an average yearly attendance of eral purposes amounted to $113,778; from 6,427. churches, individuals aud auxiliary donations, Russia. – Rabinowitz. The Free $85,405 ; from books and the purchase account Church of Scotland Monthly contains $296,540 ; from trust funds, etc., $23,944; from a letter-written by Rabinowitz tp Dr. ary who came to this country to ob- Wilson of Edinburgh, dated March tain funds for the erl'!"ction of a Chris- 12. Dr. Somerville, who will be re- tian high school in Bangkok, has remembered as the Scotch minister turned to his field of labor. He sewho has preached in Constantinople cured $15,000 in this country, to and in various parts of the world with which the King 01 Siam will add such good effect, had visited Rabinowitz at Kischineff, which is the capi- $5,000. The erection of the school is tal of Bessabaria, some eighty-five thus made possible. miles northwest of Odessa. Dr. Somerville stayed with this Christian Sweden.-The Swedish Magazine, Israelite a few days, preaching, as Lunds-Missions Tidring, gives the Rabinowitz says, "to a house crowd- present number of baptized converts ed to overflowing by children of of the Berlin society as 16,539 at 47 Israel coming to see the eminent and stations. The last year's contriburespectable doctor." And he adds: "Dr. Somerville was 'moved to his tions of these amounted to $3,780. very heart, seeing how here the Jews, Syria.-The Quaker women have a with God's Word in the hand, are seeking the Lord their God, and "Syria-Ramalleh Home." They pro- David their King, Jesus Christ." pose to build a girls' training-school there, for which ,3,000 is raised, twice -Lord Radstock gave some interesting in- that amount being needed. Sybil Jones was the first woman to preach stances which had come under his notice. Two the gospel in the land since the apos- tles' day. They have a school at prominent workers had heen banished; one had Mansnrieh, near the Svrian Mission, on Mount Lebanon. The Philadelto walk 1,000 miles in chains to Siberia, bnt his phia Society supports a Bible woman in this mission. joy was that he would" now have the privilege -The Mission at Brumana on the of preaching the gospel to the prisoners," who heights of Mount Lebanon. overlook- ing Beirut, is under the joint mancould not otherwise be reached. In St. Peters- agement of the Society of Friends in Great Britain, Ireland and the burg the" open meeting" principle works ad United States. There is a training home for boys, with 30 inmates, and mirably, hecause when the gatherings are broken for girls with 20, and a well-ordered hospital with 15 beds, besides disup by the police-as is invariably the case when pensary, open five days a week. The mission has the charge of various discovered-the converts are each competent to day-schools for both sexes in several surrounding villages, in which more minister the Word to others, and thns, as in the than 300 children are under instruc- tion ;, it also employs a colporteur early days of the church, the scattering of the and several Bible-women. There are people secures the scattering of the seed. In also two mothers' meetings, which in earlier days had sometimes to be fact, on one occasion a number of imprisoned shortened becaulile of fights among the women, but which now are comconverts were released, hecause by their testi- posed of large numbers who delight to learn texts of Scripture, and be mony " they did more harm in prison than out." read to, rather than give vent to evil passion.-Presbyterian. Scotland.-,At the first meeting of the National Bible Society directors -The Pilgrims to Mecca this year for the new year, held in Glasgow, the from Syria are very few. The steamtotal income for 1887 was reported to ers offer great inducements, but as be £33,432 7s., being only £335 Is. less the pilgrimage takes place in June than the income of 1886, which in- and July the people dread the intense cluded £4,875 ofa fund raised in heat of Mecca and stay at home. A honor of the society's semi-jUbilee. Moslem of Beirut was asked, "Are The expenditure had been £30,992 6s. The issues in 1887 were 6a2,073 copies many of the Beirut Moslems going or parts of Scripture, including to Mecca this year?" "No," said he ; 164,729 Bibles, 180,662 Testaments, "only about ten." " Are those who and 286,682 portions. Though some- go generally made better men by the what less than the exceptional circulation of the last two years, these fig- pilgrimage?" " Better I They are uresare considerably beyondany form_ worse. Mecca is the wickedest place er record. The issues at home were in thQ East; full of robbers, thieves 220,754 copies, and abroad 411,319. and pickpockets, and everything vile.
Siam.-At a meeting of the Pres- Hardly a man goes but is robbed." bytery of Siam, it was reported that an addition of 48 members by confession, and five by certificate, makes the Whole number of communicants in connection with this Presbytery now 881. One new church was organized and one student licenl:!ed to preach the gospel.
-The Rev. Mr. Eakin, the mlssion~ Swltzerland.-The Basle Mission native Bible readers, and more'than has 111 missionaries and European 150 schools. teachers in its three fields, and 489 native pa.stOl'S, catechists, evangelists -The Woman's Foreign Missionand teachers. In 1884 there were ary Society of the M. E. Church just made to the quadrennial conference, baptized in Africa, India and China is full of encouragement. The re- 531 adult heathen,204 heathen chil- port covers the past four years. dren and 773 Christian children. The Basle Mission Church numbers to:day The society now nUlllbers 4,888 auxiliaries. with an annual membership of 115,228. The 17,053 members. German work had fnlly justified the expectations Turkey.-We are beginning to hear of the originators and had grown constantly. The last report gave a total of 104 auxiliaries, of spiritual result'i following the ad- with 2,694 annnal members and 19 life members. ministration of relief to the famine The aggregate recelpte of the last four years sufferers in Turkey. In some places have been $658,898.77, an increase over the pre· portions of the Scriptures have been vlous fonr years of $154,314.23. distributed with needed bread for the body. Mr. Gates of Mardin reports -The Woman's Society of theAmerican Bapthat in one village a man said, after tist Missionary Society received, East, $55,880 ; an earnest discussion: "It is nothing West, $25,882. other than the words of this book -Reports of the Five Women's Foreign which have sent us this aid." A Mos- Missionary SOCieties of the Presbyterian Chnrch lem at one village affirmed: "I know Cor the year ending May 1, 1888, namely: that the Protestants are the best of all the sects." " How do you know Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the that?" said a bystander. .. You are Presbyterian Chnrch, Philadelphia: Receipts, a Moslem. What do you know of the $149,640, a gain of $19,821; Anxullarie., 2,000, teachings of the Protestants?" The gain, 221; Missionaries, 133; Native Teachers and Bible Women, 91. Moslem replied: "I know by one sign. If I go to a priest, he says to Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions or me, Give. If I go to a Moolah, he the Northwest; Receipts, $132,472, gam, $15,412; says to me, Give. If I go to an offi- Auxiliaries, 1522; Missionaries, 6~; Native cial or a friend, they say to me, Give. Teachers and Bible Women, 49, All;ay, Give. The Protestants alone say, Take. Theil' schools say, Take; Women's Board of Foreign Missions of the their teachings say, Take; their Presbyterian Chnrch, New York: Receipts, charities say, Take. By this I know $62,544, gain, $12,407 ; AUxiliaries, 900, gain, 76 ; that they are the· best." Mr. Gates Missionaries, 41; Native Teachers and Bible reports that villages are asking for Women,3D. teachers, and that the evangelical Woman's Presbyterian Foreign Missionary helpers are honored wherever they go Society of Northern New York: Receipts, $10among the mountains.-Mi88ionary 418 ; Auxiliaries, 118, gain, 14; MiSSionaries, 5 ; Herald. Native Teachers and Bible Women, 13.
Women's Missionary Work.-The Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions of Women's Foreign Missionary So- the Sonthwest: Receipts, $7,217, gain, 503; ciety of the Presbyterian Church in Auxiliaries, 47, gain, 8; Missionaries, 7.
Canada reports $10,058 as the amount Total receipts, $812,286, gain dnring the year. of last year's receipts. Its foreign 848,143; Auxiliaries, 4,587, galu, 319; Missionwork is thus summarized: Three aries, 254; Native Teachers and Bible Women, schools for our Own Indians in the 83. Northwest, one girls' school in Formosa, six schools under the care of -The Fifteenth Annual Report of the Woour ladies in Central India, six native man's Foreign Missionary Society of the Presteachers assisting in these schools, byterian Church of the Pacific Cocst Is an ex- ceedingly Interesting one. The receipts from two Bible women, general mission- all sources were $10,700.4Q. ary work in the hospital, villages and zenanas, three missionary teachers, -The Woman's Union Missiouary SOCiety of one medical missionary, one lady America has In Calcutta and the villages south ready for the work, one lady in of It 22 schools with 1,178 girls, and 114 zenanas Canada receiving medical education, in which are 130 regular pupUs. A Bible lesson donation for Trinidad. Is given every day in the schools and at every visit in the zenanas. -The money given by the women of the Presbyterian Church in the -At the recent annual meetIng ofthe Chnrch United States during the past sixteen of England Zenana Missionary Society It was years amounts to $2,150,000, repre- stated that there had been good success at al- senting the entire support of more most every station. The receipts for the year were $133,000. There are now at home nearly than 200 women missionaries, 200 900 ass,ociations, and upward of 600 working parties in support of the mission.
'716 STA.TISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS
VlI.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.
WORLD – WIDE DISTRIBUTION OF THE The issues of the Hibernian Bible So- 59,105 ciety for the same year were as fol- BIBLE. lows: Bibles, 20,897; New Testa- ments, 25,862 : Portions, 12.846. To- [Rev. John Wilkinson (London) has tal…. ….. ….. ………. …. …..• published a powerful tract with the Portions reduoed to Bibles, 402, which 46,661 above caption. We avail ourselves with Bibles and New Testaments of his statistics relating to Bible dis- make a total of Bibles, New Testa- ments and Portions reduced to Bitribution.-EDs. ] bles, of…………..••…..•……• REv. JAMES JOHNSTON, in his" Centnry of The Issues of the American Bible So- ciety, as given in the report for the Christian Missions," puts the population of the same year, were as follows : Bibles, world at about 1,470.000,000: Protestants, 135,- 369,714; New Testaments, 598.515; 000,000; Greeks, 85,000,000; Papists, 195,000,- PortiOns, 469,211. Total……….. 1,437,440 000; Jews, 8,000,000; Mohammedans, 173,000,- 000 ; heathen, 874,000,000; altogether about Total Bibles, New Testaments and 1,473,000.000 as the world's population at present. Portions reduced to Bibles. . . . . . . . . . 982,892 The Mohammedans and the heathen together The report states that "there are at least make 1,047,000,000, besides about 11,000,000 of .Tews. These 1,058,000,000 are unevangelized. twenty-five German Bible SOCieties. Some of Besides, there are millions of Greek Catholics them are very small." Only four or five-occupy and Roman Catholics as destitute of the Bible as a prominent position. These are: (1) the Prus- 8re the Mohammedans and the heathen. sian Chief Bible Society, for the eight original provinces of Prussia; (2) the Wllrtemberg It is esthnated that there are yet more than Bible Institute, for the kingdom of Wiirtem- 3,000 langnages and dialects into which the Holy berg; (3) the Saxon Chief Bible Society, Cor the Scriptures have never been translated. kingdom of Saxony; (4) the Nuremberg Bible Association, for the kingdom of Bavaria; and A.t the head of the list of agencies for the dis- (5) the Berg Bible SOCiety, on the Rhine. The tribution of the Bible is the British and Foreign circulation of the Prussian Chief Bible Society Bible Society. According to the report of 1886 for 1885 reached 97,400 copies; SO,694 of them the issues of the Society were as follows: Bibles. None of these were issued by the From the Bible Honse, London: Bi- British and FOreign Bible Society, but were ad- ditional. " The other four Societies mentioned bles, 636,411 ; New Testaments, with put into circulation, in 1881–39,539,20,731, 6.752 or without Psahns, 1,100,891 ; Por- and 17,477 copies respectively. About one-half tions,365,517. TotaL………… ..• 2,192,819 of these books were supplied by the British and From depots abroad: Bibles, 195,102 ; Foreign Bible Society. The work of the re- New Testaments, with or without maining twenty Societies was limited in extent, Psalms, 625,295 ; Portions, 1,110,688. and comprised but few of the British aud For- TotaL…………… …………… 1,931,085 eign Bible SOCiety's books. "
Total for the Jear, of Bibles, New Now let us gather the sum total of Bible cir- Testaments and Portions. . . . . .•. . . .. 4,123,904 culation by these German Bible Societies: First we have the Prussian Society… 97,400 Total portions, 1,476,205, divided by 82, Then we have the Wilrtemberg,Saxon, and thus reducing them to whole Bi- bles, make 46,181 ; which brings out Nuremberg, and Berg SOCieties, al- the following total of Bibles, New together 84,499; from these we must Testaments and Portions reduced to deduct half, as reckoned to the Bibles: Bibles, 831,513; New Testa- British and Foreign Bible SOCiety's me nts,l,816,186; Portions, reduced issues-so these four Societies cir- to Bibles, 46,131. TotaL…. •. . . . .. 2,693.830 culated ………………………. . 42,250 We put down for the other twenty The issues of the National Bible Soci- 645,662 small Societies a circulation of….. . 60,350 ety of Scotland for the same year, 1886, were as follows: Bibles, 154,- 450; New Testaments, 256,507 ; Por- tions,234,705. TotaL…………..
Total portions, 234,705, divided by 32, 418,692 This will make a total for the twenty- and thus reducing them to whole Bi- five Societies of………….. …… 200,()()(1 bles, make 7,335; which brings out The Trinitarian Bible Society's report fOl the following total of Bibles, New Testaments, and Portions reduced to 1887 says: "The circulatiou of Scripture dur Bibles: Bibles, 154,450; New Test- ing the past year has been as follows, in twenty aments, 256,507; Portions reduced languages" :- to Bibles, 7,335. TotaL………… Bibles, 3,354; New Testa- ments, 11,038; Portions, 96,620…•…•••.•.••Total 111,012 Special sale or HebrewNew PRESBYTERIAN MISSION OF NORTHERN BRAZIL.-STATlSTICS FOR 1887. Testaments, 75,000; special NAlIlE OF grant oC Hebrew INew CHURCH.
Testaments, 25,000..Total 100,000 Recife ………. 1~ ~ ~'i 25 58 39 . . . . . . . . Total circulation, sales, and grants… . 211,012 Goyanna……. 11 •. 32 29 1 …. 1 8 The Portions, 00,620 rednced to Bibles, i" .. Fortaleza. . . . .. 9 .. 1 47 40 27 " .. 1 1 by being divided by 32, make, In Mossoro.. .•. . . . 5 20 21 12 ……. . Parahyba .•…. 11 3 1 1 16 ~~ <I I ….. . round numbers, 3,020; which with Maranham….. 1 1 …. 15 …. 1 ..
the Bibles, New Testaments, and Pao de Assucar. 8 7.. .. … IS 17 .. 1 .. ·. Maceio……… 8 1 …. ,.. 3 1 1 ….. . special 100,000 oC Hebrew New 8146 3 3 108 215 143 3 1 2 2 Testaments, make the total……… 117,412 Totals. Catholic and Protestant Converts.
British and Foreign Bible -DR. WARNECK, who also is a lead- Society – Bibles, Testa- ments and Portion: issued ing authority on mission matters, from the London House and from def.ots abroad.. 4,123,904 has compiled some statistics on the The same tota , with Portions reduced number of converts reported from to Bibles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. •. . .. 2,693,830 Catholic and from Protestant socie- National Bible Society ot ties. His summary is that the former Scotland-Bibles, Testa- ments and Portions. . . . . . 645,662 reports 268,700 converts in Africa, The same total, with Portions reduc- 2,000,000 in Asia, 55,000 in Oceanica, ed to Bibles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. . . • 418,692 330,000 in America, or a total of Hibernian Bible Soclety- 2,053,700. Protestant societies report Bibles, Testaments and 577,000 in Africa, 700,000 in Asia. Portions. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 59,105 280,000 in Oceanica, and 688,000 in The same total, with Portions reduc- America, or a total of 2,245,700. Dr. ed to Bibles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. . . . . 56,661 American Bible Society- Warneck remarks: Bibles, Testaments and Portions ………………. 1,437,440 .. I must confess that these figures sur- The same total, with Portions reduc- prised me. Considering the grand and im- ed to Bibles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 92,982 posing organization of the Catholic Church. The twenty-five German Societies…. 200,000 the larger number of its missionaries, their Trinitarian Bible Society- rapid method of receiving into church com- Bibles, Testaments and munion larger numbers, and the great ad- Portions …………. , . . .• 211,012 vantage enjoyed by the fact that they have The same total, with Portions rednc- been at the work many centuries before our ed to Bibles…………….. ……• 117,412 work began. I had thought that numerically Grand total, InclndingBibles – – – their mission success would vastly exceed Testaments and Portions. 6,477,123 that of the Protestants. Leaving ont of consideration Asia, where chiefiy those who The same total, with Portions rednc- are descendants of converts of earlier cen- ed to Bibles.. ………………… 4,4.59,487 turies in China and India swell the number in the Roman Catholic reports. it must be Only frrur-and-a·1uJlj' milliOns of Bibles are seen that everywhere else the mission work being prodnced a year, while the annual increase of the world's popnlation is estimated at twelve of the Evangelical Church is far in advance mUli0n8! of that of the Roman Catholic."
BlBLE WORK IN CHINA IN 1887.
B. & F. Bible Soc. North China. …… ~~ 790 75,228 76,212 Central .. . . . . . . . 839 83,652 84,664 – – Sonth " .. . . . .. …. -. .-. . – -. . . -. 91,010 TotalB. &F….. 367 1,629 158,880 251,886 Scotch Bible Soc. -Mission work ofthe Catholic Church North China. . . . . .. …. 136 7,229 7,366 Central" ….•…… 1,952 168,859 170,31J is in the hands of the Propaganda Total N. B. S. S.. 2,088 176,088 178,176 Society, In the periodical Kathol- iscke Missionen recently this Society Amer'nBible Soc. 80 689 713 1,482 Sales-Depot …… . ]20 2,082 29,932 82,13'" makes its report for 1886. 77 2,059 :103,782 205,918 h Missionaries. 35 121 1,145 1,301 According to this France furnished about 48 899 9,837 10,784 two-thirds of the funds needed Cor the work. " Colportenrs.• namely. 4,855,658 francs; Germany contrib- Donations-Depot .. 72 1,184 1,256 uted 409,271 francs; Belgium, 358,767 ; Elsass " Missionaries. and Lorraine, 286,987 ; Italy, 382.214; Great " Colportenrs.. Britain. 166,319; Switzerland, 77,139; the Total Am. B. S . . 360 5,922 246,593 252.875 Netherlands, 112,551 ; Spain,97,522; Portugal, 47,249; Austria, 88.403; Hungary. 3,952 ; Bnl- SgacrainadainnadviRaonnmcoaunnitar,ie5s0,0;84R7u; ssAiaSlia5,288;,4t0h5e; Grand total, 1887. . . 727 9,639 581,581 682,937 Total, 1886… . . . . . .. 1,019, 14,256 493,678 583,429 Africa. 35,373; North AmerlCa.l00,928; Cen- tral America, 566; South America, 55,569 ; – Chute8e Recorder. Australia, 14.519. ' .Je'll'I.-lI'rom the HelJrsUJ Annual we learn A.merlcan Baptflt 1Illmoa&l]' tlnton• that France contains 000,000; Germany. 562.000, of whom 89,000 inhabit Alsaee and LorraIne; REOAPl'rULA'rI01I'. Austria-Hungary, 1,644,000, of whom 688,000 are in Galicia and 638,000 In Hungary; Ita!;!'l to.QOO ; The Burman Ml88ion.-51 mll!l!Ol1aries, 1ft Ns~'e!Ith~e~r,laOnOdOs, 82,000; RPooluamnda,ni7a6,8,2O6OO5~U;WTu; r~kUeIyI, men and 85 women (including wfflllJ of mis- (Russian sionaries) ; 13 Ordained and 89 nnordalned na- SloWotlutuzuerilanBde,lg7iu,0m0,0; 3,O:Kl ; Bulgaria, 10,000; tive preachers; 21 churches, 1,680 members, Denmark, .,000; Spain, 150 baptized in 1881. 1,900; Gibraltar, 1,500 i. Greece, 8,000; Servia, 3.500; Sweden, 3,000. m Asia there are 30,000 TAe Karen .Mi8rion.-47 missionaries. 15 men of the race. Turkey In Asia has 195,000, of whom and 82 women; 10 ordained and 851 unordained 115,ooo are in Palestine, 407,000 In Russian Asllr, native preachers; 494 churches, 26.008 mem- 18,000 In Persia, 14,000 In Central Asia, 111,000 In hers, 1.877 baptized In 1887. India, and 1,000 in China. In AfrIca 8,000 Jews lgievrel~In.60E,0g0y0pitn, 55 000 In Tnnisia, 35,000 in AI- TAe Shan Mi88ion.-6 miSSionaries, 2 men Morocco, 6,000 in TrIpoli, and and 4 women; 7 unordained native preachers; 2OO,uuu In Abyssinia. America connta 280,000 2 churches. 42 members, 1 baptized In 1887. i;rg~clr:; g}::n:ee~~~s ~l~em~':ts~fIa:ll:; continent, while only 12,000are scattered through TAe Kachin MiBrion.-2 missionaries, 1 man Oceanica. The entire total ~f the Hebrew race and 1 woman; 2 ordained and 1 unordained na- tive preachers; 3 churches. 39 members, 3 bapon the surface ot the globe Is estimated at tized in 1887.
6.300.000. TAe Ohin'Miasion.-5 missionaries, , meB and 3 women; 15 ordained Bnd 16 unordalned -The French Protestant mission- native preachers; 7 churches. 174 members. 62 aries among the Bassutos of south- baptized In 1887. eastern Africa report for 1886-7 as follows: The M8Gme8e .Mi8sion.-9 missionaries, 8, men and 6 women; 2 ordained and 9 unor Stations……………… . 17 (Same as previ- dained native preachers; 15 churches. 786 mem- ousyear. bers, 37 haptized In 1887.
Out-stations…………. . 89 Increase of 5 The Garo MiBrion.-4 missionaries. 2 men and 2 women; 5 ordained and 6 unordalned na- Native helpers•……….. 160 18 tive preachers; 10 churches, 986 members. 165, baptized in 1887. Marriages…………… .. 109 14 TAe Naga .Mi88ion.-8 missionaries. 4 men InCant baptisms.. . . .. . .. . 322 64 and 4 women; 6 unordalned native preachers; 8 churches. 70 members. 6 bap.tized In 111117. Catechumens.. . . . . . . . . . .. 2.245 387 The Tcl'U(fU Mi8sion.-44 missionaries, 19 men Communicants. . . . . . . . . . .. 5,525 385 and 25 women; 56 ordained and 137 unordalned native preachers; 52 churches. 68.629 members, Total number adherents… 7.770 672 2.321 baptized in 1887.
– – – Scholars….. . .. . .. . . . 4,066 982 The OAineBe MiBBiOn.-1IOmi8sionaries,12 men and 18 women; 7 ordained and 33 unordalnod Congregational Statistllll. native preachers; 19 churches, 1.568 members. 51 baptized in 1887. Chur~hes: whole nnmber………. .. 4.404 new ………………. .. 246 TAe Japan MisBion.-2/i missionaries. 8 men gain in number……… . 127 and 17 women; I) ordained and 21 unordalned Mell!.'>ers: whole number ………. . 457.584 native preachers; 11 churches, 770 members, added on conCession…. . 41,156 211 baptized in 1887. .. by letter …….. .. 26.185 total [189 not di- T1Ie Congo MilI8ion.-28 missionaries. 17 men vided] …………. .. 67,530 and 11 women; 4 churches, 248 members, 1111 removed…………… .. 38,644 baptized in 1887. apparent increase ……. . 28,886 gain [actual. comparing JiJurqpean Ml&siom.-1I72 preachers; 654 totals] ………….. . 21.200 churches. OO.14l1 members, 5,532 baptized In difference [due to Inacu- 1881. rate report<! …….. .. 7.681 BaPHsms : I!-dult………………. .. 20,123 In the missions to the heathen there are 60 mfant……………… .. 11,1166 stations and 831 out-stations. Including those Families reported.. . .. .. .. .. . .. …. . 268,775 now absent from their lI.e1d8, there are 282 mis- Sunday;~chools. me.mbers ……….. . 551.691 sionaries. including 159 single women lll!d 84 gam in members … . 29.704 wives of missionaries. " average attendance . . 324.719 united with the church In an the missions there are 262 misaionarles from……….. .. 18.399 (Including la1 evangelists), 1.798 preachers, 1.296 benevolent contribu- churches. and 127.208 members; 10.602 were tions ot…. ….. . $162,012 baptized in 1887.
BENBVOLEN'r CON'rRmU'rlON8 oJ!' 'rHIII I1IJIJ'tWUe frum laBt Slear.-14mia8Ionaries, 31 OHURCHES: churches, 8.678 members.-8eventy;fourth ~ lIual Report. For the year 1887 only………….. $2.095.485 Increase over 1885.. .. .. .. .. . .. . .. .. (18,275 O~,which lor ~oreign Missions. . . . . . 319.404 ~ucation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 221.287 .. .. Church BuildiIlg……. 122,590 Home Missions…. . .. . 436.577 .. A. M. A…… ………. 151,698 .. Sunday-schools……… 28.986 .. New West………….. 43.960 .. Ministerial Ald….. …. . 9.138 " •. Other ob,tects……….. 787,731 Legacies paid. . .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . 829,663 !lome Expenditures……………… 5.078,980 Increase. . . . . . . . . 1,100,750 U U – Congregational Year-Book JfYr 1888. " Faetl COllCemiDg the COllege Department of or more tl'&veling secretaries, and the Interna- YOlIIIg lieD'. Christian As.oelatloDs of North tional Committee's secretarial force numbers America. 14. 77 or these associations are engaged 231 college associations are In existence. specially in work among raUway men; 10- 41 have been orgallized within the year. , among German-speaking young men; 273 are in ' 179 have an aggregate membership of 9.863. colleges; 29 are colored and 18 Indian. 226 203 have an active membership of 8,699. associations report educational classes in trom 174 have an associate membership 0(2,240. one to fifteen branches of study; 287 report 177 have 2,570 members serving on committees. special attention to physical culture through 143 expend annually $6,067. gymnasiums and out-door sports; 898 Bible classes, 367 Bible training classes, and 661 4 haTe buildings; Princeton, valued at $20,000; Hanover, '$1000; Toronto University, weekly prayer-meetings are among the services $7,000, and ~"e University, $50,000. Cor young men only, which are reported.
59 have rooms devoted exclusively to their UStt. -In heathen countrie. Protestants occupy 54 have furniture valued at $20,732. 100 separate mission fields, containing 20,000 18 have libraries of 8,655 volumes, valued at mission .tations, supplied by 40,000 missionaries. In these 20,000 mission stations there are 500,000 $3,577. Sabbath-school scholars, an average or 25 to 27 had 101 lectures during the year, and 68 ha. each station. In the 20,000 Protestant mission stations there are 1,000,000 of native communi- 144 sociables. cants, or an average of 50 to each etation. There are also 2,000,000 of adherents who are friends BELIGIOUS MEETINGS. of the evangelical faith and hearers of the gospel preached from tbe Bible, an average of 100 to 87 report 98 Bible classes, with a total average each station. Including all classes, there are attendance of 1,688. now identified with Protestant Christian mis- sions 3,500,000 persons, served by 40,000 mis- 59 report 99 traiuing classes, with a total aver- sionaries. The nationalities friendly to Protest- age attendance of 1,024. tant Christianity, or nominally Christians, contain a population of about 150,000,000, or 188 report 198 prayer-meetings, 147 ofwhich have one-ninth ot tbe whole population of the earth, a total average attendance of 3 998. ' covering 14,000,000 of square miles, or one-fourth of the whole geographical surface oC the globe. 84 report gospel meetings, 50 of which have II The Greek and Roman Catholic churches cover total average attendance of 1,481. 18,000,000 square miles in nations friendly to them or dominated by them, and have 250,000,000 23 report song services, 13 of which have a to- of adherents. The Mohammedans bave a fol- tal average attendance of 394. lowing of "bout 200,000,000 nominally. Strictly pagan conntrles, therefore, have yet a popula- 80 report missionary meetings. tion of OM bution souls who are not reached by 3 report daily prayer-meetings. Mohammedan, Catholic, Greek or Protestant 19 report 21 cottage or neighborhood prayer- churches.
meetings. -Statistical tables In the Baptist Year-Book 8 report meetings In almshouses, jails and hos- show the total number of members In the 31,891 Baptist churches to be 2,917,815, indicating a pitals. gain of 184,745 members during the year. Tho 18 report 27 Sunday-schools conducted in their number of baptisms reported is 158,373, which ia 2,995 more than were reported a year bofore. members. 137 881!OCiations observed the day of prayer for -" The Presbyterian Church of the United States, ,,11 branches, have over 15,000 churches, colleges the last Thursday in January, :1886. 11,500 ministers, 1,500,000 members, and ex- 181 observed the day of prayer for young men, the second Sunday In November. 200 report 81,420 young men as studenta In their colleges. 157 report 9,956 young men, stndents of their colleges, 8S members of evangelical churches. 150 report 1,7~ professed conversions during the year. 161 report that 2,750 students in their colleges intend to enter the ministry. 48 report tbat 135 or these have been convocted since entering college. 24 report that 86 of these have been converted the past year. 19 report that 64 have been inflnenced in their , decision for the ministry by tbe work of the College Association. 59 report that 126 students in their colleges In- tend to be foreign missionaries. 4 report that 5 of these have been converted the past year. 3 report that 16 of these have been influenced in their decision for the forei!(n field by the missionary department of the College Asso- ciation.
– The International Committee of Young pends annually in her work 816,000,000 ; has also Men's Christian Associations at 40 East 23rd 46 colleges, with 5,000 students; 20 theological street, New York, bas just issued the Associa- seminaries, with 1.900 studenta ; 34 female sem- tion "Year-Book for 1888." There are now, inaries, with 4,000 pupils."-Dr. G. P. Hay,.
according to this annnal report, 1,240 associa- -The statistics preseuted at the last Interna- tions in America, aud 8,804 in the world. The tional Sunday-school Convention show that American associations bave a membership of whlle there are in the Sunday-schools oC our 170,000 ; they own buildings valued at $5,609,- country and the Dominion of Canada seven mil- WS, and have a total net property of $7,261,658 ; lion children and youth, there are more than IIIstyear they expended $1,181,888 In local work, nine million outside of the Sunday-school. Dr.
~d $104,949 In general work. 752 men are de- Worden stated that of this number 800,000 are In voting their entire time to the local, State and New York State,575,OOO In Pennsylvania. 440,000 IIlternational work as secretaries and assistants; in Ohio. 365,000 in Kentucky, 840,000 in Indiana, ~here are 23 ,Btate committees that employ one 600,000 in DlinOi8, 550,000 In Missouri, 228,000 In Kansas. In three years the gain In" Sunday- l!'aith in foreign /parts was organized in L7ona.
school membership has been nearly 500,000 ; but France, in 1822. Since that time it has received an aggregate of 220,000,000 francs, mainly in this ill small, compared"with the gain in our pop- small amounts. Its receipts during the past year were 6,648,000 francs, of which 4,850,000 ulation, which Increases more rapidly every were drawn from France.
year. -According to the Directory of the Roman Catholic Church for 1888, there are, in England -The Weilih Calvinistic Methodists embrace aud Wales,2,314 Catholic priests to 1,728 in 1876, and these preside over 1,:lO* churches, chapels 1,:e20 churches, 129,000 members, 1,012 minis- "nd stations. Scotland has 5 bishops, 324 priests and 237 churches aud chapels. The R0ters, aud 1,450 Sabbath·schools, with home and man Catholic population iu 1887 is given as 1,354,000 in England and Wales, 326,000 iu Scotforeign missionary societies. land, 3,961,000 in Ireland. Together with the colonies, the number of Catholics under British -The German Evangelical Lutheran Chureh rule is 9,682,000.
Synod embraces 246 ministers, 381 congrega- -New England Catholic statistics count up as follows: Priests, 906; seminariaus, 233; tions, and 38,000 members, 219 parochial schools, churches, 602 ; chapels and statiOns, 133; col- leges, 7 ; academies,38 j parochial schools, 205 ; and an average yearly "ttendance of 6,4'l7. pupils, 69,105 ; charitable institutions, 36; Cath- olic population, 1,185,000. This estimate is -The African Methodist Episcopal Chureh, based on the reports of the parish priests to their ordinaries. It is rather uuder thau over the fig_ whose General Conference recently in session at nres. Exceeding care is taken in making this ceusus. Estimations are generally based upou Indianapolis, reports 1 membership of 408,351, baptisms, marriages, etc., which yield a certainty on the safe side, but which exclude that host and the total of money raised for all purposes of Catholics who hold their religion loosely, who seldom attend church, who frequently neglect to during the year 1887 as 51,064,569. There are have their childreu baptized, yet who are sub- stantially Catholics, if anything, and who some- 3,394 churches and 660 parsonages, valued at times, soouer or later, return to the faith of their rathers. There are at least a million and a half $5,340,889. There are 11,009 stewards, 14,190 Catholics in New England. It has been assertsd, without contradiction, that over half the popustewardesses, and 14,778 class-leaders. lation of Boston are Catholics.- Catholtc Re- view. The statistics of the United Presbyterian – In 1881 the 1,200 members of the United Church for the present ecclesiastical year are: Presbyterian Board in Egypt-most of them very poor meu and women-raised more thau 1887. 1888. $17 each, for. the support of churches and schools. Look on this picture, then on that. Total membership… . . . . . . • 94,641 98,991 Christians in America give 50 ceuts each to mis- Total congregations" . . . . .•. . 885 1107 sions. Christians in poor Egypt give $17 each Total pastoral charges…… 618 708 for missions, and yet America is considered" Total contributions ………• $977,860 $1,019,937 Christian nation -Presb. CoUtge Journal.
-According to the Year-Book of the Disciples -The wealthof church members in the United States of America in 1880 was 8,723 m!llion dolof Christ for 1888, they have 6,437 churches, lars. Of this pne-sixteenth of one per cent. or one dollar out of $1,586 is given in a year for the 620,000 communicants, 4,500 Sunday-schools, salvation of eight hundred million heathen.
with a membership of 318,000, and a teaching – I t is difficult so learn thstatistics of J emsa- em. Probably as reliable information as can be force of 33,340 ; number of preachers 3,263. The secured is given by the Bote aus Zion, a carefwly edited German Protestant quarterly, published value of church property is $10,368,361. in the Holy City. The Mohammedans number about 9,OOJ, the Jews 18,000, and the Christians -In Germany and Switzerland there are eigh- 7,000, making a total of 34,000. The Jews genteen foreign missionary societies, with betweeu erally claim more, making the estimate as hlgil 522 and 550 missionaries in the field, and with an as 30,000.
Income of about $720,000. The particular cir- cumstances of their origin, no doubt, account for this state of things, bnt it certainly ought now to be possible to consolidate the smaller so- cieties, and thus save the expense of so many different officials.
-Mr. David McLaren has made II careful ex- amination and analysis of the home contribu- tions of four great missionary societies and of the British and Foreigu Bible Society during the ftftyyears of the present reign. The annual av- erage amount of the five societies for the last ten years was £556,631, shown as follows: Baptist Missionary Society. . . . . . . . . . . .. £57,229 Wesleyan Missionary Socie!y………. 109,433 Church Missionary Society…………. 193,670 London MisSionary Society..• , . . . . . ••• ro,742 British and Foreign Bible Society. •.•• . 109,557 The total contribntions for the IIfty years were £10,798,160, being about the amount spent on drink in this country in sixty days.
One feature bronght out by the examination is that, when al large sum has been raised for a special object, the income of sncceeding years has not suffered In consequence.
-The Roman Catholic Propaganda of the